Logan Fire Company's Fight for Funding

For Logan Fire Company, the fight for funding was a challenge—at least until Affinity Connection took over and added a little heat to their message.

...Fundraising effort brought in more than $23,100 for the Logan Fire Company...

This volunteer firehouse (located in Bellefonte, PA) had spent decades relying on underperforming appeal letters as well as dwindling proceeds from its annual community carnival. Volunteers were asked to contend with more stringent training regulations as well as participate in extensive fundraising efforts. They were burned out.

The challenge

How does a volunteer fire house manage escalating costs, more training requirements, lower volunteer recruitment—and still maintain the quality of protection its community deserves?

That’s when Affinity Connection stepped in to add a little heat

Using our expertise in direct mail fundraising, we took Logan Fire Company’s community solicitation mailing to a new level, without losing the grassroots, community feel. Graphical elements were designed to draw the reader in and local imagery was added to connect the reader to photos of familiar places, an idea not previously implemented in Logan’s solicitations. Affinity reserved a portion of the appeal to promote Logan’s community outreach efforts, like their upcoming BBQ and carnival, and school visits, and with reminders about smoke detectors and emergency phone numbers. Affinity utilized compelling message points that would resonate with the reader and encourage greater response. These techniques were implemented using a two-color package that was budget friendly, yet effective.

Affinity Connection’s single fundraising effort brought in more than $23,100 for the Logan Fire Company – that’s a 1/3 more than what this group collected over any previous 12-month campaign before coming to Affinity. The new campaign also yielded a 38% increase in gift average as compared to previous efforts. As an added benefit, Affinity Connection provided donor processing services, thus improving donor security and freeing up the volunteer time for more mission-critical work.