Gold Awards Flashback: Muscular Dystrophy Association (2010)

As we gear up for this year's Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence competition, take a look back at the winner of the 2010 Campaign of the Year — as well as the Direct Mail: Renewal (fewer than 50,000 mailed) winner — the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Research Leaders campaign, submitted by DaVinci Direct.

From the the judges: "This package is direct-mail fundraising at its best," Gold Awards judge Joe Boland remarks. "It uses the best practices of personalization on everything from the letter to the insert to the reply device, basing the ask on giving history and offering the chance to increase donations. More importantly, the copy is a picture-perfect example of how fundraising letters should read. Throughout, the letter stresses how you, the donor, are needed, what your money will do, how MDA needs to rely on you. And it tugs on the emotional heartstrings with the story of Abbey — another best practice."

Gold Awards judge Scott Swedenburg concludes, "The results for this package are phenomenal, which is ultimately the true test of a package's success."

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