Case study · Global health nonprofit

Malaria Partners International: turning field stories into a year-end giving campaign.

Malaria Partners International is a Seattle-based nonprofit that unites Rotary members worldwide to eliminate malaria, supporting community health worker programs in Zambia, Uganda, and West Africa with partners including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Illustration of a woman in a blue head wrap against warm orange and red shapes, used as campaign art

Client: Malaria Partners International, Seattle, WA
Role: Contract Marketing Manager
Timeline: Aug 2021 – Jun 2022
Scope: Campaign planning, design, direct mail, web, social

The challenge

Powerful work in the field, and a small team at home.

The organization had recently changed its name and was growing, but its donor communication relied on a few people producing one-off pieces. Stories from community health workers, the people delivering malaria testing and treatment village by village, rarely reached donors in a consistent way.

Year-end giving was the most important fundraising window, and a donation match from a major partner was an opportunity to make every gift go further, if donors heard about it in the right places at the right time.

What I did

Four elements, one campaign.

01Plan

Q4 & year-end plan

Built the Q4 marketing plan: year-end giving, Giving Tuesday, the donation match, email cadence, and a content system that reused every story across channels.

02Story

Field stories

Turned interviews and photos of community health workers into social graphics, video clips, web banners, and email features.

03Ask

Direct mail & donor gifts

Designed the donation appeal letter with reply slip, envelope, postcard, and donor thank-you items, including a pin and wristband.

04System

Visual system

Created an approved presentation template for board and partner decks, plus event flyers and banners for the West Africa Project Fair.

Outcomes

One story, told everywhere a donor might see it.

Match campaign

Year-end messaging built around a donation match, showing donors how their gift multiplied.

5 channels

One campaign carried across direct mail, email, social, the website, and partner presentations.

Human stories

Community health workers became the face of the ask, from social posts to the appeal letter.

Reusable system

An approved deck template and graphic set the team could keep using after the campaign.

Portfolio

Selected work.

Front and back of a donor postcard with illustrated campaign art — **Donor postcard**Illustrated postcard for Rotary supporters, part of the year-end mailing.

Year-end donation appeal letter with a tear-off reply form — **Appeal letter**Year-end appeal built around one health worker's story, with a reply slip and giving levels.

Social graphic quoting a community health worker, with program numbers — **Field stories**A community health worker's own words, paired with program numbers.

Social graphic announcing a one-to-one donation match — **Field stories**A community health worker's own words, paired with program numbers.

Website banner reading Make your donation go further, 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 — **Website banners**Homepage banners that explained the match in one line.

Graphic showing what donations provide for community health workers — **Impact graphic**What a gift provides, from training to bicycles, shown in plain terms.

Six slides from a branded presentation template — **Presentation template**Board-approved template for leadership, partner, and Rotary club presentations.

Flyer for a West Africa project fair supporting Rotarian anti-malaria projects — **Event flyer**Flyer for the West Africa Project Fair, connecting Rotary clubs with small grants.