Gold-Medal Digital Marketing for Fundraising: Seven Award-Winning Campaigns

Digital marketing is a critical component of donor engagement in 2023. Your brand and messages have to stand out among the many others donors receive on a daily basis. When RNL partners with a college or university, our creative team works to find the right visuals and messages to grab a donor’s attention and inspire them to give.

The Education Digital Marketing Awards (EDMA) honored RNL and our higher ed partners once again for excellence in digital marketing for fundraising. We won 33 awards in 2023 for fundraising and enrollment, including a best-in-show award (EDMA’s highest honor) for a giving day campaign and six additional gold medals for fundraising. Here are those winning campaigns and the strategies behind them. (The following images show the winning concepts, but please note that email images do not contain the final body copy.)

BEST IN SHOW

Oakland University: Motivating More Than 1,000 Donors to Make a Gift

Oakland University’s Day of Giving is a 24-hour fundraising event where the entire community comes together for collective and impactful philanthropy. Our digital boost campaign inspired and encouraged donors to contribute to their favorite Oakland University projects and initiatives. Through compelling content and visuals in display and social advertising, we cultivated a strong sense of camaraderie that helped motivate more than 1,000 donors to make a gift. The EDMA awarded RNL and Oakland with a Best in Show for this creative and highly successful campaign.

Bethune-Cookman University: Closing the GAP in Scholarship Assistance With a Spring Appeal

Bethune-Cookman University’s rich history as a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) showcases its legacy of resilience and student-centered education. Over recent years, Bethune-Cookman University has seen an increased need for scholarship assistance to support students through graduation. We worked with them to develop the Graduation Assistance Program (GAP), a campaign dedicated to raising funds for graduating seniors and empowering students to graduate.

Bowie State University: Sharing #BSU4LIFE in a CYE Digital Ad Campaign

Bowie State University—the oldest HBCU in Maryland—asked RNL to ramp up interactivity and focus on Bowie’s bold future for their calendar year-end (CYE) campaign. RNL’s creative team provided crisp content focusing on Bowie’s global appeal across our digital, email, and direct mail campaigns. For the CYE greeting card, RNL incorporated the targeted hashtag #BSU4LIFE and encouraged recipients to take a selfie with Butch the Bulldog on the mailer and share that image across their favorite media channels. Like Bowie, our campaign was bigger, brighter, and bolder.

Eastern Washington University: Creating “Giving Joy” With Donors From 28 States

Professional success and upward mobility were the primary drivers behind Eastern Washington University’s “Giving Joy” campaign. Thanks to RNL’s and EWU’s combined efforts, EWU raised $456,802 from donors in 28 states. EWU also received commitments from two planned gifts totaling $1.6 million.

Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center: Creating a 50^th Anniversary Appeal

A special milestone deserves a special campaign. RNL worked with Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center to craft a campaign centered around Howard’s 50th anniversary. Combining a blend of old and new photography with stories of Howard’s five decades of innovation in community health, we helped donors envision how their support can keep Howard moving healthcare forward for all.

University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Alaska Southeast: Showcasing Student Accomplishments in Fall Appeals

For the University of Alaska’s fall appeal, RNL chose a feature approach for each campus. Each profile highlighted a student who had accomplished something remarkable during their time in the UA system. Compelling photos, features, and quotes captured the attention of both current and potential donors using targeted emails. The synergy of images and life stories lent the entire campaign an intimate and cohesive feel, drawing in philanthropists and giving them a flavor of all that is possible with an Alaska education. The Fairbanks and Southeast campuses each won a gold medal for their respective campaigns.

University of Alaska Fairbanks

University of Alaska Southeast

How can you increase donor engagement with award-winning appeals? Let’s talk.

RNL’s creative team has won more than 100 awards in the last five years, and you can leverage our strategic insight, world-class creative, and omnichannel outreach to make meaningful connections with your donors. Contact us for a complimentary consultation and we will set up a time to talk about creating winning campaigns for you.