Not much innovation in Christmas direct mail, but some interesting stuff happening elsewhere!

A couple of weeks ago I picked out a couple of interesting items of direct mail from my mum's post.  I've just received the latest batch of Christmas appeals (plus items other colleagues have given me) and unfortunately there's nothing interesting to report.

It's not that the Christmas appeals are bad, it's just they are fairly formulaic and pretty much follow this format:

• Cover letter with urgent Christmas headline.
• Plenty of underlining, bold and subheads.
• A p.s.
• An accompanying leaflet.
• Some sort of Christmas wish list.
• Another lift item, such as stickers or a Christmas card.
• Response form with lasered in gift amounts.

There is nothing wrong with this per se (indeed the Christmas appeal I signed off for work contains many of the above elements) and I'm sure they will be successful, but from this blog's point of view there was nothing new and interesting happening.

It may just be the appeals that my mum received, but I'd love to see some examples of Christmas appeals that don't follow the formula set out above.

However, all is not lost and there have been a couple of other fundraisnig campaigns and projects that have caught my eye as being a bit different.

First up is this interactive poster from Barnado's that thanks people when they make a donation. 

Connor Byrne has also found three or four Christmas campaign's that are a bit different.

Aline highlights her favourite fundraising communication of the year.

A great way to use graphics to help get your point across.

Donor magic in action: charity:water getting volunteers and staff to handwrite 4,500 thank you / Christmas cards to supporters.  How great is that? 

Mark on an I-Phone app that is being used to engage Salvation Army volunteers at Christmas

Finally, this month has seen the launch of Ploink!, a great new way to give small, regular amounts to charity.