Inspiring donors to bring change by not holding back.
Helping a global nonprofit transition from a donation model sustained primarily through denominational tithing to one driven by online donations is no small task. World Renew’s close ties with the Christian Reformed Church in North America had long supported the organization, but with a growing trend of Christians leaving church, World Renew’s donations coming from the pews were dwindling. As a result, World Renew’s mission was experiencing a mounting sense of crisis.
It was time to try something loudly different.
As World Renew’s American content strategist, I partnered with my Canadian counterpart and our digital strategist to retool World Renew’s donation strategy around 6 clear and accessible asks. Our goal was simple: drive first-time online donations and then cultivate donors into recurring givers. Our campaigns featured the most compelling aspects of World Renew’s work: climate adaptive farming, hunger alleviation, clean water, empowering families to leave poverty, international disaster response, and North American disaster response.
It was a new way of communicating with prospective donors and an intentional choice to offer a range of causes for donors to invest in.
Critical to our efforts was the choice to bring alongside an agency partner to help us develop and test compelling creative to drive clicks and convert prospects. Next Creative provided that partnership. Our collaboration yielded bold and forthright creative committed to speaking frankly to donors about the difference between caring about an issue on social media and acting to make a difference. We called the initiative “Let’s Donate Already.”
To speak so directly to donors carried a risk, but when we tested the creative, we found an overwhelming outpouring of support for a campaign that avoided “poverty porn” and instead left viewers with a sense of power and a strong call to action.
When Next Creative invited me to come aboard as their Creative Director, I had the honor of transitioning from the front lines of creative implementation with World Renew to ongoing creative development with Next Creative. Rarely do you get to continue to invest in such a meaningful project after a job transition, and in this instance I considered myself deeply lucky.
The work of World Renew continues to hold a special place in my heart, and the work we did together has transformed how I myself approach aching need I see in the world.
Because expressing outrage on instagram doesn’t save a life. So let’s donate already.
Work pulled from “Let’s Donate Already” Initiative
Creative Director: Kate Vance/Katy Stafford
Content Strategist: Katy Stafford/Ruth Alkema
Copywriter: Ali Werner/Taylor Beukema
Art Director: Amanda Mercer
