Children’s Health Giving Day Campaigns
Each year, the Children’s Health Foundation holds two major Giving Day campaigns – the Red Balloon League and North Texas Giving Day. In 2022, they came to us and asked us to re-envision the creative strategy for their digital fundraising communications. While their previous campaigns raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, the team was looking for their campaigns to have more clearly defined messages and better storytelling.
In reviewing their content we saw that it lacked clear clinical explanations about the featured patients’ diagnosis. They were also too long and told donors why they should give, instead of inspiring donors to be part of a mission to provide expert compassionate medical care. Most of all they lacked emotion and a clear connection to the role philanthropy plays in the care team’s ability to restore a child’s health.
The Solution
The first thing we did was design the new digital strategy around the featured patient and their family.
- Our goal was to ensure everyone who read an appeal could connect with the family as if they were talking to friends.
- We also made each email in the series come from a specific person’s voice – the patient, their parent or the provider.
- Within each email, we emphasize sharing meaningful details about the child’s care, highlighting the patient’s family’s gratitude and showcasing how the medical team’s expertise made a difference in the patient’s outcome.
- Finally, we brought in the role of the donor and how their support is equally important in ensuring the best possible outcome for each child in their care.
Our focus on communicating the impact of giving through a patient’s personal experience allowed us to show the donors how their gifts directly supported patients.
The Results
2022 North Texas Giving Day – Featuring Tanner and Caleb
- Featured patients: brothers, Tanner and Caleb – cystic fibrosis
- Decreased email word count by half
- Raised nearly $650,000
- 1,434 donors (31% increase from 2021)
- 15% increase in employee giving (609 team member donors)
2023 North Texas Giving Day – Featuring Alexis and Camille
- Featured patient: Alexis, leukemia patient
- Featured patients: Camille, Type 1 diabetes patient
- Decreased email word count by half
- Raised more than $718,000
- 1,200 donors
