The direct mail, door drops and household deliveries showcase

Congratulations! You’ve just found the world’s best and biggest collection of fundraising direct mail, right here on sofii.org. There are more than 160 detailed case histories and articles here for you to learn from, crib from, adapt or copy. And lots more besides. Enjoy!

Click here for the full contents and index for SOFII’s direct mail showcase. 

The summary report of the Commission on the Donor Experience into direct mail fundraising can be found here.

University of Leeds: The calendar appeal

by SOFII

This excellent mail appeal was a success thanks to a very smart theme where alumni shared their experiences and memories of their time at the University of Leeds. To check out the calendar and full creative, click read more.

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The Royal Flying Doctor Service: ‘Buy a jet’ direct mail

pack shot

by SOFII

This award-winning mailing certainly caught the eye of donors – donations poured in and income soared passed the target. A subsequent newsletter must have been especially good too, because 750 people gave again even though they hadn’t been asked!

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University of Leeds: direct mail cash appeal to alumni

by SOFII

The direct mail appeal that raised more in 12 weeks than the University had raised in their previous eight years of sending mail appeals.

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University of Leeds: the memories appeal

by SOFII

This multi-channel ‘prospecting’ campaign from the University of Leeds enabled them to reach former students who had drifted away from their former university and exceeded its target by 56 per cent.

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WSPA: ‘Big bear build’ and ‘big bear rescue’ appeals

The big bear build pack.

by SOFII

This campaign clearly showed donors that they were highly valued by WSPA and that their support was making a difference. Having been on a journey with WSPA rescuing the captive bears since 2006, the donors were able to see the influence they had made as well as the change they could make possible now.

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Action on Hearing Loss: put a gift in your will

by SOFII

Action on Hearing Loss has calculated that this legacy campaign is likely to generate around £2 million in the future.

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SolarAid: ‘Spread the light’ campaign

by Richard Turner

Have we all been so busy looking for ways to recruit donors that we are missing something obvious? This exhibit from SolarAid shows how fundraisers used the passion their donors feel for the cause to recruit friends, neighbours and family members of those same donors, bringing them onboard as SolarAid supporters too.

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How I wrote it: the Amnesty pen letter

by Fergal Byrne & Karin Weatherup

In this, the ninth in a series of interviews with leading fundraising writers, Karin Weatherup talks to Fergal Byrne about the legendary Amnesty pen letter she wrote for Amnesty International – the pack was Amnesty UK’s banker for 10 years or more and was copied or adapted by many Amnesty International sections around the world.

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Sense: A magical Christmas appeal from Teddy

by SOFII

Sense and Bluefrog share the creative and results from a super direct mail campaign that was sent to individual donors. It proves that, if used properly, direct mail appeals to your supporters can, and will, achieve great results for your charity. 

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How I wrote it: the Salvation Army UK’s first large-scale cold mailing

by Pauline Lockier

In this, the fifth of a series of interviews with leading fundraising writers, Pauline Lockier talks to Fergal Byrne about a fundraising appeal letter written for the Salvation Army in 1990 which subsequently became their control for eight years. In this conversation Pauline tells Fergal how she wrote the letter and what really matters in making sure this kind of letter is a success.

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University College London: the ‘paper head’ Christmas appeal

by Aline Reed

It’s not surprising that University College London’s brief to bring philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham back to life to raise funds caused Aline Reed to, in her words, ‘frown, ask “you want me to do what” and generally feel rather puzzled for a number of days. But after undertaking some research she and Mark Phillips came up with the idea of a ‘ransom in reverse’. Intrigued? This exhibit reveals the fantastic results.

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Il report di ringraziamento di Interval House

by Emma Lubrina

Questo report e’ fresco di stampa. SOFII non vede l’ora di conoscere il parere dei lettori su questo report di ringraziamento.

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