The first charity to have 1 million followers, congrats. Now they want to harness that into 1 million people getting clean water. I really love the work they do and how they demonstrate their impact, you should really check them out.
When you can get user generated content it is great, when its this good its phenomenal. Your supporters are probably some pretty smart and creative people who may just be able to create stuff like this if you just ask them. Dont be afraid of what they are going to produce, I can hear the comms team now…its not to message! Well their perception is the reality so embrace it. I was shown the clip above by Steve Bridger and it was made by someone who attended a Big Lunch event on their street this year. Its great
Im not 100% sure what to think of this. Part of me thinks its great, a great way to get two big brands involved, then part of me thinks it kind of belittles what some people have to go through in the world. What do you think?
Image: Getty Images
People want to be part of something thats a success, I think we all know that. I remember hearing a story about a nightclub that opened (probably have all heard a version of this) and they just turned the lights on, music on, opened the door, created a line and let no one in. Next week the line was bigger because people wanted to know what was so great about this place that they couldnt get in.
I dont really care if its true or not, its a great story and makes a great point, people want to be around things that are successful.
What prompted this. Well I got a message from an organisation over the weekend that made me think about this. Here’s the message:
“Hey
Dont want this fundraiser to be a total disaster, anyone else interested in coming along?? Let me know soon please, thanks”
Do you think thats going to make me want to go along and join them?? I dont think so.
A feeling of success creates success, even if its an illusion of success. Would this message (or a version of it) have made me feel different?
” Hey, we have had a great response to next weekends event and I know you don’t want to miss out so I am just telling you about the last few tickets available……etc…”
Concert promoters do this all the time, they sell out and then release some last minute tickets, they create a demand and a feeling of success.
Well done to Damian at ask direct and Tim and the team at Irish hospice foundation. Damian posted yesterday about a mailing Irish hospice foundation did talking to donors about it being ok if they needed to cancel their monthly gift.
This is something I posted about on Dec 18th, a donation vacation.
But Damian and co have done it and have results.
4 people cancelled.
4….not 40….not 400…..4
Fantastic. And others increased their current gift. Guess how many?
400!
What a result. Talk about building trust in your organisation. A brave strategy that has paid off
Read my donation vacation post here
http://conorbyrne.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/a-donation-vacation/
Read damians post from ask direct here http://bit.ly/Dsp8O
Since my very first post over a year ago I rarely talk about my work on this blog, bar announcing Radiothons, but this week we have a pretty exciting event on and so I am going to share it with you.
First-ever Autumn Forum Brings Hospital and Media Representatives Together for Children’s Care
Tomorrow marks Children’s Miracle Network’s first Autumn Forum at the Edinburgh Marriott Hotel.
Attendees can look forward to interactive, information-packed sessions as Children’s Miracle Network brings together the brightest minds in fundraising, marketing and media.
“This forum is the first of its kind in the UK and Ireland,” says John Hartman, chief international officer for Children’s Miracle Network. “We wanted to create an opportunity for hospital relations teams and media partners to connect and uncover new ways to benefit sick and injured children in their community.”
The Autumn Forum line-up of speakers include the following:
Steve Bridger, Buzz Director – online consultant to the British Heart Foundation, the Labour Party, and the Church of England; coaches organisations to use social media to effect positive change
Steve Reynolds, Talent Coach – one of the most respected radio consultants in the United States; this is his only speaking engagement outside of the US over the next two years
Drayton Bird, Marketing Guru – acclaimed speaker and best-selling author of Some Rats Run Faster and Commonsense Direct Marketing; former Chair and Creative Director to O&M Direct, the world’s largest direct marketing agency network
Participants include representatives from children’s hospitals and foundations, as well as media personalities and planners across the UK and Ireland. The seminar runs from Thursday, Sept 17 until Friday, Sept 18 and thanks to Foresters for their ongoing support.
This post is simply to re direct you to a great post by Seth Godin today.
In it he talks about the problem with non….non profit.
“I know what you’re not but what are you?”.
Seriously go check it out here, now…..http://bit.ly/Lw566
The non profit times has a good article on 6 secrets to making your athon event a success, all of which are very good. Common sense maybe to you and me but maybe not to someone who signs up to take part in your event.
They have missed one though….I think. And that’s your role.
We can’t just take these people for granted, once they sign up let them on their way. You wouldn’t hire someone to work in your office and after a 5 min introduction let them on their way….would you?
No, you would support them, check in with them, meet them. I think you should do this with your athon supporters too. With social media this can be done in groups, and then you can do individual contacts too.
If you think you can’t do this, check out can too in Australia and tell me what you think.
These people aren’t fundraisers so don’t think they are.
The article in non profit times is good, and worth a read, but I think they have missed a trick. You can read it here
http://www.nptimes.com/instantfund/09Sep/IF-090910-1.html
I tweeted this the other day, Charity Water every day post a picture of what their work is doing. It is phenomenal Impact, they really get the importance of Impact. Here is the picture that really caaught my attention
Do you think we are held to higher standards as charities, probably we are and its right that we are too.
I was really taken aback today when I was looking through another charities website and found them using an image from a campaign I worked on about 2 or 3 years ago. What shocked me even more was that they admitted they had been using it for the same reason that we took the picture in the first place.
I just thought it was really bad form for them to be using an image that another charity took to benefit themselves, in the full knowledge that it wasnt their image.
I actually started to think of them in a bad way. It has kind of put me off them. So I guess we are held to high standards of something that minor can put someone off a charity.
I really like this. Golf Classics have struggled in recent times with companies shying away from such events. Some charities are still doing ok while others have had to discount or cancel.
Bothar have taken an innovative approach to the traditional Golf Classic with this Golf with Stars event. Instead of selling teams they are selling raffle tickets and then you and your friends can play with a well known Irish sports personality. You cant decide who you would like to play with though…thats another raffle the day of the event.
I think this is a really clever idea. It costs 20 euro to enter (it seems that this covers green fees too…I assume it does) and there will be 15 winners picked who can then bring friends to join them on the day. Critical mass will be important in this succeeding and I do wonder will not being able to say who you would like to play with will have an impact, if you are entering because you want to play with Paul O’Connel and dont get to play with him will you be disappointed? Maybe not, I guess you know entering thats the risk. If I am to be critical I am also not mad about the website or supporting radio ad (I thought it was for a newspaper sports section)
Anyway I like this idea, well done Bothar
I noticed the Target Facebook campaign where they asked their customers (and others) to vote for a charity from a list of ten. Each of the ten would recieve a share of the 3 million dollar pot (Beth Kanter has some more info on it here). Its kind of Kiva like in its approach isnt it.
Charity Navigator have posted on their blog about another company doing something similar. Tom’s of Maine is offering five $20,000 donations to support community projects in a contest called 50 States for Good.
Charity Navigator sees this as a continuing of the trend of for profits allowing their stakeholders have a say in where their donations go. We have seen this here to a degree with companies short listing charities for a charity of the year and asking employees to vote for their “favourite”.
CN says that:
Pairing philanthropic work with customer involvement is a natural move for many companies, who typically give back a portion of their earnings to the community. By drawing new visitors to their site with an interactive experience such as voting, they engage their patrons while supporting a good cause. The Tom’s of Maine contest has drawn applications from organizations in nearly every state.
One of the issues we often face in talking to companies is how we are going to help them do their business by partnering with them and this seems like it ticks that box. I have certainly seen it lead to charities campaigning and driving people to the site of the company involved. On the down side it probably means the larger organisation will fair better in a National campaign and it may lead to a bit more competition in the market (like there isnt enough!).
Some other examples are Waitrose, who do the same thing but very very locally and Smarties in Canada who did Colours for a Cause. So this seems like the trend and the smart charities will embrace this and adapt their approaches to reflect this kind of thinking. How you do that is up to you….maybe you partner with others and approach a corporate, maybe you choose projects that customers can vote to support.
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