Toras Moshe

Background

Yeshivas Toras Moshe (popularly known as “TOMO”) had held a traditional yeshiva dinner every year, which was a significant component of their annual fundraising. When Covid hit, and holding a conventional dinner became impossible, they approached us to come up with a different strategy to meet their fundraising goals.
In addition, the yeshiva wanted to raise the overall level of their branding to match the high-class standard of the yeshiva itself and of their donor base.

The Challenge
Opportunity

With in-person gatherings out of the option, we recognized that the yeshiva now had a unique opportunity to reach a much wider range of alumni for their annual fundraising event than in a normal year. The challenge was to reconnect these people to the yeshiva and motivate them to attend the online event.

Strategy Session

We came up with the idea to run a virtual dinner. Over the next few months, we concurrently planned every detail of this unique dinner and also ran a campaign to reconnect alumni all over the world with the yeshiva and encourage participation in the dinner.

Strategy for connecting and motivating alumni: 1. We themed the dinner “TOMO for life…now more than ever,” conveying the message that particularly during Covid, TOMO is here for all of its talmidim – and a TOMO talmid is a talmid for life. 2. We produced a glossy print newsletter for the yeshiva, updating alumni on the unique way the yeshiva was dealing with Covid, to foster a feeling of connection and pride. 3. We created a video, shared with all the alumni and donors, that portrayed how the yeshiva stayed open during Covid by transplanting the entire yeshiva to a northern resort. 4. In the weeks leading up to the dinner, we produced short trailers building up hype for the event, featuring fellow alumni, rebbeim and Baruch Levine, who would be singing at the dinner. Strategy for virtual dinner:

1. The goal of the dinner was to provide a unique platform for the yeshiva to connect with their alumni across the world. The dinner needed to be next-level impressive, enough to wow the donor base and motivate them to participate. 2. The first step was to create a highly sophisticated digital platform to host the dinner. This platform included a “lobby” – an interactive room where attendees could see each other and chat. Search filters enabled attendees to find former classmates from their own yeshiva years. There was also an “event hall,” where the actual dinner program took place. 3. Every aspect of the dinner program was carefully planned for maximum audience appeal and interaction. Aside from the standard dinner speeches, the program featured:

a. An interactive game, featuring trivia questions about the yeshiva. The winning family won a trip to Israel. b. An original song specially composed for the occasion, sung by Baruch Levine. c. A Q&A panel by TOMO rebbeim, answering pre-submitted questions.

4. Registration for the dinner was free, with a VIP option. Those who chose this option received a L’chaim dinner package delivered to their door.

In addition to planning and executing every detail of the event, we also produced all print materials. Our goal was to upgrade their current branding, and to that end we created graphics that projected high-class elegance.

Subsequent Dinners
Following the incredible success of this Covid dinner, Toras Moshe asked us to help them produce their dinner the next year, when it was back to the standard in-person format. For all of their subsequent dinners, we created the concept, theme and all print materials, including a newsletter, invitation, ads and dinner journal, as well as a landing page for registration.

What we did:

  • 1.
    Concept and dinner logo
  • 2.
    Digital brochure
  • 3.
    Baruch Levine complete video production
  • 4.
    Video promos from Rabbonim and talmidim
  • 5.
    Video trailer
  • 6.
    Dinner package (shot glass design, chocolate box, digital brochure)
  • 7.
    Email blasts
  • 8.
    Print materials: magazine adverts, invitations, newsletter, letterheads, rollups
  • 9.
    Landing page
  • 10.
    Tomo website (UX/UI)
  • 11.
    Clik-a-thon game- design, questions and production
  • 12.
    Online adjournal
  • 13.
    Web banners
  • 14.
    Consequent dinner complete branding (logo and concept, invitations, newsletter, letterheads, adverts, rollups, seating cards, landing UI & UX, email blasts, adjournal design)
  • Results

    The Virtual Dinner was a resounding success, with over 840 families participating! The feedback afterwards was phenomenal.
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