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.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific: the welcome process
by SOFII
Think objectively about the experience a new donor has within the first few months of joining your organisation. Greenpeace Australia Pacific has developed a new and simplified process to ensure that new donors receive clear communications that both thank and further engage them. The result is that they’re reducing the number of donors who leave within the first three months.
Read moreAustralian Conservation Foundation: end of year appeal
by SOFII
By changing the way that donors were asked for support, ACF was able to triple income and response with this mailing. It is a brilliant example of a credible, compelling and engaging direct mail piece to a warm audience.
Read moreBritish Heart Foundation: the ‘calculate the cost of heart disease’ mailing
by SOFII
This is irresistible. How could any cost-conscious businessman or woman resist playing with this gadget to get an idea of what heart disease is costing his or her bottom line each year?
Read moreWoman’s Royal Voluntary Service: Face-to-face postcard
by SOFII
This is a wonderful example of outstanding stewardship. It shows that developing a strong relationship with the donor at the earliest possible stage can significantly affect loyalty and reduce attrition in a notoriously difficult and challenging type of donor recruitment.
Read moreThe Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade: minute regarding the need for fundraising from 1788
by SOFII
This piece offers a unique insight into how, 220 years ago, funds were raised to help fight one of the greatest social evils of all time. In its formality, the 114-word single sentence of this solicitation has a distinctly quaint character.
Read moreThe early Christian Church: St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians
by SOFII
This may not be the world’s earliest ever recorded mention of fundraising but it could well be the first ever example of a fundraising director exhorting his troops to achieve their targets. Or, do you know different?
Read moreAlbert Street Methodist Sunday School: the foot of pennies from the 1930s
by SOFII
A small yet colourful part of England’s fundraising heritage had been discovered in a Methodist chapel about to be demolished. As their finder explains, these fun feet of pennies are engagement devices designed to make collecting for charity easy and so to hook neophytes into the habit of giving.
Read moreISRT thank-you and welcome letter
by SOFII
ISRT produced a ‘welcome pack on a single page’. This low cost example of donor relationship development shows fundraising creativity at its simplest and best. Every fundraising organisation could and should aspire to have a thank-you programme and materials at least as good as this.
Read moreWWF Canada: new donor questionnaire
by SOFII
This questionnaire, though a separate and distinctive part of WWF’s new donor welcome process, is an integral part of it. Great donor development in practice, and easy to emulate.
Read moreHomeFront’s virtual gala: ‘Don’t Save the Date. Just Save the World.’
by SOFII
The offer is simple: for your next charity fundraiser, save money and hassle and stay at home. You save on catering and save the planet, just by staying at home.
Read moreWWF Hungary: ‘Don’t let Danube’s wildlife be destroyed’ campaign
by SOFII
The ‘Don’t let the Danube’s wildlife be destroyed’ campaign aimed to collect donations for the protection of the Danube River, from the employees of WWF’s partner companies.
Read moreOperation Raleigh: toilet paper mailing
by SOFII
Truly, the best fundraising is almost invariably the most simple and most direct. This mailing also successfully shows the value of writing ‘from the field’, in a distinctive way.
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