From Segments to Synergy: How Syracuse Stage Grew Donors Through Alignment

What happens when marketing and development teams truly align? At Syracuse Stage, collaboration, shared segmentation, and coordinated planning unlocked new opportunities; not just for efficiency, but for deeper patron relationships.

Here’s how that shift led to meaningful growth and measurable results.

The Challenge: A Disconnected Customer Experience

“People are getting things from us all the time… It’s just Syracuse Stage. So why are they sending me two different mailings two days apart?”

For their customers, Syracuse Stage wasn’t 'marketing' and 'development', it was just Syracuse Stage. But behind the scenes, separate calendars, messaging, and goals meant patrons sometimes received overlapping communications or asks that felt out of sync.

The challenge wasn’t about capability; it was about coordination. Without shared planning, even great campaigns risked colliding instead of complementing each other.

The Turnaround: Integrated Strategy, Aligned Action

Faced with rising revenue goals and shrinking campaign budgets, Syracuse Stage leaned into discipline and data. With TRG’s guidance, they aligned marketing and development, transforming not just messaging, but mindset.

The Results:

• +10% increase in donor base
• Improved renewal + donation campaign outcomes
• Stronger cross-team planning, reduced duplication
• Patrons receiving fewer but more strategic communications

Hear from the Syracuse Stage team on the impact of unified messaging, and what happened when they brought marketing and development together.

How They Did It: 6 Ways Syracuse Stage Built Smarter Campaigns

1. Shared Communications Calendar: Aligned timing across departments, no more “oops, same week” surprises.
   
   
2. Behavioral Segmentation: Looked beyond “donor vs buyer.” They segmented by action, recency, and readiness.
   
   
3. Cohesive Design Standards: Fonts, colors, tone; everything matched. One organization, one voice.
   
   
4. Co-created Campaign Cadence: Worked backwards from subscription renewals to time donation asks carefully.
   
   
5. Marketing as the Invitation Engine: Marketing warmed the audience; development followed with a tailored ask.
   
   
6. Data-Driven Decision Making: Used patron journey data to define next best actions and assess performance. 

The Real Discipline is Segmentation

Campaign success starts, not ends, with segmentation. The team didn’t just align calendars; they aligned around shared segments, tracking behavior across channels, not departments.

Watch the full story of Syracuse Stage’s 7-year partnership with TRG, and how unified teams, disciplined segmentation, and shared strategy turned fragmented efforts into measurable growth.

Action for Leaders

This isn’t about having the perfect CRM. It’s about using what you do have (people, planning, and data) to create cohesion.

Start here:

1. Map one shared segment across both marketing and development.
2. Build a single campaign with dual objectives: engagement and giving
3. Celebrate the win, together.

Want to see how this could work at your organization?

If you’re ready to break down silos, build smarter campaigns, and grow loyalty through strategic alignment, we’re here to help. Let’s talk about how TRG’s data-driven approach to segmentation and collaboration can unlock your next big result.