The main areas of fundraising

Save the Children: knit one save one

by Matthew Sherrington

Knit a tiny hat and you could save a newborn baby’s life. This beautiful campaign from Save the Children UK shows what can happen when you make it crystal clear to people the difference they can make.

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Greenpeace’s optimistic tick-box suggestion: the ‘Stop Thorp’ campaign court case mailing

by Carolina Herrera

This exhibit works on many levels. At first glance the reply form opposite looks innocuous enough but really it’s a brilliant illustration of how, in times of need, donors will respond warmly to help a cause when it is clearly in trouble.

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Breakthrough Breast Cancer: ‘touch look check’ campaign

The leaflet.

by SOFII

This campaign successfully united two aims: to increase knowledge of the warning signs of breast cancer and recruit a large number of regular givers.

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ORBIS: gift aid campaign

by SOFII

Making life easy for donors is in this proposition from ORBIS UK: you can save someone’s sight by just ticking a box.

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All Saints and St Andrew’s Church, UK: parachuting teddy bears

teddy bear parachuting

by SOFII

Is this the world’s first teddy bear parachute jump? The basic idea is not only appealing, it was easy to organise, cost almost nothing and is easily copied.

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St Michael’s Hospital Foundation: data-based planned giving campaign delivers heavenly results

Some of the teams and work that St Michael’s generous donors help.

by SOFII

St Michael’s Hospital Foundation’s in-depth analysis and profiling of their donor lists has gone a long way towards answering the oft-repeated question: are we marrying the needs of the donor with the needs of the cause in order to achieve a common goal? 

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Oxfam UK: the £2.00 a month proposition to new donors

man fishing

by SOFII

Oxfam’s first foray into television advertising was a disaster and they very nearly ditched the whole thing. But a chance remark turned disaster into a monumental success and added a new dimension to recruiting new donors.

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Camp Rising Sun: the impact of an infographic

by SOFII

This infographic is visually appealing, uses technology available to organisations of all sizes and demonstrates the key fundamentals of fundraising – make a compelling case for support and demonstrate to your donors the impact of their gifts.

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Advantage Africa: Christmas gift wrapping offer

by SOFII

Your volunteers can be powerful donors for your cause. Advantage Africa uses the simple service of offering a Christmas gift-wrapping service in a local shopping centre that raises a substantial amount of money for their work in Kenya and Uganda. This is an idea that could be adapted to raise money all over the world.

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The Owl and Monkey Haven: appeal for two lonely capuchins, Martin and Lulu

The appeal badge.

by SOFII

This appeal for the happiness of Martin and Lulu, two lonely capuchin monkeys is charming, honest, urgent and authentic. It captured the attention of supporters across the UK and beyond and is an example of fantastic storytelling without forgetting the ‘ask’.

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Friends of the Earth: the Bee Cause

by SOFII

This extremely important campaign from Friends of the Earth perfectly integrates fundraising and genuine participation, through beautifully produced and interesting involvement devices, both online and offline.

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‘Who says that, these days, off-the-page donor recruitment can’t be massively profitable?’

by Ken Burnett

This candid exposé shares with you the inside story of a remarkable acquisition success, though it took such to-ing and fro-ing to achieve it that SOFII lost one of its star acts for the epic Once Upon I Wish I’d Thought Of That. Despite this sad story Indra Sinha’s experience shows that a former fundraising faithful is far, far from finished. And that fine writing is still worth its weight in gold.

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