The main areas of fundraising
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.
Read moreThe Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade: minute regarding the need for fundraising from 1788
by SOFII
This piece offers a unique insight into how, 220 years ago, funds were raised to help fight one of the greatest social evils of all time. In its formality, the 114-word single sentence of this solicitation has a distinctly quaint character.
Read moreHabitat for Humanity International: Hungary mailing
by SOFII
Find out how a dream came true for Hungarian expatriate who used brilliant direct mail to help build homes for his fellow countrymen and women. Creatively, this pack gives a ‘behind the curtain’ view of what one man can do – the pack feels like Mr Lorincz may have really contributed to the folder and map.
Read moreRSPCA’s pile of dead dogs advertisement
by SOFII
Some time around the turn of the 1980s Britain’s leading animal welfare charity, the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), produced a striking and controversial poster that positioned it as a campaigning organisation too.
Read moreRCSB: Bhopal emergency appeal
by SOFII
Created in less than two hours, this ad went on to raise more than 20 times its total costs in just a few days, to become a classic example of disaster appeal advertising. More than £420,000 was raised and most of it directly attributable to the press advertisements.
Read moreMédecins sans Frontières: ‘field partners’
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 moreThe early Christian Church: St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians
by SOFII
This may not be the world’s earliest ever recorded mention of fundraising but it could well be the first ever example of a fundraising director exhorting his troops to achieve their targets. Or, do you know different?
Read morePrincess Margaret Hospital Foundation: Wings of Hope appeal
by SOFII
This carefully crafted direct mail programme neatly combines an innovative donor involvement device with a symbol of hope that each year plays an impo…
Read moreAlbert Street Methodist Sunday School: the foot of pennies from the 1930s
by SOFII
A small yet colourful part of England’s fundraising heritage had been discovered in a Methodist chapel about to be demolished. As their finder explains, these fun feet of pennies are engagement devices designed to make collecting for charity easy and so to hook neophytes into the habit of giving.
Read moreBhopal Medical Appeal: B’Eau Pal publicity stunt: don’t go near the water!
by SOFII
Don’t go near the water: 25 years after the world’s worst ever man-made disaster, B’EauPal shows that effective political campaigning takes ’bottle’ (a commonly used London term for courageous risk-taking). This is a classic opportunistic protest in a good cause.
Read moreHabitat 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.
Read moreRNLI: Britain’s first-ever street collection, 1891
by Carolina Herrera
An appalling loss of life in 1886 leads to the invention of a fundraising classic that's still raising millions today. A horrific double tragedy brought about Britain’s first-ever street collection for a charitable cause. It was a significant milestone in the history of voluntary action in the UK and elsewhere.
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