10th Annual Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence

By Sean Norris

Multichannel House Annual Operating Budget $10 Million or Over

Year End Renewal
Connecticut Food Bank
Submitted by RobbinsKersten Direct

The Numbers
Recipients: 25,757 (email); 52,549 (direct mail)
Response Rate: 0.33 percent (email); 7.37 percent (direct mail)
Total Cost: $22,514
Income Generated: $601,027
Average Gift: $145.76 (email); $151.91 (direct mail)
Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.05 (email); $0.03 (direct mail)

Why It Won
Gearing up for its year-end fundraising push, the Connecticut Food Bank decided on a multichannel campaign to reach active and lapsed donors. But where many multichannel efforts cast a wide net in an attempt to reach more donors on more channels, this one kept it simple—and personal. “We started with a letter package thanking donors for what they had helped accomplish during the year, and included a summary of important accomplishments,” said Polly Papsidore, vice president of marketing for RobbinsKersten Direct, who designed the campaign. “This package was followed by a postcard and a series of three emails before year-end.”

The email series featured clean, image-heavy templates with multiple, clear calls-to-action, but it was the mail-pieces that elevated this campaign to award-winning levels. The letter package and postcard received a 7.73 percent response rate, and generated $588,642 for a cost of $21,887. Combined with the email series, the campaign generated more than $600,000 overall. That so much was raised via direct mail is especially striking. And for minimal cost ($627), the email component provided a strong complement to the mailings.