2011 Gold Awards for FundRaising Excellence Winners Announced
"Judging day for the Gold Awards is always a lot of hard work and a lot of fun," FundRaising Success Editor-in-Chief Margaret Battistelli Gardner said. "It's the culmination of months of watching these incredible packages make their way to my desk and wishing we could name them all winners because, in fact, they are. They represent the most successful, creative and thoughtful efforts of the fundraising sector in the previous year.
"The money and awareness raised by these entries — whether they garnered an award or not — is breathtaking," she added. "In addition to honoring the best of the best with the Gold Awards, we also hope to shine a light on groundbreaking efforts so that other organizations can see what's out there, what's working and how."
In the introduction to the announcement of the winners, Gold Award Judge Dane Grams wrote, "The work we saw was phenomenal. You impressed us with brilliant creative (a paper airplane, pet-personalized ornaments). You wowed us with bold risks that paid off (mailing a single sock in an acquisition package — really? Really!). You inspired us with new and innovative multichannel approaches (think "Ghostbusters" and the New York Public Library). You moved us with nothing more than a plain envelope and the simplicity of a powerful story. You made us chuckle, you made our brows furrow and you even made us cry. But it was the results — the results were what was so impressive.
"It was so great to see even as we remain in a state of economic uncertainty that we haven't lost our creative edge or our will to succeed," he added. "We are doing good work. Our fundraising campaigns are helping vital organizations establish identities, build strong brands, and inspire millions of individuals to support meaningful causes with both their voices and their dollars."
