Derian House fundraising case study: Touching hearts, seeing results

Supporting Derian House Children’s Hospice in its fundraising efforts is an immensely important and rewarding part of the work we do.

Today we’re sharing how much of a difference it makes when those campaigns work well.

Brazil Street client Derian House Children’s Hospice provides respite and end-of-life care to more than 450 seriously ill children and young people from across the North West.

Derian House never closes to those who need it. With services that run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Care is free for families, but the hospice costs £5million to run every year.

With only 12 per cent of funding coming from the NHS, the charity relies heavily on the support of the community.

Fundraising campaigns play a vital role in keeping the doors at Derian House open. The charity simply could not continue without them.

THE CHALLENGE

Derian House has a service called Derian on Holiday, which sends life-limited children and their families on holiday together. The charity’s holiday lodges offer amazing facilities and are fully adapted. This means even children with complex needs can stay.

Derian House knows the importance that holidays play in the creating happy memories that last forever.

The Sharples family enjoyed a final holiday together at one of Derian’s original holiday lodges in Ribby Hall Holiday Village, near Kirkham, last year. Just one month later, their son Arlo, aged three-years-old, lost his battle with cancer.

After this experience, the Sharples family wanted to share their story to inspire people to donate. Donations fund other families to have similar experiences with their children.

The objective of the campaign was simple – raise more income for the charity to fund more family holidays. A secondary focus was to increase the database Derian House donors, raising awareness of the vital work they do.

THE SOLUTION

With such a heartfelt and meaningful story to tell, it was important we chose the right media environments to raise funds.

As Derian House is a charity, it was also important to keep the costs of the campaigns low, but the returns high.

Prospecting door drop activity and remarketing direct mail offered the perfect medium to tell a story and engage prospective donors. Using a letter format, we could share wonderful words from the Sharples family, and detail about the respite that donations facilities.

Prospecting door drops focused on postcode sectors which were known to index highly for charity donations. This medium was an important method for growing awareness and encouraging donations from new supporters.

Remarketing direct mail activity also allowed us to reengage those that had previously donated to Derian House. Given these audiences had previously engaged with Derian House, we predicted a heightened level of response from these audiences.

THE RESULTS

The Derian House fundraising team were absolutely blown away by the results of the campaign. Not only did they see a wealth of donations from new supporters, but previous supporters also felt so touched by the story that they donated in droves.

Caroline Taylor, Head of Income, Marketing and Communications, said:

“Brazil Street has helped us to step-up our marketing campaigns to the next level.  This includes achieving meaningful results – attracting new donors and raising money to help seriously ill children. These guys are an absolute joy to work with, so down-to-earth, professional and knowledgeable. You always feel like you’re in safe hands – they know what they’re talking about and take the time to understand your organisation’s business needs and goals. Couldn’t recommend more”

If you’d like to learn more about how Brazil Street can help you achieve meaningful results, get in touch.