Find out which fundraising efforts the judges chose as best of show in our 2006 Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

The package is mailed in an unassuming, white, 6-inch-by-9-inch carrier envelope in support of the institution’s annual-fund campaign. Included in it is an 8.5-inch-by-11-inch, double-sided letter, a 5-inch-by-8-inch reply device — both featuring the same blue-and-green color scheme behind The Out-of-Door Academy logo — and a BRE. The letter is first-name personalized, beginning (in the sample provided), “Dear Dana & Melinda.” Sent to parents of enrolled children, the letter focuses on the value of The Out-of-Door Academy experience, including statistics that reiterate the benefits of an independent-school education over public school, and reports the amount raised in the previous year’s annual campaign.