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.

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. 

The National Asthma Campaign: Straws mailing

by SOFII

This revolutionary pack from 1991 features an irresistible involvement device, an easily detachable plastic drinking straw that readers are invited to detach, open and breathe through for less than a minute. It is an imaginative way of involving recipients and enabling them to feel for themselves what it’s like to live with asthma.

Medicos Sin Fronteras: medicine for someone else’s pain

by SOFII

‘Pills for another person’s pain is a project of awareness and also a new symbol of hope.’

St Michael’s Hospital Foundation: urban angel newsletter – special campaign edition

by SOFII

This newsletter is particularly worth studying because it's designed to fill a special role at the end of a successful three-year capital campaign. So it's a 'round-up' newsletter, with a number of important jobs to do under the general 'stewardship' heading.

St Michael’s Hospital Foundation: a special book to thank volunteers

by SOFII

Fundraisers all too often take their volunteers for granted so it's good to see an organisation setting out specifically to be brilliant at saying thank you to them. Having raised $140 million thanks to the help of volunteers it was reasonable that the people at St Michael's should invest time and resources in saying thank you properly.

NSPCC: how to motivate fundraisers

by Giles Pegram CBE

When Giles Pegram had the somewhat novel idea of thanking individual fundraisers when they had done something special, he had a great idea that not only thrilled and motivated them, but also inspired other fundraisers around them.

In lieu of flowers: how to write lively memorial donation thank-you letters

by Lisa Sargent

Are your in-memoriam donation thank-you letters destined for donor oblivion?

This copywriting clinic looks to help you rescue them from a fate worse than, well… death.

CHATS: the Norooz letter, in Farsi

by SOFII

It’s an ancient truism of fundraising that if you want to communicate with donors you must speak to them in their language, not yours. Here’s a small example that paid off in practice.

St Michael’s Hospital Foundation: the 2010/11 annual report to donors

by SOFII

The St Michael’s Hospital Foundation view their hard-working and very appealing annual report as an opportunity to showcase the accomplishments of the past year and honour their generous donors. It shows them that their donations have been wisely spent and have made a real difference to the patients cared for at St. Michael’s.

Greater London Fund for the Blind: Christmas card and thank-you card tests

by SOFII

Some people were so pleased with their thank-you cards that they rang GLFB to say so. SOFII is sure that when the next batch of mailings land on their doormats the one from GLFB will spark off a fond memory and, therefore, picked up first.

Rhode Island Foundation: why less can be more with the annual report, particularly when it comes to legacies

by SOFII

To send or not to send? If you ask your donors if they want to receive your annual report, why do you think they don’t reply? It could be inertia, ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’. Maybe they think they'll be saving you time and money, they’re nice, considerate people after all. By the same token intertia will stop them going to your website to view your report online – and you will never know. If you send a printed copy, you know they have it and might they not be more likely to look at it, if it’s there in their hands? The stories here from Tom Ahern and the Rhode Island Foundatio show the power of the printed word.