Samaritans, the UK’s only 24-hour support service for people in emotional distress and at risk of suicide, is testing two new mailing packs to encourage donations to help continue its vital life-saving work.
The approach has been devised by TDA, and is also designed to reactivate lapsed donors. The mailing tests two creatives, one focusing on teenage suicide and the other focusing on the charity’s support network, ‘safety net’.
The teen suicide pack leads on the shocking fact that every year, approximately 600 young people aged 15 to 24 take their own life – equivalent to ‘a whole secondary school near you’.
In a personalised letter, Samaritans outlines its crucial initiatives to help combat teen suicide. These include a support programme to help pupils develop the skills they need to manage difficult times in their lives, and an outreach programme to help schools and pupils following a suicide. The pack tells the real-life story of Emma, who tried to take her own life when she was a teenager and highlights the charity’s 24-hour text and email service.
The ‘safety net’ pack focuses on the support provided by Samaritans’ 18,500 volunteers, backing up its need for donations with the fact that someone calls the charity every six seconds. It highlights the breadth of reasons people call Samaritans for support, including domestic abuse, post-natal depression, family bereavement, and child abuse.
Samaritans head of individual giving Lorna Robertson-Reed said: “Every year, our volunteers give more than two million hours of their time and we rely on voluntary donations from the public for almost all of our funding. For so many people, Samaritans provides a safe place to talk things though, without pressure, judgement or prejudice. This is particularly relevant to young people who may feel self-conscious about seeking the help they need. Without the help of our donors, we simply couldn’t carry out this life-saving work”
TDA senior account director Corinne Leloup added “It’s crucial for us to demonstrate just how essential donations are to Samaritans. The new mailing packs don’t just show how much the charity does to provide support to people who have no-one else to turn to, they illustrate how donors could personally make a difference to this service, which saves lives on a daily basis.”
The campaign starts this week, and the teen suicide pack will be followed up by a warm mailing and high value variation later this month, with a reminder to be sent in March.
