2023 Awards Finalists and Winners

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Sponsors

Principal Award Sponsors

Category Sponsors

FIA Corporate Supporters

Young Fundraiser of the Year Sponsor

About the Awards

The FIA Awards for Excellence in Fundraising are a key component of FIA’s commitment to champion best practice in fundraising.

The Awards recognise and showcase the outstanding initiative, innovation, effort and success of professional fundraisers, volunteers and organisations. They celebrate fundraisers’ hard work and successes across the year, provide an opportunity for acknowledgement by your peers, and promote the role of fundraising in improving our society.

Campaign award submissions went through the judging process at the end of 2022. This culminated in a celebration of finalists at year end events within each state and territory. The finalists were then submitted for further assessment by the National Judging Panel to determine the winners of the Most Outstanding Fundraising Project.

FIA fellow’s judged the Young Fundraiser of the Year, Volunteer of the Year and Fundraising Team of the Year submissions.

All of FIA’s winners were announced and celebrated at the fundraising sector’s night of nights on Thursday 23

February 2023, during FIA’s 46th Fundraising Conference in Melbourne.

All submitting organisations should be regarded as leaders in our profession. They represent the passion for the causes supported by each organisation and show their commitment to ethical, transparent and accountable fundraising.

ARTHUR VENN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Arthur Venn Lifetime Achievement Award recognises an FIA Member who has made an outstanding contribution to FIA and the fundraising sector in Australia. The fundraiser should have shown consistent excellence and best practice through their actions, leadership and intellect.

WINNER Craige Gravestein

FFIA CFRE

Over the last 30+ years, Craige Gravestein has contributed significantly to transformational improvements in healthcare, education, animal welfare, religious and social services, and to the fundraising body of knowledge in Australia.

Craige has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in partnership with hundreds of not-for-profits. In the last 10 years alone, Craige personally directed and completed capital and capacity campaigns including for Brisbane Lions, Ronald McDonald House South-East Queensland, The Salvation Army North Queensland and more raising an astounding $166,000,000.

Craige has been accredited as CFRE since approximately 2010 and a fellow of FIA since 2012. Craige is FIA Code certified. Craige’s coaching, lecturing, presentations and publications mean that he has passed his expertise on to other fortunate fundraisers to ensure it lives on. Craige has the unique ability to inspire his fellow fundraisers with his passion for seeing high net worth individuals experience the joy of giving and the fruit of their hard work and generosity. Craige has contributed significantly to the fundraising body of knowledge that exists in Australia, particularly around major gifts.

Sponsored by:

Craige has been a long-term volunteer with the Queensland FIA State Committee since 2004. He is also a dedicated long-term volunteer with Bardon Anglican Church, as a Justice of the Peace/ Commissioner for Declarations, and as a Cause Champion for rebuilding a war damaged tertiary college in South Sudan.

FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR

The Fundraiser of the Year Award recognises an FIA Member who has made an outstanding contribution to fundraising best practice and to FIA over the period of 5 years. The fundraiser should have shown outstanding fundraising performance, best practice through their actions, uncompromising commitment to ethics, contribution to sector improvement and impact on the fundraising profession.

Sponsored by:

WINNER Lisa Allan FFIA

Lisa Allan’s uncommon ability to combine sophisticated marketing expertise and best practice fundraising principles is second to none, and the results speak for themselves.

Under her leadership, The Smith Family’s mass market fundraising has evolved to a sustainable, integrated, and multi-channel program that has consistently delivered year on year growth, more than doubling income in the last 5 years, and now worth over $90 million.

The deep respect Lisa enjoys among her peers within the organisation and the fundraising sector results from her knowledge and experience, and a focus on data and research to support strategic and tactical decisions. Under Lisa’s guidance the bequest and mid-value donor programs have become multi-million-dollar contributors to the organisation and have introduced seismic shifts in the way donors are engaged and give.

As a champion of donor-centricity she brings the donor closer to the work that they fund and the outcomes they make possible. The Smith Family believe their donor retention program is best in class. The expansion of their digital communication activity has forged new ground and driven engagement and giving levels. This is also reflected in Lisa’s leadership in key change agendas beyond her portfolio such as the recent rebrand, strengths-based communications strategy (Frameworks) and her leadership of Agile transformation. As a leader, Lisa is resilient and strategic, with an intuitive understanding of how to connect her team to the mission.

YOUNG FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR

The Young Fundraiser of the Year Award rewards a fundraiser aged 30 years or younger who has made a significant contribution to fundraising. The fundraiser should have shown consistent excellence and best practice through their actions, leadership and intellect.

State Winners:

• Emily Lewis MFIA (VIC)

• Emily Marriott (TAS)

• Rebecca Stone (NSW)

NATIONAL WINNER Emily Lewis MFIA

Emily has consistently proven herself to be a passionate and ethical fundraiser who is keen to grow, learn and aim for the best outcomes through her data-driven approach and her innovative and creative thinking. Emily always has the donor top-of-mind and is always thinking about how to be more donor-centric in our actions and communications.

She excels in taking complex topics and turning them into digestible communication pieces using donor-centric language, to illustrate both need and impact. Emily has mapped a variety of journeys which engage and retain supporters and achieve or exceed financial and non-financial goals. Emily’s strategic segmentation and analysis of internal and external data have ensured the success and continual growth of her campaigns. Her testing, data analysis and segmentation strategies have helped increase average donor value.

Sponsored by:

High Commendation

Rebecca Stone (NSW)

She has a tremendous capacity to think outside the box and is often praised for her creative solutions. Emily’s leadership has led to an increase in org-wide understanding of donors and appeals and a stronger philanthropic culture. By building respectful relationships and educating ACF staff outside of fundraising, Emily has created an agile environment where ACF is able to deliver urgent fundraising responses in key moments. Emily is ambitious, smart and positive consistently demonstrating her commitment to best practice fundraising.

FUNDRAISING TEAM OF THE YEAR

The Fundraising Team of the Year category recognises internal fundraising teams working across a variety of campaigns to support the ongoing work of the organisation. The focus of the award is on teamwork and leveraging internal resources to achieve the organisation’s fundraising objectives.

State Winners:

• Australian Conservation Foundation, Fundraising Team (VIC)

• Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Community Engagement Team (WA)

• Hobart City Mission, Communications & Fundraising (TAS)

• Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation (NSW)

Sponsored by:

NATIONAL WINNER

Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research

Community Engagement Team (WA)

The Community Engagement team at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research has a reputation for doing things differently. Five years ago, they set out to approach medical research in a unique way – with heart and wit. They wanted to break down the lofty walls of research institutes by opening the doors and actually welcoming donors in. The Perkins’ purpose is to Help people live healthier, longer lives. While the researchers do this with science, the team wanted to do it by engaging directly with supporters and empowering them to be partners in the lab.

They expanded their connection to the community and fundraising channels. Previously they didn’t support bequests or regular giving and direct mail was neglected so they adopted an in-house agency model with the fundraising and marketing staff work as one unit bringing science to life.

In 2022, they achieved the following:

• MACA Cancer 200 raised $7.1M

• New Town Walk for Women’s Cancer raised $1.14M

• Secured 6 new events sponsors worth $680K

• Grew regular giving program by 1,620%

• Increased major gifts by 400%

• Grew confirmed bequests by 315%

• Secured community grants worth $131K

They choose not to outsource their work so success is due to a creative, collaborative approach backed by a multiskilled team. In 2017, they had around 27,000 donors and raised $6.5M Year to date they have over 43,000 donors and raised $ 8.9M.

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

This award acknowledges the significant and highly valued contribution made by volunteers to the fundraising profession. It honours a volunteer who has assisted through their efforts and dedication of time to an organisation and fundraising cause.

State Winners:

• Charlie Bennett, MS Queensland (QLD)

• Margaret Kelly, Foodbank NSW & ACT (NSW)

NATIONAL WINNER

Charlie Bennett

Nominated by MS Queensland (QLD)

High Commendation

Margaret Kelly, Foodbank NSW & ACT

Charlie’s wife Jenny has been living with MS since she was diagnosed in 1973 at just 15 years of age; he’s been involved with MS QLD since then. Charlie made the decision to stop working seven years ago and become Jenny’s full-time carer; they created a new life dedicated to the MS Community. Over the years, Charlie & Jenny together have been a force to be reckoned with. Charlie’s personal commitment, dedication and support of his wife Jenny, and many others living with MS is why he was nominated for an FIA Award. He often puts the needs of others before his own and spends his own time supporting carers and those with MS, Charlie and Jenny have dedicated their time to raise over $280,000 since 2013. To quote Charlie “MS is an arse of a disease”. He is more than 100% committed to being there for people living with MS, and working towards a world free from MS. Charlie volunteers his time planning fundraising activities as well as his weekends and evenings at countless bake sales, golf days, collections plus more throughout the year. Charlie and Jenny participate in the annual MS Brissie to the Bay bike ride. Charlie often personally raises upwards of $30K, with Jenny raising upwards of $60K each year. Charlie consistently goes above and beyond in his fundraising efforts and he and Jenny consider MS Queensland their family.

FUNDRAISING CHAMPION OF THE YEAR

Established in 2021, this award acknowledges the importance and highly valued contribution of ‘non-traditional’ fundraising advocates and supporters within your organisation. Designed to recognise that effective fundraising doesn’t happen in isolation, the award honours a member of your organisation who does not hold a specific fundraising role, but whose efforts contribute to, facilitate, grow and support your fundraising success.

WINNER Jenna Sing Bendigo Health

Jenna Sing has been an Oncology Nurse at Bendigo Health for 12 years and epitomises a fundraising champion. She advocates for corporate support within her networks and at her local football and netball club, speaks at fundraising events and is the face of our Cancer Wellness Program; she continually helps to create a culture of philanthropy by supporting the work undertaken by Bendigo Health’s Fundraising and Foundation team. She also helps identify funding opportunities and prospective funding partners.

Since taking on the role of Cancer Wellness Coordinator at Bendigo Health, Jenna has observed first-hand the positive effects of fundraising in establishing the Gobbé Wellness Centre and facilitating the Cancer Wellness Program which is 100% funded through fundraising. Jenna has actively participated in every fundraising campaign relating to cancer wellness and encouraged others within her circle of influence to take part and raise funds. Jenna has recruited corporate partners to join Dry July and appeared in promotions and videos shared to encourage participation and increase fundraising. Jenna has used her networks to establish relationships with a range of individuals and corporate partners sympathetic to supporting cancer wellness. She consistently supports the fundraising team to speak with current and prospective funding partners, including sharing the benefits of the program in speaking engagements, appearing in promotional advertising and videos and doing whatever is asked of her. Jenna is naturally engaging and passionate about complementary therapies in cancer treatments. She even mastered a Teleprompter app to ensure her videos are delivered exactly as desired.

PRINCIPAL AWARD

MOST OUTSTANDING FUNDRAISING PROJECT

The most outstanding entry across all campaign categories.

JOINT WINNER Royal Life Saving Society

WA

auRaffles Digital Platform Team

Laura Kazmirowicz EMFIA

Montelle Bauernfeind

Gypsy Treacy

Diversus

Glenda Stark

Prue Stark

Royal Life Saving Society WA’s (RLSSWA) purpose is to prevent drowning in Western Australia. They use a variety of fundraising initiatives, including raffles, to support water safety programs. RLSSWA sought to leverage new technology and improve the efficiency of the supporter journey, whilst also protecting existing channels. They developed an omnichannel digital raffle platform called auRaffles, an easy to use, customisable digital platform to support charity fundraising campaigns.

The platform is “white label” allowing other charities to use the technology, with their own branding, on a cost recovery basis. auRaffles accommodates a range of marketing channels, enabling efficient retention and acquisition strategies through telemarketing (TM), face-to-face (F2F), digital, social media and direct mail (DM). It supports real time credit card payments, regular giving, pledges, BPAY, Post Billpay and cash. Call centre software has also been integrated to auto populate processing screens allowing greater efficiency.

Sponsored by:

RLSSWA migrated its raffle program onto auRaffles and has grown online raffle income from almost zero in 2018 to $2.4M. This reduced print, postage and administration costs by more than $75K, and saved 1.35 tonnes of CO2. The platform has been used by over 50 charities and has raised over $20M since 2018. Every extra dollar raised and saved by using the auRaffles platform enabled charities to further support their communities through their vital programs.

PRINCIPAL AWARD

MOST OUTSTANDING FUNDRAISING PROJECT

The most outstanding entry across all campaign categories.

JOINT WINNER

Childhood Cancer Support Inc.

Feels Like Home Childhood Cancer Support Grants Program Team

Mark Robbins

Monique van Zelm Felix

Pat Hooper

Helen Crew

Jo Spencer Superdream

Childhood Cancer Support has very limited resources with only five staff; one manages community/in-house fundraising campaigns, the General Manager manages the grants program and three staff cover family services, maintenance/transport, finance/admin. They provide accommodation, patient transport services and mental health support/professional counselling to regional children fighting cancer. The accommodation provided is fully self-contained units for regional families needing to relocate to Brisbane for their child’s long-term oncology treatment to house a family of up to 12 and for up to two years.

The children are severely immuno-compromised due to cancer treatments; they require private, hotel-style accommodation away from the public. The Feels Like Home Grants Program centred on sourcing grants to upgrade accommodation to ensure the families have safe and comfortable long-term accommodation. A qualified Family Social Worker is also on hand to provide counselling/mental health supports to each family member during their stay and counselling support continues when they return home.

Sponsored by:

They researched and applied for suitable grants. Given resource constraints, a highly strategic approach was needed to ensure high rates of success and impact. A key strategy was registering several identities within the organisation with the Gambling Community Benefit Fund which had previously supported the cause. Their grant capacity was subsequently maximised and allowed for multiple successful grants per round.

MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN

For fundraising campaigns that challenge the status quo in or outside your organisation

This award recognises campaigns that challenge the status quo and show courage, within your organisation or outside, in trying a different or revolutionary approach to drive fundraising success. Innovation may include: use of new or ground-breaking ideas; or the use of previously untried or untested strategies/activities to achieve fundraising success.

Winner

• Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation

Growing the giving potential of mid-value donors

Finalists

• Anglicare Victoria

AV Aid Food Truck

• Barnardos Australia

Hiding in plain sight - Digital Campaign

• Children’s Medical Research Institute

Jeans for Genes

• Mater Foundation Back Up The Frontline

• Save the Children

Sponsored by:

Regular Giving Optimisation

MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN

Peter Mac developed and implemented a new campaign in 2021 called Growth Giver, part of the Individual Giving (IG) program designed to increase giving from mid to high-value donors.

Though stewardship for high-value donors was in place, there was a lack of relevant offers to help move donors up the value funnel. Growth Giver was applied in three key steps;

Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation Growing

Team

Julia Cameron

Laura Bellairs

Jonathan Chan

Sponsored by:

1. Identification of potential mid-value donors through a strategically-designed supporter survey and traditional RFV (recency-frequency-value) targeting.

2. Implementation of the Growth Giver appeal, sending physical mail to these midvalue donors to ask for a significant additional gift towards the “Peter Mac Research Accelerator Fund” which was created specifically for the Growth Giver campaign.

3. These funds were used to boost the Christmas appeal, which is an existing, large-scale appeal, by positioning the Peter Mac Accelerator Fund as a matched gift.

This innovative campaign enabled Peter Mac to uncover donors who have the capacity to increase their giving in a way that standard appeal ask structures don’t always allow for. In its first year, Growth Giver raised over $200,000 of additional income for the Foundation, with an ROI of 6.02; a strong result compared to existing appeals in the DM program.

MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN

The surge of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in January 2022 put extraordinary pressure on the health system. Mater healthcare staff across 11 Queensland hospital sites were asked to work longer hours and additional shifts. There was clear community sentiment and desire to thank frontline healthcare workers during this demanding period.

Mater Foundation

Back Up The Frontline

HIGH COMMENDATION

Mater Foundation sought to deliver a new, innovative donor campaign to showcase the community’s appreciation and capitalise on the strong media attention. The campaign required a new collaboration with Youfoodz, a leading ready-made meal service. This digitally-led campaign asked Mater’s community of supporters to make a $50 tax deductible donation to thank a frontline health worker, which would be doubled in value to gift a $100 Youfoodz voucher. Health workers could select meals they wanted from the Youfoodz website, which were then delivered to their door – it gave them one less thing to worry about.

Mater Foundation’s agile approach to securing a new corporate partner, designing and implementing a digital campaign at pace, gifted more than 2,600 Mater frontline health workers with a $100 YouFoodz gift voucher to recognize their extraordinary contribution. 1203 individual donations were made across a fourweek period including 413 new donors and raising $130,017. It was clear demonstration of innovation and community leadership aligned with organisational values.

Sponsored by:

MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN

Team Nikki Kerridge

Aggie Morris

Jo Watson

Save the Children

Regular Giving Optimisation

HIGH COMMENDATION

Sponsored by:

Liz Cruger

The Regular Giving Optimisation Team

Save the Children (STC) relies on Regular Giving (RG) for 70% of its fundraising. Given the changing external climate (covid, recession etc) and some internal challenges impacting the ROI of their regular giving program, a decision was made to set up a dedicated campaign targeted at lifting RG performance. Instead of individual teams chipping away at small improvements they established a cross departmental Agile team with a focus on data driven decisions, digital advancement, and the ability to shift focus quickly. Central to the approach was the supporter experience and increasing communication and connection. The campaign had clear objectives and targets around increasing income and ROI across all acquisition activity whilst ensuring at least three viable acquisition channels.

Having an Agile approach was critical. They scheduled regular stand ups and experimented with different agile frameworks. Collaboration was across multiple departments and learnings were shared along with reviews and retrospectives in real-time. This united the teams from Acquisition to Donor Development through to Digital Marketing and Analytics and gave them an understanding of what each were doing and why. From establishing a new acquisition channel, to challenging the Faceto-Face model and the recruitment of a dedicated Conversion Optimisation role, improvements started to be seen. A strong focus on first year retention, expanded donor journeys and gratuity calling using machine learning, ensured that acquisition results continued on for the longer-term. Ultimately, the net objectives were hit along with substantial improvement in the ROI.

MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN

Anglicare Victoria

AV Aid Food Truck

Team

Paula Gething

Kirsty Simpson

Julie Witte

AV Aid is a new service enhancement to Anglicare Victoria’s (AV) current emergency relief (ER) food provision. The concept is a food delivery service that focuses on non-perishable food items delivered straight to their emergency relief centres, who have limited storage capacity.

FINALIST

Storage of food at sites can become problematic in cases where there are limitations to the overall availability of storage space be it refrigerators or shelving. Increased cost of living pressures, rising fuel prices and the ongoing fallout from the pandemic have significantly ramped up demand for emergency relief.

The AV Aid campaign represents the very first trial of a major donor campaign and the results were astonishing with targets being exceed by almost $400,000. This enabled food deliveries to 17 underserved sites across Victoria. The sites are all in locations with low socio-economic population and predictably high demand for relief services.

Sponsored by:

AV Aid can also be used to reach out to vulnerable individuals and families within the AV network, spanning 93 locations state-wide including remote areas. The campaign has been a game-changer. It demonstrates the power of a targeted and creative campaign strategy and has reset AV’s expectations of the inherent value of philanthropy as a significant contributor to the organisation’s operations as a whole.

MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN

Team

Dan Ludlow

Cathy Rowe

Irene Saunders

Barnardos Australia

Hiding in plain sight –Digital Campaign

FINALIST

Sponsored by:

Natalie Logan

Jennifer Peace

Simon Jarosz

Barnardos developed the ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’ campaign to draw attention to the difficult topic of child sexual abuse. It was the ‘litmus test’ of Barnardos’ newly developed, innovative and unique selling point of being ‘fearlessly optimistic’, a brave new evolution in organisational thinking, designed to be razor-focussed in ensuring Barnardos’ belief system is reflected in external communications.

Fearlessly Optimistic; Barnardos has an unerring belief in its responsibility to harness the inbuilt optimism of children (often despite these children navigating terrible circumstances). The ‘on the ground’ teams are so passionately optimistic about the future potential for every child they encounter, it was decided to hard bake this positivity into their communications. Barnardos, quite simply, ‘goes there’; as an organisation; Barnardos fearlessly tackles, supports and cares, often across situations that are still often seen as ‘taboo’ or ‘too hard’. Whilst the reality of many children’s situations is horrific, Barnardos bravely set out to give optimistic agency back to the child showing that a positive outcome can be achieved. The campaign was to go live during the critical tax time. While being the most competitive time of the year with so many charities running appeals, Barnardos decided this was the right time to bring an optimistic lens to their target audience.

MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN

Children’s Medical Research Institute

Jeans for Genes

Team Greg Noel-Butterworth

Jeans for Genes (J4G) is a fundraising campaign for the Children’s Medical Research Institute to help find treatments and cures for children’s genetic diseases. In 2018 it raised $337,284 from merchandise box sales. In 2020, due to the pandemic this dropped to just $19,922 and to $12,222 in 2021. Whilst other event income streams actually increased during this time, the gross revenue had fallen by almost half a million dollars. Urgent diversification was required to protect fundraising and the research relying on it for funding.

FINALIST

The 2022 campaign aimed to raise an ambitious $1.4M and exceeded expectations raising $2.1M. This extraordinary result made this the most financially successful campaign in over a decade! The key was diversification. In partnership with Donor Republic, four event propositions were developed along with a Facebook challenge to steward gifts from multiple streams. A Facebook Skipping Challenge hoped to make $130,000 and exceeded expectations by raising over $300,000! It was a simple proposition – to skip for kids. The merchandise box sales were transitioned to high-end apparel sales, donations, a giving day, events, and school-based events. This new stream accounted for 14% of the total fundraising revenue for 2022. The long-term goal is to grow fundraising efforts in new and innovative areas to ensure the event remains truly diversified to minimise unforeseen risk.

Sponsored by:

BEST SUPPORTER EXPERIENCE

For organisations that understand and demonstrate exceptional supporter care and experience

This award recognises the successful development and implementation of best-practice donor or supporter experiences. The supporter experience should offer donors deeper engagement with beneficiaries, impact and outcomes; bring them closer to the cause; maintain their interest; extend their support; or increase their lifetime value – just to name a few. These experiences should reflect a deep understanding of donor insights integrated with organisational strategy. This award also recognises the use of effective donor experiences through multi-channel engagement.

Winner

• Cancer Council Queensland Ponytail Project

Finalists

• Australian Red Cross

A new mid-value supporter experience

• Guide Dogs Queensland Guide Dogs Queensland Memorial Garden

• Kidney Health Australia

Close the Loop Supporter Experience

BEST SUPPORTER EXPERIENCE

Ponytail Project is a peer-to-peer fundraiser that inspires young people to become fundraising leaders and ‘rock the chop’! Participants form a team, grow their hair throughout the year while fundraising for Cancer Council Queensland, and then #RockTheChop - chop their hair and donate it to be turned into wigs.

WINNER Cancer Council Queensland

A group of Brisbane school students keen to support a member of the community who was diagnosed with cancer started it in 2015, launching the initiative they called ‘Ponytail Project’, believing that chopping their ponytails was a small price to pay to support those impacted by cancer. Since expansion across Queensland and nationally, more than 32,000 young people raised over $2,340,000 for people affected by cancer.

To meet the growth target objectives of the campaign, strategic changes to the supporter experience were needed; it needed to be designed by young people for young people in order to remain relevant, competitive and achieve objectives.

The supporter experience was improved with a multitouchpoint experience including new direct mail with ‘insta-worthy’ host kit and milestone incentives, resources designed to successfully promote fundraising and an extensive digital communication journey. This resulted in an increase in banking averages and campaign income alongside great fundraiser feedback. Fundraisers feel better supported, engaged, and valued during their fundraising journey with Ponytail Project.

Ponytail Project

BEST SUPPORTER EXPERIENCE Australian

Red Cross

A new midvalue supporter experience

Team

Lenny Elario

Karl Uhrich

Vanessa Byrne MFIA

Michelle Lesco

Kim Batchelor

In recent years, Australian Red Cross has faced a fundamental challenge. Through the isolation of COVID-19 to the community impacts climate disasters, humanitarian needs have been growing. They needed to double financial support over the next five years to tackle these big picture problems. Red Cross partnered with Marlin Communications to introduce compelling mid-value cases for support across the 2021 tax and festive single-gift campaigns. Mid-value giving grew exponentially by $1.3m to three campaigns in nine months. To the 2021 festive appeal, mid-value donors increased their giving by $523K – a 116% growth YOY - driven by a 17% increase in direct mail response. It reflects the efforts to create rich, story-driven experiences with a stronger case for support tied to their specific philanthropic motivations. They also included an online event with a panel of Red Cross experts explaining the donor’s role in helping restore families torn apart by conflict and disaster.

To the 2022 tax campaign, mid-value giving increased by $490K – a 37% growth YOY. A brand-new fundraising product was also created, the Red Cross 50, geared to mid donors’ needs. They were invited to pledge $5,000 each year for three years. Against a $250K target, the pilot raised $292K and stewardship is ongoing with another 90 donors.

They are tracking far ahead of the target to double overall single gift income in five years and the new mid-value supporter experience is the powerhouse force behind it.

The future waits for no one

You expect the unexpected. You act rather than react. You see solutions where others see problems. You look towards the future, taking learnings from the past.

And, you’re here to act for humanity, no matter what lies ahead.

BEST SUPPORTER EXPERIENCE

Guide Dogs

Queensland

Guide Dogs

Queensland Memorial Garden

Guide Dogs Queensland’s Memorial Garden is a special place to acknowledge and commemorate Gift in Will donors. Central to the creation of the garden was the development of a new Gifts in Wills strategy in 2018 which focused on increasing average annual bequest revenue by $6m over 15 years.

They wanted to provide meaningful and memorable experiences for supporters to prompt and reaffirm decisions about leaving a gift to GDQ in their wills. One way was to better leverage the Bald Hills training facilities which are perfect for site tours and interactive donor experiences. From this, the memorial garden concept emerged.

After a year of design and development, the garden was ceremoniously opened in August 2019. Three curved walls circle an established Queensland Bottle Tree, around which sandstone blocks create a space to sit and view plaques acknowledging each bequestor.

FINALIST

The full impact of Memorial Garden is still being realised. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the opportunity to fully engage donors and their loved ones has been limited but this year, friends and family of recently deceased Gifts in Will donors attended a morning tea to hear about the impact of the bequests and to enjoy the garden and view the plaques of their loved ones. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and has allowed open conversations with potential new donors.

BEST SUPPORTER EXPERIENCE

Kidney Health Australia

Close the Loop Supporter Experience

Team

Claire Baxter MFIA

The objective of this campaign was to ensure donors who support the direct mail appeals could see the impact of their gift and feel appreciated before we ask for additional support. So, a robust “close the loop” supporter experience was developed for their appeals program. The primary focus of this experience is to ensure donors are thanked and provided the best levels of stewardship, in order to increase retention rates. Kidney Health Australia do not have a large donor database or an acquisition budget. Retention and upgrading active donors for sustainable fundraising was a key part of the fundraising strategy. The “close the loop” project increased multiyear retention rate by 5% and also increased average gifts by $24.

FINALIST

Another technique implemented was the provision of surprise and delight opportunities. For example, Kidney Health approached Bunnings to donate seed packets to include with receipts to donors. The accompanying letter thanked them for their support and highlighted how they were appreciated as the foundation and roots of the organisation. Other surprises included calls from the CEO, fundraising team, volunteers and kidney community. Kidney Health wanted donors to hear from a range of stakeholders to verify their impact and show appreciation.

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVITY

For campaigns that inspire through creativity

This award recognises the implementation of effective creative to drive fundraising success. Creativity in fundraising can be demonstrated through the application of powerful creative such as compelling messaging, imagery or branding to achieve strategic fundraising impact. Creativity can be expressed through various channels including video, visual story telling and online/offline integration.

Winner

• Ethiopiaid Australia

Ethiopiaid Christmas Campaign

Finalists

• Amnesty International Australia

Amnesty International Australia’s “Relentless” Tax Appeal

• Ronald McDonald House Charities GWS/SEQ/SYD/SA/VIC-TAS

Santa for Sick Kids - Christmas Appeal

• The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army’s Christmas Wishes

• UNICEF Australia

VaccinAid: Give the World a Shot

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVITY

WINNER Ethiopiaid

Ethiopiaid Christmas Campaign Team

Amy Franze

Lisa Jane Johnson MFIA

Kim Thi Huynh

Melissa Spurgin

Ethiopiaid Australia

Based on a new area of work which, although urgent, was unfamiliar to supporters, Ethiopiad developed a new creative campaign going beyond the success with existing supporters. Using knowledge that their donors cared about health issues, liked helping women and girls, tended to be religious and responded strongly to our CEO, they moved forward with a deep dive into these values and giving motivations.

They developed a creative campaign around three building blocks: evocative, Western religious imagery (such as the nativity scene, mother and child, travelling by donkey); carefully curated messaging based on a childbirth case study that brought together donors’ giving motivations (women, healthcare) and Christmas context (travel by donkey through the mountains, a mother needing aid).

Finally, personal branding from the CEO was incorporated to create a one-on-one donor experience and inspire giving. This creative had huge impact on their fundraising success. Net income and average gift rose to record highs, increasing by 18% and 11% respectively compared to the years prior. Response rates were already above industry standard but, thanks to this creative, increased by a further 5%, achieving 19.86%. Additionally, digital fundraising skyrocketed. Income from email, SMS and paid social doubled from the previous year and the number of new donors from existing, unconverted leads acquired was tripled.

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVITY

Team Tom Beech Jessica Pecar

Anouska Teunen

Amnesty International Australia

Amnesty International Australia’s “Relentless” Tax Appeal

Jalt Clayton Thomas Jasmine Coronado

Amnesty International Australia’s Tax appeal was vital to their 2022 fundraising success and made a significant contribution to the organisational strategy and goals. Their vision for 2025 is to advance human rights to make sure the rights of every single person are protected.

With the war in Ukraine, the looming Australian Federal Election, and with World Refugee Day on 20 June, this was a critical opportunity to launch an appeal to shine a light on the injustice experienced by refugees and people seeking asylum, both in Australia and globally.

The proposition for the appeal was: The relentless rejection, fear and abuse refugees and people seeking asylum face can end with you. But only when you are relentless in your belief in doing what is right. The creative concept brought this to life by focusing on the two-fold meaning of the word ‘relentless’ - the relentless, heartbreaking experience of a refugee and the relentless attitudes of Amnesty’s incredible supporters in their fight against injustice. They used direct mail and digital channels to provide donors and the public with an integrated experience and rich storytelling through use of quotes and portrait and editorial imagery. In addition to a fundraising goal of $675,000, they were able to use this critical timing to build people power and support for refugees.

then they threatened to kill me and my family. My mother said to me, don’t say anything, or you will be killed. That’s when knew had to leave. didn’t want to put my parents at risk,

I’ve been through many difficulties

I’ve seen unimaginable things

But that suffering

Provided me the opportunity

To meet some wonderful caring people

Who saved my life and helped me to be alive

I wanna say thank you

For all your favour and goodness.

Love

had to leave and had to save my life but ended up a prisoner once arrived in Australia.”

Q: IT’S A QUESTION YOU’VE ASKED YOURSELF A NUMBER OF TIMES, BUT WHY AUSTRALIA?

A: “Well, just heard that Australia is safe – if tell my story to the government, they will help me because they are not bad. The government is different from the Iranian government. And anywhere else, said, anywhere else, if tell my story, they would help me. survived. came to Australia. thought that moment when they came to us, thought it’s going to be the best moment in my life.”

Q: INSTEAD, YOU ENDED UP IN MANUS ISLAND IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA, AND THEN AT THE MANTRA AND PARK HOTELS. WHAT COULD YOU SHARE ABOUT YOUR TIME IN DETENTION?

A: “It was designed to target my resilience. It was designed to torture me and made me crazy so that cannot remember anything and couldn’t get back to my homeland. got sick so much. got asthma, got PTSD. got lots of mental problems. And still these problems are not finished. They don’t want to sort it out… but am human, don’t want to give up.”

Q: WHAT WERE THE CONDITIONS LIKE FOR YOU THERE [IN MANUS ISLAND]?

A: “Well, the situation on Manus was much worse than anyone can imagine. It was

“MY WHOLE LIFE I HAVE FOUGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.”

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVITY

Team

Anica Bussell

Michaela Britt

Andrew Corke

Ronald McDonald House Charities

GWS/SEQ/SYD/ SA/VIC-TAS

Santa for Sick KidsChristmas Appeal

HIGH COMMENDATION

Sam Strathum

Tahlia Zaloumis

Rob Novotny

The Santa for Sick Kids appeal started in 2020 following a pandemic pivot by several Ronald McDonald Houses. RMHC South Australia, Sydney, Greater Western Sydney and Vic/Tas decided to collaborate on a Christmas appeal with the support of digital agency, Elevate Fundraising.

They wanted to create a digital Christmas campaign focusing on how important Santa is for the sick kids and families who stay at the RM Houses during the festive period. The concept “Be a Santa for Sick Kids” was developed creating a sense of ownership by asking the donor to actually Be a Santa for a sick child this Christmas. This emotive and fun messaging, combined with a distinct creative design allowed it to get cut through during the busy Christmas season.

To recognise donor support and deepen the emotional connection, their name was placed on the door of the family for the night they gifted. This connection was strengthened further by developing an interactive Christmas tree whereby the donor was able to leave a message on the tree for the sick kids and their families.

The aim was to gift 1,173 nights. At $160 a night the fundraising target was $187,879. At the end of the campaign $511,680 was raised from 3,390 Santa’s gifting 3198 nights, a 272% increase on the goal. They also acquired many new donors raising more than $171,000 for 1,609 nights through Facebook acquisition.

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVITY

Team

Kyle Cermeulen

Garth Stirling

The Salvation Army

The Salvation

Army’s Christmas Wishes

FINALIST

Janine Kewming

Theresa Falloon

The Salvation Army has a loyal and generous community of supporters. The existing acquisition approach was predominantly using print (direct mail packs, self-mailer inserts, and coin based ‘buddy builders’), supported by traditional media channels such as TVC and print media. While this had delivered results, growth was slowing down and they needed to acquire new high-quality donors that would deliver a return on investment.

For Christmas 2021, they changed their approach to the campaign completely, putting digital-first creative at the heart of the campaign and shifting the message to donors. With the support of ntegrity agency, they created the “Christmas Wishes” digital campaign to improve their digital store and leverage it as a place where people could buy gifts for those in need.

Based on a printed Christmas gifts catalogue that was produced for existing supporters, this offered a tangible and transparent impact measure for new donors and aligned to consumer purchasing behaviour at Christmas.

The “Christmas Wishes” campaign was tested against the standard appeal campaign on digital to see which creative worked best. The results for the campaign were incredible with a 50% increase in new donors acquired YoY, a 74% increase in donations from new donors YoY. And a 16% increase in average gift from new donors YoY. Digital has become the key acquisition channel.

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVITY UNICEF Australia

VaccinAid: Give the World a Shot

Team Carat Australia

The Kite Factory

UNICEF has been responding to the impacts of the pandemic since its earliest days – from providing critical PPE and medical supplies, to ensuring children can still access essential health care, routine vaccinations, education, and other essential services. At the start of 2020 they became the delivery partner for COVAX, a collaboration between 191 countries to ensure every country in the world had fair and equal access to the COVID-19 vaccines.

FINALIST

In July 2021, VaccinAid was launched which called on all Australian’s to ‘Give the World a Shot’ by paying their vaccine forward to help UNICEF deliver vaccines to low and middleincome countries. The creative was essential to the campaign’s success. It was playful, optimistic and focused on what people could do to help end the pandemic.

The placement and timing of the creative was critical to the success. QR codes were put near vaccination centres, with the simple message: “You’ve had your shot, now give the world a shot”. When Sydney Airport began opening up, they made sure the campaign was visible throughout the terminal. Once cinemas reopened, a tailored advertising campaign with a giant QR code to donate was rolled out. Over 7,500 individuals and businesses supported the campaign raising $2.6M and over 1.6B vaccines were able to be delivered to 146 countries.

IMPACT ON A SHOESTRING

Small budget, big impact

This award recognises fundraising that achieves significant impact when limited investment is available. This includes limited operational budgets, human and other resources that deliver fundraising success. Providing smaller charities the opportunity to highlight and celebrate their fundraising successes, this category is for organisations with annual fundraising turnover of up to $2,000,000; and a campaign budget of up to $30,000 (not including staff costs).

Winner

• Childhood Cancer Support Inc. Feels Like Home - Childhood Cancer Support Grants Programs

Finalists

• Launceston City Mission Pay it Forward

• Muscular Dystrophy NSW Sugar Free September

IMPACT ON A SHOESTRING

WINNER

Childhood Cancer Support Inc.

Feels Like Home –

Childhood Cancer Support

Grants Program

Team

Mark Robbins

Monique van Zelm Felix

Pat Hooper

Helen Crew

Jo Spencer

Superdream

Childhood Cancer Support has very limited resources with only five staff; one manages community/in-house fundraising campaigns, the General Manager manages the grants program and three staff cover family services, maintenance/transport, finance/ admin. They provide accommodation, patient transport services and mental health supports/professional counselling to regional children fighting cancer. The accommodation provided is fully self-contained units for regional families needing to relocate to Brisbane for their child’s long-term oncology treatment to house a family of up to 12 and for up to two years.

The children are severely immuno-compromised due to cancer treatments; they require private, hotel-style accommodation away from the public. The Feels Like Home Grants Program centred on sourcing grants to upgrade accommodation to ensure the families have safe and comfortable long-term accommodation. A qualified Family Social Worker is also on hand to provide counselling/ mental health supports to each family member during their stay and counselling support continues when they return home. They researched and applied for suitable grants. Given resource constraints, a highly strategic approach was needed to ensure high rates of success and impact. A key strategy was registering several identities within the organisation with the Gambling Community Benefit Fund which had previously supported the cause. Their grant capacity was subsequently maximised and allowed for multiple successful grants per round.

IMPACT ON A SHOESTRING

Muscular Dystrophy NSW Sugar Free September

HIGH COMMENDATION

Team Zan Schmidt SBJ Studios

Charlotte Sangster MFIA CFRE

With just one dedicated part-time employee managing the campaign, and a small group of volunteers to help make activation phone calls and engage prospective sponsors, MS NSW were able to raise $215,124 (above the $200K target) and engage more than 1,400 people to participate in the challenge of going ‘sugar free for MD’ for the month of September.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, MDNSW’s usual kids camp programs were unable to be held, leaving a major income gap in the budget. The money raised from Sugar Free September helped to keep the organisation afloat. It is their largest income generating fundraising activity. People can choose how seriously they want to take the challenge, by going zero sugar or just giving up one bad sugary habit. It’s up to them! Resources and tips are provided to help fundraisers. The campaign attracts many new audiences to the community and therefore helps attract new fundraisers and donors. It’s also very effective in raising awareness about muscular dystrophy, with many joining the campaign because they like the sound of the challenge, but not knowing anything about MD. Most people upon learning about the condition are very moved by the lives of those with it and return year upon year to the challenge to show their support.

IMPACT ON A SHOESTRING Launceston

City Mission

Pay it Forward

Team Rafael Demarchi

FINALIST

The City Mission Pay It Forward is a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign that leads up to the Pay It Forward breakfast event. It exists to raise awareness and vital funds for City Mission’s youth and children services. To continue offering these services free of charge, City Mission put out the call for business and community leaders, as well as schools (where the programs are mostly run), to take up the fundraising challenge (dress up as a hero for a day) and join the breakfast.

The total campaign cost was $3K allocated mostly to purchasing media space. The creative was written, designed, and developed in-house, including all social media promotion, EDM, radio, press adverts, media releases, participants support collateral, dedicated campaign website etc. The entire event was also coordinated in-house with the only extra cost being $3K for the venue hire.

It helped reach new audiences and grow the database, increase community and corporate engagement, encourage and build advocacy, establish beneficial strategic alliances and partnerships as well as diversify their fundraising initiatives by hosting an event. They raised over $60,000 in cash and over 15,000 non-perishable items. In 2021 these programs helped more than 2,000 children and young people and the donated goods were allocated to assist with their annual 3,300 emergency relief appointments.

BEST STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Working in partnership to achieve more

This award recognises highly successful partnerships that achieve mutual benefit and fundraising success. This includes partnerships between charities and groups such as companies, trusts, foundations, community groups, media outlets, individuals, ambassadors and other NFPs.

Winner

• Ovarian Cancer Australia

Ovarian Cancer Australia, Hanes Brands and Coles Group for Take on Cancer in Your Undies

Finalists

• Anglicare Victoria

FOX FM Appeal “Doing It For The Kids”

• Foodbank of South Australia

Foodbank SA & RAA Mobile Food Hub

• Orange Sky Australia

Adairs and Orange Sky

BEST STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

WINNER

Ovarian Cancer Australia

Ovarian Cancer Australia, Hanes Brands and Coles

Group for Take on Cancer in Your Undies Team

Ovarian Cancer Australia

Hanes Australia

Coles Group

Special Group Creative Agency

OMD Australia

Ovarian Cancer Australia’s (OCA) partnership with Hanes Brands (Hanes) was developed in 2019 from the need to reach a wider yet aligned audience to help raise awareness about ovarian cancer. The ‘Teal Underwear’ campaign included several Hanes brands including Bonds. 100% of the profits from the sales were donated to OCA.

In 2022, both OCA and Hanes desired a campaign refresh and greater diversity mix within the talent. It was important the ovarian cancer community felt represented by this talent, while also ensuring that it was bold and modern in order to retail it. Coles Group joined forces with the Take on Cancer in Your Undies campaign, helping increase distribution via 630 of their stores. They doubled the funds raised from the previous year.

This was coupled with media and creative support, mostly pro bono, from OMD and Special Group Creative Agency. This partnership provides a vital, sustainable income stream to help sustain and grow the OCA support services and provides a national voice and recognition of a disease often overshadowed by other cancers.

Aligning their values of inclusion, the teal underwear was affordable. The partnership elevated ovarian cancer to a level OCA could not have done on its own and helped Hanes demonstrate their commitment to this important women’s health issue and provide staff engagement.

BEST STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Team

Paula Gething

Kirsty Simpson

Rosanna Wilson

Anglicare Victoria

FOX FM appeal

Sarah Baird

Sam Midmer

Julie Witte

Anglicare Victoria (AV) and media company Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) joined forces in October 2021 to raise funds for Christmas gifts for vulnerable kids who may ordinarily miss out. Tapping into Fox FM’s audience for the appeal, the “Doing it for the Kids” appeal generated unprecedented community interest for an AV appeal that was built around 101.9 the FOX’s ‘Fifi, Fev and Nick’ breakfast radio show and promoted across all FOX FM shows, from mid-November until Christmas Eve.

The campaign strategy was to raise funds to purchase toys for some of AV’s most vulnerable children. The call to action asked the Victorian community to dig deep for children who’d missed out during the two years of COVID-19 – giving them the chance to experience the joy of a Christmas. They also knew that some of their listeners, like them, had been in a place of privilege and wanted to support others. The design and collateral were created by SCA and AV incorporated these design components on their digital and social promotions. A $140k spend was budgeted which included cash and contra. A working group of AV fundraising staff and SCA team members worked collaboratively over the course of the campaign to deliver a truly successful appeal.

“Doing it for the Kids”

BEST STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Foodbank of South Australia

Foodbank SA & RAA Mobile Food Hub

Team

Foodbank of South Australia Incorporated

- Foodbank SA & RAA Mobile Food Hub

Foodbank SA & RAA Group engaged in a multi-year Strategic Partnership for the Foodbank SA RAA Mobile Food Hub Program; providing pivotal support. The Program provides much needed food relief to people in need in South Australia It gives them a dignified shopping experience on wheels particularly where there is limited access to food relief agencies. The Foodbank SA RAA Mobile Food Hub was initially funded by RAA to ensure those in regional communities experiencing hunger were able to access food relief.

FINALIST

Today, there are two Foodbank SA RAA Mobile Food Hubs and the Program has distributed more than 331,553 meals to since the partnership started. RAA have shown exceptional leadership beyond just Corporate Social Responsibility. The Foodbank SA partnership with RAA has provided more than funds; it has provided support and credibility contributing to thousands of volunteer hours and a genuine commitment to ending hunger in South Australia. This partnership is transformational. RAA shares information about the partnership to all its members and stakeholders explaining the positive impact being made. Together they are feeding South Australians in need every single day.

BEST STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Orange Sky Australia

Adairs and Orange Sky

Adairs and Orange Sky have been in partnership since February 2020. Since then, Adairs have provided over $500,000 to support Orange Sky services across Australia and New Zealand. All profits from the sale of Adairs inhouse designed reusable totes go to Orange Sky. In the first two years of partnership, the COVID-19 pandemic helped homewares income grow significantly. With the support of Adairs consumers, Orange Sky was able to continue to provide to those experiencing homelessness in an uncertain time and navigate the increased cost and resourcing required to support volunteers.

FINALIST

Adairs corporate and retail team members across all levels of the company are given the opportunity to volunteer with Orange Sky. They collect donations via in-store donation boxes. The Adairs corporate and executive leadership team participate in the annual peer-to-peer fundraising activity, The Sudsy Challenge. Funds have helped the Orange Sky community recovery services, the Northern Rivers and SE East Queensland flood victims.

Adairs engage Orange Sky as recipients of profits generated by bespoke homewares collections and weave homelessness statistics into key campaign periods. They focused on the 400,000 women over 45 at risk of homelessness in the Adairs International Women’s Day campaign in 2022. Adairs and Orange Sky also work on gift in-kind opportunities including product and gift card gifts for the incredible volunteers and community fundraisers.

IMPACT THROUGH EVENTS

Bringing people together for greater impact

This award recognises outstanding achievement in fundraising through conducting a special event. Special events should show exceptional development of strategy, efficient execution, clear event uniqueness and significant ROI for the organisation.

Joint Winners

• Ovarian Cancer Australia

Workout 4 Women

• Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research

MACA Cancer 200 10th Birthday

Finalists

• Canteen Australia

Canteen’s Facebook Challenges

• Cerebral Palsy Alliance

STEPtember 2021

IMPACT THROUGH EVENTS

JOINT WINNER

Ovarian

Cancer Australia

Workout 4 Women

Team

Sarah Michowski

Jacqueline Adams

Sue Hegarty

10 Feet Tall

Progressive PR

Workout 4 Women is the only peer-to-peer community fundraising event managed solely inhouse by Ovarian Cancer Australia (OCA). The month-long event asks participants to walk or run 4km every day to raise funds to support women with ovarian cancer. This is directly tied to the vision that no woman with ovarian cancer walks alone and 4kms was chosen as 4 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every day. To increase participation in 2021 the challenge needed to be highly accessible and customisable - appealing to individuals of all levels of fitness and capability. The unique aspect being that participants can do the 4kms in whatever way they choose.

The outcomes confirmed that a corporate partner was not essential for success as it had the best ROI of any OCA community fundraising event run to date. It helped fulfil the strategic objective to increase the amount of untied funding raised. The total amount raised was up 82% on 2020. The campaign also played a crucial role in ensuring that women who need our services, actually know about them.

Participants were encouraged to share how their experience on social media content to demonstrate the passion and commitment and inspire others. The campaign maintained a positive tone throughout and had a case study led approach giving it a highly personal touch.

IMPACT THROUGH EVENTS

JOINT WINNER

Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research

MACA Cancer 200

10th Birthday Team

Tom Lang

Steve Currie

Toby Hodgson

Taylah Jones

Marilyn Mooney

Bella Di Chiera

The Perkins’ annual MACA Cancer 200 event had for many years been managed by an external agency, but the team took the 2018 campaign in house with a desire to completely overhaul and advance supporter experience. The result exceeded expectations and was a huge success in 2018 and 2019. Turning their attention to the ride’s 10th birthday in 2021 they needed make another bold move and pivot as a result of COVID. They knew that many ride as part of corporate teams but rivalry is left at the starting line – replaced by comradery and care. A common phrase heard after the event is “we might start the ride as strangers, but we end it as family.”

This philosophy drove the engagement campaign which included:

• Having a recognisable Ride Guide

• Developing engaging participant journeys

• Utilise technology to enhance the participant experience

• Developing a club within the ride to support and encourage top tier fundraisers

• Using gamification and money can’t buy experiences to increase fundraising

• Ride jerseys customise to number of years ridden and tiers.

10-year riders were championed for their incredible tenacity and fundraising over the last decade so featured heavily in the campaign. The result was $7.1M raised, making the MACA Cancer 200 the biggest fundraising ride in Australia!

IMPACT THROUGH EVENTS

Team

Lizzy Kwan

Caitlin Crowther

Chelsea Ong

Canteen Australia

Canteen’s Facebook Challenges

FINALIST

Helen Day

Sarah Rossiter

More Strategic, Elevate Fundraising & GivePanel

In 2021, Facebook Challenges were not only new and unique to Canteen, but also for the Australian Fundraising Industry. Canteen was one of the first Australian charities to trial this new way of fundraising with the 100 Sit-Ups a Day Challenge in November 2021 Challenge. Facebook Challenges have had an enormous impact on Canteen’s fundraising income and supporter acquisition. Previously, aside from their flagship National Bandanna Day event, Canteen did not run any large-scale peerto-peer events and the community fundraising portfolio was made up of small third-party, ad-hoc fundraising events.

When COVID-19 hit, most community fundraising events were cancelled, so when the opportunity was presented to run a test in Facebook Challenges, they jumped at the chance to re-engage with the community and acquire new supporters in a unique, efficient, digital and COVID-19 friendly way. The initial goal was to recruit 1,250 people and raise $120,000. Expectations were far exceeded with results reaching 3,163 (+253%) registrations and raised a total of $370,100 (+308%). Before starting, the challenges raised between $2k - $5k a month. Now, it has increased to an average of $10k a month, with some months bringing in around $20k. An additional two challenges were run over the past 10 months, resulting in just under $1.5M raised across all three challenges.

IMPACT THROUGH EVENTS

Team

Brittany Adams

Conchita Casteigt

Maisa Lopes Gomes FFIA

Cerebral Palsy Alliance

STEPtember 2021

FINALIST

Katherine Spiller

Peta King

Josh O’Rourke

Following a record-breaking campaign in 2020 ($10.9M raised), STEPtember 2021 not only exceeded expectations but redefined the campaign’s potential. By the end of day one, they had 123,000 participants and the campaign had raised $5.7M, over half of the $11.1M target.

The target was surpassed on day ten with final revenue reaching $18.66M (+63% v 2020). After 11 years STEPtember has stood the test of time achieved through a culture of constant evaluation, innovation and optimisation. STEPtember partnered with More Strategic, Paradigm Shift and The Media Precinct to allow greater insight into the participant experience and behaviours, position in the market, strategic advantages and areas of growth. The COVID-19 pandemic created different challenges in 2021 as various states, regions and LGAs were subject to different lockdown measures. STEPtember was in a good position from 2020 to deal with this, with most of the messaging aligned as a virtual event. A variety of geo-targeted registration copy and creative was developed to tackle any perceived barriers to entry for potential participants. Cross-team collaboration with both the corporate team and digital team was at the core of STEPtember’s success in 2021. The funds raised accounted for 44% of Cerebral Palsy Alliance’s total FY22 fundraising revenue with net campaign revenue sitting at 97% above budget.

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE

For fundraising campaigns and initiatives that adapted and excelled in response to a critical fundraising challenge

This award recognises fundraising campaigns or initiatives that have been pivoted in response to a critical fundraising challenge. The ‘pivot’ can be the change or adaptation of an existing campaign or initiative due to an internal / external challenge that poses significant risk to future income growth and sustainability within the fundraising program. e.g. responding to a high rate of attrition within a Regular Giving program, dwindling attendance at events by going digital, drop in corporate sponsorship by changing the case for support and donor segmentation of a direct mail campaign.

Winner

• The Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research Safe Harbour - A Giving Circle

Finalists

• Australia for UNHCR Ukraine and Afghanistan Appeals

• Canteen Canteen Shop 2021

• Great Barrier Reef Foundation Going Digital for the Reef

• Parkinson’s NSW Step Up for Parkinson’s

• Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section)

Guiding Lights

Sponsored by:

• Stepping Stone House

Sleep Under the Stars 2022

• The Smith Family

Sponsored Student Birthday Reminders

• The Smith Family

The Smith Family’s Toy and Book Appeal 2021

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE

WINNER

The Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research

Safe Harbour – A Giving Circle Team

Paige Gibbs FFIA

Ashleigh Yardy

Shelley Mason

Stacie O’Neill

Bella Di Chiera

Donor Republic

Sponsored by:

Harry Perkins planned the launch of a “Safe Harbour - A Giving Circle” in 2021 via a series of bespoke in-person events. Personalised invitations were mailed to households that were identified as warm prospects. It was hoped that at least 72 of the 114 would accept the invitation to a high tea, an afternoon high tea or a Gala Dinner but only three people responded. Current major donors had deliberately not been targeted but the decision was made to post 71 major donors a copy of the “Safe Harbour - A Giving Circle” prospectus, advising it was being shared as a courtesy knowing that a brochure and microsite alone wouldn’t be enough to achieve target. Pivoting and partnering with Donor Republic, they implemented a Major Donor digital acquisition strategy. The results exceeded everyone’s expectations. Return on ad spend was 365%. Awareness building of Early to Mid-Career Researchers (EMCRs) and driving traffic to the campaign website was vital.

This resulted in an improved understanding of the use of digital campaigns to drive major gift fundraising activities which will help with future major gift projects. On 30 June 2022, the Safe Harbour Giving Circle had secured $319,000 in donations with a further $568,000 pledged. By raising the profile of EMCRs at the Perkins an additional three donors came forward to support specific young researchers providing an additional $254,000 by 30 June 2022.

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE

Team

The Fundraising Agency

Royal Flying Doctor Service

(Queensland Section)

Erin Kiely

Royal Flying Doctor Service

(QLD Section)

Guiding Lights

HIGH COMMENDATION

Sponsored by:

Kate Rule

Maree Taylor

Katherine Ash

The RFDS QLD team faced a dual challenge: rapidly declining acquisition mail volumes, along with the ever-increasing need for funds to expand services for beneficiaries. With little digital fundraising experience, they drew on the robust test outcomes from ten years of direct mail market. In March 2022, they took the best performing direct mail case studies and turned them into a sleek digital acquisition campaign. They all failed.

By April, the increase in fuel prices was putting a huge strain on services, with over 8 million kilometres flown each year. Despite the urgency of this tangible need, they weren’t sure if supporters would be moved to donate but they took the chance to pivot. The fuel campaign took off and far outperformed previous attempts. In just over two weeks, $32,982 was raised with an ROI of 2.2.

Suddenly, due to forces outside their control, they had to stop the ads. So, they pivoted again. With 30 June fast approaching, they needed to change tack and meet budget. RFDS Pilot Nick was working on developing innovative diesel lanterns to light remote airstrips. It was a brilliant solution as airstrips were often lit up by burning toilet rolls! They took this need and created the Guiding Lights campaign. With 27 days in market, Guiding Lights raised $212,344 with an immediate ROI of 4.3. Over 50 midvalue donors were acquired along with 27 bequest leads and one confirmed.

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE Australia

for UNHCR

Ukraine and Afghanistan Appeals

FINALIST

In 2021, as America’s military left Afghanistan, millions of people throughout the region feared for their safety. UNHCR were on the ground in Afghanistan to provide emergency aid and protection to the thousands of vulnerable families who had been forced to flee their homes. The decision was made to pivot from the original appeal theme and launch a multi-channel emergency fundraising effort to ensure Australians more broadly were aware of the extent of the crisis and how they could help. The Afghanistan emergency acquired 18,176 new one-off cash donors (17,329 in 2021 and 847 in 2022) and has raised $11.8M. It attracted 415 new mid-level donors who gave between $1k and under $10k and 25 new High Net Worth donors and two new Trusts and Foundations.

UNHCR estimates that 14 million people were forced to flee for their lives and more than over 15 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. UNHCR needed to quickly scale up their fundraising efforts to fund the response. Originally planned as a campaign focusing on the food insecurity in Africa, the focus pivoted to the devastating violence and mass forced migration in Ukraine. The Ukraine emergency recruited over 15,155 new one-off cash donors and has so far raised $15.8M. This campaign significantly increased public awareness and knowledge about the work of UNHCR and improved performance across their other fundraising channels and programs.

Sponsored by:

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE

Team

Kelsey Hake

Laura Francis-Forman

Georgie Kershaw

Canteen

Canteen Shop 2021

FINALIST

Sponsored by:

Sarah Rossiter

John Friedsam

Elevate Fundraising

The critical fundraising challenge faced throughout 2020-2021 was the pandemic, particularly when the Delta variant took hold. Canteen’s flagship campaign National Bandanna Day (NBD) was first held in 1994. Traditionally, NBD supporters would order bandanna merchandise boxes and sell to their communities. Due to some strategic research, changes were made to the 2020 campaign to ensure further sustainability while navigating the challenges incurred by COVID-19.

An online P2P fundraising campaign, a giving day, and a small e-commerce channel were introduced to supplement merchandise sales. As expected, there was a massive drop in merchandise box sales due to restrictions and school closures. However, there was some success with the P2P and giving day and the e-commerce channel.

With COVID-19 continuing it was decided to further develop the ecommerce channel to enable bandanna sales direct to the supporters, reducing the reliance on face-to-face fundraising and merchandise box sales. Online orders were fulfilled by a handful of volunteers and staff from the basement of the Canteen office. In starting to develop the new strategy in 2020 and introducing Canteen facemasks, we saw sales grow significantly to $460k for the year. Then in 2021, focusing in on the strategy and developing a new e-commerce website, sales grew to $1.2M for the year.

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE

Team

Katrina Garvin

Luke Mackay

Karen Shields

Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Going Digital for the Reef

FINALIST

Sponsored by:

Margot Andersen

Nicole Keir

In 2018 the Great Barrier Reef Foundation embarked on its first ever individual giving direct mail appeal which led to direct mail becoming the main source of acquisition, However, with the onset of COVID-19, investment in this area was reduced

At the end of 2021, a potential loss analysis was conducted to investigate the impact of moving to a digital-only fundraising strategy. A test was conducted alongside the Christmas appeal to acquire new donors. With only two appeals a year, Tax Appeal 2022 was trialled as a digital only appeal incorporating acquisition and renewal of existing supporters using only digital channels. The cash donor acquisition strategy consisted of two parts; the first to generate leads through Facebook ads which would be stewarded on an email journey to convert to donors. The second, to acquire new cash donors through direct ask Facebook ads.

The decision point came at a timely moment with the organisation implementing a sustainability commitment. It was a great opportunity to demonstrate to donors how the charity’s commitment to the Great Barrier Reef.

By offering a highly-personalised experience and tailored ask strings on EDMs and landing pages the response improved from traditional DM supporters. The outcome was a 75% increase in income YoY, increase in ROI, new donors acquired and GBRF living its commitment to a sustainable future.

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE

Team

Peter Evans MFIA

Mirelle Brockett

John Back

Parkinson’s NSW

Step Up for Parkinson’s

FINALIST

Sponsored by:

Fiona Jessiman

Cassie Morgan

Unity Walk was a signature fundraising event for Parkinson’s NSW. It took the form of a group of physical walks held in five different locations throughout the Sydney metro area. Due to COVID-19, Unity Walk had to be cancelled in 2020 and 2021.

Following a slow recovery period, it was decided to move away from a physical event to a virtual event in 2022. However, COVID-19 was not the only reason for the pivot to a virtual event. Parkinson’s NSW decided to make a virtue out of necessity by leveraging a virtual campaign to scale up their signature event and broaden participation of the Parkinson’s community throughout NSW.

Exercise and social engagement are therapeutic for people living with Parkinson’s. Therefore, it was essential to maintain both the fitness and fun social aspects of the replacement campaign. It also had to factor in the ability to withstand another COVID-19 outbreak. The concept of Step Up for Parkinson’s was created allowing all NSW supporters to hold small events with their friends, families and pets while still being part of a larger campaign without the need for Parkinson’s to stage a physical, logistics-heavy event.

The result from the first campaign was 165 people registering and attracting 1,634 donations totalling $125,135 to fund services for the NSW Parkinson’s community.

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE

Team

Jessica Mienert MFIA

Elizabeth Gordon

Stepping

Stone House

Sleep Under the Stars 2022

FINALIST

Sponsored by:

Daniel Hockey

Jason Juretic

Since 2015, Stepping Stone House (SSH) have held their flagship fundraising event, Sleep Under the Stars (SUTS), at the Sydney Harbour foreshore.

With Sydney going into its first lockdown in 2020, SSH were left with an extremely difficult decision; to cancel the event, or to go ahead with it virtually. Without any information on how long lockdown would last or the impact that COVID-19 would have worldwide, they made the difficult and risky decision to pivot the event to online. In 2020, SSH’s SUTS campaign was more successful than ever. In 2021 further lockdowns were being announced and the decision needed to be made on whether to go virtual for the second year running.

Understanding the deep investment that SSH’s major supporters and donors have in SUTS, it was decided to involve key stakeholders in this critical strategic decision. After many, many phone calls, there was a clear consensus that the SSH community would feel safer if the event was held online. SSH had now pivoted to a participant-led, virtual event.

This was by far the biggest and most successful SUTS event to date. Raising just under $1.2m far exceeded SSH’s income target of $800,000, and nearly doubled the funds raised from their last SUTS event. The event enabled SSH to house and holistically support 46 at-risk young people for an entire year.

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE

The Smith Family Sponsored Student Birthday Reminders

Team

Sophie Kingsford-Smith

Suzanne Hilellis

Samantha Jovceski

Juan Ordenes

Kelly Slater

Krithika Muruganantham

Correspondence between sponsors and their students is one of the most important retention factors at The Smith Family. Sponsors who communicate regularly with their students are retained nearly three times higher than those who do not.

FINALIST

To encourage correspondence, they provide Sponsored Student Birthday Reminders. Typically, three months before the student’s birthday, sponsors receive a reminder via email of this milestone. It directs sponsors to a digital personalised form (PURL) where sponsors can send a message and/or select a gift voucher for the student. If sponsors opt out of email communication or haven’t responded, a reminder is sent via post. They received 11,743 responses via post, making up 39% of total responses.

Sponsored by:

However, the internal KPI of 28 days from the receipt of correspondence to its dispatch to students was not being met due to the reduction of staff and volunteers in the office. This caused much disappointment among sponsors and students as often messages/ gifts weren’t received in time for their birthday. In response, they decided to digitise the process at every step to minimise the impact of this disruption - . : outbound email and mail reminders to sponsors, sending onto students, and inbound responses from students. This resulted in clearing of the the backlog and stayed caught up from March onwards and maintaining the sponsor retention rate year on year.

BEST PIVOT CAMPAIGN OR INITIATIVE The Smith Family

Team

Karina Yewdall

Claire Nicholson

Tim Halliburton

The Smith Family’s Toy & Book Appeal

2021

Funraisin FINALIST

The Smith Family was founded at Christmas in 1922 so Christmas is an important part of its heritage. Each year gifts are given to disadvantaged families. It’s also a key giving and volunteering opportunity for their supporters. In 2021, when The Smith Family would usually rely on the public to donate gifts and have volunteers pack and deliver them, the implications of COVID-19 saw a need to pivot the appeal.

The decision was made to implement a digital model of giving so families didn’t miss out however, it needed to be done in a safe way. Each participating family (29,998 kids) was given a digital voucher to purchase gifts for their children.

Working with Funraisin they designed a digital Christmas tree where each fundraiser would see their own tree displayed on their page and a present placed under the tree each time a donation was made. They also delivered digital message writing sessions where volunteers wrote messages to families that would accompany the voucher.

Sponsored by:

The campaign goal was $100,000 which was exceeded, raising $217,801. The cost of offering the vouchers to families was $1M, an increase from the cost of delivery in previous years’ reliance on physical donations. Whilst the majority of funds could be raised through regular Christmas fundraising, this campaign was a new component that allowed the gap from 2021 to be covered.

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

For campaigns that utilise technology to drive fundraising outcomes

This award recognises the exceptional use of technology to create or strengthen campaigns and drive powerful fundraising outcomes.

Campaigns acknowledged in this category must focus on the use of technology to drive fundraising. This could include technology that is new or previously unused by their organisation, or the refinement or adaptation of existing technology to achieve fundraising success. Technology examples include, but are not limited to, digital technology, AI, CRM, NTFs, cryptocurrency and social media.

Winner

• Royal Life Saving Society WA auRaffles Digital Platform

Finalist

• Cerebral Palsy Alliance STEPtember 2021

Sponsored by:

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

WINNER

Royal Life Saving Society WA

auRaffles Digital Platform

Team

Laura Kazmirowicz EMFIA

Montelle Bauernfeind

Gypsy Treacy

Diversus

Glenda Stark

Prue Stark

Sponsored by:

Royal Life Saving Society WA’s (RLSSWA) purpose is to prevent drowning in Western Australia. They use a variety of fundraising initiatives, including raffles, to support water safety programs.

RLSSWA sought to leverage new technology and improve the efficiency of the supporter journey, whilst also protecting existing channels. They developed an omnichannel digital raffle platform called auRaffles, an easy to use, customisable digital platform to support charity fundraising campaigns.

Case Study: Digital Raffle Fundra sing

Case Study: Digital Raffle Fundraising

Royal Li e Sav ng Society WA (RLSSWA pr mary purpose s to prevent drow variety of fundra sing programs and raff es have trad t ona y been its prim RLSSWA needed to embrace new technology to everage new market ng end-to-end suppor er exper ence

deve oped an omn channe ra e mob e espons ve web p a form o manage a asp wh ch ca ed auRa f es

Case Study: Digital Raff e Fundra sing

Case Study: Digital Raffle Fundraising

auRaf es p ov des a s ng e env onmen for a channe s enab ng e en on and acqu s t on thr Soc a and DM d v ng operat ona e c enc es Suppor ng ea me cred t ca d paymen s RG

POSTB pay cash on ne and of ne pos paymen me hods, g v ng grea e paymen op ons o

Roya L e Sav ng Soc e y WA RLSSWA p mary pu pose s o preven d own ng n Wes e n Aus ra a and dep oys a va e y o undra s ng p og ams and raf es have t ad ona y been ts p me s ategy

The digi al transformat on strategy needed to embrace new market ng s ex sting channels The strategy needed to meet changes n supporter exp strengthen comp iance in a heav ly regula ed market and prov de a fram RLSSWA deve oped an omn channel ra f e mob e respons ve) web p at o wh ch t ca ed auRaff es

Roya L fe Saving Soc ety WA (RLSSWA) primary purpose s to preven drowning n Western Austra a and dep oys a var ety of fundrais ng programs and raff es have trad t onal y been ts pr me strategy

RLSSWA needed to embrace new echno ogy o everage new ma ket ng channe s and mp ove he e f c ency of he end-to-end suppor e expe ence

The d g a rans o ma on s ra egy needed o embrace new ma ket ng st a eg es but a so pro ec and enhance ex s ng channe s The s rategy needed o mee changes n suppo er expec at ons dr ve ope a ng e c enc es and s reng hen comp ance n a heav y egu a ed ma ket and prov de a ramewo k o fund a s ng nnova on

RLSSWA needed to embrace new techno ogy to everage new marketing channels and improve the e f ciency o the end-to-end supporter exper ence

RLSSWA dep oys a ange o d g a st a eg es nc ud ng AB Tes ed targeted soc a campa gns SM SEO/SEM, but hese are par o a broader omn channe marke ng s rategy Ca cen re so wa e a ow auto popu at ng o process ng sc eens to dr ve ope a ona ef c enc es RLSSWA m gra ed ts raf e p og am n o auRa es n 20 8 and grown ts on ne a f e ncome ro o a comb ned o a o $2 3M, ep esent ng 67K nd v dua t ansac ons Th s has de ve ed RLSSWA s gn f cant cos sav ngs n pr n /pos age and adm n s at on beyond a f e program RLSSWA has a so reduced s carbon em ss ons sav ng 1 35 tonnes of CO2 auRaf es s now ava ab e o Aus ra h t k t h e undra s ng prog

RLSSWA deve oped an omn channe ra e mob e espons ve web p a form o manage a aspec s o a campa gn wh ch ca ed auRa les

auRaff es prov des a s ng e env ronment for a l channe s, enab ng retent Socia and DM dr ving operat onal ef ic encies Support ng rea t me cred POSTB lpay, cash, on ine and off ine post payment methods, giv ng great RLSSWA dep oys a range o d g ta strateg es nc ud ng AB Tested targete SEO/SEM, but hese are part of a broader omn channel market ng strateg al ow auto popu at ng of process ng screens to drive operat onal ef ic enc

The d g ta transforma ion stra egy needed to embrace new market ng strategies, but also pro ect and enhance ex st ng channe s The stra egy needed to meet changes n suppor er expecta ions, drive operat ng ef ic enc es and strengthen comp ance in a heavi y regu ated market and prov de a framework for undrais ng innova ion

auRaf es p ov des a s ng e env onmen for a channe s enab ng e ent on and acqu s t on through TM F2F D g a

Soc a and DM d ving operat ona e c enc es Suppor ng ea me cred t ca d payments RG, p edges, BPAY

POSTB pay cash on ne and of ne pos paymen me hods g v ng grea e paymen op ons o suppo ers

RLSSWA migra ed its raff e program into auRaff es n 2018 and grown its o to a combined total of $2 3M represen ing 67K ndiv dual ransact ons

RLSSWA developed an omnichannel raff e (mobi e responsive) web pla form to manage al aspects of a campaign, wh ch t cal ed auRaf les

The platform is “white label” allowing other charities to use the technology, with their own branding, on a cost recovery basis. auRaffles accommodates a range of marketing channels, enabling efficient retention and acquisition strategies through telemarketing (TM), face-to-face (F2F), digital, social media and direct mail (DM). It supports real time credit card payments, regular giving, pledges, BPAY, Post Billpay and cash. Call centre software has also been integrated to auto populate processing screens allowing greater efficiency.

RLSSWA dep oys a ange o d g a st a eg es nc ud ng AB Tes ed targeted soc a campa gns, SMS eDM and SEO/SEM but hese are par o a broader omn channe marke ng s rategy Ca cen re so wa e was n egrated to a ow auto popu at ng o process ng sc eens to dr ve ope a ona ef c enc es

RLSSWA m gra ed ts raf e p og am n o auRa es n 20 8 and grown ts on ne a f e ncome rom a mos N n 2018 o a comb ned o a o $2 3M, ep esent ng 67K nd v dua t ansac ons

auRaf les prov des a s ngle environment or a l channe s, enabl ng retent on and acqu s t on hrough TM, F2F, D g ta , Soc al and DM, dr v ng opera iona eff ciencies Support ng rea t me cred t card payments, RG, p edges, BPAY, POSTBi pay, cash, on ine and off ne post payment me hods g ving greater payment opt ons for suppor ers

Th s has de ivered RLSSWA s gnif can cost sav ngs n print/postage and a raff e program RLSSWA has also reduced its carbon emiss ons saving 1 3 auRaff es is now avai ab e to Austra ian char t es looking to op imise their

Th s has de ve ed R SSWA s gn f can cos sav ngs n p n /pos age and adm n s a ion beyond $75K D g s ng s a f e program RLSSWA has a so reduced s carbon em ss ons sav ng 1 35 tonnes of CO2

auRaf es s now ava ab e o Aus ra h i k t h e undra s ng program

ona sed Homepage Buy T cke s Membe S gn Up

RLSSWA dep oys a range of d g ta stra eg es including AB Tested targeted soc a campa gns, SMS eDM and SEO/SEM, bu these are part o a broader omnichannel marke ing stra egy Cal centre sof ware was integrated to a low au o popu at ng of process ng screens to dr ve opera iona e fic encies

RLSSWA m grated ts raf le program nto auRaf les in 2018 and grown i s onl ne raff e income from a mos N in 2018 to a comb ned tota of $2 3M, represent ng 67K individual transactions

Th s has del vered RLSSWA signi icant cost sav ngs in pr nt/postage and adm nis rat on beyond $75K D g tis ng i s raff e program, RLSSWA has a so reduced i s carbon emiss ons sav ng 1 35 onnes of CO2

auRaf les s now ava lable to Austra an chari ies look ng o opt mise the r raff e fundrais ng program

sona sed Homepage

67K+

$75K

RLSSWA migrated its raffle program onto auRaffles and has grown online raffle income from almost zero in 2018 to $2.4M. This reduced print, postage and administration costs by more than $75K, and saved 1.35 tonnes of CO2. The platform has been used by over 50 charities and has raised over $20M since 2018. Every extra dollar raised and saved by using the auRaffles platform enabled charities to further support their communities through their vital programs.

T ansact ons processed

3T $2.4M Funds aised

67K+

P nt pos age and adm n s rat on sav ngs CO2 sav ngs

Roya L e Saving Soc e y WA 12 McG v ay Rd Moun C aremon WA 60 0 Te 1300 132 770

Transact ons processed

$75K

Print, postage and admin strat on sav ngs

$2. Funds

aremont

FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Team

Maisa Lopes Gomes FFIA

Peta King

Nick Culpitt

Cerebral Palsy Alliance

STEPtember 2021

HIGH COMMENDATION

Sponsored by:

Nathan Lightfoot

Katherine Spiller

Brittany Adams

Following a record-breaking campaign in 2020 ($10.9M raised), STEPtember 2021 not only exceeded expectations but redefined the campaign’s potential. By the end of day one, there were 123,000 participants registered (target was 87,000), and the campaign had raised $5.7M, over halfway to the $11.1M goal. The revenue target was surpassed on day ten of the campaign, with final revenue reaching $18.66M (+63% v 2020). Entering STEPtember’s eleventh year in 2021 they sort to refine, optimise and innovate to improve the participant experience while also improving internal systems and processes. This included:

• Improving the STEPtember website and digital architecture to improve the user experience.

• Investing in creating a data warehouse and new reporting tools to better understand, plan and optimise the campaign.

• New communications platforms to better manage the in-house communications plan.

• A shorter 6-week acquisition period to help drive registrations before the end of August.

• New customised corporate coordinator reports leveraging unique data sync with Funraisin platform & CPA Data Warehouse.

• Enhance the STEPtember App including tracking to measure performance.

• Creation of a Facebook Group to help drive content and engagement.

• A new segmentation model focused on participant motivation and drivers.

Cross-team collaboration with both the corporate team and digital team was at the core of STEPtember’s success in 2021.

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR

Nominated by a member charity

This award recognises suppliers who have established significant relationships and delivered significant outcomes (financial or other) for member organisations through fundraising activities and campaigns. Nominated by an FIA Member nonprofit/charity, the relationship, ethics, management and fundraising outcomes will be considered.

Winners

• Robejohn

Nominated by: Royal Flying Doctor Service (Victorian Section)

• ntegrity

Nominated by: The Salvation Army

Finalists

• Adflex Marketing

Nominated by: Royal Life Saving Society WA

• Dataro

Nominated by: Royal Flying Doctor Service (Victorian Section)

• DTV Group and Sanctuary Media

Nominated by: The Smith Family

• Marlin Communications

Nominated by: Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia

• Safewill Pty Ltd

Nominated by: Plan International Australia

• The FIN Agency

Nominated by: Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR

JOINT WINNER

RFDS Victoria (RFDSV) has benefited from a long-standing relationship with Robejohn (RJ) who create, manage and execute campaigns providing an end-to-end service that delivers results. Their team is passionate about donor behaviour enabling them to deliver a strong retention and acquisition strategy supported by outstanding creative execution.

Fundraising highlights and impacts include:

• A successful direct mail program delivering industry-leading retention rates and gross revenue of $14M since 2012.

• Acquisition of more than 18,000 new donors since 2012, with impressive second gift rates and innovative stewardship products.

• A revamp of key communications to be more donor-centric and increasing revenue by 20% per annum.

• Mid and Major giving strategy and Gift in Will innovation to move from RFM based segmentation-based to a donor values-based strategy.

• Their strong direct mail campaigns became the main pipeline for the major giving and bequest programs which generated a further $35M for the period.

Robejohn also played a pivotal role in the advancement of RFDSV more broadly including providing support to new fundraisers nervously taking on the campaigns and appeals portfolio. They stewarded RFDSV through a transformational proposition development program involving Board and all staff, inspiring the Board to invest in fundraising which ultimately doubled revenue in five years. Their hard work, passion for the cause and consistent results ensure RFDSV can continue to serve rural and remote Australians.

Robejohn

Nominated by Royal Flying Doctor Service (Victorian Section)

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR

JOINT WINNER ntegrity

Nominated by: The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army have partnered with ntegrity agency over the past three years to digitally transform their fundraising. They sought a partner who understood the unique aspects of digital fundraising.

At The Salvation Army, digital (inclusive of paid digital advertising, organic and email) was seen as a fulfilment channel for direct mail and print acquisition activity and it didn’t have its own strategy. Ntegrity developed a holistic campaign review of the Red Shield Appeal (RSA) in 2019 with recommendations to improve processes and fundraising outcomes, given it’s their biggest fundraising campaign.

Ntegrity helped to identify a huge gap in the use of digital, especially email and paid digital advertising and developed a comprehensive strategy to pivot the campaign to digital. They smashed the overall targets despite national lockdowns.

This result was not a once-off “COVID result.” Ntegrity have helped deliver continual digital fundraising growth since. The Red Shield Appeal and Christmas appeals in 2021 were even more successful than in 2020. New fundraising products such as “Crisis Partners” regular giving enabled The Salvation Army to diversify and build sustainable revenue streams. Today the digital fundraising program has grown by 303%, from $6.4M in 2019 to $19.4M in 2022 from digital channels. Digital is now the dominant new donor acquisition channel. Ntegrity also brought the leadership onboard with the digital transformation and built collaboration across teams overall.

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR

Adflex Marketing

Nominated by Royal Life Saving Society WA

HIGH COMMENDATION

Face-to-face (F2F) fundraising is a critical element of Royal Life Saving Society WA’s (RLSSWA) fundraising portfolio. After a previous supplier exited the market in 2019, RLSSWA faced critical decisions about the future of its F2F strategy. They engaged a professional supplier, Adflex Marketing and the relationship grew beyond the F2F supplier agreement into a real partnership. They helped expand the charity’s brand presence, raise funds, acquire regular givers, engage members and educate the community on key water safety messages. The Adflex team became part of the fabric of RLSSWA’s fundraising programs. As supplier members of FIA they are deeply committed to the FIA Code and training programs to ensure that this ethos is lived by their entire team, including frontline fundraisers.

Adflex worked with RLSSWA to pivot over COVID-19 challenges. They maintained continuation of employment through redeployment into telemarketing and ensuring ongoing revenue generation for RLSSWA. This allowed for a fast and seamless return to the field when restrictions lifted. Adflex adopted RLSSWA’s auRaffle fundraising platform to process all regular giving, raffle ticket, donation, and product sales transactions. Adflex helped deliver outstanding fundraising outcomes including acquiring 4,287 regular raffle supporters, contributing more than $2.1M income over the past 18 months. They have delivered the drowning prevention and water safety messages to over 155,000 West Australians, assisting RLSSWA to strive for a nation free of drowning.

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR

Marlin Communications

Nominated by Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia

When COVID-19 arrived in early 2020, Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) had a fundraising portfolio of third-party events, with no peer-to-peer or digital campaigns in market or planned. These events were community-based, and within a matter of months all of them were cancelled. The Marlin team were known to PCFA and had worked on different aspects of PCFA’s Individual Giving portfolio over time. PCFA engaged Marlin for advice on the launch of a digital fundraising campaign, and in its inaugural year, amid the chaos of COVID-19, the campaign raised over $1.5M completely exceeding all expectations.

HIGH COMMENDATION

Since then, PCFA has gone on to expand on this work, creating engaging campaigns for Men’s Health Week, Valentine’s Day, and a national Giving Day. Marlin’s creative insights and fundraising expertise have significantly strengthened PCFA’s impact, increasing awareness and income and developing their ability to deliver on the mission. Moreover, the campaigns have allowed men impacted by prostate cancer to engage more openly about the challenges of the disease, creating pathways for overcoming the 70% increased risk of suicide death faced by men with prostate cancer. Through partnering with Marlin, PCFA has strengthened its connections with the Australian community, contributing to social cohesion and healthier lives for all.

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR

Dataro

Dataro is one of RFDS Victoria’s most strategic supplier partnering’s, having delivered significant improvements in fundraising campaign ROI and team efficiency over the last two years. Their AI donor prediction software and amazing customer support have helped to maximise the value of their donor data. Through better campaign targeting they have empowered RFDS to work smarter in delivering truly donor-centric campaigns that generate improved fundraising outcomes. With Dataro’s software and strategic counsel they can engage with the right donors at the right time in a way that brings the donor closer to their cause and results in greater net returns.

FINALIST

Dataro software has reduced RFDS mailing volume and has helped protect their fundraising revenue against rising mailing costs and inflation. Dataro’s predictive scores provides insights on which donors are most likely to give to an appeal, to convert to a regular giver, and to cancel or upgrade their regular gift and who is showing signs of giving at a higher level. Fundraising has become more targeted and delivers donor-centric campaigns that achieve fundraising targets. Dataro’s software is extremely user friendly, and they are a trusted adviser to the fundraising team.

Nominated by Royal Flying Doctor Service (Victorian Section)

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR

DTV group and Sanctuary Media

Nominated by The Smith Family

DTV Group and Sanctuary Media are a long-term partner of The Smith Family that helped raise the bar on their performance year on year. DRTV is the largest single media channel responsible for driving sponsorship growth, accounting for approximately 40% of child sponsorships acquired. Last year, 4,391 sponsors were attributed to being acquired via DRTV – $2.7million in annualised income. Over the five-year strategy FY18-22, 33,493 sponsors were attributed to DRTV. DTV Group worked as true partners, not just as a supplier but with genuine enthusiasm and dedication towards achieving The Smith Family’s goals. Six direct response TV ads were produced, plus variations each to reach their desired outcome and achieve the key messages. DTV Group managed the process from end-to-end, providing well-thought-out creative concepts, producing the ad, and managing the portfolio of existing creatives.

FINALIST

They collaborated closely with Sanctuary Media to continually optimise the media strategy and buying, liaise directly with the telemarketing agency to enhance conversion and campaign performance. DTV proved to be very flexible and supported the shift in advertising to a more strengths-based approach which resulted in multiple adaptations of existing creatives and a brand-new creative aligned with the organisational goals. DTV Group consistently went above and beyond to support the broader fundraising activities by looking for optimisations within the DRTV channel to support other appeals in market simultaneously.

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR

Safewill Pty Ltd

Nominated by Plan International Australia

Safewill is a simple, affordable, and accessible online Will-writing platform that launched in 2019. Digitising the Will-writing process has allowed Safewill to seamlessly integrate bequests into their platform, helping charity partners to acquire, nurture and track gifts in Wills accurately to forecast bequest revenue based on real Will data.

FINALIST

Plan International Australia (PIA) engaged Safewill two years ago dramatically enhancing the way they approach and execute gifts in Wills acquisition. PlA now have a long-term, sustainable, and predictable, profitable funnel of future income which was previously challenging to quantify and forecast. The Safewill team operated as a true partner helping PIA create and optimise bequest campaigns to maximise ROI. PlA was one of the first charities in Australia to bulk purchase digital Wills on behalf of our donors.

This resulted in 151 subsidised Wills written by PIA supporters. This was also beneficial for supporters, who could access high-quality estate planning for free. Now 108 bequests have been acquired through the partnership comprising 73 estate gifts and 35 specific gifts.

The expected future value of the partnership is just under $2,850,000, delivering 46x ROI. This is especially remarkable due to the younger-skewed demographics of Plan’s donor base – a group typically difficult to prospect for bequests. The convenience and accessibility of Safewill’s digital-first product saw PIA succeed in this area.

SUPPLIER TEAM OF THE YEAR

The FIN

Agency

Nominated by Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation

The FIN Agency is a face-to-face (F2F) agency that provides donor acquisition services. For the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation, they are their largest frontline team and operate as brand representatives. They manage event/shopping centre sites, as well as door to door fundraising in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia. Even though they are a Victorian based charity, FIN have been instrumental in establishing Peter Mac as a nationwide charity. Their presence and best-practice fundraisers Australia-wide has allowed for significant growth for the regular giving program. Their value was particularly apparent during the pandemic, where state and citywide lockdowns in Victoria forced the closure of their F2F fundraising.

FINALIST

FIN has enabled Peter Mac to continue growing their donor pool with their operations in other states and territories. As a result, F2F was the only fundraising program with consistent growth throughout the pandemic. Donors obtained through FIN fundraisers are now the second largest source of new donors annually for Peter Mac – after community events. Thanks to FIN, the donors obtained in FY2021 alone are expected generate $10.9 million dollars in revenue over the next five years.

Principal Award Sponsors