CASE STUDY: FUNDRAISING
The Holiday Fundraising Mailer 2021
F
oundation Magazine spoke with Brea Blight, Development Officer, Annual Giving and Communications for the Ontario Shores Foundation for Mental Health. This year’s campaign was examined and explored. Here’s the conversation. Is this campaign part of your annual fundraising strategy? Yes, like the majority of charitable organizations our big direct mail piece we do every year is our holiday direct mail appeal. The last couple of years, this campaign has also been supported by an email campaign to our email house list, paid social and digital ads, as well as organic social ads. How long has this particular mailing piece been part of the program? The Ontario Shores Foundation for Mental Health was established in 2009, and began mailing a holiday appeal in 2015.
Brea Blight, Development Officer, Annual Giving and Communications for the Ontario Shores Foundation for Mental Health
Who developed this particular mailing package? What it in house, or an agency / consultant, and if so whom? Typically, this is a piece that is created internally by the Development Officer of Annual Giving & Communications, but this year we collaborated with an outside agency who has assisted us the last two years with our yearly awareness campaign that launches in October, Blakely Fundraising. Do you have versions of this mailer which are used for other specific times of the year, other holidays etc? If so, please describe. We don’t have other versions of this exact piece. We did deploy e-mail versions through December to accompany the mailer. Our holiday mailer is a stand-alone piece. We do other direct mail initiatives throughout the year, but they will tell a different patient story, or focus on a program or research initiative at Ontario Shores, or a particular fundraising goal. 18
FOUNDATION Magazine
January/February 2022
Organization Name: Ontario Shores Foundation for Mental Health Contact: Brea Blight, Development Officer Annual Giving & Communications Name of Campaign: Holiday Giving Direct Mail Appeal Timing: Mailed on November 19, 2022 – Match offer until December 31, 2021 foundationmag.ca
