We had this beautiful water color inspired artwork created after seeing some other institutions similar examples. We created a tea towel from the artwork, which we were very excited about. We also are using pieces of the art for cards and invitations to various events throughout the year. We also intend to use the full artwork for recognition gifts in the future - print, magnets, etc.
This project we used the tea towel to reach out to our Lyco couples. We had two different segments - one a post card with the image asking for a donation as these were donors who normally didn't give (ask of $50+ to receive a towel); the other segment received a postcard AND towel thanking them for past gifts and encouraging them to give again.
We didn't hear back from but a handful of people with a thank you for the towel. We only received 1 donation from the solicitation. After we realized we wouldn't be getting much back from the appeal, we used the towels as stewardship gifts, which those recipients raved about the design. So this initiative just fell much flatter than we had thought.