Juggling and the Fine Art of Fundraising
The story hit on some best practices, using bullet points and lists, as well as a section on "How You Can Help," driving recipients online to organize meal-packaging events, volunteer, donate and spread the word. Inside, there was a report titled "On the Ground in Haiti," which highlighted the work Stop Hunger Now and its partners do, with images from the scene of the earthquake. The copy nicely balanced describing the work being done with thanking and acknowledging Stop Hunger Now's donors and supporters. Updates continued in each quarterly newsletter.
Stop Hunger Now also posted the need and asked for donations via Facebook, both on its main Facebook page and the Facebook Causes page it made for Haiti. It also incorporated video. A documentary maker offered to create a couple different versions of a documentary after traveling to Haiti with Stop Hunger Now in April following the earthquake. Two videos were put together — one as an acknowledgment to Stop Hunger Now's meal-packaging volunteers and the other highlighting Stop Hunger Now's partnerships, as well as highlighting several large corporate donors.
The videos were incorporated on the website, in e-mails and on Facebook.
Campaign strategy and deployment
The first communication was sent on Jan. 13, the day after the earthquake hit. After that, the newsletter was mailed in February, a couple weeks after the quake, and three more were sent the remainder of the year. The next e-mail was sent on Jan. 22, and follow-up e-mails continued a few times throughout the year, including a three-part e-mail series that went out around the holidays. Updates were always posted on Facebook too. Each communication updated the progress and work that was being done to aid Haitians affected by the earthquake.
The e-mails went out to the 9,000 addresses on Stop Hunger Now's file, and the newsletter mailed to the 18,000 subscribers. Haiti communications were sent all the way through the end of the year, thanking supporters for making the response Stop Hunger Now was able to provide possible.
