Michigan Humane Society used an integrated donor-acquisition campaign to grow its donor file

By Joe Boland

"Believe You Can Make a Difference" and Addie were featured in every component of the campaign. An alternate tagline, "Your Gift Can Make a Difference," was tested mostly on space ads in the newspaper and online banner ads, but ultimately "Believe You Can Make a Difference" won out.

"So we stuck with that 'you' theme and made sure we showed Addie's sweet face because we know that people like photos of animals," Howard says. "We continued to hammer home that 'you can make a difference' by doing this very simple thing. It's a very succinct call to action — you can make a difference, donate, call here, go here …"