Attracting New Donors
St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center, a well respected organization serving low-income residents of Baltimore for more than 40 years, wanted to expand its donor base. We agreed that one good way to catch the attention of those unfamiliar with St. Ambrose was to discuss what the organization does to solve major problems impacting everyone. Don Akchin Strategic Communication created a series of in-depth articles in newsletter format. The first discussed the origins of the foreclosure crisis and the work St. Ambrose was engaged in to help struggling homeowners; the second discussed the lack of good affordable housing and how St. Ambrose has been addressing it. The newsletters, mailed four weeks apart to a purchased list of 10,000 prospects, did not include a request for funds. They were followed by an end-of-year appeal letter. Results: The appeal letter produced $8,000 in donations from 58 new donors. Considering that the mailing went out in late fall 2008, in the depths of a severe recession, the client was quite pleased by the outcome.
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