Winter of Warmth
Campaign
Strategy
Branding
Graphic Design
Mark Preece Family House is a Hamilton-based non-profit organization that provides a welcoming home away from home for families with loved ones receiving medical care. Seeking a holiday fundraising campaign that would increase donations and better communicate their warmth and impact, our team developed a strategic campaign solution grounded in creative direction, campaign strategy, brand identity development, visual design, and storytelling. Our concept was selected among peer proposals and successfully implemented, raising over $30,000 to support families staying at the House and demonstrating the power of purposeful, impact-driven design.
Team members: Allison Green, Agamdeep Singh, Logan Plut, Sazma Muthalif, Shannon Doyle
Overview
Mark Preece Family House provides a "home away from home" for families with loved ones receiving medical treatment at Hamilton-area hospitals. As many of the organization's fundraising initiatives concluded in the fall, they sought a seasonal campaign that could increase donations, encourage recurring support, and raise awareness of the House throughout the community.
Developed as part of a collaborative agency-style course at Mohawk College, the project challenged student teams to create a complete fundraising campaign for a real-world client. Our team explored how a holiday campaign could balance warmth, inclusivity, and donor engagement while remaining aligned with the organization's existing brand.
Discovery & Research
The client initially envisioned a Tree of Hope campaign that would exist as both a physical installation and digital fundraising experience. While the concept aligned with many traditional holiday fundraisers, our team saw an opportunity to create something more distinctive and inclusive. Through stakeholder discussions, audience research, competitor analysis, and discovery sessions, we developed a deeper understanding of the organization's goals, audience, and communication challenges, helping shape the strategic direction of the campaign.
Early exploration focused on alternative symbols and narratives that could communicate giving without being tied to a specific holiday tradition. This phase included naming exploration, logo concepts, messaging development, and visual experimentation.
One of the concepts I developed, Baskets of Comfort, focused on the act of giving itself. The identity used illustration and storytelling to represent kindness, care, and human connection through the exchange of a gift basket. While the concept successfully communicated the emotional side of giving, it lacked a strong visual connection to the existing MPFH brand.
Winter of Warmth emerged as the strongest direction due to its ability to balance inclusivity, donor engagement, and brand consistency. The concept built upon the warmth and generosity associated with the holiday season while creating a recognizable identity that aligned with MPFH's existing brand and could easily extend across multiple campaign touchpoints.
Physical & Digital Experience
The client wanted a physical element to represent donations throughout the campaign, similar to the ornaments used in their original Tree of Hope concept. As an alternative, we proposed a large decorative gift basket that would gradually fill with small gift boxes and donor tags as contributions were received, creating a visible symbol of community support and generosity.
To extend this idea online, we developed a series of weekly website banners that mirrored the physical installation. As the fundraiser progressed, additional gifts would be added to the digital basket, allowing supporters to track the campaign's growth while creating a consistent connection between the physical and digital experiences.
Winter of Warmth proved to be a successful campaign, helping Mark Preece Family House achieve and exceed its fundraising goal of $30,000 while providing the organization with a distinctive seasonal identity that could be built upon in future years. Beyond the visual identity itself, the project demonstrated how thoughtful design and storytelling can strengthen community engagement and encourage meaningful support for an important cause. Seeing the campaign adopted and used by the organization was especially rewarding, as it allowed our team to contribute to a mission that provides comfort and care to families during some of life's most difficult moments.