Shine a Light on Your Donors for Maximum Impact
Your donor display is an investment into donor cultivation and retention, so why not build an impactful display by adding lighting? An engaging LED-lit donor wall will draw more traffic and give your donors visibility and importance. There are several ways to light up your display depending on what you want to emphasize on your wall. Let’s look into our options.
CREATING A GLOW
One technique to bring importance to a particular section or to add intrigue to your donor wall is to create a glow around the edges of part or all of your display. Partners In Recognition has mastered this technique using special LED lights to wash the wall or display base with light. Although the glow feature adds importance, it is also subtle and understated. Some examples of this lighting effect follow:
This display highlights and honors major donors using lighting to wash the back base with a soft glow under the elevated puzzle pieces.
Stony Brook University used our edge glow lighting to add emphasis around the base, honoring the donors.
SSM St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles, MO, uses a glow effect on their Cumulative Giving display to add impact to their display.
EDGE LIT GLASS
Another classic look is edge lit glass. When glass is etched, it creates a frosted look, but when you add lights to the edges of that glass, it makes the etched graphics glow. We can edge light logos, title text, major donor names, or whatever else you want to add emphasis to. Examples of edge lighting follow:
Woodson YMCA in Wausau, WI, used edge lighting to highlight their major donors for their Capital Campaign display. They also used the glow effect to wash the wall behind their logo.
Riverview Hospital Association in Wisconsin Rapids, WI, incorporated edge lighting to emphasize its logo on its Capital Campaign display.
BACKLIGHTING
Backlighting can emphasize certain elements on your donor recognition display. Printed images or etched graphics on a semi-translucent acrylic are mounted above a light source to create and illuminate your graphics or photos. Entire name panels can be lit up to show the importance of giving levels. Some examples of backlit displays follow:
Mercy Health in Rockford, IL, uses this LED-lit display for its Capital Campaign. This display combines two types of lighting – Backlighting and LED glow on the back base. The title and graphics panels have a glowing edge, while the name panels sit above backlit imagery. The lighting, in addition to the various materials and layers, gives this display a dramatic, eye-pleasing feel.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Foundation in Memphis, TN, showcases its donors on their Wave of Thanks display used to recognize donors to their Cumulative Giving Campaign. Backlit images add interest to their columns of names.
Masonic Villages in Elizabethtown, PA, has its logo backlit on the title panel of this Cumulative Giving display.
OVERHEAD LIGHTING
Our overhead lighting can be either functional -serving to illuminate the display during evening hours or purely for aesthetics – adding interest to the display. Partners In Recognition can build an overhead soffit to hold the lighting that will ultimately shine down on your donor names. The lighting can be on a dimmer to get that perfect balance of light and contrast.
To celebrate its Temple expansion and show appreciation to its donors, Temple Sinai of Denver, CO, commissioned this one-of-a-kind donor recognition display. Through lighting and dramatic color, viewers are drawn into the display featuring the names of donors.
Recognizing donations to their Capital Campaign, Memorial Cancer Institute in Pembroke Pines, FL, uses this rod system with a lighted header and footer to illuminate their donor names in the evening hours.
Another display with evening lighting is this memorial wall in Newport Beach, CA. Hoag Hospital worked closely with Partners In Recognition to create an understated outdoor display for the Lucy Curci Memorial Garden. Overhead lighting shines down on the memorial listings in this dynamic presentation.
ACCENT LIGHTING
Our last form of lighting a display is accent lighting. This form of illumination is purely for aesthetics. Like glow lighting, accent lighting adds interest and depth to your display, especially when it connects with your audience by appealing to their senses. Accent lighting is added to embellish the message your display is conveying.
In this example, PIR created a random pattern of slats at multiple depths with sporadic accent lighting . This type of lighting will draw interest and encourage viewers to engage, further educating them about your mission and how they can contribute.
If you would like more details on how to create an impactful display that features lighting, feel free to contact us; we’d be happy to help!