St. Joseph's Indian School – Home Renovation/Chapel Restoration Midlevel Appeal

GOLD: Categories: Technique: Best Art Direction
GOLD: Categories: Technique: Best Print Production
SILVER: Categories: Direct Mail: Fundraising/Non-profit (campaign)

Tailoring the Message to Donor Giving History
St. Joseph’s Indian School mailed midlevel appeals each July since 2006 with great success. For the past several years, these campaigns were based on the renovation of the students’ residence halls. Given the poverty, deprivation, and chaos with which many of these students have lived before coming to school, it’s a powerful message. We were concerned, however, that donors who have contributed in response to this theme in the past might be tired of it. So we created a new message for those donors, based on the restoration of the school’s chapel. Each group of donors received two beautifully produced, highly personalized packages – an initial letter and a follow-up. All packages used live handwriting, quality paper stock, and first-class postage. The elegant design used bold colors to match a Sioux design motif. After the mailing of the second package, nonresponders got telephone calls based on a script that matched the tone of the letters. The script was based on donor praise and acknowledgment and included an opportunity to make a $100 gift. The campaign spent only $0.37 per dollar raised, meaning each $1 invested in it returned $2.69. It resulted in 2,000 additional high-dollar donors.