Winners of the 2014 Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

This award-winning package deftly combined features that managed to appeal to both audiences, including a members opening event, opportunities for permanent recognition, free admission, and other premiums and discounts. Plus, the package itself was vibrant with consistent messaging and imagery throughout.

In the end, results for the campaign greatly surpassed projections, with a net income of $389,193 (exceeding the projected figure of $12,300). Average gift reached $207.95 (far exceeding the $85 expectation), and return for dollar invested was nearly five times higher than the projected at $6.88.

Direct Mail (Less than $10 million)
The Fund for Iona College
Iona College
(Submitted by Iona College)

The Numbers
Recipients: 427
Response rate: 16.16 percent
Total cost: $4,168
Income generated: $175,865
Average gift: $2,548.77
Cost to raise a dollar: $0.02

There are times when less is more. Such is the case with this letter from Iona College, intended to attract members to its President’s Club and encourage existing members to renew. The effort is simple and classy, with a definite formal allure. Our judges liked that, as well as the real-pen addressing on the outer envelope.

Iona managed to pack a trifold card with President’s Club information, details about the college’s strategic plan and a note from the college’s president; a letter from the chair of the President’s Club; and the usual reply device into a comparatively tiny envelope, without it feeling cramped or stuffy. But the judges also were impressed that the college realized it was time to shake up the President’s Club appeal — previously, it had never sent anything other than a standard letter.

“This was something the college did that was not part of its previous practices,” writes Jill Krueger, senior director of annual giving and advancement services at the college. “The results of this piece exceeded our expectations.”