Fundraising and branding agency March One today launched Minute Masters, an online training school dedicated to improving fundraising design.

The Australian-first short design course, MFD1 Master Fundraising Design has been developed specifically for the Non-for-profit (NFP) sector to enable fundraisers to better utilise the power of effective design.

Developed in collaboration with March One agency directors Ben Coverdale and Greg Bechly, and created by leading design educator Ben Leddy, the self-paced course is structured to build on a designer’s existing technical skills.

Minute Masters will provide in-house designers and fundraisers access to tools and techniques utilised by large agencies to create new direct marketing packs for their NFP.

As leading specialists in fundraising appeal, Coverdale and Bechly modelled Minute Masters on the skills and knowledge they have acquired working in both the commercial and NFP sectors.

Over the past eight years they have raised more than $107 million for charities such as UNICHEF, Red Cross, OZHarvest, The Starlight Foundation and Jeans for Genes.

Minute Masters program director Ben Leddy has structured the course to build on a designer’s existing technical skills.

“Designers’ already know how to use a range of programs, so this course aims to explore the thinking and choices they need to make to create powerful fundraising communications.”

The self-paced course MFD1 Master Fundraising Design is built by designers and taught by designers.

It consists of four subjects that are eight hours each in duration and broken down into 10 models per subject, over a minimum of four weeks.

Students are provided with an informative 25-minute class each week, delivered via Zoom, in which they will work both individually and with other students in a professional ‘engage and learn’ process.

Users will be assessed via a 30-minute quiz and two-hour assessment per subject.

The course provides one round of video feedback from an industry professional as well as continuous online support for participants.

The course will teach students the difference between commercial and fundraising design, best practices for DM, digital and social fundraising appeals, integrating brand with fundraising, and how to best utilise Minute Masters templates to deliver successful campaigns.

March One and Minute Masters learning director Greg Bechly said: “Within our beta testing we discovered that the designers who went through the program were able to identify the core proposition of an appeal and develop a direct marketing pack almost 40 per cent faster than prior to the course.”

“The understanding between fundraisers and their design teams also showed significant improvement, especially when teams completed the course together, as it allowed them to collaborate and talk in a common language for the first time.”

“Minute Masters is a way for NFP’s to future-proof its workers and organisation by helping them to up skill and deliver improved outcomes.

“It’s about building a pathway for success by helping individuals realise their full potential and that of the brand with training that is relevant and practical,” added Bechly.

Upon the completion of the course, users will receive a 25 per cent discount for a subscription to an extensive library of InDesign templates for Fundraising Direct Mail to enable users and their organisations to improve efficiency, team collaboration and gain instant access to a range of new formats to utilise their new skills.

“The self-paced format enables users to fit the course-work around individual workloads and priorities, allowing teams to continue working as they learn.

“In today’s highly competitive NFP environment, it’s all about reducing costs and increasing your results.

“This course offers in-house designers an opportunity to learn, up skill and deliver for your organisation,” added Coverdale.

The course is now open for enrolments. Enrolments in MFD1 Master Fundraising Design are limited at 20 closing 3pm Friday 21 December 2018.

The fee for the short-course is $1815. Enrol before 15 December 2018 and an early-bird discount of 22 per cent will save you $400.

The Next Course commences Mid Jan 2019.