# Samaritans to reactivate donors with a Christmas thank you mailing

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/11/10/samaritans-reactivate-donors-christmas-thank-you-mailing/
- Published: 2010-11-10T10:39:46+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Samaritans, the charity that supports people in emotional distress and at risk of
suicide, is launching a Christmas direct mail campaign to thank its supporters, 
and tell them what the charity has managed to achieve with their help.

The approach, which is also designed to reactivate lapsed donors, has been devised
by direct-to-digital agency [TDA](http://www.tdallp.com).

The campaign features a personalised letter from Catherine Johnstone, CEO of Samaritans,
and focuses on the impact that each donor’s support is making on the charity’s work,
including training more volunteers and launching a new free-to-call helpline number.

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The mailing pack also includes a real example of a heartfelt thank-you letter which
has been sent to the charity as a result of the help it has given someone.

As well as a Christmas card, the mailing contains some Christmas paper chains, which
supporters can use to write their own personal festive message to the charity’s 
volunteers. Samaritans’ branches across the UK and Ireland will use these to decorate
their offices for Christmas, with the aim of showing volunteers that supporters 
are thinking of them and the valuable work they do.

“At a time when our service is more important than ever, we want our supporters 
to know exactly how their donations are helping us,” said Lorna Roberston Reed, 
Head of Individual Giving at Samaritans. “We want to thank each and every supporter
and encourage them to carry on helping us. It is because of them that Samaritans
can continue to offer 24 hour confidential, non-judgemental support to people in
emotional distress.”

The campaign starts this week, and will be followed up with a reminder mailing on
6 December. The second mailing will focus on messages from a Samaritans volunteer
about their experiences of helping people in emotional distress over the Christmas
period and reinforcing their CEO’s message of support.

www.samaritans.org

 * **[Would you live next door to a lapsed donor?](https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/03/23/live-next-door-lapsed-donor/)**(
   23 March 2016)
 * **[Lapsed Donors – part one of a diatribe in three parts](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/06/15/lapsed-donors-part-one-diatribe-three-parts/)**(
   15 June 2010)
 * **[Lapsed Donors – part two of a diatribe in three parts…](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/06/21/lapsed-donors-part-two-diatribe-three-parts/)**(
   21 June 2010)