From the Nominator

"The 2021 Cedarville University Annual Report was designed to achieve four stewardship objectives: 

1) Thank donors in a personalized way

2) Help donors see the relationship between their generosity and the direct impact of their giving, with the goal of strengthening affinity and retention

3) Connect donors to the current comprehensive campaign using campaign branding and messaging

4) Provide a convenient itemized charitable gift summary for the donors' tax records

The target audience was approximately 3,000 donors. Anyone who made a charitable gift of $100 or more during the last calendar year received the full 15-page printed report. We chose to included donors at the $100-$999 gift level to 1) align with our campaign message of "Every Gift Matters," and 2) see if we could increase future participation and retention rates from this donor segment.  

Past annual reports were more institutional-centric. The personalization incorporated throughout the piece was an intentional effort to put the focus on the donor and how the donor is making a tangible difference through their giving. We also added a variety of individual stories to engage donors in the big story of the transformation happening on our campus because of their generosity.  

We have received positive feedback from donors at all giving levels, as well as our trustees. We will be tracking donor giving and retention rates among the segment who received the report."

From the Judges

This is an innovative concept with hyper personalization, even on the envelope. The modularity is great, especially with the merged picture and message from the individual advancement officer. Being able to do all of this in-house with this level of personalization is phenomenal, very impressive, and must have a positive impact for the recipients. The "matters" theme worked well, and contributed to a beautifully designed product that resonates on a very personal level but demonstrates impact globally for the university.