The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is one of the largest hunger relief organizations in the United States and must be able to scale quickly—and respond instantly—when need surges.

When Chief Development Officer Roger Castle joined the LA Regional Food Bank, the organization was raising approximately $10 million per year and operating out of a leased facility that lacked refrigeration. The space constraints limited both the type and volume of food the Food Bank could distribute. Castle recognized that meeting the growing and unpredictable needs of LA County would require more than incremental growth—it would require a deliberate decision to scale. And that meant first building the fundraising engine capable of supporting that growth.

Castle made a strategic investment in strengthening the Food Bank’s in‑house fundraising infrastructure, using Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT and Luminate Online to modernize donor segmentation and activation—giving the team the ability to move faster, target more precisely, and scale instantly when demand surged.

“Our investment in Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT and Luminate Online really made fundraising for the new building possible,” said Castle. “By building strong donor pipelines, identifying higher‑capacity supporters, and mobilizing campaigns quickly, we were able to scale when it mattered most. We built the systems before the crisis—and that made all the difference.”

That strategy paid off. In 2019, the Food Bank launched a capital campaign to purchase and renovate a new facility—raising $177 million in just four years and exceeding its $165 million goal one year ahead of schedule. The new building dramatically expanded the Food Bank’s ability to accept and distribute refrigerated food.

Activating Rapid Disaster Response

By building scalable fundraising infrastructure with Raiser’s Edge NXT and Luminate Online ahead of time, the organization could move quickly and responsibly when a disaster hit. “Using Blackbaud to power our segmentation and email, we can move very quickly, sending direct mail and launching email campaigns within a week,” said Castle. “Our donors want clear, timely communication about what’s happening and how we’re responding—and when we do that well, the support follows.”

When the LA wildfires struck in 2025, the food bank’s pre-built infrastructure allowed it to act immediately. The team used Luminate Online to send targeted emails to constituents and launched digital advertising campaigns that drove traffic to donation landing pages. Weeks later, when the government shutdown disrupted SNAP benefits, they ran the same playbook again. The results were striking: the food bank raised $27 million in the first quarter of the year, normally a slower fundraising period. Some returning donors, many of whom had first engaged during the pandemic and then lapsed, came back and gave ten times their typical gift amount.

Castle shared that Raiser’s Edge NXT has been especially valuable because it allows the team to segment its population with precision. Each year, the organization engages 30,000–40,000 volunteers, many of whom begin their journey as supporters rather than donors. “We use Raiser’s Edge NXT to segment these audiences and Luminate Online to deliver targeted welcome and nurture journeys,” he said. “That approach allows us to steadily convert volunteers into long-term donors.”

That same data-driven strategy fuels monthly digital campaigns, with segmented lists from Raiser’s Edge NXT powering Meta and Google ads to retarget existing supporters and build look-alike audiences. The result is a modern, digitally led fundraising model—one where 80 percent of new donors now come through digital channels, driven by smarter segmentation, consistent messaging, and seamless execution.

Growing the Pipeline to Feed More People

With LA County residents spending more than half their income on rent, the need for food assistance has not receded between crises. To continue serving 1.1 million people each month, the food bank must sustain at least $40 million in annual fundraising. Wealth screening tools within Raiser’s Edge NXT play a critical role by helping the team identify which donors are ready to move up. Castle shared that screening surfaces supporters giving at a mid-major level and flags individuals his team should prioritize. “A third of major donors come in at less than $250—that’s why the database is so critical,” he said. “You have to build your annual giving pipeline to feed your major donor pipeline.”

Donors identified through screening are routed into portfolios managed by major gift officers, with the food bank’s major gift threshold set at $10,000. During the government shutdown response, this process surfaced mid-level donors who stepped up to give at amounts far beyond their previous giving history.

That same in-house model—so effective during crises—also drives day-to-day performance. Because the food bank manages its own direct mail, email programming, segmentation, and digital advertising using Blackbaud software, it can launch campaigns in days rather than months. This speed advantage extends to retention as well: the organization maintains donor retention rates above 50 percent in normal years and saw retention reach approximately 67 percent among donors acquired during the pandemic. Sustaining those relationships as news cycles shift remains a central focus, with ongoing stewardship and segmented communications helping keep lapsed and at‑risk donors engaged.

As Castle explained, building these systems in advance allows the food bank to respond when urgency strikes—and translate fundraising success directly into impact. “Before the pandemic, we were feeding about 600,000 people a month,” he said. “We’re now feeding 1.1 million people a month, and that growth is possible because our fundraising runs on Blackbaud and the systems we put in place ahead of time.”