The 15th-Annual
Annual Giving Appeal Exchange
2014 marks the 15th anniversary of the Annual Giving Appeal Exchange, and Jill Dooley at Grand Valley State University has graciously (and foolishly) agreed to co-host the exchange with me this year.
Each year, hundreds of institutions contribute thousands of samples, and what began 15 years ago as a paper direct mail exchange has evolved steadily to include email appeals, videos, and other types of annual and regular giving solicitations.
And there's no cost.
This year, there's just one way to participate in the exchange -- by sharing samples electronically. In 2013, fewer than 10% of the nearly 400 exchange participants wanted to send and receive paper samples. So, we've yielded to the environmentally-conscious and digitally-minded majority, and we're encouraging everyone to share their samples via email online.
You can share fundraising appeal samples as pdf files, Web links, or email copies of appeals. In return, you'll receive access to the Annual Giving Appeal Exchange online collection (including six years of previously-shared samples.)
Here is the drill for 2014:
You don't need to register. Just share your digital pdf samples, email samples, links to Facebook pages, LinkedIn groups, blitz appeals, crowdfunding pages, YouTube video samples, Web addresses or any else you wish to include. Email your samples and links to: Samples@FundList.info, or Samples@bobburdenski.com. (If your email attachments are too large, use http://www.mailbigfile.com/ or some other file sharing program.) Please include your contact information in your message(s). You can send multiple emails if you like. Please save direct mail pdf samples in a low-file-size resolution, and if possible, sort them by audience so we can group appeals by prospect audience. If you're sharing digital samples only, we'll send you login instructions for accessing the Annual and Regular Giving Appeal Exchange repository. There's no hard deadline for sharing samples electronically, but try to have them to us by July 15, 2014.
Please say a few words about your appeals when you share them. What worked well? What didn't? What are you most proud of? Help the other participants understand what "the rest of the story" was with your annual giving appeals. Put some notes in with your sharing.
Institutions anywhere in the world are welcome to participate in the digital sample sharing. We will compile a master listing of all participants and their contact names and will post it for participants who have additional questions about specific samples. Please contact us if you any questions.
Hope you'll join us for all the fun!
Jill and Bob
Jill Dooley
Grand Valley State University
dooleyj@gvsu.edu
Bob Burdenski
Annual Giving Author, Trainer and Consultant
Moderator and Janitor, FundList
Bob@FundList.info