2020...woof. I decided the Year End Appeal 2020 Campaign was all about simplification and maximization for me and hope and courage for the patrons. I chose the theme "Looks on tempests and is never shaken" from Shakespeare's famous Sonnet 116 to reflect how we were all in the middle of the pandemic but we will not be shaken from what we love or care for (in our collective case, serving youth, veterans, and doing art/theatre). The appeal kicked off with a Gratitude newsletter (see below) that I created and mailed/emailed. It briefly re-capped the programs that had taken place in 2020 and thanked supporters. Stage 2 focused on #GivingTuesday which included coordinated Board Peer-to-Peer fundraising campaigns on Facebook (see below) with our 4 prep emails and social campaign. Stage 3 included full court asking in December with a 5-piece direct mailing integrated with web ads, 18 emails (sample below) and Facebook paid campaigns targeted at custom and Lookalike audiences. I determined the theme, text, photos, segmentation, and visual look for the campaign, wrote the Creative Brief and worked with a designer on the 5-piece mailer (see below). I designed and deployed the email and social, created the segmentation, chose and formatted the photos (having participated in all the Zoom programs personally), and chose the quotes. To add a personal touch I scanned copies of the handwritten gratitude letters that I had asked Will Power to Youth participants to write a year ago and added one or two to emails. Finally, we wanted to digitize the acknowledgements as much as possible so instead of the annual gift "Bard Card" magnet, I asked the Education Department to re-create adult coloring pages and we attached the jpgs to our Acknowledgement letters.
Note: in 2020 the SCLA Board voted to simplify the company name from The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles to Shakespeare Center LA. However, due to the budgetary challenges of 2020 we were not able to undertake a full re-brand. Many instances of the old brand remain throughout the organization.