The Assignment:
Donor Development Communications Package
FOR the Pascagoula River Audubon Center
When I was working as a copywriter and associate creative director at Godwin, my team and I were tapped to craft an unforgettable corporate sponsorship packet to raise funds for the incredibly worthy Pascagoula River Audubon Center in Moss Point, Mississippi.
This nature preserve is a birdwatcher’s paradise, and the public facility on its grounds is a hands-on-learning portal to the abundant plant and animal life that thrives in the watershed of America’s last wild river.
Let that sink in: Every other river in the contiguous U.S. of any appreciable size had been dammed or otherwise controlled by manmade means at the time of this project.
Interestingly, no other river in the U.S. supports the amount of natural life you’ll find along the Pascagoula.
Our work was cut out for us:
CONVINCE high-level donor prospects who care about the environment
TO pledge support for the PRAC at one of five suggested levels
BY foregoing the typical two-dimensional brochure in favor of a much more memorable, three-dimensional keepsake gift to accompany an in-person donation request.
Once a prospective donor opens their package, a set of nested cards, designed to evoke the look and feel of a classic nature field guide, tells the story of the center’s planned expansion, mission of preservation, and the plight of iconic species within its ecosystem (each of which represents a tiered gift level).
As the copywriter on the team, I led the concept for this project and wrote the copy for the piece. To be effective, it had to be both emotionally powerful and ecologically informed. My teammates Jimbo Harwell and Kyle Newton did the gorgeous graphic design.
Below the nested cards, prospective donors would find a lasting gift: A beautifully produced photography book about the Pascagoula River ecosystem, photographed by Stephen Kirkpatrick and written by Marlo Kirkpatrick.