Charities and not-for-profit organizations come in all shapes and sizes. Jazzbones has created fundraising campaigns for global charities like Bible Society and designed legacy advertising for Europe’s largest membership organization, the National Trust.
But we’ve also applied our creative skills to local charities like Wiltshire Air Ambulance, Julia’s House and Prospect Hospice, helping them to punch above their weight in the Swindon and Wiltshire area with eye-catching branding and successful fundraising campaigns.
Whatever the size and substance of the charity, fundraising is never easy. Simply put, there are so many good causes out there tugging at the heartstrings and purse strings. As of March 2022, there were a scarcely believable 170,383 charities operating in England and Wales, the vast majority of them with good reasons to seek people’s support.
There are also around 20,000 organisations that have charitable status, but aren’t normally thought of as charities, such as churches or public schools. They are also competing for a slice of the donations pie.
Whichever way you look at it, that’s a lot of competition.
There is another reality. A lot of charities do not have a USP. For example, there are literally hundreds of children’s charities or NGO’s raising money for developing countries. Deciding which one to donate to is a real dilemma.
If so many charities are doing such similar things they have to look beyond their core work – however invaluable that may be – to find ways to attract donors.
That inevitably leads to a focus on branding, design and communications. And this is where Jazzbones excels; helping charities to create compelling fundraising campaigns and communications that stand out from the crowd.
Our long track record of working with charities led to the UK’s national army charity, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, approaching us to design two of its key annual fundraising packs.
For the first direct mail pack we chose the theme of “Family is the bond that ties us together’ which references actual family, comrades in the armed forces and the extended army family of which ABF The Soldiers’ Charity forms a part.
In terms of imagery, the pack used contemporary photos taken from case studies combined with sepia images of soldiers and their families taken during past conflicts. Jazzbones not only designed the bold looking pack, we also wrote it.
For the second pack, the theme was ‘The Soldiers’ Charity has stood shoulder to shoulder with the extended Army Family since World War Two’.
For imagery, we concentrated on powerful images of soldiers who had sadly lost their lives or suffered devastating injuries. Again, we designed and wrote the pack, which like the first pack, included segmentation and different versions for different warm and cold target groups.
The charity sector is competitive and the armed forces related charity sector even more so, but ABF The Soldiers’ Charity was delighted with the eye-catching nature of the Jazzbones packs and most importantly, highly satisfied with the eventual ROI.
Founded in 1804 by anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce, today the Bible Society is the world’s largest charity, providing bibles to people around the world in a language they can understand – and at a price they can afford.
Jazzbones worked hand in hand with the Bible Society to create on-brand appeals and news materials for the charity’s China and Ethiopia campaigns.
These core materials included direct mail packs, letters, donation forms, inserts, booklets, printed reply envelopes and more.
We also redesigned the charity’s quarterly Prayer Bulletin, streamlining the design from a 24-page brochure to a 6-page roll fold format to keep costs down, as well as creating a new format for a 24-page quarterly newsletter.
“Thank you to everyone at Jazzbones. They’re a breath of fresh air – so easy to deal with, exceptionally fast to respond and turn things around, and always providing us with great design, original thinking and great service.” Fundraising Officer, Supporter Engagement, Bible Society.
There is nothing we like more at Jazzbones that putting our skills to work for good causes.
If you need a crack team to support your fundraising campaign, we’d love to hear from you.
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