CARE USA

Judging for the Gold Awards was a little more low-key this year, it seems. (We think it might be because the ASPCA’s Steve Froehlich couldn’t make it. But please … don’t tell him we said so.) Also, there was no hotly contested tie for Package of the Year that had us seeking tiebreaker after tiebreaker like last year. But the competition was just as fierce.

PACKAGE OF THE YEAR Gold: Habitat for Humanity International Special Development Appeal (Craver, Mathews, Smith & Co.) Silver: Rhode Island Community Food Bank Annual Review Brochure (DaVinci Direct) Bronze (Tie): Tuskegee Airmen — Charles McGee Campaign (Fundraising Strategies) CARE November/December World Report (Merkle) ACQUISITION (50,000 OR MORE MAILED) Gold: Utah Food Bank 2007 Thanksgiving Donor Acquisition (L.W. Robbins) Silver: Wildlife Conservation Spring 2007 Acquisition (Schultz & Williams) Bronze: Mail Call Hurts (Gum Version) (Fundraising Strategies) ACQUISITION (FEWER THAN 50,000 MAILED) Gold: Tuskegee Airmen — Charles McGee (Fundraising Strategies) Silver: Bidawee “Welcome” (SCA DIrect) Bronze: Adaptive Clothing Gift Tag Package (Fundraising Strategies) RENEWAL (50,000

Nonprofit direct-response fundraising programs historically have centered around one channel, usually direct mail. But as other channels become more viable and new ones emerge — can you say W-E-B? — innovative organizations have become aggressive in incorporating them into their fundraising mix.

An online platform called Tickets-for-Charity works with musicians and sports teams to offer fans access to some of the best seats for events in exchange for a donation to charity. Through www.Tickets-for-Charity.com, music and sports enthusiasts can buy tickets at face value when they pay a set charitable donation amount.

Atlanta-based international humanitarian organization CARE was recognized as a “Superstar” by peers at GetTogether 2006, GetActive Software’s third annual user conference, in Baltimore in mid-September, for having the “best recurring e-newsletter.” Tobias Smith, Internet strategist for the organization, took some time to speak with me about what it is that makes the 4-year-old monthly e-newsletter, CARE Connections, successful. Smith describes CARE Connections as the anchor of CARE’s large, complex e-cultivation effort at raising funds and encouraging advocacy. The goal of the e-newsletter is to bring people back to the Web to view the content that’s there. The e-newsletter includes feature stories, educational content,

Debra Neuman is on intimate terms with the tsunami that devastated southern Asia in December 2004. Just as you would never refer to a friend as “the Bill” or “the Mary,” she calls the killer storm simply “tsunami” — no preceding article — as though the word should be spelled with a capital T.

An amazing thing happened when we decided to give our mid-level donors power — revenue soared. And so did gift frequency and donor loyalty.

It all began when we started to treat donors like the “owners” of CARE they truly are. We gave them choices and direct access to senior staff at CARE. We honored their wishes. The results have been extremely gratifying.

Brian Cowart, director of direct marketing for CARE, one of the world’s largest private international humanitarian organizations.

Once considered haphazard and uncoordinated, international relief and rescue efforts have come into their own as vital fundraising campaigns. Whether responding to the grave effects of a natural disaster or to the plight of malnourished children in third-world countries, organizations such as American Red Cross, CARE, UNICEF, Food for the Hungry, International Rescue Committee and a host of others have heeded the global call.