Case Study: Raising the bar on fundraising letters

Meet the Client

For more than 35 years, Jessie’s—The June Callwood Centre for Young Women (Jessie’s)—has served pregnant teens and youth in Toronto who face poverty and social isolation. Through education, health, and social services programs, Jessie’s supports young moms with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities to promote the healthy development of their children and to rise and reach their full potential as adults and new parents. 

The Client’s Challenge

Jessie’s is a small organization with a small administrative staff. Donor communications and fundraising writing had always been done in-house. Sometimes the part-time fundraising coordinator would write a report, other times a program director would write a newsletter. Other times still, the executive director herself would write a letter. Specifically, it had always been her responsibility to write the donation appeal letter for their annual holiday fundraising campaign.

We were introduced to the organization just as she was struggling to figure out what to say in the 2019 letter. (And, when to find the time to write it!)

Our Solution

We proposed using a storytelling technique to show the organization’s impact rather than having the letter recap the organization’s efforts to help young pregnant women and young moms over the last 12 months. By telling a story, we felt that the letter would better connect donors to the organization’s mission, compelling them to donate (or donate more than they had in the past).

The executive director agreed to try this approach and found a past program participant who was willing to share her story. We then interviewed her by phone, building an authentic connection with her to help her feel comfortable and at ease. She told us about how it felt to be nine months pregnant at her high school graduation, about the challenges of having a daughter and still wanting a career, and about how Jessie’s supported her and her daughter, giving her the confidence she needed to pursue a post-secondary education. 

We wrapped her story around a few relevant Jessie’s statistics and ended it with a direct ask for a personal gift (of specific amounts), simply telling donors that their donation would help more young women like the woman in the story. Once the letter was approved, Jessie’s gave it a simple design treatment, printed it, and mailed it to about 300 people on their mailing list.

The Results and Next Steps

By the end of the holiday season, that letter resulted in a 20% increase in donations over previous annual holiday appeal letters. 

Since writing that fundraising letter, we’ve partnered with Jessie’s on a number of other writing and strategy initiatives — including their annual report, an infographic, a case for support and other holiday and Mother’s Day appeal letter campaigns.