This “Donor Mahalo” video ("mahalo" means thank you in Hawaiian) was emailed on July 7, 2020, from our school president to all our 5,000+ donors who had made a gift of any amount during the 2019-2020 fiscal year. While the primary purpose of this video was a blanket thank you to donors, it also spoke to the challenging times we were all experiencing. It subtly referenced our responsive spring mini campaign “PunsUnited” (for emergency student financial aid), and the surge of gifts we received. As a third objective, the video was intended to remind donors of our Punahou home and family, and to inspire a feeling of hope for each recipient, for our school community, and for the entire world in the thick of a pandemic.
From the Judges
Punahou School's “Mahalo Donors: You Make a Difference” video is a beautiful, emotional piece that hits all the right notes. This video did exactly what the school hoped it would do: inspire confidence in their donor base, and the Development and Communications teams accomplished this while facing challenging logical constraints. The smart use of music, the inspired font choice, the compelling copy, and footage of the empty campus in the rain mixed with engaged students from pre-COVID, created a truly remarkable video. “Mahalo Donors” epitomizes the COVID pivot—taking existing material, adding minimal additional footage, and creating something truly magical that evokes this unique time and, more important, unites people.
