12 signs your fundraising campaign needs a content pack
So you’ve secured a compelling campaign narrative and understand how your supporters’ donations make a difference. You need to raise more vital funds and have a clear vision for your upcoming campaign. But how will you communicate this vision to the people tasked with bringing it to life?
The answer: a campaign content pack
Before we get started, let’s briefly explore what a content pack is.
A content pack is typically a single PDF document. A comprehensive toolkit of print-ready copy and campaign-specific guidance.
A single source of truth.
Although the contents of a content pack will be unique—tailored to meet the needs of the campaign and the pack’s users—you could reasonably expect to find the following sections:
Concept introduction
Campaign headline
Proposition (in short, medium and long word counts)
Lead call to action and approved versions
Key phrases and language rules
Primary story
Secondary story
Context of the challenge
Context of the solution
Costings of the solution
Template social posts
Press release
Selected photos with caption copy
NB Some packs include design guidelines for the delivery of on-brand campaign visuals. But in this blog, we’re going to focus on copy-based content packs.
The benefits of a campaign content pack
Content packs get all internal stakeholders on the same page, quite literally.
The benefits include:
your concept and strategic messaging communicated to all
consistent copy
reduced errors and typos
faster production timescales
increased productivity and activity
strengthened brand recognition.
All of which position your charity for optimum income and impact.
How do I know if I need a campaign content pack?
Not all campaigns require a content pack.
Those that do typically require several fundraising and comms functions to develop and deliver their own resources and activities, underneath the umbrella of a unified campaign identity. For example:
Individual Giving posting direct mail packs
Legacies running a telephone campaign
Community Fundraising facilitating coffee mornings
Events recruiting sponsored marathon runners
Philanthropy hosting an in-person reception
Campaigns promoting a petition
PR placing stories in the media
Digital scheduling paid and organic ads
Brand Marketing booking OOH advertising
If your activity plan looks anything like this, and you don’t have a contact pack, you’ll probably encounter the following issues.
12 signs you need a content pack
1. Colleagues aren’t using the campaign headline with confidence.
A content pack doesn’t just feature your campaign’s headline; it explores the rationale behind it. Giving users both practical examples of the headline in use, and a deep understanding of why it matters.
With your now-invested colleagues confidently applying the headline across their campaign collateral, supporters will experience a cohesive and recognisable campaign at every touchpoint.
Furthermore, a clear campaign message is eminently more sharable, leading to increased engagement and ultimately income.
Save your campaign from an identity crisis with a content pack!
2. The fundraising proposition is being inconsistently articulated.
Every piece of campaign collateral should express the proposition in the same (or at least similar) terms, even when copy has been tailored to engage a specific audience.
Your supporters will undoubtedly encounter your campaign at multiple touchpoints. So, it’s not enough for one team’s interpretation of the proposition to be clear in isolation, if it contradicts another team’s when side by side.
Gain your supporters’ trust and loyalty with consistent, compelling, clearly identifiable campaign propositions.
3. Unapproved ‘calls to action’ are being used.
It’s normal to have multiple calls to action (CTAs) in a multi-channel campaign.
After all, you might want to appeal to the values and motivations of different audiences, or make different asks, such as donate, collect sponsorship, or sign a petition.
Although having several CTAs is an acceptable strategic approach, you should still publish an approved list in your content pack.
Firstly, a list enables teams to feature one another’s CTAs in a consistent and recognisable way.
Secondly, a list of approved CTAs will protect your campaign from experiencing ‘ask-drift.’
(Yes, that’s a compound noun I made up for this blog and I’m running with it. ‘Gretchen! Stop trying to make ask-drift happen.’)
Ask-drift occurs when an approved campaign ask becomes the subject of unauthorised editing.
However well-intentioned this editing may be, ask-drift can land you in hot water with your supporters—and even the Fundraising Regulator.
Ask-drift typically occurs when colleagues bend the truth to try and meet the needs of their specific audience.
A fictional example follows.
Approved CTA for an unrestricted campaign supporting economic development through sustainable farming in several African countries:
Help us fund tools and training so someone like Leah can establish a sustainable farm.
CTA edited to appeal to major donors, incorrectly implying donations will be restricted:
Will you fund a rural business training course for Leah’s community in Malawi?
CTA edited to appeal to cash donors who typically respond to humanitarian emergencies, incorrectly implying support is more short than long-term:
Please donate today so that a mother like Leah can feed her hungry children tomorrow.
Ask-drift not only undermines the contract between you and your supporters but often compromises ethical storytelling too.
Control the narrative of your campaign with a list of approved CTAs.
4. People in your stories are being portrayed as two-dimensional.
DISCLAIMER: We’ll never be able to do this important issue justice in this blog, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t touch upon it.
Content packs are excellent tools for promoting ethical storytelling.
Because you’re providing print-ready copy to your organisation, you can craft stories that uphold the agency and dignity of the people and communities you’re talking about.
You can fill your pack with first-person quotes; offer balance and well-rounded context; and explore people’s hopes, fears, hobbies, values, opinions and much more.
You can prevent someone from being defined by their experience and their proximity to your cause.
5. Quotes are being pulled from interview transcripts and used out of context.
Interview transcripts are unwieldy documents. Their contents needs to be screened and prepared before any part can be published.
If you don’t put quotes for your campaign in a content pack, your colleagues will go looking for them.
With the support of an experienced copywriter, you should select key quotes for the pack that tell the story of your campaign.
When used across multiple channels and supporter touchpoints, powerful quotes will persistently compel your supporters to act.
Your content pack can also set up guard rails for the use of quotes.
For instance, you may like to specify when, where and how certain quotes are used, to protect them from being taken out of context.
6. Colleagues are sourcing their own supporting stats and additional context.
If you don’t provide supporting statistics, data and contextual information for your campaign, your colleagues will look for this independently.
And no matter how conscientious they are, unless they’re psychic, your campaign is going to be citing different data and exploring different historical, social and systemic contexts in different channels.
The high-likelihood risk is that resources will contradict one another, undermining the whole basis of your campaign.
A content pack allows you to prescribe supporting information that’s fact-checked, current, credible and strategically relevant.
7. The narrative of your second story feels repetitive.
It’s a good idea for your content pack to provide a second story that illustrates the proposition which underpins your campaign.
Second stories are particularly handy for reminder mailings and long-form content.
But if it comes from the same programme of work as the primary story, there’s a chance your second story might be quite similar.
It’s therefore important that your copywriter draws out a unique angle and narrative arc so that it feels fresh, compelling and insightful.
8. Photographs aren’t being captioned correctly.
Photo captions can often be rushed afterthoughts—requests that pop up from artworkers and designers.
If you add a list of pre-selected, captioned images to your content pack, you can make it easier for colleagues to provide timely, accurate, meaningful captions.
A content pack gives you the opportunity to clearly identify the people, places and activities featured in your campaign photography.
9. Colleagues don’t know what donations could fund.
Most fundraising campaigns, even those for unrestricted funds, feature costings (sometimes known as shopping lists).
These examples of expenditure illustrate what a donation could buy.
Let your content pack be the single source of fact-checked truth when it comes to costings.
If you want to provide your pack users with a range of different price points, it can be a good idea to scale costs.
For example, 2kg of wildflower seeds for £20 may be a more attractive proposition as 500g of wildflower seed for £5.
Campaign-wide accuracy is key, so don’t let pricing inconsistencies rock your donor’s trust and confidence.
10. Campaign collateral is all impact-led or all challenge-led—with no variation.
Campaign messaging can develop a bias for being either impact-led (‘look at the difference we could make’) or challenge-led (‘look at the problem that needs addressing’).
This bias often develops because one team or channel have commissioned the content pack.
For example, your Individual Giving team may have established a challenge-led narrative. That’s fine until your Community Fundraising team start working on the campaign and need impact-led copy, only to find none has been written.
Save time, money and protect your campaign identity by providing both impact and challenge-led copy in your content pack.
11. Colleagues are introducing new ideas, keywords and stylised phrasing.
There are a few reasons why this might be happening: unquenched creative longing, a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept, or sheer bare-faced rebellion.
But in most cases, it’s simply because your colleagues can’t find the copy they need.
If you provide a comprehensive content pack that meets your organisation’s needs, you can avoid weird versions and adaptations of your clearly-thought-out campaign messaging.
Remember, no one knows your campaign better than you, so exercise your oversight and reflect your knowledge.
Direct how your campaign stories are told with ready-to-use copy in a content pack.
12. It’s time-consuming to produce campaign collateral.
Your content pack is a gift to your colleagues.
Ready-to-use campaign copy, curated quotes, fact-checked costings—what’s not to love?
It’s worth putting the time in up front to produce a word-perfect, well-rounded pack that meets everyone’s needs.
Because in the long run, the production of all your campaign collateral organisation-wide will be significantly more efficient.
Posters, direct mail letters, blogs, social posts—all assembled through a simple process of copying, pasting and sense-checking the joins.
When time, money and energy are saved, teams can ideate, innovate, deliver more and plan ahead.
Content packs also make reactive marketing possible. Quick turnaround? No problem, your copy’s ready to roll.
StudioGW’s creatives are experienced in the development and delivery of concepts and content packs for target-smashing fundraising campaigns. Should you be in the market for either, or another creative service, we’d love to hear from you.
No pressure—it’s just not our style: hello@studiogw.co.uk
About the author: Claire Wood is a Founding Director of StudioGW and a Senior Creative Copywriter who specialises in fundraising and supporter engagement. Since 2008, Claire’s been writing compelling copy for good causes, including Christian Aid, Walk Wheel Cycle Trust and Hft. Her experience spans international development, decolonisation, humanitarian aid, sustainable transport, placemaking, ecology, learning disability support, education, and equity, diversity and inclusion.