The Client

United Way and its donors create pathways out of poverty in their communities by investing in three focus areas: breaking the cycle, lifting people out, and providing a safety net.

The Challenge

The Individual Giving team from United Way of the Alberta Capital Region contracted HMA to develop new creative for their direct mail Planned Giving campaign. The goals were to identify donors who have already included United Way in their Will, and to generate new leads for United Way’s planned giving team. We had worked together previously on a successful campaign and were thrilled that United Way invited us to create a new campaign for them.

The Solution

HMA’s strategy was based on our 30 years of legacy marketing experience, extensive testing, and behavioral science research. We worked with United Way’s team to select the most appropriate planned giving story. After interviewing the donor, HMA created a cover letter and carefully crafted a new survey relevant to their donors. Our creative strategy was to help United Way of the Alberta Capital Region understand their donors’ interests and motivations. And most importantly, to identify those donors who have already left a gift in their Will or who are most likely to do so.

The Results

At the halfway point of the campaign, mailing in waves over several months, it has already uncovered approximately $553,000 in planned gift intentions, many mid-level gift leads, and two dozen planned giving leads. They have many more great prospects, and we anticipate this campaign to raise more than $1 million — at the cost of approximately three cents to raise a dollar.

“We partnered with HMA to develop and create a legacy campaign to go to our donors. We appreciate their collaborative approach to developing the content and executing the plan. In just the first round of mailings, we received a 15% response rate! Their expertise, attention to detail, and customization to our organization is evident in the final product and the results.” —Patti Barrow, Senior Director, Individual Giving Donna Roth, Senior Advisor, Legacy Giving