WINNER – MOST OUTSTANDING FUNDRAISING PROJECT & IMPACT ON A SHOESTRING: DeadlyScience
The DeadlyScience Kits-Mas campaign — big results on a small budget
Founded by Kamilaroi man Corey Tutt OAM in 2020, DeadlyScience provides STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) resources to remote schools throughout Australia, creating STEM equity for Indigenous learners and creating pathways for the next generation of First Nations scientists.
We spoke to the nonprofit’s Senior Manager of Marketing and Fundraising, Tara Van Toorn, to learn more about the winning campaign.
The fundraising foundation
DeadlyScience raised $335,166 in FY22 and $587,300 in FY23 (FY24 financials are not yet available). The Our Community Fundraising Formula underpins the organisation’s fundraising strategy. “It offers a holistic, multi-channel approach that suits our lean and resource-light team,” says Tara.
The formula is based on Seven Pillars of Raising Funds: donations; grants; community business-partnerships; memberships/alumni/friends; special events; earned income; and crowdfunding — along with the Seven Essential Fundraising Actions needed to implement that activity. The Kits-Mas appeal aligned with four of the pillars by tapping into donations, community and business partnerships, friends and ambassadors, and special events. Let’s look at the campaign.
Where Kits-Mas began
For their Christmas 2023 campaign, DeadlyScience chose Kits-Mas, their first peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraiser, focused on community-driven and scalable fundraising and designed so people could participate no matter their location. “This approach not only expanded our reach but also empowered our supporters to take an active role in the campaign’s success,” says Tara.
The intended impact of the campaign was to provide First Nations learners across the country with microscopy kits — hence the play on ‘Christmas’ with ‘Kits-Mas’. The strategy centred on the idea of Kits-Mas Parties, where individuals and organisations hosted Christmas-themed fundraising events. Participants were encouraged to raise $600 per party, which would cover the cost of one microscopy kit, including a microscope, slides and a Teacher’s Guide.
The mechanics
Ideation for the campaign took place in July 2023, planning and partner onboarding took place from August to October, and the campaign launched in November and closed in January 2024. Participants were supplied with posters, email and e-invite templates, and ideas for things to do at the Kits-Mas parties. Parties included Christmas morning teas and lunches, office raffles, community BBQs, school events and trivia nights. The mycause platform was used to collect funds and provide resources.
Communications and marketing
The team wanted to target potential fundraisers and corporate partners who share the desire to advance education and equity in First Nations communities. Whilst the team reached out to corporates individually, social media played a crucial role in spreading the word to a larger audience, and targeted ads were used to reach potential participants who were passionate about diversity, education, education for First Nations students and Indigenous initiatives.
In the communications mix was: organic and paid social media (Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn); email marketing (EDMs to donor and supporter lists); the DeadlyScience website and newsletter; and partner communications. Messaging promoted participation in the campaign as well as providing updates on the campaign’s progress.
The (shoestring) budget
In total, the team spent $6700 on the campaign (including $1000 for creative assets, developed by Indigenous graphic designer Tarran Marr-Harris), $500 on social media advertising and $200 on the mycause fee. They spent an additional $8800 developing a Teacher’s Guide to accompany the microscopy kits. The kit was co-designed with feedback from First Nations educators and learners. The Teacher’s Guide was both culturally safe and pedagogically relevant and published by First Nations publishers, Wingaru, who also supports DeadlyScience by safeguarding the integrity of any Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property the nonprofit publishes. The team negotiated a discounted price for the microscopy kits with Modern Teaching Aids. Australia Post mailed the kits at no cost.
Measuring progress
Campaign performance was monitored weekly using the Notion project management tool and mycause analytics. Paid ad targeting was adjusted based on engagement, new email segments were added to boost open rates, and extra resources were provided to underperforming fundraisers mid-campaign. A long-term corporate volunteer from Atlassian helped guide this process. “Her guidance and insight are immeasurable,” says Tara.
The results
The campaign was designed to deliver significant impact with limited resources, and that was certainly achieved! The goal for the campaign was $60,000, the stretch goal was $84,000 and the total raised was $104,233. This enabled DeadlyScience to purchase and distribute 166 microscopy kits (the final cost was $628 per kit) to Indigenous learner classrooms across Australia. There were 17 Kits-Mas Parties registered, with the number of confirmed fundraisers who submitted funds via mycause coming in at 11. The campaign secured 30 new donors, 47 new leads (prospects for both event hosts and donors) and 692 new followers on social media (between November and January).
Corporate participants included Mirvac, Dentsu, Paramount, Origin Energy and Rhelm. Mirvac was the ‘Top Fundraiser’, securing strong internal buy-in by embedding the campaign into their workplace giving program, running a Kits-Mas Party across several office locations, and encouraging team participation through leadership endorsement. Mirvac staff also volunteered to help pack the kits.
Learnings and what’s next
Along the way, Tara and her team learned that P2P campaigns can be high-impact and cost-effective when well-supported. They found that compelling storytelling is key to engagement and culturally aligned design elements resonate strongly with supporters. And they learned that corporate partners want meaningful, hands-on involvement.
For Christmas 2025, the team plans to capitalise on their success and scale the P2P model. They are planning another Kits-Mas Party campaign but with a different DeadlyScience kit. They will launch earlier in October, add impact-tracking features for donors (such as letting donors know which school received their kit), and they’ll incorporate bespoke, hand-drawn thank you cards from students.
“This initiative not only fulfilled its immediate objectives, but also provided invaluable baseline data for future campaigns, demonstrating the potential for high-impact fundraising with limited investment,” says Tara.
WINNER – YOUNG FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR: Shannon Haggerty
Trusts & Foundations Manager, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research
When Shannon Haggerty approached the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research for a role, they were not looking for another fundraiser and nor did they have budget. But after a chat over coffee, Key Relationships Manager Shelley Mason realised the Perkins could not miss the opportunity to hire someone with “her drive, her intellect, her passion, her experience”. In September 2023, Shannon started a short contract that soon morphed into a permanent role as Key Relationships Specialist.
Between January 2024 and the nomination submission later that year, Shannon shepherded $276,769 in funding from the Channel 7 Telethon Trust, secured $69,647 in grant funds from Cystic Fibrosis Australia, procured $76,000 from Perpetual for breast cancer research, personally solicited $70,000 from first-time Perkins major donors and attracted a further $20,000 in unsolicited gifts from private ancillary funds.
We asked Shannon some questions about her burgeoning career.
You are a pioneer in using LinkedIn as a major gift fundraising tool. Tell us about this trajectory and its impact.
LinkedIn has been an incredible tool for adding a new dynamic to major gift fundraising at the Perkins. In January of last year, we were considering how we could better engage with prospective donors who we might not have had the opportunity to connect with yet. My manager, Shelley Mason, suggested that I complete the course that is now known as ‘How to use LinkedIn to Fundraise’, developed by Michelle Benson, Founder of Culture of Philanthropy. I really valued how Michelle spoke about developing stronger relationships built on a foundation of trust. Since then, we decided to test out LinkedIn as a way of encouraging more people to engage with medical research, prioritising curiosity and learning, whether that be about new people, connections or sectors.
I shared my learnings internally to start with and this really required me to put aside any anticipation that came with sharing with my peers. I presented to researchers and staff across the institute as part of this series, to share how LinkedIn could be used to bolster their reputation and visibility of them and their work.
More broadly, we used our LinkedIn strategy to open conversations with new people. I was particularly interested in exploring a new perspective on philanthropy through connecting with wealth advisors. I was intrigued by their unique perspectives on philanthropy and how these were often shaped by their client’s interests and motivations.
Since then, it really has come on leaps and bounds. We hosted an intimate roundtable lunch at the Perkins for wealth advisors in May 2024, where we came together to discuss current leading medical research projects and the challenges of research. Leading wealth professionals also shared their perspectives and personal stories on philanthropy. Many of these relationships were initiated and built through engagement on LinkedIn.
Being able to show that we are real, passionate people at the Perkins has really been the key. Whether it be allowing us to meet new audiences or help keep our current supporters engaged and informed, even those geographically restricted or those not able to attend our events, it has meant we can remain visible and accessible for everyone who wants to help us drive groundbreaking medical research.
‘Surprise and delight’ is a well-known fundraising technique. Aside from this award, what has surprised and delighted you at work in the past year?
The genuine care, interest and dedication that every one of my colleagues at the Perkins has for each other and the charity at large is incredible, not necessarily surprising now that I know the team so well, but it most definitely has delighted me.
There is a tangible difference in both the attitude and success of a team that truly treats each other like family. The ability to bring your whole self to work with all your abilities, to laugh, to be vulnerable and to rely on your team, knowing that they have your best interests at heart, is game changing for a fundraising team.
The inclusivity and ability to have fun at the Perkins is unmatched. Wellbeing and health are a priority, and it shows in the team’s performance and how we rally together, to provide support when times are tough and to celebrate each other’s successes.
This is not restricted to the Perkins team, as it is shown to everyone in our community too. Whether they are coming to the Perkins through an event, as a major donor, or through a tour — they are welcomed to the Perkins like an old friend, with a smile, a listening ear and a cup of tea to boot.
You have an extraordinary commitment to professional development. What is something you learnt in the past year that you’ve applied at work for good results?
I genuinely believe that you never stop learning and being consistently curious is a considerable strength, allowing you to develop and grow both personally and professionally.
Our supporters at the Perkins know that we will treat them with the respect, kindness and gratitude that transcends any donation that they may or may not make. My advice is to stay curious, build lasting relationships and — most importantly — establish a foundation of trust with everyone you meet.
Michelle Benson says that on LinkedIn you often speak directly into an echo chamber of people that are just like you. Not only is this largely true, but it is also highly applicable in the real world.
We often talk to other fundraisers about what our supporters want, and, as a sector, I think we can sometimes look only through a fundraising-centric lens. This year, I challenged myself to explore new sectors, alter my thinking to find out about the challenges and priorities of seemingly unrelated spaces, and that meant removing myself from the “fundraising box” and speaking directly to people, whether they’re trusted donors or new to my network.
What’s the one thing you’d wish you’d known when you first started a career as a fundraiser?
You will not, and are not expected to, know everything right away, no matter how much you wish you did.
I wish that I could tell myself on my first day in the charity world that your desire to help people is enough, the rest you will learn along the way. In doing so, you’ll get to experience a range of wonderful causes, meet incredible people to collaborate with and learn from and, most importantly, you will make mistakes and decisions that guide you on a trajectory you never thought possible. Just keep driving to make a difference!
WINNER – FUNDRAISING IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVITY: Climate Council
How understanding true donor motivation changed Climate Council’s fundraising proposition and lifted their tax appeal result by 54%
“The Climate Council has a vital role to play in catalysing action on climate change, the greatest threat to humanity,” says Ben Littlejohn, the organisation’s Digital Fundraising Director, “but our fundraising creative was holding us back.” Ben shares how the team overcame that barrier and went on to deliver a successful tax appeal that won the FIA Fundraising Impact Through Creativity award.
Understanding what the audience really care about
To understand their audience and, most importantly, what drives their audience to support the Climate Council, the team inserted key questions related to the Climate Compass into their annual supporter survey. A research project coordinated by The Sunrise Project, the Climate Compass segments the Australian population based on their attitudes to climate change. The supporter survey results were run against the Climate Council database and the team learned that 87% of their community falls into the ‘Climate Alarmed’ segment (defined as the highest levels of concern about climate change and the belief that it will affect current and future generations — this segment accounts for 26% of the wider Australian population).
As loving parents, they felt powerless to keep their children safe, so our donation page with a picture of a wind turbine really wasn’t going to cut it. By focusing on children, not nature… we aimed to find a compelling new fundraising proposition.
“This showed our donors’ number one concern was not defined by the environment or natural disasters, but the impact climate change will have on their kids,” says Ben. “As loving parents, they felt powerless to keep children safe, so our donation page with a picture of a wind turbine really wasn’t going to cut it. By focusing on children, not nature, and powerfully communicating the why, what and how of our work, we aimed to find a compelling new fundraising proposition for the Climate Council with a clear point of difference.”
The new fundraising proposition
Stop one for the new focus on children was the 2024 tax appeal. Working almost entirely in-house with a small team and small budget, the team developed ‘The things we do for love’ as their creative angle. Supporting messaging shared that ‘Ending climate pollution is our job. And we’re bloody good at it’ (“So it’s not all on the donor,” explains Ben) and the proposition was “Together, let’s end climate pollution and keep our kids safe.”
The tax campaign was digital-only, spanning donation landing pages, website pop-ups, eDMs, SMS, emotive video, digital ads (audience targeting on Meta, Google and LinkedIn), a webinar (an overview of Climate Council’s theory of change and details of significant advocacy wins related to the areas of the organisation’s work rated as most important in the supporter survey), and major donor outreach.
The appeal included emotional descriptors and imagery of love between parents and their children and copy focused on trusted, credible, relatable voices who were also parents. This took the form of:
Personalised experiences based on relationships to children Using the supporter survey to identify donors who are mums, dads or grandparents, the team personalised emails and landing pages for each of those three groups with language such as “as a mum” or “as a grandparent”, with landing page images to match — a middle-aged mum or dad with child or an older grandmother with grandchild. Ben notes that whilst grandparents had the highest response rate and average gift, the parental status of most donors is still unknown (despite the supporter survey) and therefore the ‘unknown’ segment gave the most in total dollar value.
Key voices from within the organisation In an email journey, supporters heard from Climate Council’s CEO, Research Director, Head of Communications, Head of Advocacy and one of the organisation’s Councillors, former NSW Fire and Rescue Commissioner, Greg Mullins. Before each of these emails were sent, the team shared ‘priming’ messaging of the work in action. For example, a webinar explaining the organisation’s advocacy work and a recent campaign win (securing new National Vehicle Emissions Standards legislation which is set to halve emissions from new vehicles), was followed by an appeal EDM highlighting the Climate Council’s advocacy work, with the Head of Advocacy as signatory.
Inspired by learnings from Adrian Sargeant and Jen Shang’s Relationship Fundraising 3.0 report, the team asked, “Which three words would you use to describe yourself as a person?” in the supporter survey. ‘Caring’ was the top answer, so that was mirrored throughout the appeal communications with phrases such as “caring people like you” and email sign-offs such as “Climate Council Research Director and caring dad.”
The appeal was framed as a crowdfunding campaign, using behavioural nudges to uplift response on the donation pages. Using Raisely functionality, these nudges included social proof (a donation ticker with messages from people who had donated), anchoring (presenting a donation amount as the suggested gift), two time-bound dollar matching moments, and a progress bar set against the campaign goal.
Measuring, testing, tracking
Using workflows (automated actions based on specific criteria) and real-time dashboards in Salesforce, the team adapted creative based on performance and changing context (halfway through the campaign, the Federal Liberal National Coalition announced their nuclear energy scheme).
“And of course, we tested a bunch of stuff, optimising as we went,” says Ben. This included testing personalised visual imagery on landing pages, developing long narrative and shorter versions of the eDMs, and long and short versions of the landing page copy.
The results
Not only did the appeal raise $922,170, year-on-year it also achieved a 54% increase in income, 59% increase in acquisition, 29% increase in retention and a 12% increase in average gift. The conversion rate of the donation pages increased from 4.5% to 17.8%.
“But perhaps even more valuable will be the long-term benefits.”
Ben and the team know that developing fundraising activity with a long shelf-life is smart and he is happy that elements of the 2024 tax appeal can be used in the future. The focus on children is here to stay. “Our supporter survey told us that ‘the impacts of climate change on future generations’ is the top concern for our supporters. Concern for nature and the environment was a close second – it’s just that the effect of the climate crisis on children is what worries our supporters most,” recaps Ben. “So yes, we’re likely to keep highlighting this in most of our fundraising communications going forward.”
Other changes carried forward are the new appeal landing page format, PURLs in appeal emails, and the new campaign planning template already used in fundraising campaigns delivered since tax time. “These new tools and processes, and the results they deliver, provide increased visibility and credibility of the fundraising team within the organisation,” says Ben. “And most importantly, we have a new stronger fundraising proposition that is now being developed into always-on regular giving and cash giving acquisition campaigns, which we hope will set us on course for transformational growth in income and impact into
the future.”
WINNER – ARTHUR VENN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Sharon Hillman
Head of Strategic Fundraising, Beyond Blue
“When I first saw fundraising as a career, it was Sharon that I saw, too, and I’m forever grateful.” These are the words of a young fundraiser, now a leader at their own organisation. Sharon Hillman’s impact on fundraising extends from the individual to the organisation to the profession.
As Director of Fundraising at Beyond Blue, her strategic leadership has driven transformative growth, with fundraising revenue surging from $10 million annually to a peak of $35 million, totalling $130 million over six years. Her expertise in developing comprehensive fundraising strategies, and seeing them through from conception to execution, was on full display during Austin Health’s $189 million Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre Appeal. “To think that as Director of Fundraising my team and I had played a small part in bringing that vision to life was truly humbling,” she says.
Sharon has been an active and influential member of FIA, serving as president of FIA Victoria and volunteering on numerous committees. She’s committed to her own professional development and that of her peers and colleagues, Above all, Sharon is a great advocate for the profession of fundraising. “Over my 30 years as a fundraiser, I have seen the profession grow in respect and sophistication and become a career rather than just a calling,” says Sharon. “The fact we have young people entering this profession so early in life and making this their life-long career gives me great hope.”
To learn more about Sharon, including the one thing emerging fundraisers always ask her, read our Q&A here.
WINNER – FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR: James Garland
Director, DGB Global
Many of you will know James Garland as the director and chair of FIA, a role he held for six years as he led the industry body through a successful period of transition in leadership, culture, brand and financial position. As he was giving back to the sector, James was shepherding DGB Global to become one of the sector’s most successful fundraising agencies. With a focus on sophisticated philanthropy, James has taken the methodology of comprehensive campaigns beyond advancement and into the mainstream nonprofit sector, with impactful and transformational results.
A highlight has been conceiving and driving supermarket giant Coles’ largest fundraising campaign, which has raised $40 million for FightMND. Described by one senior Coles executive as the ‘blueprint’ for Coles’ community relations investments, the campaign employed a multi-channel revenue model that incorporated a percentage of products sold, in-store donations, staff events (peer-to-peer), online donations and merchandise sales.
A keen strategist with a bespoke mindset, James has had an indelible impact on his clients and their donors.
To learn more about James including the three things that guide his fundraising, read our Q&A here.
For a full list of all the winner of 2025 FIA Awards for Fundraising Excellence, go here.
See below for the timeline of the 2026 Awards.
