The Foundation and University Advancement team at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville was planning how to promote participation in two upcoming campaigns. Some of the outcomes set for Giving Day, and SIUE Day (a faculty and staff fundraiser), were to raise awareness, increase participation in both opportunities, and meet their fundraising challenge.
Promotional products offer a buzzworthy appeal that is proven to generate awareness and incentivize donations. By diligently considering the design and messaging needs, a single promotional product can be positioned to work seamlessly for more than one campaign.
Socks are popular, affordable, and have a lot of appeal since they work across genders and can accommodate a wide range of sizes. This makes socks a convenient way to reward donors. Not only do they have a strong draw, they were memorable throughout both campaigns. By choosing to brand socks with the University’s recognizable “e” logo, the product was a perfect fit (pun intended) as the SUIE team was able to uniquely position them for two different fundraising campaigns.
To meet the #GivingTuesday fundraising goal, the team set a $60 threshold on donations to be eligible to get the socks. Julie Babington, Director of Annual Giving says, “We are thrilled with the quality of the socks and the custom tag is such an added bonus! We truly believe these socks will bring a welcomed smile to our donors.”
For the campaign, the SIUE team created a physically printed appeal card and ran a crowdfunding page. They also received help from 80 Campus Representatives who worked together to advocate for donations in their respective units.
In fact, the spirit of the campaign caught on so much that the School of Engineering even created an image with a “Dr. Seuss type feel” to help bring additional awareness!
