Challenge
Nearly one third of annual giving occurs in December in the United States (Network for Good), so it is crucial to communicate more intensely with your supporters in the last weeks of the year, showing the impact of your organization and its needs. But for that reason, the year-end season is a busy one, and it can be hard to break through the noise and grab the donors’ attention. With this in mind, we helped our Texas-based partner, the SAFE Alliance, put together an urgent, compelling year-end appeal.
Solution
We developed two direct mail pieces. The first, going out to donors in November, focused on SAFE’s crucial services and used a powerful story to underline its work. In December, a brief follow-up served as an urgent reminder to donors planning their year-end giving.
In addition, we created 11 emails that were sent throughout the month of December to donors and non-donors. These emails mirrored the copy and design of the direct mail packages.
We included a $100,000 matching gift to this campaign to encourage supporters to give. We highlighted throughout all pieces that any gift a donor makes by 12/31/21 will go twice as far to help Austin children, individuals, and families in need during the winter months and beyond.
We featured other channels of giving, such as Donor-Advised Fund giving and Qualified Charitable Distributions to improve response rates.
Results
The response showed strong engagement from supporters. The appeal brought 28% more revenue than last year, and the cost to raise a dollar was $0.12, way below the $0.25 industry standard.
