Project Description

Helen & Douglas House is an Oxford-based hospice that cares for terminally ill babies, children and young people. It focuses on helping them to live their short lives to the full, giving families a relaxing space where they can make the most of the brief time they have left together. The charity is much-loved in the local community, and it was a real privilege to be asked to rewrite over 20 pages of copy for their new website.

With such a heart-rending subject matter, achieving the right tone of voice was challenging. The copy needed to speak sensitively to families going through every parent’s worst nightmare, at the same time as encouraging donations from members of the public. Not only that, but the charity was keen to move away from the more clinical, impersonal language it had used previously, instead using the website copy to reflect the warm, friendly and happy atmosphere of the hospice itself.

Asking for money is never easy, but for a charity that relies almost entirely on donations from the general public, the website’s Donate page is the most important of all. The copy needed to be compelling enough to encourage visitors to donate, with strong calls-to-action essential for boosting conversions. Putting visitors in the shoes of the families supported by the charity was central to this, but so was maintaining an overall feeling of positivity and support.

• Services:

  • website copy

• Client:

  Helen & Douglas House

• Client Testimonial:

  It was an absolute pleasure to work with Rachel and see the results of her work so quickly. She keenly took on a copywriting project for Helen & Douglas House's new website. She creatively replaced the coldness and medical wordiness of the old text with emotional and evoking storytelling. This fresh approach, combined with the fluidity of her writing, enabled us to more efficiently reach the hearts of our fundraisers, events participants, and donors.

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