Individual donors

What would fundraising be without donors? And what would SOFII be without a special area devoted to nurturing and developing donor relationships? Within this special space SOFII has selected and assembled a glittering array of specialist showcases in which we display a treasure trove of examples of the art and science of donor relationship development.

The Dogs Trust: sponsor a dog scheme, television commercials

by SOFII

These television commercials are really part of the Dogs Trust sponsor a dog exhibit but they show such good use of DRTV they are worth an additional airing here. Unusually for nonprofit DRTV in the United Kingdom these ads made a profit from their first showing. Quite exceptionally, the early ads achieved a return on investment of five to one.

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Woman’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.

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Farm Africa: ‘ask for what you need’

by SOFII

How do you ask a maojor donor for $50,000 when she’s at the other end of a telephone line and you’re in a very noisy tapas bar? Do you make ‘the ask’ in the worst possible surroundings? The lesson from this case study is that as long as ‘the ask’ is right, it doesn’t matter where you are.

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Médecins sans Frontières: ‘field partners’

MSF Pack shot

by SOFII

Without doubt all fundraisers want regular givers and lots of them. This is a great example of how to convert your existing supporters from random one-off gifts to planned regular giving, and how charities can change the giving behaviour of existing supporters.

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Habitat for Humanity: money back guarantee

by SOFII

Would a money-back guarantee help your direct mail? Habitat for Humanity tried it, and the results were as interesting and instructive as were their reasons for doing it.

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WWF Canada: welcome pack for new donors

by SOFII

Learn how to engage and retain your donors from this early example of a donor-centred welcome pack. This is a very good and highly copyable example of the genre. And, most noteworthy perhaps is that this pack has been structured and written around what the donor would want, not what the organisation wants.

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WWF 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.

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NSPCC: the Little Book of Change

A page from The Little Book of Change

by SOFII

A brilliant example of stewardship at its best, the NSPCC’s Little Book of Change is a superbly-chosen high value thank you for major donors and volunteers alike. The Little Book of Change was designed to bring to life a range of outcomes for children that had previously been presented in a statistical report. Individual stories of children and families are shown through letters, poems, stories, magazine articles and drawings. This approach could be utilised by any organisation to make its key stakeholders feel part of what the organisation is trying to achieve and to secure their help in the long-term.

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Station WDCN, Nashville, USA: special ‘thank you’ to a donor

by SOFII

A fundraiser really listening to her donor, thinking on her feet and responding in an entirely appropriate and personal manner with a communication that any donor would be delighted to receive.

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RSPB: brand stretch work

by SOFII

Ten brilliant images designed to inspire and introduce new audiences to the work of one of Britain’s premier conservation organisations.

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RSPCA New South Wales: cupcake day

Cupcakes

by SOFII

The brilliant thing about this idea is that the supporters do most of the work and they have a great time too.

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Covenant House Alaska: ‘moustache march’

A bevy of likely lads with acceptable upper lip adornments all line up for the first moustache march

by SOFII

Covenant House helps homeless and runaway youth in Alaska. Moustache march, has brought new supporters to their cause, as well as raising much-needed funds.

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