Ad Campaign Helps New York City Charity Avoid Declines in Year-End Giving

Michael Adams, executive director of a charity that provides services to elderly gay residents in New York City, says that an advertising campaign helped his organization raise more money at the end of last year—even as other area charities suffered steep declines due to the recession.

Sage—as the charity is called to show its mission of providing services and advocacy for older gay New Yorkers—placed a series of ads in 1,500 city buses and subway stations in October, November, and December. Each had a simple message, such as “SAGE is caring” and “SAGE is creative,” and featured a photograph of one of the organization’s clients.

The ad campaign, produced by Double Platinum, a New York advertising agency, at a cost of $125,000, caused donations to Sage to grow by 12 percent in the last three months of 2008—over what the charity raised over the same period during the previous year. The number of gifts also grew by 29 percent.

“We were not doing anything else to raise money beyond what we normally do,” says Mr. Adams, who notes that Sage sent out its usual year-end direct-mail appeal in 2008. “The one thing that was different was this ad campaign.”

A lift in donations was not the only benefit, he adds. During the months the ads ran, the number of new clients who had learned about Sage on their own—as opposed to being referred by other agencies—rose by 30 percent.

What’s more, the number of people who offered to volunteer, running errands for clients or providing other services, jumped by 80 percent. “It was amazing,” says Mr. Adams. “Traditionally most volunteers are in their 40s and 50s, but this ad campaign brought in people in their 20s and 30s. That was exciting.”

He said Sage hopes to run a similar ad campaign in coming months.