Putting More Fun in Fundraising

Press Releases, Direct Response, and Public Relations

After years of less-than-expected results from the in-house attempts of fundraising, it was apparent that a charity for homeless children needed to generate more revenue with the help of an outside resource. A low-cost public relations campaign with press release articles written by a professional copywriter and submitted to editors of a few choice magazines and newspapers, including free information brochures for anyone who responded to the article, created more credibility for the charity and its cause, and enhanced the messages in all its marketing and fundraising materials. All materials included the website address and contact information for interested people to connect to the charity.

Increase Response with Efficient Use of Technology

With greater response to the public relations and marketing efforts, the charity could have been overwhelmed but for the use of technology that enabled smooth and precise record-keeping of donations and the motivational messages that converted more donors. Follow-up and future fundraising and marketing was based on this information, and subsequent improvements enabled evaluation and analysis of the success rates of various fundraising timing and methods.

More Efficient Content Improves Direct Response

Future awareness information about the charity, its fundraising efforts, and its motivational messages improved further efforts toward larger, more sophisticated donor demographics, reaching more actual donors, increasing the fundraising effectiveness and return on investment.

In effect, the press releases revealed what the charity was and who it benefitted; the marketing and advertising effectiveness that built upon the press releases' success increased and broadened the audience's awareness of the charity. More precise targeting of donors from the leads generated from the press releases and marketing efforts converted more responses through more effective use of advertising, via phone solicitations and other direct response methods.