Direct Mail Birthday Campaign
The disabled child is celebrating a birthday – what’s your gift?
The Dutch foundation for disabled children “Het Gehandicapte Kind” turned 70 in 2020. The foundation didn’t want this anniversary to pass unnoticed. They asked Mindwize to turn this event into a fundraising campaign that would appeal to their supporters. In partnership with the foundation, we were able to create a successful campaign.
Every birthday needs a wishlist. And that is exactly what we used as premise for this uplifting but urgent campaign: “What will be your gift from our wishlist?”
The challenge was to make this birthday relevant to the donor as well.
We got the donor involved in the story from the very first sentence by personally congratulating him or her on this anniversary.
By then showing donors what had been achieved in 70 years thanks to their donations, as well as laying out the challenges still facing the foundation today, we created a good balance between impact and urgency.
By including the personal story of Skip, who cannot participate with other children, we gave the need for giving a personal emotional charge – an indispensable element of fundraising.
What’s your gift?
Once convinced of the need for giving, the donor could then choose one of three different gifts from the wishlist. Or give all three, of course J. Each gift represented a different program within the foundation “Het Gehandicapte Kind.” It was also a good way to make the gift tangible to the donor.
As a thank you for supporting the campaign, the direct mail envelope contained a number of cheerful birthday cakes, to reinforce the ‘birthday’ theme.
We like testing
Because this was a new approach for “Het Gehandicapte Kind,” we tested several different versions for comparison.
We tested with and without the request for donations.
And we tested with and without the premium (three birthday cards).
The Result
All three versions returned a doubling of the response in comparison with previous mailings and a considerable increase in the amount of the average gift. But the real winner in terms of response was the version with a donation ladder and premium.
Would you like to find out more about this campaign? Or would you like to beat the targets of your fundraising campaign? Then please get in touch with marieke@mindwize.nl
Het Gehandicapte kind (The disabled child)
A society in which children with and without disabilities grow up together. In which it is completely normal that they go to school together, play together and play sports at the same sports club. That is their dream.
Has direct mail peaked?
Exactly how relevant is direct mail in an increasingly digital world? 
Research shows that direct mail does, in fact, have added value alongside digital communication.
We at Mindwize love direct mail. Not only because it remains highly effective in attracting donations and retaining donors, but it’s also a great medium where sight, touch and interaction can be used to convey emotion and urgency.
We can tell you all about the benefits of direct mail. But perhaps, its best to let our research speak for itself.
Download the whitepaper and discover the 5 reasons why direct mail is still relevant!
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