The Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) wanted to reach churchgoers, school children and former donors who grew up with the annual fundraising drives the organization ran at schools and church during Lent.

So the ‘Wee Box’ campaign was created by creative agency BD. The concept is simple. Encourage people to donate small change that would go towards little comforts, like coffee or lunch, to help people living in poverty in another part of the world.  They would put the money they save in a ‘Wee Box’ – designed like the old SCIAF collection boxes that most would remember from their younger days. The boxes were designed with clear, concise messaging about programs being funded by SCIAF.

Boxes were available to order for free from the campaign website. Donations could also be made online. The website included blogs from SCIAF workers, stories from people who’ve benefited from donations, and a ’40 Days, 40 Ways’ calendar (for Lent) with an idea a day encouraging people to reflect on how small changes they make in their lives that will make big differences in someone else’s life.

The campaign included a MySpace page, a Google adword campaign, support from local press and radio advertising. 130,000 boxes were distributed through schools, churches and community organizations, resulting in an average donation of £45 per household.

We came across this simple idea in a write-up on creativematch and thought it was great.

What did we really like about this idea?

•    Effectively triggering memories can be very helpful in bringing in donations. Consider looking to the past to generate and supplement your ideas.

•    Penny drives and small change collections can be very effective fundraising methods, especially in challenging economic environments. What was particularly powerful about this campaign was the ease with which people could frequently give. Donation boxes were brought right into their homes and were a visible reminder to spare some change.

What do you think?