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.
Greenpeace USA newsletter: the origami whale
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by Matthew Sherrington
If you want to engage your donors give them something interesting and fun to do. This is an example of transforming the humble newsletter, with new energy and purpose, to deliver a real involving experience to supporters.
Read moreTo ask or not to ask, that is the question when saying thank you to a donor
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by Lisa Sargent & Sean Triner
Find out what Sean Triner, co-founder and director, Pareto Fundraising in Australia and Lisa Sargent, principal at Sargent Communications, LLC in the USA have to say about this.
Read moreUnited Way: the impact calculator
![screenshot](https://classy-cobra.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Case_Studies/Web_based/224UnitedWay1.jpg?w=640&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1402575696&s=ba9913b68ec7d8015c195418bc17ac9f)
by SOFII
The calculator allows donors to put in an amount and it lets them know the impact of their donation. This is a simple tool that any organisation with a website can easily do. It’s a great way for engaging donors.
Read moreGreenpeace UK: their cycle of renewal and reactivation mailings, the ‘countdown’ and ‘please and thank-you’ packs
![envelopes](https://classy-cobra.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Case_Studies/DM/67GPcount1.jpg?w=640&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1403000748&s=b91c3fe71a2a4ab38f88dba9e536eaa7)
by SOFII
The two mailings shown here form part of Greenpeace UK’s renewal mailings cycle from the late 1980s. Each pack is short, punchy and based around a simple theme, encapsulated in a single word (each of which involves a powerful call to action and which are presented in a very Greenpeace way).
Read moreThe Dogs Trust: sponsor a dog scheme, television commercials
![](https://classy-cobra.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Case_Studies/Broadcast/6613-the-dogs-trust-new-hero.png?w=640&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1671427089&s=1c541c6de131c558aeeefad467cb33d9)
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.
Read moreWoman’s Royal Voluntary Service: face-to-face postcard
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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 moreFarm Africa: ‘ask for what you need’
![](https://classy-cobra.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Case_Studies/Individual_donors/24354-Farm-Africa-ask-for-what-you-need.jpg?w=640&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1439712460&s=d4b71f2c214cf3422a5973b13dba6f44)
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.
Read moreMédecins sans Frontières: ‘field partners’
![MSF Pack shot](https://classy-cobra.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Case_Studies/DM/40MSF1.jpg?w=640&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1401875318&s=c0e1e136557a7abc9557ea5ed1132b36)
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.
Read moreHabitat for Humanity: money back guarantee
![](https://classy-cobra.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Case_Studies/DM/22467-Habitat-pic1.jpeg?w=640&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1429670755&s=3f44564d6e462a48dd5a3d2ae45afcfe)
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.
Read moreWWF Canada: welcome pack for new donors
![](https://classy-cobra.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Case_Studies/Welcome-Thank-you/22294-WWF-welcome-pack-pic2.jpg?w=200&h=302&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1428899047&s=405199d4ba3aae71bb59af7ad2ae53e7)
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.
Read moreWWF Canada: new donor questionnaire
![](https://classy-cobra.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Case_Studies/DM/24714-WWFCanada-new-donor-questionnaire.jpg?w=640&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1442376916&s=0c97aab8d6ba6abfc37238bb4e2416d3)
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 moreNSPCC: the Little Book of Change
![A page from The Little Book of Change](https://classy-cobra.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/images/Case_Studies/Individual_donors/97NSPbk1.jpg?w=640&auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&dm=1401875387&s=de64c0792d5adcb0c0a174c686ca1ed6)
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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