2020 Joint Winner Fundraising Impact Through Creativity: Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC)

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s (ASRC) Winter Appeal is the ASRC’s largest annual fundraising campaign, designed to leverage the tax time giving opportunity and required to fund approximately 20% of annual expenditure. The ASRC was the joint winner of the FIA’s 2019 “Fundraising Impact through Creativity” award, in recognition of our incredibly impactful creative work on the ASRC’s 2019 Winter Appeal – Be The Difference. This was our most successful appeal on record (at the time) and was delivered by a relatively new marketing team who are traditionally not regarded as “fundraisers” within the industry. 

But through a compelling case-study video and strong creative execution focussed on key tangible content pillars that expressed how the donor could be the difference (by funding food, housing, health services) our 2019 Winter Appeal raised $2.1 million against a budget of $1.7 million (+23.5% increase on budget and previous year results). A total of 8,544 donors gave to the appeal with a higher than normal average gift of $247 and 74% of donations came from retained donors with 26% from newly acquired donors. The total return on investment for the campaign was an impressive 1:12.

Balancing strong strategy with a compelling campaign creative was crucial in delivering such incredible results at a time when our organisation was relying on our efforts to meet the significantly increased demand on our services. 

I was incredibly proud of the work of my marketing team who work side-by-side and in true partnership with our fundraising team to deliver these exceptional results for the organisation and to tell the story of our beneficiaries and the story of need in such an engaging and compelling way. Winning this award was a huge moment for my team and it really validated their work and role in driving the results for the appeal. It was also a huge moment for me both personally and professionally as this was my first foray into the amazing world of fundraising and NFPs, having built a career in commercial food and beverage marketing. But importantly I have witnessed the huge impact that winning this award has had on the morale, confidence and self-belief of my team and they continue to achieve even greater results in even more challenging times.

Entering the FIA awards is not only an important exercise to help your team and organisation recognise the excellence of your teams’ work it is also a wonderful way to celebrate outstanding performance that is recognised by the sector as exemplary and leading the way. If your team has had success with your fundraising efforts, I would strongly encourage you to enter the FIA Awards so your team can be recognised for their exceptional efforts and so others in the industry can not only share in your successes but also be inspired to achieve even greater results for themselves. We will be entering the awards again in 2020.