How Lynn Sage Expanded Its Fundraising Programs Without Increasing Costs or Headcount

The Opportunity

For over 40 years, Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation has funded breast cancer research and the scientists and physicians advancing the field. Because the foundation raises the money it invests each year, every hour its team can dedicate to donors has the potential to expand its impact.

As Lynn Sage evolved from a largely volunteer-led organization into a professionally staffed foundation, its fundraising ambitions were growing faster than its internal capacity. The team needed to run its marathon program, manage everyday donations, and deliver its largest annual fundraising event—all without continually adding staff, costs, or administrative work.

The technology supporting these programs was making that harder. Marathon fundraising ran through Classy, the annual gala through GiveSmart, and everyday donations through Funraise. Staff had to move between systems, work with disconnected information, and spend valuable time configuring and troubleshooting tools.

For Samantha Decker, Director of Annual and Major Giving, the problem was practical: every hour spent managing technology was an hour she could not spend raising money.

“I just want to go out there and raise money. Every minute that I am spending trying to figure out why this report isn’t working is a minute I am not spending with a donor.”

Lynn Sage initially considered haku for its marathon fundraising program. But as the team evaluated its broader needs, it saw an opportunity to build greater fundraising capacity without increasing its technology budget or introducing more operational complexity.

Where haku Made the Difference

haku gave Lynn Sage a way to expand what its fundraising team could accomplish without expanding the team itself.

The difference was not simply replacing several tools with one. It was giving Lynn Sage the flexibility to address each new fundraising need by building on technology, knowledge, and a partnership it already had.

After beginning with marathon fundraising, the foundation continued choosing haku for everyday giving and its fall benefit gala. Each expansion allowed the team to move forward without starting another vendor evaluation, learning another system, rebuilding its processes, or taking on another technology relationship.

That changed the role technology played within the organization. Instead of creating additional work whenever Lynn Sage introduced a new program, it helped the foundation pursue new opportunities while protecting staff time for donor engagement and fundraising.

As Samantha explained:

“We were met with this approach of, hey, we’re a part of your team and we’re going to help you find out what’s working, what’s not, and how we can make things operate better.”

Growing Fundraising Without Growing Operational Burden

Lynn Sage’s fundraising strategy extends across several distinct programs. Its marathon program engages peer-to-peer fundraisers, its website supports year-round giving, and its fall benefit represents the foundation’s largest annual event by revenue.

Previously, expanding into a new area often meant adding another system and another set of processes for the team to manage. That approach was becoming increasingly difficult to sustain as Lynn Sage professionalized its operations and prepared for its next stage of growth.

Samantha summarized the challenge:

“It does not make sense to me that marathon fundraising is being run out of Classy, our fundraising gala event is being run out of GiveSmart, and our regular fundraising forms are being run out of Funraise. Why are we paying for three platforms when all of them can do this and on top of that they don’t talk to each other?”

With haku, Lynn Sage found a different path. The foundation could expand from marathon fundraising into website giving and event fundraising without increasing its technology costs.

More importantly, staff did not have to recreate their operating model each time the organization pursued a new opportunity. They could apply what they had already learned, work with a team that understood their goals, and focus their attention on executing the fundraising strategy.

Samantha described the impact as “a huge positive” for efficiency, staff time, and the responsible use of the foundation’s resources.

Reclaiming Time for Donor Engagement

The fall benefit offered the clearest example of what greater operational capacity meant in practice.

As Lynn Sage prepared for its largest annual fundraising event, the haku team helped establish the systems and processes needed to support it. That assistance allowed the foundation to avoid at least 20 hours of setup work.

“The team helped us with our entire fall benefit gala system. We saved at least 20 hours of work that we have now just skipped right past, which is all the more time I have to then go meet with donors and raise those critical funds.”

For a small team, those 20 hours represented more than an efficiency metric. They represented time that could be spent meeting with donors, strengthening relationships, and generating additional support for breast cancer research.

The benefit also extended beyond gala setup. With fewer systems to navigate and a partner available to help address challenges, Lynn Sage could reduce the time staff spent troubleshooting reports, managing disconnected information, and figuring out technology independently.

That gave the foundation a practical way to increase its capacity without hiring additional staff.

Supporting Innovation as Lynn Sage Evolves

Lynn Sage was not looking only for technology that could meet a fixed list of requirements. The foundation needed the freedom to evolve its fundraising strategy as its team, programs, and donor expectations changed.

Regular conversations with haku gave Lynn Sage an opportunity to discuss what was working, identify sources of friction, and explore how its fundraising operations could improve. The value of those conversations came from having a partner that understood the organization’s goals and could help the team find a practical path forward.

As Samantha explained:

“The fact that was met with, tell us more, tell us how you’re doing that, tell us why that’s important—that really, to me at least, speaks to an ethos of the partnership.”

That partnership gave Lynn Sage greater confidence to pursue new ideas. When another fundraising need emerged, the team did not automatically have to seek out another vendor, absorb another cost, or build another disconnected process.

Instead, the organization could continue expanding from a foundation it already trusted.

The Results

What began as a decision about marathon fundraising became a more sustainable model for organizational growth.

Lynn Sage expanded haku into everyday giving and its largest annual fundraising event, increasing what its team could accomplish without increasing technology costs or headcount. During fall benefit setup alone, the foundation reclaimed at least 20 hours of staff time.

The impact was especially meaningful because of how that time could be reinvested. Rather than troubleshooting reports or configuring technology, Lynn Sage’s team could focus on the work that directly advances its mission: engaging donors and raising funds for breast cancer research.

The foundation also gained more freedom to evolve. New fundraising opportunities no longer had to bring another platform, another learning curve, and another administrative burden with them.

For Lynn Sage, the most important result was not simply a smaller technology stack. It was greater organizational capacity, the ability to grow its fundraising strategy while protecting the time, budget, and people responsible for bringing that strategy to life.

Creating Capacity for the Next 40 Years

Lynn Sage’s experience demonstrates what becomes possible when technology keeps pace with an organization’s ambitions.

The foundation did not set out simply to consolidate platforms. It needed a sustainable way to expand its fundraising programs while remaining responsible with its resources. By continuing to build on haku, Lynn Sage reclaimed staff time, avoided additional technology costs, and created more room for its team to focus on donors.

That capacity will be critical as the foundation enters its next chapter. The less time staff spend managing technology, the more time they can dedicate to growing the support that makes breast cancer research possible.