How Wheeler Mission grew sustainer giving to nearly 30% of all donations

For 132 years, Wheeler Mission has served as the City of Indianapolis's primary shelter, open every night of the year with no exceptions. Indianapolis is one of the only cities of its size that currently does not have a city shelter. But the story that built its donor base, food and shelter, was only ever part of the picture. Chief Development Officer Arvetta Jideonwo's team has spent the last several years rebuilding Wheeler Mission's digital fundraising program on Fundraise Up, turning it into a data-driven engine for sustainer growth and setting up the organization to tell a bigger story about the work it actually does.

Who is Wheeler Mission?

• Founded: Founded in 1893, Wheeler Mission is one of the longest-serving rescue missions in the country.
• Scope: The largest shelter in Indiana, providing a full continuum of care from emergency shelter through case management, job training, and stable housing.
• Scale: about 800 people staying across five locations on an average night, climbing past 1,000 during the coldest months.
• Funding model: no government funding at all. More than 80% of the budget comes directly from individual donors.
• Leadership: Arvetta Jideonwo joined as Chief Development Officer in April of last year, bringing 25 years of philanthropy experience from healthcare foundations, higher education, and disability services. She leads a 14-person development team spanning Donor Relations, Donor Services, and a newly created Growth and Excellence division. She is also a Faculty member at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and is a Certified Fund Raising Executive through CFRE International.

What fundraising challenge was Wheeler Mission trying to solve?

Wheeler Mission had two problems running at the same time: a messaging problem and a measurement problem.

• A one-note story. For most of its history, Wheeler Mission was known for food and shelter. That built a loyal base, but it left most donors unaware of the organization's deeper work: case management, upskilling, and helping people reach stable housing and income.
• An underdeveloped sustainer program. Recurring donors made up only about 7% of Wheeler Mission's roughly 35,000 active annual donors, below the 10% Jideonwo considers a healthy program this size. The organization continues to invest in sustainer giving to grow it as a percentage of its file.
• An outdated digital experience. Before Fundraise Up, the online donation process wasn't especially user-friendly, and the team had no consistent way to see how digital fundraising was performing.
• No formal evaluation process. Wheeler Mission had years of strong results but no structured way to identify what to keep doing and what to change on an ongoing basis. Through Jideonwo leadership, the team is now continually assessing fundraising performance on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis and making changes to strategy to Schieve the best results, which has resulted in record fundraising growth.

How did Wheeler Mission improve its digital giving and grow recurring revenue?

Wheeler Mission built its digital strategy around Fundraise Up, working alongside its direct mail vendor partner, to modernize the giving experience and give the development team the data it needed to act.

Product features that moved the needle:

• Personalized suggested amounts. Fundraise Up adjusts suggested donation amounts based on a donor's location and other signals, which Jideonwo says has meaningfully improved online conversion rates.
• Exit-intent reminders. A prompt asks departing visitors if they'd like an email nudge to finish their gift. Jideonwo says the feature has recovered donations that would otherwise have been lost.
• Ongoing performance reporting. Regular visibility into how the giving page is performing gives Jideonwo's team, and the outside partners they work with, a shared, current view of what's working.

A messaging shift to match the strategy:

Rather than retiring the meal-and-shelter story that built its donor base, Wheeler Mission is layering in the fuller picture: the help of shelter and food, the hope of case management and upskilling, and the healing of stable housing and income. The target audience for this expanded story is roughly 30,000 donors giving $1,000 or less, a group the team believes is ready to engage more deeply with the mission but needs to hear the expanded story.

A structured push on recurring giving:

Wheeler Mission is targeting 1 to 2 percentage points of growth in its sustainer base every year, which this year means roughly 478 new recurring donors. The approach combines:

• Digital promotion through Fundraise Up and the organization's vendor partner.
• Relational touches, including donor tours and direct engagement.
• A more formalized welcome series, since most donor attrition happens between the first gift and the second.

What results has Wheeler Mission seen with Fundraise Up?

• 62% of donations now come through digital channels.
• ~30% of digital donations are now recurring, with monthly recurring revenue growing at 11.2% a year.
• 87% retention rate for recurring donors, compared to a lower rate for one-time givers.
• ~3,000 members in Circle of Hope, Wheeler Mission's giving circle for sustainers.
• $12.2 million from donors giving $1,000 or more last fiscal year, more than half of the organization's $21 million in total philanthropic revenue.
• Nonprofit of the Year (Indianapolis Business Journal – Large Category, August 2025), plus a new platform for Jideonwo as a Forbes Contributor writing under Wheeler Mission's name starting in January 2026

That flexibility matters even more for an organization with zero government funding. Predictable monthly revenue is what lets Wheeler Mission keep its doors open 365 days a year, regardless of what happens to grants or institutional funding elsewhere.

What would Wheeler Mission tell other nonprofits about investing in digital and sustainer giving?

Her advice to other rescue missions is weighing whether to invest: "Just jump in and do it." In her words, every organization in the sector is working toward the same goal. The platforms are just different ways of getting there.

What's next for Wheeler Mission's fundraising strategy?

• Ongoing performance evaluation. Wheeler Mission's Growth and Excellence division, launched this year, will continue assessing fundraising results, investing further where they're strong and adjusting where they're not and most importantly ensuring that the teams are working collaboratively to execute Jideonwo’s development strategy for the organization.
• A bigger push this giving season. The team is preparing an elevated communications push for its October-to-December campaign, aimed at introducing more of its 30,000 entry-level donors to the full depth of Wheeler Mission's programs. These plans are underway.
• Continued growth in sustainer giving. With a formalized welcome series and stronger donor engagement in progress, Wheeler Mission expects its recurring donor base, and the stability it provides, to keep climbing.