From the Nominator

Launched in early 2023, the Harvard Climate Digest email newsletter showcases the many ways that Harvard faculty, students, and alumni are contributing to real-world solutions to the climate crisis. Each edition invites recipients to explore a curated selection of climate-related stories, videos, podcasts, and other content drawn from Harvard channels and external media. While the University Development Office produces the newsletter, it is not a fundraising publication. The goal is not to directly solicit gifts but rather to engage, educate, and inspire, thereby cultivating an audience of prospective donors who may give to support Harvard’s climate work in the future. The first year of the Harvard Climate Digest has been wildly successful by every measure, consistently yielding click-through rates that are more than double the average for Harvard emails. Data analysis of click activity has provided valuable insights into the interests of individual recipients. Establishing a new channel with a highly engaged audience has strengthened our working relationships with communications colleagues across the university, who are eager to have their climate content featured in the newsletter. The newsletter and a related website (alumni.harvard.edu/community/stories/climate-digest) provide a growing repository of content that tells a powerful story of Harvard’s impact in meaningfully addressing the urgent climate challenges facing our world.

From the Judges

The careful curation of email recipients and the sky-high open and click-through rates are enough to prove that this is an absolutely incredible campaign--all for a wonderful cause.