Non-profit focused agency Stephen Thomas has been named fundraising AOR for the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
The agency will develop a new integrated fundraising strategy for the organization and seven of the provincial and territorial societies within its federation. The assignment was awarded following a competitive bid process.
Andrew Burditt, chief fundraising and marketing officer for the Alzheimer Society, said in a press release that the agency was selected for submitting a strategic proposal to increase fundraising that also delivered the “critical message” that dementia is not an inevitable part of growing older.
Liz Attfield, senior account director at Stephen Thomas, said the fear people have of Alzheimer’s and dementia often prevent people from taking a closer look at the disease and embrace the fact that financial support can lead to medical research that “can make a big difference in the battle.”
“The only way to overcome that barrier,” she added, “is to develop highly resonant and creative donor appeals that cut through the noise and clutter in the fundraising marketplace, [that] are true to the organization’s brand, and make a strong emotional connection with individual donors.”
Pauline Tardif, CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Canada, said demand for research into Alzheimer’s and dementia “is greater than ever” as the Canadian population ages. “That’s why we need to take important steps now to ensure individual donations remain a sustainable mainstay of our fundraising efforts well into the future.”
The agency has already begun work on the assignment, with the first direct mail (pictured above) and digital elements expected to go in-market in early spring. Blakely previously worked on the account.
