The main areas of fundraising
St Dunstan’s: help blind heroes interactive acquisition campaign.
by SOFII
By combining a commanding and touching story with an interactive grit 'reaction test', they have managed to design a campaign that will both move and interest people.
Read moreOntario Nature: ‘Ruby the hummingbird’ mailing
by SOFII
This unusual example of direct mail tells a complex, moving story in an imaginative and very engaging way.
Read moreJewish Care: the Post-it note campaign
by SOFII
The ideas that look most obvious and the execution that looks so easy and straightforward of course rarely are. There’s no such thing as simple creativity. But here is a great idea executed with flair so as to be instantly clear and appealing.
Read moreHarvard University: how Harvard got its name. Major gift fundraising in the seventeenth century.
by SOFII
The examples in this exhibit are almost 400 years old, yet it would seem that we are still making the same mistakes today when it comes to major gift fundraising.
Read moreCHATS: 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.
Read moreBlue Cross: a brand refresh
by SOFII
This charity’s brand refresh is different from many others because it puts supporters and their deep love and concern for pets first. It’s designed to meet fundraising objectives as well as brand awareness.
Read moreSt 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.
Read moreHelp the Aged: ‘you have this gift’ direct mail pack
by SOFII
Both the text on the envelope and the incentive in this classic direct mail pack from the 1980s have been copied frequently.
Read moreHow I wrote it: Jules Brown talks about the Women’s Aid fundraising letter
by Fergal Byrne & Jules Brown
In Fergal Byrne’s seventh interview with leading fundraising copywriters, Jules Brown from New Zealand explains why he begins with a case study. ‘I immerse myself in the case study. For me, it forms the guts of what fundraising direct mail is all about.’ Click here to see the powerful case history he used in the featured letter that he wrote for Women’s Aid in Ireland.
Read moreGreater 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.
Read moreRhode 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.
Read moreHow I wrote it: Alan Sharpe’s War Child fundraising letter.
by Fergal Byrne & Alan Sharpe
In this, the sixth of a series of interviews with leading fundraising writers, Alan Sharpe talks with Fergal Byrne about a fundraising letter written for Canadian charity War Child in 2011. During this conversation, Alan reveals the thinking that went into his letter and what really matters in making a letter a success.
Read more
