Watch Love Grow surprises thousands of bereaved women with flowers, grows impact 11x

Introduction

Special holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day often resurface pain after losing a loved one. To show love to those who are hurting, Watch Love Grow surprises widows and grieving mothers with heartfelt flower deliveries.

The idea was born shortly after Ashley Manning launched her online floral and home decor business in 2020. She had a vision for Valentine’s Day and turned to her Instagram followers for help. Dozens of volunteers quickly signed up to package and deliver baskets of flowers, jewelry, wine, and treats to 125 widows, reminding each woman how loved and cherished she was.

Seeing the possibilities, Ashley filed for 501(c)(3) status for her new nonprofit, named Valentine’s Day Widow Outreach Project at the time. Doing so meant she could continue to expand and reach more women. Every year, Ashley has hit her increasingly ambitious fundraising goals thanks to a burgeoning community of supporters and well-deserved recognition in Good Morning America, People Magazine, ABC News, and more.

As the movement spread to new cities and Ashely set her sights on delivering more arrangements than ever before, it was imperative that she had an easy way to collect, track, and manage donations. That’s where Donorbox comes into the story.

Looking to save time and bring together information

Watch Love Grow started fundraising to cover the cost of gift baskets. As word spread, donors started giving in new ways, both online and offline. Having a comprehensive, real-time view was essential for ordering the right number of products and estimating deliveries.

Ashley explained: “I needed to have all donation information in one place and for it to be easy enough to manage, because sending thousands of tax letters every year when it’s just me is a lot of work. Donorbox checked all those boxes.”

Affordable automation

Watch Love Grow signed up for Donorbox in 2022\. “The pricing looked good to me. There was more capability in the platform than I even knew about,” shared Ashley.

Her secret to freeing up nearly two hundred hours of manual work? Automation. “I really like being able to tweak the auto-reply that someone receives after making a donation, and being able to send out tax receipts with one click. It saves me a lot of time.”

Raising more than ever before

Now in its fifth year, Watch Love Grow is blossoming. This year, over 1,500 widows in the Charlotte metropolitan area were surprised with Valentine’s Day flowers – an 11x increase from the first year. And that’s not even counting the deliveries in 5 other cities now served: Dallas, Nashville, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Hutchinson.

Ashley continues to hit her fundraising goals thanks to steady donor support. In 2025, she raised a record $100k to cheer up thousands of women. The takeaways? First, adding a donation prompt in a strategic place helps: “This year, we secured a lot more donations than we had in the past by encouraging people to make a donation along with their nomination,” Ashley shared. Second, convey the impact that a gift makes (i.e. for $110, you can provide flowers and gifts to two recipients).

Donorbox’s customizable donation forms make this quick and easy. Ashley and her sister now fundraise in multiple cities with a drop-down menu and city-specific donation pages. Each crowdfunding page can be tailored to the local community, featuring a donor wall, goal meter, and email sign-up to rally supporters.

Re-engaging past donors is also simple with Donorbox. Ashley said: “Having all the information in one place has made it really easy to see what we’ve done before and compare it to this year’s results. It’s been easy to export that information too, so other fundraisers can figure out which donors they’re still waiting on.”

The Future

Big things are coming: Ashley will double the impact this year by going beyond Valentine’s Day to include Mother’s Day. The idea is to seek out mothers who have lost children to show them that their pain is not forgotten. Within 10 years, Ashley wants to expand to every state nationwide. To encompass a broader mission, the nonprofit has rebranded to Watch Love Grow.

Reflecting on how things are going, Ashley shared: “This year we definitely had more donations. And as the momentum and the excitement in the community grows around the project, there are more and more people who want to be involved.” This year, nearly 1,200 volunteers helped out over the course of 3 days. Included in each delivery is a thoughtful card conveying all of the love that went into that arrangement, from volunteers to in-kind donations from local vendors.

The lesson is simple: on days where we celebrate loved ones, take a minute to reach out to those who have lost someone. Even small gestures can make a world of difference. Donorbox is happy to support Watch Love Grow as they ensure those who are hurting are not forgotten.

Donorbox features used

• Donation Form
• Donation Designations
• Crowdfunding
• Donor Wall
• Goal Meter
• Recurring Donations
• Fundraising Campaigns