Case study · Marching band · Leander, TX
Same students. Same community. A donor network that matured.
$694,239
across six straight seasons
+22%
2025 over 2024 — the biggest season yet
87–96%
participation in every measured season
$10,000
top gift — landed twice (2022 and 2025)
| Raised | Donations | Donors | Avg gift | Participation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | $118,219 | 1,487 | 1,252 | $79.50 | — |
| 2021–22 | $97,830 | 1,024 | 872 | $95.54 | 88% |
| 2022 | $91,013 | 1,046 | 912 | $87.01 | 87% |
| 2023 | $101,326 | 1,410 | 1,185 | $71.86 | 96% |
| 2024 | $128,726 | 1,764 | 1,513 | $72.97 | 96% |
| 2025 | $157,124 | 1,821 | 1,506 | $86.28 | 91% |
Leander has run the process every season since the 2020–21 school year — six-figure results in five of six campaigns. The question after each one: does it keep growing?
The same playbook, run again — with near-total process adoption. 96% of students loaded their contact lists in 2024; 91% engagement again in 2025 on a bigger roster (217 to 255 registered). The corporate side runs on Main Street, not Fortune 500: 38 business gifts totaling $21,012 in 2024, consolidating to 8 larger sponsorships totaling $14,148 in 2025 — a local restaurant at $6,825, a law firm at $2,500, a dentist, an orthodontist, a CPA.
The money didn't grow because more people gave — donor count was flat at roughly 1,500. It grew because the same network gave more: average gift up 18% in 2025, and $10,000 top gifts have now landed twice — one mailed in during the 2021–22 campaign, one through a student's own fundraiser page in 2025. Six straight seasons total $694,239. Meanwhile the Crescendo Club — monthly giving marketed as the program's most exclusive supporter tier, $25/month minimum with members-only merchandise — grew the same way the donor base did: from 22 members at $770 a month in 2024 to 26 members at $1,306 a month in 2025. The average member now gives $50 a month, double the minimum, and it hit the program's $15K annual goal with half the membership they'd planned for. The campaign ends in October; the Club doesn't.
“1992 LHS Grad, here! Former Band Member, Flute... So proud of what the Leander Lion Marching Band has become! We are so excited to be a sponsor of the band!”
— Local business owner & LHS band alum, class of '92
Run the same playbook
Every program on this page runs the same process — and the process is public. The steps behind this story:
Reach · $470K · 4 seasons
POP Band: Four Straight Seasons, $470K
Corporate sponsorships · $260K · sponsor-backed
Claudia Taylor Johnson: Three Campaigns, $260K
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