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GIFT GUIDE

Overview

Every December, Food for the Hungry Canada mails a catalogue that doesn't quite fit any single category. Part Christmas wish book, part fundraising appeal, part generosity tradition. The Gift Guide lets donors browse tangible gifts from chickens, goats, clean water, school supplies, to a community well. The catalogue tells a story and invites donors to purchase those gifts as donations that support real development work in FH partner communities. The design challenge is holding that tension. It has to feel warm and playful enough to involve kids and grandkids, structured enough to function as a working catalogue, and emotionally resonant enough to move people toward giving. Every spread has to do all three at once.

Every December, Food for the Hungry Canada mails a catalogue that doesn't quite fit any single category. Part Christmas wish book, part fundraising appeal, part generosity tradition. The Gift Guide lets donors browse tangible gifts from chickens, goats, clean water, school supplies, to a community well. The catalogue tells a story and invites donors to purchase those gifts as donations that support real development work in FH partner communities. The design challenge is holding that tension. It has to feel warm and playful enough to involve kids and grandkids, structured enough to function as a working catalogue, and emotionally resonant enough to move people toward giving. Every spread has to do all three at once.

Client

Food for the Hungry Canada

Industry

Nonprofit & International Development

Year

2020 — Present

FEEDING FAMILIES

Feeding Families is FH Canada's flagship annual appeal. It lands in the homes of thousands of Canadian donors every spring with a single ask: fill a family food basket.

The creative challenge isn't reinvention. It's keeping a proven format emotionally resonant and visually fresh year after year while staying true to an established brand and the direct response principles that make the campaign work. Every year I design the full package, the carrier, the letter, the reply device, and supporting buckslips, then extend the campaign into email and digital ads.

In FY24 the campaign raised $229,702 against a $217,000 goal. Direct mail drove $159,519 of that revenue. I've designed every iteration of this campaign since joining FH Canada in 2021.

Art directed an outdoor photoshoot in Ireland's breathtaking landscapes for a modern clothing company. Combining natural elegance with stylish simplicity, I led the creative vision to showcase refined, high-end apparel amidst rolling hills, rugged coastlines, and misty skies. The campaign's ethereal imagery and emotive storytelling captured the essence of effortless, modern luxury.

Conclusion

The Gift Guide is FH Canada's largest annual fundraising campaign by both visibility and revenue, bringing in close to $1 million in donations each year and reaching upwards of 75,000 households nationally. What makes it worth designing is what makes it challenging to design. Beautiful story-filled photography of community members has to sit beside a functioning, optimized gift catalogue. Getting all of that to feel cohesive, joyful, purposeful, and functional at the same time. That's the tension that makes this project the one I love coming back to.