Speaking to Donor’s Hearts

A rebooted donor newsletter redesigned, and refocused to communicate, simply and emotionally, exactly how donor gifts give hope to vulnerable refugees.

Writing by Jeff Brooks and Tom Ahern.

Gratitude Report to Donors

When Save The Elephants approached us about an impact report, their communications writer had just taken the Philanthropic Psychology writing course taught by Jen Shang and Tom Ahern at the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy.

Their request? Help them create a report that would touch their donors hearts.

We helped them shift their attention away from talking about the organization to focus on the elephants and people whose lives were forever changed by donor generosity.

Copy by Gemma Francis, STE

Tomaquag Museum campaign for a new campus

A campaign case statement to raise money for this Indigenous-led museum to build a new home on the campus of the University of Rhode Island.

Copy by Tom Ahern
Photos by Peter Silvia

Case Statement

The Wild Center isn’t like any other nature museum, science center, zoo, wildlife park, aquarium, convention hall, or classroom you’ve ever seen. That's why our case statement for the museum needed a unique message to reach out to donors and convince them of the unique opportunity TWC offers to help shape our relationship with nature. And change the future.

Copy by Maggie Cohn
Illustration by Frances Gaffney

Look as good as the work you do.

Your name is the first thing people learn about you. And first impressions are hard to change. That’s why your visual identity must instantly convey your values and culture. And what’s true for your institution is also true for you capital campaign brand.

Take a look at these examples—they show how careful listening combined with strong design results in brands that leave lasting impressions. 

PROJECT

Donor magazine

AWARDS

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

Healthcare Marketing Report Awards—Merit

Public Relations Society of America—Gold (3)

PARTNERS
Photography: Rob Lisak

The Nantucket Atheneum, Nantucket Island’s beautiful public library, found itself in an all-too-common situation—it could no longer safely rely on fundraising events to supply the revenue needed to fund operations. They decided to launch a major gifts program and they needed a case for support to introduce it.

We combined a persuasive argument for support with an entertaining page-by-page photo-and-narrative tour of a typical day in the life of the Atheneum, showing its fundamental importance to the surprisingly broad range of Nantucket residents that rely on it.

And we packaged it in a beautiful format, with a hard cover and library binding to evoke the books on the Atheneum’s shelves.

The very first donor to see it told us, “It gave me chills. It’s a beautiful piece—I can’t wait to pore over every page.”

Copy by Maggie Cohn.
Photography by Tom Kates.

The Yale Institute of Sacred Music celebrated its move to a new home with a weekend of performances, symposia, dedication ceremony and inaugural art art exhibit. This book commemorates the event and the donors who made renovation of the turn-of-the-century New Haven mansion possible. The event was attended by current and past presidents of the university, faculty, donors, friends of the institute and students.

Redesign of the flagship magazine for the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford University, published by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health.

Read the entire magazine here.

"You were such a great partner on this issue! The topic itself was difficult, but you pulled everything together so beautifully. In some ways, this issue felt way easier than others! I really really appreciated everything you brought to this project."  Jennifer Yuan
Director, Development Communications Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health

Capital Campaign Case Statement

Located at 980 Park Avenue in New York City, The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola is among the city’s most beloved places of worship. They came to us for help with a campaign to raise money for access ramps, building repairs and heating system upgrades. Through careful listening, we told a story of the church’s welcoming atmosphere for all parishioners — a core value of their Jesuit mission.

Copy by Leanne Kleinmann
Photography by Robert Lisak

Case statement brochure

The Anchorage Museum is a high-quality regional museum with strong Smithsonian connections. They are on the brink of becoming the best in the world at telling the rapidly changing Arctic story.

Copy by Tom Ahern
“Tom Ahern .. is one of the country’s most sought-after creators of fund-raising messages." – The New York Times

The Varick Campus of Hillside Children’s Center is, by definition, a very sad place. It’s a residential community and school for kids who—for a variety of reasons—aren’t safe in their homes, communities, or schools.

The campus itself is a former military barracks. It’s dark, run-down, and depressing—no place for kids. The organization desperately needed funds to renovate and modernize it.

We created a case statement that explains the urgent need for a new facility through the voices of the kids who live there. By combining stock photos with images of the place, we were able to protect the privacy of the children without diluting the impact of the piece.

A companion booklet of architectural renderings presents the vision of the future to donors.

Copy by Maggie Cohn.

A case statement to support a campaign for a new museum at the New York Academy of Medicine in New York City, that will highlight their rare book collection, Institute for Urban Health and healthy cities initiative.

Copy by Maggie Cohn

Connecticut Forest & Park

Year end appeal letter, lift note, insert and reply slip.

Copy by Jeff Brooks.

A Culture of Caring

This new case statement was developed for Villa Cathay Care Home in Vancouver, BC. to help them raise money for a new building. The piece addresses their unique community of Chinese Canadians and the importance of culturally sensitive care. We designed the piece to accommodate both English and Chinese text to speak to readers in their native languages.

Copy created by Leah Eustace, CFRE, ACFRE.

Thanking donors for leading the way

There were two big challenges to creating a donor-centered annual impact report for Silent Spring Institute, a science lab whose mission is to track down and eliminate the cancer-causing toxic chemicals in our environment.

First of all, their work is complex and “sciencey”—the kind of research that usually takes technical jargon and academic concepts to explain. And second, what they do in the lab is far removed from the individuals who will actually benefit from it somewhere down the road.

And from the cover to the last page, Silent Spring’s donors are extravagantly thanked, called out, and appreciated for making such life-changing work possible.

Additional projects included a donor newsletter, branding for their 25th anniversary and a timeline illustrating 25 years of impact on women’s health.

#Donorlove evangelists John Lepp and Jen Love

I was thrilled to be asked to overhaul Agents of Good’s website last year. The project included presentation of their impressive portfolio of fundraising projects. They also wanted to prune and update their blog including some of the best of the best from more than 10 years of posts.

The result? Traffic is up and the site has become a launching pad for 2 new books for fundraising professionals!

Visit the site here: agentsofgood.org

Writer, editor, brainstorming partner, fundraiser, & shoulder-to-lean-on

Maggie’s website and visual identity were long overdue for updates. This new look much more vividly captures the creative talent, wit, and enthusiasm (not to mention good old-fashioned hard work and brains) that she brings to every project.

Visit the site here: maggiecohncommunications.com

Website Design and Build

TheCaseWriters.com is a collaboration focused on donor-centric capital campaign communications. I'm thrilled to be working with some of the best case statement writers anywhere: Tom Ahern of Ahern Communications—there's no one like him in the business; Agents of Good's John Lepp and Jen Love—this Canadian team takes donor-centered writing and design to a whole new level; Jeff Brooks—his reputation precedes him; Maggie Cohn—my long-time collaborator whose wonderful writing for philanthropy speaks for itself; Julie & Brett Cooper—a talented up-and-coming duo from the mid-west; and the incomparable Leah Eustace of Blue Canoe Philanthropy, Ottawa. These folks are the best of the best. I could not be more honored to be included in their midst!

of Southern New England

CAMPAIGN CASE STATEMENT

The unwanted pregnancy rate among teens is still too high in America’s urban cores. But Planned Parenthood of Southern New England knows how to lower that rate. With this capital campaign, PPSNE will establish and upgrade several health centers conveniently located in the inner cities.

Copy by Tom Ahern

I built Betsy a website when she started her college counseling business 8 years ago. This year it was time for a redesign that would reflect how much her business has grown.

She's now working with 5 counselors placing kids in colleges and universities all over the country and internationally. Her new website links her blog, social media accounts, calendars and appointment management all in one interface.

visit the site

DIRECT MAIL CATALOG

This little book perfectly demonstrates how inspiring it is for donors to see exactly how their gifts are used. Throughout its pages we describe dozens of items that will soothe the fears and improve the outcomes of pediatric patients and their families. Donors are asked to choose among them, and send in the funds for purchase. It’s perfect for parents who are teaching their kids about philanthropy, for organized groups to build fundraisers around—or for that rare donor who has always dreamed of having her name on a new MRI machine!

Now in it’s sixth year, this little piece has raised many tens of thousands of dollars.

Copy by Maggie Cohn

Campaign for Flint Hill School

“I just returned from a solicitation meeting and the brochure had been delivered!! It looks gorgeous!

“We had some late-breaking ideas for the micro-site but Andrea's design has been so easy to work with that it was a breeze. Thanks for all you did to help get us ready for the launch!”

Meredith Vanduyne, Director of Institutional Advancement, Flint Hill School

……………….

Copy by Leanne Kleinmann

Sad Eyes Sell

This heart-strings-plucking case began with a half-day working session led by Tom Ahern. Together, board and staff worked up answers to key case questions such as “Why now?” and “What enemy will the donor defeat?” Pre-approving your messages in this way can trim months off a case-creation schedule.

In addition to the case statement, I designed a campaign logo and letterhead, and an inexpensive folder to hold proposals, individual program or project descriptions, naming opportunities, etc. All items that can be easily written and produced in-house.

Copy by Tom Ahern.