Non-Profit Campaigns That Won Direct-Marketing Awards

Direct Mail

Silver Award

World Vision

34834 Weyerhaeuser Way South, Federal Way, Wash. 98001

Title of program: Sponsor Bounceback Campaign

Agency: Russ Reid Company

Objective: To encourage people who “sponsor” needy children by making monthly donations to increase the amounts they give and to strengthen the bonds between donors and the children they help.

Budget: $479,199

Lists: 946,333 donors

Media: Four appeals that encouraged donors to sign and return a card or small gift, which was then given to the donor’s child. Each appeal also asked for additional money to help kids without sponsors.

Results: 54 per cent of recipients made a gift; $4,743,561 was raised for kids without sponsors.

World Jewish Congress

501 Madison Avenue, New York 10022

Title of program: Ambassador’s Circle Invitation

Agency: Malchow Adams & Hussey

Objective: To seek gifts of at least $1,000 by encouraging people to join a giving club that offers several benefits to people who make large donations.

Budget: $12,630

Lists: 1,581 donors

Media: Direct-mail invitation featuring a commemorative stamp of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Results: 9.9-per cent of recipients responded, giving a net total of $103,395; 120 people gave $1,000 or more.

Bronze Award

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

6931 Arlington Road, Suite 500, Bethesda, Md. 20814

Title of program: “65 Roses” Research Campaign

Agency: Nations Care Direct Marketing

Objective: To solicit a year-end gift for a new research program from people who supported the charity in the past — but had not responded to a previous year-end appeal.

Budget: $35,000

Lists: Donors who had given at least $250 annually

Media: Hand-delivered box of one dozen red roses with no return address; a solicitation letter was tucked inside.

Results: 43 per cent of recipients made a gift; the appeal netted $156,000.

Leader Award

The Civil War Trust

2101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1120, Arlington, Va. 22201

Title of program: Winchester Prospect

Agency: Malchow Adams & Hussey

Objective: To recruit new donors to help preserve a Civil War battlefield in Winchester, Va.

Budget: $154,723

Lists: 449,776 subscribers to history magazines

Media: An appeal featuring pictures of the endangered battlefield and Civil War commanders.

Results: A net of $48,055 was raised; 7,405 of the contributors were new donors.

Covenant House

346 West 17th Street, New York 10011-5002

Title of program: “More” Appeal

Agency: Epsilon

Objective: To raise $2.2-million to expand the number of shelters for runaway kids by getting donors to make a larger-than-normal gift.

Budget: $213,133

Lists: 524,888 previous donors

Media: A four-page letter that included an offer for people to call the charity’s chief executive directly if they were considering a gift of $10,000 or more.

Results: 17 per cent of recipients gave; the appeal netted $2,857,107, including six donations of $10,000 or more.

Hale House

154 West 122nd Street, New York 10027

Title of program: Holiday Spool Doll

Agency: Newport Creative Communications

Objective: To thank donors and to encourage them to make a year-end gift.

Budget: $11,191

Lists: 1,178 donors

Media: A hand-made wooden doll accompanied by a solicitation letter.

Results: 26 per cent of recipients made a gift; the total raised was 71 per cent more than the previous year-end appeal garnered, with an average gift of $368.

World Jewish Congress

501 Madison Avenue, New York 10022

Title of program: “Business Card” Renewal

Agency: Malchow Adams & Hussey

Objective: To encourage donors in a giving club to renew their membership with a gift of $1,000 or more.

Budget: $10,832

Lists: 367 donors who had contributed more than $1,000 in the past year

Media: A solicitation letter accompanied by business cards in the donor’s name, stating his or her affiliation with the charity.

Results: The appeal brought in $82,694, with an average gift of $1,117.

World Jewish Congress

501 Madison Avenue, New York 10022

Title of program: “Dirty Secret” Prospect

Agency: Malchow Adams & Hussey

Objective: To obtain new donors.

Budget: $27,899

Lists: 60,019 members of other Jewish organizations

Media: A letter describing how Swiss banks denied Holocaust survivors access to accounts held by their relatives who died in concentration camps, a petition urging politicians to support the U.S. investigation into the matter, and a note designed to look like it was written during the war by a Jew in danger of being sent to the camps.

Results: 2.5 per cent of recipients made a gift; the average donation was $28.

World Vision

34834 Weyerhaeuser Way South, Federal Way, Wash. 98001

Title of program: February Easter Bounceback

Agency: Russ Reid Company

Objective: To encourage people who “sponsor” needy children by giving $20 per month to contribute more so other kids could receive help.

Budget: $64,770

Lists: 64,325 sponsors

Media: Direct-mail appeal featuring an Easter card that donors sign and return; the card is then given to the child they sponsor.

Results: 21 per cent of the recipients gave more than the amount they needed to donate to be a sponsor, with an average increase of $8.50

Multimedia

Gold Award

Children’s Memorial Hospital

2300 North Children’s Plaza, Chicago 60614

Title of program: “Life of a Child”

Agency: Rapp Collins Worldwide

Objective: To encourage small businesses to buy holiday greeting cards designed by children treated at the hospital.

Budget: $132,415; paper, postage, and creative services were donated by companies

Lists: 8,195 previous customers and small businesses culled from a rented list

Media: A catalogue featuring a sample card and display advertisements promoting the catalogue.

Results: 3.7 per cent of recipients bought cards, 50 per cent more than in the previous year; the average order was $354 worth of cards.

Bronze Award

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

633 Third Avenue, New York 10017

Title of program: New York City Marathon

Agency: Epsilon

Objective: To recruit runners who would ask others to contribute to the cancer center in support of their participation in the marathon.

Budget: $100,000

Lists: 21,352 runners registered in the previous marathon

Media: Direct-mail appeal that offered prizes, such as personal computers and free airline tickets, to runners who brought in the most donations; display advertisements were also used.

Results: 2.5 per cent of recipients agreed to seek sponsors, a 25-per-cent increase over the previous year; 534 runners raised a total of $873,000.

World Vision

34834 Weyerhaeuser Way South, Federal Way, Wash. 98001

Title of program: 30-Hour Famine kNOw Hunger

Agency: Killion McCabe & Associates

Objective: To raise money and call attention to world hunger by recruiting groups of young people to fast for 30 hours and to recruit sponsors to give money for the time they fast.

Budget: $1,600,000

Lists: 8,094 previous participants, students, members of youth groups, and youth leaders, particularly those from religious groups

Media: Advertisements in publications for teen-agers, T-shirts, videotapes, a World-Wide Web site, posters, and booklets and other materials about the event.

Results: The event drew 17,577 groups, 60 per cent more than in the previous year, and netted $3.6-million, 23 per cent more than the 1996 event.