Clackamas Women’s Services was in dire need of help when it came time to send out holiday mailings. In early 2001, the Clackamas County, OR shelter and counseling group was buying a new building, and it needed the holiday and spring donor mailings to pull in more money than ever. But the organization, which works to end domestic violence against women and children, needed a way to freshen its fundraising technique, and its brochure was ragged from repeated photocopying.
Direct marketing agency Rosen/Brown Direct of Portland, OR, stepped in to revamp the direct mail pieces for free. The appeal goes to average citizens whose combined contributions comprise about one-quarter of Clackamas’ support. “The donor database does not have the same names I would see when I look at the symphony [donor] list,” says Lynn Epstein, director of operations at Rosen/Brown. “These are my neighbors.”
The agency wants to increase the average $25 donation by a few dollars and attract new contributors.
Rosen/Brown redesigned the quarterly newsletter to showcase Clackamas’ successes, so donors would know their dollars were going to good use. For example, last year the group handled more than 3,000 crisis calls and provided shelter for more than 400 women and children.
The brochure became an attractive, easy-to-read fundraising vehicle that described the organization’s importance to the community and its services: a 24-hour hotline, an emergency shelter for women; support groups, rent and job assistance for women learning to live independently; parenting and children’s counseling and community education.
The newsletter, which dropped around Thanksgiving, was designed to relate recent developments to recipients and prepare them for December’s appeal letter.
“It just warms our heart when people say, `I read about the new playground in the newsletter,'” remarks Kathy Moore, executive director of Clackamas. Moore attributes the higher response to the letter’s improved look. “Halfway through, we had already exceeded last year’s total,” she says.
The brochure will be used for high-end donors, Moore adds, anticipating a capital campaign for the new building.
As planning for the spring fundraising effort begins, Rosen/Brown has created posters in English, Spanish and Russian to build awareness. They’ll be put up in churches, synagogues and other public places across the county. “A woman walking past the laundromat with her abuser might see our number on the poster, memorize it and call us later,” Moore says.
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