New Zealand Red Cross

Overview

As the Advisor of Direct Marketing, I worked within the national team, primarily supporting the Direct Marketing and Philanthropy departments. My role focused on crafting compelling donor communications to increase donations and improve engagement with existing supporters. I also directed and produced the annual philanthropy photoshoot, ensuring impactful visual storytelling to support fundraising efforts.

Challenges

• Ensuring donors felt connected to how their contributions were making a difference

• Creating engaging and persuasive content for disaster relief campaigns and youth initiatives

• Supporting various teams with high-quality writing that required minimal revisions

Approach

I wrote a wide range of donor-focused content, including:

• Fundraising appeals to encourage donations for disaster relief and community programmes

• Donor newsletters and EDMs to keep supporters informed and engaged

• Campaign materials and web copy to align messaging across platforms

• Case studies to showcase the real-world impact of donations

• A donor journey email series to guide individuals through the fundraising process

Results

• While I don’t have specific fundraising figures, my writing was consistently praised for being on-brand, engaging, and requiring little to no revisions

• My content helped maintain strong donor relationships and effectively communicated the impact of their contributions

• The philanthropy photoshoot provided high-quality imagery to strengthen future fundraising campaigns

The photographer of all the images below was Blake Armstrong.