Stephen Winchell & Associates

LStephen Winchell and Associates (SWA) is a direct marketing agency that specializes in nonprofit (political and charitable) fundraising. In 2005, SWA was bought by another marketing firm, Odell, Simms & Associates.

I worked for SWA for 10 years, as the assistant art director, designing direct mail packages. Most of the pieces were pretty straightforward--outer envelope, letter, reply form, and return envelope. Sometimes other elements were added, such as a "member benefits" brochure, or an enticement of some sort, such as a poster or calendar. If you could get the recipient to open the envelope, that was half the battle!

One of the most successful fundraising campaigns I had the honor of working on was for the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. One of the images shown here is a page from a 2005 calendar, which featured vintage photos and posters. At the bottom of each page, we also featured images of individuals, contributed by donors, who were in some way involved in the war effort. On the page shown here, I placed photos of my Dad (far left) and my Father-in-law (far right). Both were in the Army.

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