The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2020
Australia's Donation Dollar, the first coin built to be donated — ADFEST Grande
The Royal Australian Mint mints 25 million legal-tender $1 coins designed to be donated, not spent; within two months, 53% of coins found were passed on.
Royal Australian Mint
What it had to solve
The Royal Australian Mint and Saatchi & Saatchi needed a breakthrough way to make Australians reconsider the power of a single dollar and give more, just as a JBWere report forecast charitable giving would fall 18% over two years because of COVID.
How it works
In 2020 the Royal Australian Mint faced a quiet crisis of relevance: as payments went digital, a single $1 coin felt worthless, and COVID was expected to cut Australian charitable giving by 18% over two years. With Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne it set a brief to change how Australians see the power of one dollar — and to create a new stream of donations.
The answer was the Donation Dollar: the world's first legal-tender coin designed to be given away. Minted with a distinctive rippled design and the words 'Donation Dollar' on it, it can be spent like any other $1 coin — but when donated, keeps making an impact as it passes from hand to hand.
Launched on International Day of Charity on 5 September 2020, the coin went into circulation backed by an integrated PR, TV, press, OOH, online and social campaign, with the Mint planning 25 million coins — one for every Australian — to act as millions of daily reminders to give.
Within the first two months, 53% of Donation Dollars found were donated; the launch reached 88.9%+ of Australians with 99.9% positive sentiment. Because the average Australian coin circulates for about 30 years, a single Donation Dollar can seed a 'generosity loop' for decades — if every Australian donated one a month, the Mint estimated an extra $300 million a year for charity.
Why it lands
- Embedding the message in circulating currency gave the campaign a 30-year lifespan instead of a campaign window — the product itself was the media.
- The design did the persuading: a coin visibly made to be given away reminds people every time it appears in their change.
- Launching on International Day of Charity gave the idea a news hook and a reason to exist beyond the brand.
- Minting one for every Australian made the coin a national object, so ownership and the responsibility to pass it on belonged to everyone.
What it did
Within two months 53% of Donation Dollars found were donated; the campaign reached 88.9%+ of the Australian population with 99.9% positive sentiment — and because an Australian coin circulates about 30 years, each coin can be donated again and again.
What you can take
Put the reminder inside the object itself: a coin built to be given away keeps asking the question for 30 years of circulation, so the medium repeats the message long after the campaign ends.
Since then
The Mint kept releasing Donation Dollars in later years, and the coin became a collector's item even as it circulated as currency; at ADFEST 2022 the campaign won the Grande for Humanity plus three Golds, four Silvers and two Bronzes, made the Royal Australian Mint Advertiser of the Year and helped Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne become Agency of the Year.
Sources
- Donation Dollar — ADFEST 2022 winner entry
- New Donation Dollar — small change for a big difference
- AdFest 2022 Lotus Awards: Saatchi & Saatchi Australia named Agency of the Year
- Who are the top winners at ADFEST 2022? Check out the special awards winners
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