Twitter

I am 22, and have grown up in the era that has created social media, so I know what it is and I know its effect, but I decided to write this post. In my new job in fundraising, I feel I can't do enough. My knowledge is important, but  I feel it needs to constantly be revised and double-checked. Therefore I decided to write a post specific to twitter.

I have seen two great posts recently about twitter:
1. How your charity can boost twitter engagement
2. 3 simple ways to drive donor engagement on twitter

The first post details six great tips to improve upon twitter engagement. In my own words, here are the tips provided, and how I feel that these are relevant:
1. Use image psychology, which research has demonstrated creates the highest-click-through rate. I believe the evidence is shown in many posts that are not just for charities, but individual profiles. For example, when I posted an update about graduating university, it was scrolled-past, but when I posted a picture I got over 70 likes!
2. Analyse how the target audience identify themselves and create tweets specific to them. If you want retweets, to be favoured or to make any impact, you need to see what is popular, and to engage best with the audience.
3. Be simple in your ideas. There is no need to re-invent the wheel. If competition do certain services, there is no shame in promoting, and keeping yourselves unique. Use hashtags that you use regularly (I have noticed charities do this to promote their campaigns e.g. #NoMakeupSelfie)
4. Reverse psychology can work to your advantage. If you occasionally suggest not to read something, or not to donate to something, people might really want to.
5. Studies show that readers like to read sentences where the first letter of each primary word is capitalised. I have not personally done this, so I am not too sure!
6. Post tweets that you aim to get extra clicks to or retweeted, so be sure to take the effort to organise a Twitter marketing strategy and post tweets that speak directly to your supporters.

The second and final link instructs three simple ways that Twitter can help to engage and boost your relationship with your audience through retweets, replies and direct messages. It separates how to do all three perfectly.

Retweets:
As described in this post, it is essential to get retweets in order to build "your credibility by associating with other great ideas or organisations and expanding your reach by connecting with followers across the Twitterverse." To make it even easier to retweet, the article suggests that you aim to keep tweets to 115 characters or less. This allows followers an extra 25 characters to add personalisations when they decide to retweet your post!

Replies:
Kindful states: "Replies on Twitter are the best way to create an ongoing conversation with Twitter followers and increase your donor engagement online." Unsustainably, the post says in order to make it work successfully, you need to be on twitter constantly! It suggests checking twitter once an hour, to ensure there is never a missed opportunity to respond to tweets that are relevant to you and your audience. Most helpfully, it continues to provide the following guidance: "It’s important to note that where you place the @username in your reply matters. If you place it at the beginning of your reply as shown above, it will be visible by your intended recipient as well as any of your followers who are also following that recipient. If you place the @username somewhere in the middle of your reply it will be seen by the recipient and all your followers. This can be helpful if you want all your constituents to see a response to a common question about your organization."

Direct Messages:
DMs are great to connect to followers directly in a more private setting, as well as driving more traffic to your online fundraising campaign.This is the perfect way for you to reach out to potential donors in a more personal and discreet way. There is still a 140 character limit, so this means you need to be extra concise, while conveying compelling content. Some organisations may choose to send automatic direct messages to new followers, but to be unique it can be more compelling to stand out in your communications.

 

All about the fundraising

Here are a few posts that are worth examining:
1. Why face to face fundraising is so valuable
2. How to go above and beyond your next event's fundraising goal
3. How your friends affect your charitable donations online

An interesting read from speaking to Annemarie Delvin from Sense Scotland, who wishes to describe the success of investing in Face-to-face fundraising. It doesn't just examine the dreaded door-to-door but also the move into more private site activity. She states that: "Many of the donors we sign up on the doorstep through our partner Fundraising Initiatives become longstanding supporters.." Delvin describes that this is due to two main reasons such as it being local and "on the donor's doorstep" as to speak, and also because field agents are well trained in how to conduct themselves in face to face fundraising.

'How to go above and beyond your next event's fundraising goal' is a long-winded post, but a valuable read that I suggest anyone who likes to fundraise, or who works in the charitable sector. It discusses registering in a way that promotes peer-to-peer fundraising, and can be described as a 'staple in an organisation's fundraising strategy'. The post is helpful in providing suggestions like using registration and fundraising as an option on nonprofit fundraising software to automatically create a fundraising page for every participant who buys a ticket to your event. It allows more explosure, and helps to set the relevant goal. When charities set a fundraising goal, they need to answer the following questions first: What are you hoping to fund? Is it going toward a specific programme or project? These questions will all help to define the campaign goal. The charities will also need to gauge participator involvement by working out how much each person will need to raise for success (baring in mind that the majority who register may not fundraise). It is so important to utilise registration and fundraising. For continued success, charities need to equip participants with the relevant resources including: fundraising tips, clear and concise how to guide, sample social media posts, photos and/or videos of fieldwork for fundraisers to utilise on their page and branded graphics and assets for personal fundraising campaigns.

It is interesting to read some of the statistics relating to the friends who donate online: "The majority (70%) of social media users would take some kind of action in response to a friend posting a story on social media about making a charitable donation. Moreover, while only 3% of respondents said social media was the most effective way for the charity itself to request a donation, the number jumped to 19% when asked if they would likely donate money to a charity if they saw a friend post about a recent donation." It is exactly how I believe to be true. People don't tend to donate if you post a link, but if you tell a story or post pictures to inspire people, they tend to want to donate. This is why I believe comic relief is so effective; it isn't negative, but instead shares stories of the success that comes with donating to such an excellent cause.

I hope you enjoy the post and any feedback is appreciated.

Kind things to find time to do

Anyone who is in the charitable sector, or interested by the sector finds time to do good. This is why I liked the following articles:
1. 100 easy ways to brighten someone's day
2. 109 random acts of kindness you can start doing-today
3. Why generosity is key to everything

There are so many things you can do to brighten someone's day, but some are just common sense and good manners, such as send thank you letters, deliver print outs to coworkers (if getting something from the printer anyway) and holding the door open. However some are nice gestures that can make someone feel better. For example buying a drink for a coworker; I remember working in one job where a guy who almost daily buy one friend a smoothie and expect nothing in return. Another good idea is buy for someone; I had someone say as a new mother she went to a photobooth and the manager paid for the pictures. Kindness from a complete stranger is even more heartwarming. At the same time I disagree with some such as let someone cut the queue. What is the point in that? When it is busy that makes nobody happy!  It also promotes impolite behaviour.

 The next article makes you realise how many nice things you could be doing. It details kind things to do such as: partaking in a beach cleanup, helping the elderly in different ways, volunteering, giving blood, adopt from an animal shelter, directing lost tourist, mentoring or helping people with bags/luggage. It suggests things you would never consider too such as emailing your boss or lecturer to say how much you like learning from them, giving an umbrella to a homeless person when it rains, listening to a friend vent or organising a holiday for your parents. One of my favourites has to be smile; I believe it can make anyone seem more approachable and cheer anyone up. I have always been taught  to smile when I am down and smile when I am nervous or stressed, or even to make a better impression (e.g. to encourage an interviewer I am approachable and friendly when applying for a job). Another favourite is to be kind to someone you dislike; I believe people are often disliked for good reason and a decision to not warm to a particular character is not taken lightly. Just because someone else is rude, does not mean you should stupe to their level. Being nice is the perfect revenge to someone who is truly mean.

True generosity is when you expect nothing in return, but unfortunately I believe it is rare to find a tuly selfless act of kindness. Even the nicest of people do things to make themselves happier. They may volunteer in a third world country to see the positive effect of their effort as well as helping to reduce world poverty. However, there can only be positivity in being generous as research shows in link 3. For example, it is said that happier people are better employees as they tend to work harder and be much more productive. By brightening people's days, it can be seen to benefit your career!

I hope this inspires you to do some good, and if it does, I encourage you to visit: http://getinvolved.org.uk/ or you can google for similar sites.

Campaigns worth celebrating

Don't get ahead of yourself, this isn't a year evaluation of campaigns. That is still to come! Instead I chose to look at recent campaigns I have seen, and to evaluate them. I know it is not many but please let me know what you think!

1) Kidscape - Don't Say Don't Send
This new campaign for the children's charity aims to combat cyber bullying in order to work in making young people consider their online behaviour more. It is all about installing the ideology in cyber space that if you wouldn't say something face-to-face, why say it online?


2) Cancer Research UK - #SmokeThis
The national cancer charity is asking their social media followers to take a phone of themselves with two fingers up as part of its #SmokeThis campaign. Abigal Brown is head of health marketing for Cancer Research UK, and she said: "We hope the campaign is a catalyst for a strong sense of collective empowerment amongst our young people in the face of a corporate juggernaut."



3) WWF - #PenguinDanceBattle
The campaign tries to benefit essential conservation work that protects the habitat of Adélie penguins. This christmas campaign wants to raise awareness of polar regions by getting people to share their best penguin dance moves. This is so much fun to raise awareness of the daily threat penguins have because of commercial fishing and climate change. A representative of WWF-UK said: "We want people to have lots of fun with our Christmas challenge but there is a serious message here."

4) #HomeforChristmas

This is a joint campaign between Missing People and A+E Networks UK led by the voice of Stephen Fry. The appeal has shows a collection of people's stories who have had their loved ones missing for  many years.

5) Macmillan - DRTV
Lynda Bellingham was a longstanding ambassador of Macmillan, but in her late days she also had her own Macmillan nurse. For their recent campaign she recorded the voiceover, which has helped raise £20,000 in text donations alone!


These are all fantastic causes, look them up if you haven't heard about them already!

Christmas Fundraising

This is just a short post to write some great things I think are happening over christmas to fundraise for valuable charities:

1) Supporting cancer - Maggie's christmas cards at £4 for a pack of 10 where the money goes to directly help the running of the local centre. There are also carol events going on in most centres. Enquire about your nearest centre
2) Help the homeless - Cyrenians have collected in a rucksack appeal, but are now doing selling of christmas cards, strEAT alternatives cookbooks and collecting for a shoebox appeal for service users over christmas.
3) Text Santa
4) Sponsor someone for the year, what better present for a family one? A lot of charities are promoting this
5)  Save the children have also done a christmas jumper appeal encouraging people to give £1 in every school, church or work place to get involved in festive fun

Sorry it is short, but no excuses for not reading!

World Aids Day

I am ashamed to say that this year is the only time I have been aware of World Aids Day (WAD), which is embarrassing to me as it is an important cause to support (not that any cause deserves less attention than others). However, in the future I hope to celebrate it every year. I will wear my red ribbon for world aid's day on the 1st December every year!

For those who may have also been oblivious to the existence of WAD, this year is the 26th WAD, and like every year it aims to raise funds for global response to HIV and AIDS, increase awareness, fight stigma, improve education and mobilise resources.

It is an important cause to remember with the red ribbon being worn as a symbol of awareness, support and remembrance of those affected by HIV and AIDS. This day is not just about those living with the virus, but it is also about those who have died from the virus. An estimated 34 million people worldwide are living with this terrible virus, but an upsetting 35 million have actually died from it.

AVERT is a charity, who aim to bring new campaigns out every WAD, but this year I am very proud of their video 'First Date Sex Fail', which encourages those who forget to wear a condom to get tested. It states that it is easy to get carried away, but that it is important to get checked out. Anyone who hasn't seen it, I encourage you to give it a look. Click here

 In its fight to raise awareness, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is encouraging more investment and access to treatment for children. Although 1.1 million infections among children under the age of 15 have been averted, there is still more that needs doing. There has been a fantastic decline of nearly 40% in AIDS-related deaths between 2005 and 2013, but those who are between 10 and 19 are the only age group that is not seeing this decrease.

UNICEF Executive Director, Anthony Lake says, "We must close the gap, and invest more in reaching every mother, every newborn, every child and every adolescent with HIV prevention and treatment programs that can save and improve their lives."

If you want to get involved, I encourage you to check out: http://www.worldaidsday.org/events.

All about the PR

I have always been fascinated by the creative media industry, and although I originally set out for a career in journalism, my mind has been transformed to see what I am best at. When I realised I don't have the heart to do any kind of journalism reporting (whether it writing stories about celebrities, fashion or the latest local or world events), I thought I would pursue a career in advertising.

However when I went on to university, I realised that I do love writing, and that is why I loved journalism so; although journalism isn't for me, PR and journalism have a lot of cross-over. They also do a lot of writing including that of creating media strategies, writing press releases and much more. It is more varied in its writing capacity than journalism. That is what I love most.

In the last few years, I have discovered that the third sector is what I love most as well as partaking in fundraising  as well as Public Relations.

I honestly believe from experience that successful fundraising cannot be completed without great public relations. Here are some reasons that make me believe this:
 1.PR is about building trust and awareness of an organisation, which is what charities are always hoping for. Without raising the profile, good fundraising can't always be achieved. They need to be able to attract new people to give and keep giving.
2. Great PR teams can encourage more press coverage, and know the best strategies to do so.
3. Someone in charge of the PR can be the excellent writer, strategic thinker, people-person, hard worker and representative - all in one!
4. PR pros know the right stories to pitch to reporters including that of trend stories. This is about seeing something happen often enough, that it begins to turn into a trend. Then there are stories about striking fear and raising awareness such as the stories about Ebola. These are not the only stories; there are also promotional tool stories, which encourage people to go to a particular goodwill event, do-good or vote for an important initiative. And finally, there are articles known as "human interest" stories, which might pull at your heart strings a bit! It can involve sad natural disasters, poverty, someone who is down on their luck and children, but you are moved by how extraordinary acts of human kindness can make a difference
5.They know the best ways to target social media, and how to target audiences differently on facebook as opposed to pinterest or instagram.
6. PR professionals know how best to write. They know not to make sentences too similar or too long, and to make it suitable to the audience. They also know to avoid cliches and using passive voice.  Last and most important, only writers or those in PR know how to write; they know their angle and the points they wish to stand out to their readers.

#GivingTuesday

I have been hearing a lot about Giving Tuesday, so thought it would be a smart idea to discuss the workings behind it in my latest post in time for this fundraising initiative that all charities will hopefully doing.

Any charity that is not participating in this event will miss out on a potential $100 million for their charity. This can only be a bad idea.

#GivingTuesday was born in 2012 as a global day to give back. It happens annually on the Tuesday after Black Friday, which means it will be on the 2nd December this year. Why is it so important to do? Those who tracked their campaign last year noted that 60% said "they saw no drop in their separate year-end campaign and about 40% said they saw an increase in their year-end campaign". This can only be seen as positive. All money is welcomed! However, this year is the first time it is being used in the UK to make a difference to the third sector.

The leading sight loss charity RNIB has been creative to invite people to take part in a virtual game of 'pass the parcel' to encourage people to think about giving during this christmas period. By taking part in this game on twitter on giving tuesday, users will have the opportunity to win a range of prizes exclusively. RNIB hope that this will help raise awareness of the work it does supporting the estimated 2million people in the UK who are living with sight loss. Lesley-Anne Alexander CBE is the CEO of RNIB, who stated: "Giving Tuesday is a perfect reminder that the festive period is about more than shopping. We're delighted to be involved in this global movement in its first year in the UK and hope that people will enjoy getting involved in our Pass the Parcel competition and finding out more about the work of RNIB."

It can take months to set up a campaign, but a few simple tips, it should be easy. First of all, you need to find sponsors to back the message you want to get across to the public, and this can be from a good foot-in-the-door with businesses who you've engaged with to asking regular donors to get involved. You also need to get businesses involved by encouraging them to get behind the campaign. For example, you could ask a local baker to donate 10p for every cake they sell that is special to #givingtuesday. You may also want to collaborate with other local charities to fuel public interest and giving. Maybe organise an egg and spoon race, and whichever charity wins gets the majority of proceeds for the day. The most important thing to make this successful is contact the local media to get them involved in publicising this and checking all your available resources.

In light of the UK joining this global movement for the first year, Workplace Giving UK is asking employers to remind the workforce that they can donate to charity straight from their paycheck. Workplace Giving UK is offering to add an additional £10 to an employee's first month's gift if they donate to any charity featured on their website. So readers, please get involved!

If you want to hear more about how it came to the UK, read this fascinating article from the Guardian. It demonstrates great innovation in the charitable sector to make an idea go global!

Lots of businesses, charities and organisations are getting behind this fantastic idea. Glamour magazine has a post which shows what everyone plans to celebrate this amazing event to get you into the spirit of giving: http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/news/features/2014/07/save-the-date-givingtuesday-is-coming-to-the-uk. It has great ideas like a rally to donate to their local food bank, gathering christmas presents for lonely elderly people and their plans to volunteer.

If you want to know more, I encourage you to check out the giving tuesday website: http://www.givingtuesday.org.uk. It informs you about partners who are involved, events to attend and campaigns taking place.

I have really enjoyed writing about giving tuesday, and hope the pilot is a success. This week I landed my first fundraising post, and hope that this time next year I am planning how my charity can get involved in this fantastic event.

Articles that have inspired this post:

Workplace Giving offers £10 charity bonus on #GivingTuesday

Giving Tuesday Quick Guide 

#Passtheparcel on #givingtuesday to support RNIB

Fantastic apps and Campaigns

Another post in a week? I must be getting better at this updating malarky!

This is a post about some fantastic apps that I have been hearing about:

1. Breast cancer app
I was fascinated by an article that I read on charity digital news about breast cancer created from a partnership with Philips and the charity, Breast Cancer Care. This made me interested in reading about other interesting breast cancer apps available. The link tells you about 15 great breast cancer apps, but I chosen a few of my favourites:

• Med Helper Pro Pill Reminder -helps you keep track of medicine, appointments and tests you need to take that you might otherwise forget after diagnosis. Not only does it remind you, but it tracks side effects and gives medical information for other family members.
• Carezone - this is a family organiser app that creates profiles for each member of the family and sync schedules. One great feature is the medication schedule to allow you to know who needs to take medication and when.
• Bliss HD+ - ok, this doesn't help with recovery, but entertains you while getting treatment, while benefiting charity. A portion of the game's price goes to the breast cancer awareness organisation, Beautiful Day Foundation
• Keep a Breast - This is about encouraging self-examinations. The app reminds you to take a monthly breast exam, while also teaching you how to perform a step by step examination by yourself.
• Breast Cancer Diagnosis Guide - helps you understand the jargon behind acronyms and codes described by doctors, so you never feel alone and confused about your diagnosis. It gives you a detailed glossary of terms as well as thorough medical illustrations and updated research, so you know the latest findings in breast cancer research.
• TweetCaster PINK for twitter - allows you to manage your twitter profile and social activities, while raising money for breast cancer awareness.
• Chemotherapy Advisor - this app enables health professionals and patients keep updated on the latest news and trends in oncology

2. 'My Poppy' App
Tabloid newspaper, The Sun launched  the app to help users donate with one-click in their support of Royal British Legion, The Army Forces and Rememberance charity. What is cool and unique? Each person has their own digital poppy to be added to an online virtual poppy field.

3. App to flag suicide tweets
Samaritans work hard to prevent suicide across the UK, and their most recent work has been innovative enough to launch a free Twitter application to flag suicidal tweets from friends suggesting a need for help. It alerts users through email to worrying tweets, alongside advice on how to support their friend in need.

4. Snapdonate
This inventive app allows you to give on the go, when you feel most inspired to donate to charity. All the user needs to do is point their smartphone at a charity logo and the app will recognise it and allow people to give as they wish! This app is a great example of how a successful digital fundraising tool works. It is done safely through JustGiving, and each donation automatially uses Gift Aid.

5. "Donate" to Ebola on facebook
 I know I have noticed the button put on facebook last week to allow people donate to helping fighting Ebola on facebook, have you? Facebook is encouraging users to donate to three West Africa charities, who are making a difference. This button will also ensure users can contribute to the International Medical Corps, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as well as Save the Children. Two weeks ago, ebola killed nearly 5,000 people in the West African nations of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia; this figure has probably increased since.

The link between digital media and fundraising

When you think of fundraising, what do you think of it? Do you think of methods to raise money or do you think of the platforms needed to raise money? Well i think of both. From my experience in the voluntary sector, one thing has been key to my learning, and that is being creative and innovative in your ideas. It is no use being the same as every other charity. It is a competitive industry that requires imaginative ideas. People get bored of hearing the same things, but may find interest in hearing new event ideas such as speed dating where every person competes to swim the fastest or something off the wall like that; or they might be fascinated by interesting apps where it costs them nothing to raise money for their favourite charity.

Here are some articles which prove that charity requires innovative digital thinking to fundraise:

1. Why charities need to improve their online engagement
It shows all the statistics behind increasing online engagement in the third sector.

2. Innovative tech charities need more support and better funding: report
This article just proves everything I mean. Digital make for successful fundraising, and this is stated in the report that states: "Its new report on charities and technology, ‘Going Digital’, found that while some charities are leading the way in designing new technologies to address key social issues, many are being held back by a range of organisational issues, including a lack of suitable funding."

3. The 7 truths driving real strategic thinking
Ok, this article is about marketing and isn't tailored to the third sector, but this article is still relevant. It indicates 7 crucial points:

•  Strategy is a "creative discipline" where you need to link choices and how people think to create it.
• The rich usually win due to their great strategies, but when they don't - someone else had a better strategy. Simples!
• You should base your strategy on your start point, not your ending point. You should know what to do even when it gets bad!
• Don't get a strategy confused with a plan. Strategy unfolds in a way where time creates new outcomes, thus meaning new objectives to be adjusted.
• Make your strategy "more like a system than a map"
• People want quality and good value for money, hence the popularity of Aldi and Lidl.
• Usability is key, and therefore you need to be constantly looking to improve your strategy for people to use your services easier to access. You don't need to be innovative, you just need to make things easier for people to do the things they want.

4. 5 social media tips to help your fundraising event sparkle
 It is all about digital to make it a success. You need to remember the 2Bs, 2Is and 1E - branding, balance, interact, inspire and enjoy what you are doing!

5. How to develop an efficient and effective fundraising strategy
This tells you how to be successful in fundraising. It mostly refreshes what you should know already with some added common sense! You can raise money through following ways:

• New Media - email and SMS messages virally, direct response and welcome/thank yous
• Gaming - lottery, raffles, scratch cards etc
• Trading - christmas, mid-year catalogues and gifting
• Individual Giving - direct mail, arrange regular giving, legacies and child/animal sponsorship
• Institutions - EU funding, national lottery and grant-making trusts, foundations and statutory grants
• Corporate - corporate giving, give as you earn, sponsorship (publications, events, projects and equipment) and corporate events such as auctions, dinner card pledges and awareness raisingg events
• Events - high value donor events, sponsored days and/or events, individuals (e.g. treks, marathons or parachute jumps)

That is my favourite articles for today! Hope to write another article in the coming week. Jodie :)

Raising money

This post discusses how money can or is raised for charity fundraising. I have reviewed a few good articles in this post!

1) Does charity giving begin at home or on facebook?
(http://nursingblog.rcnpublishing.co.uk/does-charity-giving-begin-at-home-or-on-facebook/)

A truly persuasive read of how successful social media has been at raising money for charity. It discusses the ALS ice bucket challenge and Stephen Sutton's Thumbs up campaign. Although the writer seems to be jealous that he did not come up with any of these innovative ideas to engage with the population himself, he does make a valid point relating to how people think to helping charity: "As Frank Furedi wrote people used to volunteer out of a sense of social obligation to the community and the desire to help others. But today’s volunteering professionals do not believe that people can still be expected to serve others out of a sense of civic duty."

2) What is payroll giving?
(http://www.charitydigitalnews.co.uk/2014/09/26/what-is-payroll-giving-video/?utm_source=Charity+Digital+News&utm_campaign=4db6573cee-26_09_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_16cb73bf0c-4db6573cee-15722245)
The short video from Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) examines how payroll giving is making a big impact to donations, in a simple and effective way to give to charity pre-tax through payroll.

3) The one mistake you're making when you ask for money!
(https://inspirehub.ihubapp.org/#/stories/10117)
It discusses what to do to raise money by looking at human behaviour: "the right time is to ask and more importantly'"how' to make the ask". It states three main things to be done including: think positively, earn the right to make a request and inspire supporters to act. What does this mean? Well, it means for one, don't tell a sad story, as you can push supporters away, since they can't see a positivity in giving. It also means don't ask for money when you haven't got to know the person and built a relationship with your donor. Finally, it means there is a special art and science to motivating supporters to give without manipulation.

4) A new social network set to change the face of corporate giving
(http://www.charitydigitalnews.co.uk/2014/10/08/new-social-network-set-to-change-the-face-of-corporate-giving/?utm_source=Charity+Digital+News&utm_campaign=34086c9188-09_10_2014_NL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_16cb73bf0c-34086c9188-15722245)
Neighbourly.com has been launched to connect charity and community projects with companies. This free online platform for not-for-profit groups promotes work where corporate support is beneficial, and might have otherwise fail to be seen. Nick Davies, founder and CEO of neighbourly says: “Businesses, both locally and nationally, are very aware of the need to demonstrate a robust CSR policy but translating that into actual activity and identifying the right projects to engage with can be complicated and time-consuming.  At the same time we know that there are a huge number of relatively small charities and non-profit groups out there desperate for support. We developed neighbourly.com in response to that – it provides a simple, yet effective means of bringing the two parties together.” Further details on how to use the platform can be found in the link given above. It can be an idea that can only be praised, as many charities can struggle to build corporate relations to increase funds and volunteer involvement.

5) Anti-bullying charity launches social media fundraising campaign

(http://www.charitydigitalnews.co.uk/2014/10/28/anti-bullying-charity-launches-social-media-fundraising-campaign/?utm_source=Charity+Digital+News&utm_campaign=01936d180f-28_10_2014_NL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_16cb73bf0c-01936d180f-15722245)
Anti-bullying charity Ditch label focuses on setting challenges and dares to encourage people to push themselves and face their fears with new social media fundraising campaign. This exciting concept involves the user devising their own dares, which is graded down to difficulty level, and sharing across social networks. Founder of this cutting-edge idea, Liam Hackett says, "We wanted to come up with an innovative fundraising campaign idea that engaged with our key audience on the platforms they use most regularly in a fun and challenging way."

Hope you enjoyed this week's review of the best articles to encourage people to raise money in new and old ways, and which also discusses how we raise money for charity. I hope to write another blog post this week, but only time will tell! Jodie :)

5 ways to raise awareness of fundraising

I have been inspired by a lot of fundraising lately, which hopes to raise awareness of various causes. Here are some that prove that you can raise the profile of an often overlooked cause like the ice bucket challenge did for ALS. Here goes!

1. #skulfie - UK's leading organisation for organ donation, Live Life Give Life is working to raise awareness of organ donors. The charity hopes to raise its profile, and do this while remembering those kind enough to donate, and celebrate those living because of donations. Their campaign 'The Day of the Living' has been inspired by the Mexican festival, The Day of the Dead, which celebrates the dead in a way that remembers ancestors with a truly different kind of festival! Everyone is encourage to take selfie with face painted sugar skulls and to share and tag with the hashtag: skulfie along with promoting their text donation SKUL14 £3 to 70070.

2. #Pants2HIV - Gay men's health charity, GMFA has launched a social media campaign to engage with donors to take photos of themselves in their underwear, share the image, donate £5, and nominate their friends to do the same. Why? To raise money and to fight against this terrible illness that is HIV. Those who wish to tweet images in their pants are encourage to use the hashtag #Pants2HIV, and text 'GMFA14 £5' to 70070. This is a great way to get people (specifically gay men) talking about HIV regardless of age, background and in a way that allows them to realise that this is an issue that affects them. It hopes to gage their interest to seek information about preventing transmission. GMFA's CEO, Matthew Hodson stated that: "If we're going to be able to have honest discussion about what it means to live with HIV then we've got to get beyond the point where nobody is willing to talk about it."

3. Go pink for Breast Cancer - this Friday raised awareness of breast cancer by asking people to dress in pink, but it went even further than that! UK landmarks turned pink in support of the charity. This image shows Chatsworth house turning pink, but this is just one of many who participated. People at my work were enthusiased and got involved by dressing in pink, buying pink cakes and encouraging people to think about cancer. I was most interested to read about mother, Amanda Ford who underwent a double mastectomy alongside her two sisters who helped raise money for breast cancer charity by rolling out a specially-made pink plastic lawn. She worked to back the campaign, Wear It Pink Day with the help of her company LazyLawn to raise awareness. Ford said, ""I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 and my twin sister was diagnosed in 2005 - we carry the same BRCA gene as Angelina Jolie and both took the decision to have a double mastectomy."

4. Elfie Selfie -  North East English charity, The North East Autism Society (Neas) launched a clever new christmas fundraising appeal. This demonstrates a real fun way to encourage people to think about those with autism as well as those who may be affected, by asking people to dress up and take an 'elfie selfie' with the hope of leading to become another successful social media trend. A representative of the charity, Lisa Taylor talked about the campaign with much enthusiasm: "We are asking people to take an elfie selfie, either by using an app or dressing up. They can then upload it on to facebook, tag us in and nominate their friends. It should be great fun." Donations can be made by texting elfi14 £3 to 70070.

5. Marie Curie Cancer Care won 2 accolades at Digital Impact Awards - ok, this isn't a campaign, but it does congratulate Marie Curie's fantastic work to engage with its audience and raise awareness of the fantastic caring they do for terminally ill people. The awards are now in their fifth year, and celebrate digital stakeholder engagement. MC collected gold in the Best Use of Digital in the Charity, NGO or NFP sector category, and bronze in the Best Digital Communication as Part of an Integrated Campaign category. Marie Curie's head of digital, Claire Hazle was delighted with the news, stating that: "To have the work of our Digital, Fundraising and Communications teams recognised at such a prestigious awards ceremony is a testament to all the fantastic work they've done over the past twelve months."

Please let me know if I missed anything! Hope you enjoyed reading, I know I enjoyed examining the best awareness-boosting in the past month.

Jodie :)

Volunteer Induction

So, I am excited to announce that I will be volunteering to fundraise for another fantastic charity. This time it will be with Cyrenians.

Yesterday evening straight after work, I was able to enjoy wholesome soup and wholemeal bread with a kid's pack of innocent smoothie. Yum! I got to interact with other volunteers, and bond over our passion to help homeless people. It was fun.

We started by gathering ideas about how being homeless affects different parts of the service users' lives. These include how they could suffer with depression, lose trust in people, become isolation, turn to drugs and substance abuse as a way of dealing with their issues and could even be subject to sexual exploitation. I found it truly insightful, and eye-opening, as you learn that some basic human rights can be taken for advantage. It isn't just about being homeless, but it is the continuous cycle they find themselves in where they can't get somewhere to live because of lack of job, and can't get a job without a permanent address. Then they are unable to sign on for benefits without an address, and can't even get medical care with some sort of address!

We also discussed basic etiquette of being a volunteer, and situations we might have to deal with. I found this most interesting, but after working all day it got to me a bit.

I filled in paperwork and gave copies to prove my identity, and know it feels more real, and for the first time in a while, I am REALLY excited to get involved. I was meant to be given dates to volunteer, but I have heard absolutely nothing. Hopefully very soon. Will keep you posted. From now on, my posts will be more top 10 articles I  have seen in the week than referring to articles written, or my personal experience of fundraising. I am still learning my writing style here! Jodie :)

Organising a walkathon

Sorry for the late update on here, but I have been busy with work, socialising (shocking for me) and various other regular tasks, but I promise to try to write this blog at least once weekly, if not two or three times per week.

This time I choose to discuss the recent popularity of walkathons for raising funds for charities, community projects and schools. They are reasonably easy to organise, easy to raise awareness in the local media and can also serve as a fundraising opportunity at a low cost to the organisation, who wish to plan them. Here are a few observations of how to make a successful walkathon:

1. Focus on volunteer recruitment
Define necessary volunteer roles, and be relentless in hiring talent to make your event successful. A few useful roles may include:
-Logistics Volunteer: someone to obtain permits for the event to go ahead, with an interest in controlling traffic for the area used for the walkathon, insurance and handle general logistics of the event
-Corporate Sponsorship Volunteer: someone with an experience in sales and building partnerships to gain sponsorship from businesses and donors, who might believe in the cause
-Events & Hospitality Volunteer: this is basically an event cheerleader, who organise pre and pro-event meals, activities and coordinates any entertainment. They may also serve as volunteers, who stand at different points of the track to cheer on volunteers.
-Marketing & PR Volunteer: a volunteer with a communication background, who do a lot to raise awareness of the event, and boost participant enrolment by: pitching stories to the media, writing press releases, creating print and promotional materials and any other ideas that they feel will help

2. Pinpoint a specific cause within overall goals
Encourage people to donate by specifying where the funds will go. For example, Friends of ANCHOR did an event, where they raised funds for a gene machine, to detect if they had the gene that gave them cancer.

3. Set timelines, plan, plan and plan some more!
Set a guideline of when specific tasks need to be completed, and what is required to be done by staff and volunteers involved.

4. Leverage technology
Use technology to help speed recruitment of volunteers by allowing them to select their roles and availability via an online form. However, with enough technical knowledge, it is a great benefit to consider the use of an online tool for collecting donations and/or setting up a social media plan to publicise the event.

5. Don't go overboard!
You have a lot to hand out already including registration forms, sponsor packs, publicity flyers and instruction sheets. Therefore, don't create even more materials to bombard participants and volunteers because this can confuse the audience, instead of gaging their interest.

6. Failure Prevention Team
Have people to help with mistakes that might fall through the cracks, while the planner can be left to keep sane at this hectic time, and make sure everything else is able to keep on track!

7. Celebrate every success
Be sure to point out every piece of great work completed in the team, whether it is volunteers, staff, media or anyone involved in helping the event become a success. Consider organising prizes for key milestones such as biggest fundraiser, fastest walker, team players, social butterfly, and what-not.

8. Help participants prepare
This can be done by providing them with goals and helping them to set their own individual guidelines and priorities. Help them by providing them with relevant materials including a list of potential supporters, a draft pitch to be used to help them raise their funds and a guide of common courtesies (e.g. thank you letters to supporters and donors). Providing participants is a great help to fundraising. I know this from experience, where I have needed to write donation request letter or email requests to local businesses.

9. Make it easy and personal
Set up guidelines of how every £5, £10, £20, £50, £100, £200+ can be raised, by showing sample events that have raised a lot of money in the past. Show unique fundraising to engage with participants and keep them interested. Show an interest in every participant by regularly checking on how their fundraising is going, and how you can help them raise more funds. Don't allow them to feel like they have to do it all on their own! Also make it feel relevant to them by allowing them to vocalise their motivations for fundraising for this particular cause, or finding out how the cause has benefited them. Their stories can then be used in further promotional material, and encourage more people to participate. This is helpful to the charity and participant, who feel special and more included.

10. Motivate all!
Keep participants, volunteers and staff motivated by awarding them for doing well at specific tasks, and giving prizes for particular things. Send participants and volunteers regular weekly newsletters on how money benefits the organisation. For example, a newsletter may inform those who are interested of big funds raised. "Mary Anne raised £5000 by climbing kilimanjaro, this was raised by doing x, y and z events. Her money has been used to ensure that there are more sanitary conditions in Eastern Africa. The funds raised have helped build shower blocks in local towns and 3 more water pumps, so residents don't have to travel so far!" This is just an example.

On Wednesday, I have my induction for my next volunteering opportunity, and with give you a more personal update about it then or Thursday evening! Look forward to hearing your thoughts on my posts, Jodie :) x

Giving is not just beneficial to charity!

I love fundraising, and giving to good causes (as my posts might make clear). Although I might not be able to give a lot, as I still live with my parents and rely on their support quite heavily, I do try to do my bit!

Although I planned to discuss charity engagement in this post, I have decided to show how giving to charity doesn't just benefit the cause, but the people who benefit too. I have got some of my information from the following sources:
http://www.wisebread.com/5-ways-giving-to-charity-is-good-for-you
http://www.wisebread.com/why-generosity-is-key-to-everything-including-your-career

It has been pointed out that giving can be great for your health. With a study from Carnegie Mellon University stating: "people who were socially connected (i.e. volunteering or giving to charity) reported catching fewer colds." However giving can help much more than colds, according to author of Why Good Things Happen to Good People, Stephen Post reported that, "giving to others has been shown to increase health benefits in people with chronic illnesses, including HIV and multiple sclerosis." This seems a bit far-fetched to me, but I can believe research that found the link between giving and reduction of stress hormones. Psychology expert, Dr Tony Grant said, "Knowing we’ve done something to improve the life of others not only boosts our self-esteem and gives us a sense of purpose, it also shifts our attention away from our own stresses and worries."

 Not only does it help your health, but it can help with your happiness. There is no denying this, as call it selfish or personal satisfaction, but to be honest, it feels good to give something whether it is providing a one-off monetary donation; giving food to the homeless; helping out at an animal shelter, or donating clothes to your chosen charity. A study of 46 people has shown that "participants who were directed to spend a small amount of money on others (either $5 or $20) reported greater feelings of happiness than those who were directed to spend the same amounts on themselves."

Happiness can result in better employees, who work harder and tend to be be more productive. Why? I am unsure, but clear examples are companies like Zappos and Google, who have been shown to have an innovative corporate culture based on fulfilled staff.

Staff who are generous are able to build more supportive networks. Maybe this is because they are seen as more likeable, or because they appear happier, and therefore people are more willing to be in their presence. Either way, generosity can help exude confidence and be a real sign of good team players, who wish to help others in their industry too. If you help others, more people are willing to give assistance to you when needed. This is evidenced by Eleanor C. Whitney, writer of the book, Grow: "When you are generous you don't just give of yourself, but acknowledge the contributions and needs of others. The result is a network of people who are also willing to help you."


Often neglected is the importance of generosity amongst management and those higher up in an industry. It might be one of lesser known qualities for a good leader, but it plays a big role in encouraging staff. Jodi Glickman, communications expert has explained that managers who are generous are not just well-liked: "Generous bosses get 10x the productivity from their employees; generous employees' stars rise in tandem with their bosses'."

Although not all contributions are tax-deductible and the rules for making such charitable donations can be complex, you can easily speak to someone more knowledgeable. Nobody is a fan of the tax-man (except maybe the tax-man's family), so anywhere you can regain tax is a huge plus.

Money isn't the only way to give to charity. Some may donate hard-earned cash from fundraising, savings or monthly earnings, but others may wish to donate personal belongings or even volunteer. Many charities are happy to have volunteers, who can provide their time and skills. This looks good on a CV, but can also be fun as you can fundraise, help out a local charity shop or even provide administrative support, drive, feed the homeless, but this all depends on the services a charity provides.

It is also a great way to give an issue that affected you or someone close to you. For example, if you had dealt with a natural disaster and lost your home, family members and anything you held dear, you might be inclined to give to a charity that helps natural disasters such as the red cross.


Giving can be positive whether it is to charity, helping an elderly person cross the road or to a work kitty for a well-loved staff member leaving, getting married or leaving to have a baby. It gives you: that warm fussy feeling, is a way to support something you feel passionate about, is beneficial to your career and health, there are ways of giving that can be tax deductible and potentially cost you nothing. I believe in karma, as this post can demonstrate. I believe that anything good done by a person only means that something great will happen to them that is unexpected. Your kindness can result in gaining that job you have been hoping of getting, or result in you relieve some stress.


I will discuss charity engagement soon, but I never do run to my own plans, and either find something more fascinating to talk about or do. I hope you have enjoyed this post all the same, your support is very much appreciated and hope you find time to leave feedback.

Best Charity PR Campaigns of all time!

(Sorry for the long post, but I can say this is my favourite to write so far)

I have been examining some of the best PR campaigns for the charitable sector after reading the following fascinating article: http://pha-media.com/blog/top-10-charity-pr-campaigns-time/

In this article, it pointed out ten successful campaigns, but I am not sure of the running order. For instance, it charts a recent #nomakeupselfie as top, but I would maybe have movember or the big tweet first because they have been repeated year after year, and are only growing in popularity. Both are raising further awareness and funds for the charity. I am not denying the bare faced selfie success, which even made me bare all! It was a simple thing to do, and had people donating to cancer charities. I personally chose to donate to local charity, Friends of ANCHOR, who were a local cancer charity, where 100% money raised goes directly to charity as administration and travel costs are covered by their key sponsor, Balmoral Group. I wish more charities were able to do this!

Anyway, the article... The article describes some fantastic campaigns including that of a human chain for charity, which happened in 1986 without the magic of social media, but it helped to raise awareness of the hungry and homeless. I think that have been innovative ideas including the campaign that RSPCA did that was inspired by Games of Thrones; they made animals look like the characters to help them to find homes. Some of the campaigns stretched to a high demographic such as the campaign done by swedish UNICEF, which showed powerful videos to demonstrate how facebook likes is not enough. The videos were viewed 750,000 times, and across 195 countries.

There were some amazing campaigns listed here, but believe that there are many that need to be remembered. They might not be as effective or successful, but their messages were clear. Here is my list of 5 to not be forgotten (no particular order):

1. #FindMike campaign - this was an effective campaign by Jonny Benjamin. For those who don't know him he is a popular mental health video blogger, who I studied for my dissertation. Benjamin lived with schizophrenia, and without Mike at a hard time in his life, he might have jumped off Waterloo Bridge. Therefore the campaign included social media, digital content including videos, broadcast interviews and newspaper coverage to track this hero down! The charity, Rethink (who work to combat stigma in mental illness) received 5,000 new facebook likes, 2,600 new twitter followers, and a fivefold increase in website traffic - all from this campaign. The campaign also fulfilled its aim and managed to reunite Jonny with Neil Laybourne, who saved him that fateful day!

2. Rachel's 9th Birthday wish - if you didn't hear this story of an inspirational girl, and how she chose to celebrate her birthday, you will be touched! At the young age of 9. she adsked that friends and family didn't give her birthday gifts, but asked that they people helped her raise a $300 goal via MyCharity, to help children in Africa access clean water. Unfortunately, not long after her birthday she was involved in a fatal car crash, which meant her final goals were unfulfilled. However, her family and friends rallied together to continue the campaign, and has since been a viral sensation on social media, and interesting people all over the world. The campaign went on to raise over $1.2million over 60 days, which just shows howamazing a single selfless act can be.

3. Ice bucket challenge - I might not have agreed with this idea initially, but can't fault any efforts to raise awareness and funds. This campaign was hugely successful, may I say more?

4. "Don't cover it up" - This campaign was very effective, and showed the effects of domestic abuse. The video is titled 'How to look your best the morning after,' which mimicks a typical makeup tutorial on YouTube, but with the twist of having a make-up artistic give tips on how to hide injuries gained from domestic violence. Lauren Luke is a popular vlogger, and used her mainly female fan base to help raise awareness, and help stop such violence.

5. It Gets Better Project - this viral movement from 2010 aimed to address the issue of the rise in suicides in teenage gay and lesbian groups. The campaign provided over 50,000 user 'It Gets Better' videos to be uploaded onto YouTube, which together raised a combined total of over 50 million views. I suggest you check these out!

To finish, I would like to encourage you to get involved in a campaign I wish to get bigger in aid of Aberlour Childcare Trust (although like the Iced bucket challenge and #nomakeupselfie, you may choose to promote this for any charity you passionately support!

In a bid to build morale amongst Scots who recently voted in the much-talked-about Referendrum, this has been created to make Scottish people proud, and prove they can do something amazing and make a real difference!  The event page states: "The eyes of the world are upon us right now. How do you want them to see us? How can we continue the passion shown by both sides during the referendum campaign? I have a simple idea. Join me in investing in our nation's future today by donating just £3 to Scotland's children's charity, Aberlour. And show support with a smiley from today until the end of October!" This campaign was launched today.


So what do you have to do? Click here: twibbon.com/support/smiley-2 it helps you add a smiley face to your profile picture on facebook, twitter and whatever else you use. Also persuade people to donate while doing it. Simply text BUILD to 70660 to give £3 per month to Aberlour. (You can opt out at any time by texting STOP). For more details on the event, scots and passionate people-alike, visit the event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/309412892563820. No maybe about it, add a smiley face and encourage others to do the same. Invite people to the facebook event, and get involved! SPREAD this beautiful message to support Scottish children who are less fortunate.
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In my next post, I hope to discuss charity engagement, but please let me know of anything else you wish for me to discuss in fundraising. Ideas are welcomed!

Gail Perry - 5 clues your fundraising is going downhill

I read a fascinating article by this knowledgeable lady recently, and suggest you read it: http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/blog/gail-perry-5-clues-your-fundraising-headed-downhill.

In this blog, I will sum-up what is said and demonstrate how Gail is very wise in her words. She cleverly states the feelings of many in the fundraising industry, or who love to take part in the art of raising money for charity: "Don't we all want fundraising that provides reliable, consistent revenue? Money we can count on year after year?" However, as it is obvious to many in this industry, predictable success doesn't just happen; you need to work at, and even after much time and commitment, success isn't necessarily guaranteed!

 In the article, Gail states there are five clues that your fundraising programme is set to disappoint:

1. Revolving door in the development office
"So what happens when the job is empty? No one is nurturing your donors or your fundraising infrastructure." Reliability and some sort of organised structure is essential to fundraising. The way to combat is supporting staff, and promoting staff loyalty. Make them feel appreciated, and make their job enjoyable. Don't let a vacancy stand for months on end, and therefore allow your fundraising targets to decrease.

2. Laying all the fundraising on one person
It isn't just the fundraising sector that leaves one person to do the majority of work, but here it can be an issue. Board members and non-profit staff members don't wish to get involved with donors, philanthropy or "asking for money", but they don't realise that this has a big impact on reaching their fundraising targets. This laziness or lack of wanting to get their "hands dirty" only hinders success. They need to realise that fundraising is a shared priority and shared task for all, whether they are board members, executive directors or any staff in the organisation.

3. Changing fundraising strategy too often

If an idea doesn't work straight away, do you give up OR do you support it over time, and put all your commitment into it? I would put my heart and soul into something; put my blood, sweat and tears into a project to really make it a success. However, a lot of people are too scared of starting with failure and risk, and never continue. They have a "why bother?" attitude. Organisations need to get their donors, family, friends, volunteers and supporters behind it too.

4. Lacking an internal culture of philanthropy
"A culture of philanthropy is a set of practices that nurtures and support fundraising in your organization." You need to build on important relationships with donors who wish to give, and give again.

5. Not investing in fundraising infrastructure
"Wonderful, well-meaning organizations want to spend every penny helping people and saving the world. And they absolutely don't want to spend money on the staff, systems and data that create successful fundraising." Charities might feel that such investment is "wasted" if it doesn't go helping projects, or making "a difference".  Some consider it "wasted" if it doesn't go to programming.

As you will note, I have the read this exciting and insightful article and tried to add my own knowledge, and vision of its meaning. Let me know what you think, and suggestions on what to post for my next blog are appreciated!

Late introductions

Most bloggers begin with a brief introduction before their first post. Not me! I have always been one to run before I can walk!

I thought I would be able to add a little 'about me' section on a side bar, but since I can't work out how to do that, I will dedicate this post to introducing myself. I will try not going to make this long post, as I want to keep it related to fundraising, and wouldn't want to bore you!

I am a 21 year old (5 weeks today until I turn 22), who has recently graduated with honors after 5 years of studying the communications industry. Having spent three years at college, I learnt that journalism wasn't for me. I had dreamt from being a child that I would be a writer and journalist, but I realised I wasn't nosey enough to call widowers and ask how they felt after losing their spouse. I would be more likely to make them a cup of tea and be a shoulder to cry on, than report it!

Instead, I decided I would go into the PR or advertising industry. I still love to write, but not in the same way. At university, I learnt how much I liked working in the third sector, and with my voluntary experience (I have since volunteered for 8 charities before gaining my first paid role in this industry) it taught me the many areas of working in a charity. This is where I was able to learn that I loved fundraising, and hope to eventually have the opportunity to not only fundraise for a living, but promote and raise awareness for a charity I am passionate about.

I started my first paid role this month, and love it. I am only a receptionist, but get to greet service-users and be there first contact when they enter the building. This in itself is rewarding, as you get to see how the services can really make a difference to them, and I feel appreciated for my excellent tea-making skills, where I have been complimented on many an occasion!

Having been paid mostly in the retail industry as a student, it is a shock and delight to be appreciated for my work and skills. Although I am mainly answering phones, serving drinks and greeting guests, I have also managed to look at fundraising strategy, do basic administrative tasks and learn more about the charity.

Living in Scotland has made it difficult to get a decent fundraising position (unless you have been in a dark cave over the last few months, the referendum is believed to have prevented Scotland-based employers from advertising jobs for the time being).

So far, there are two things holding me back from the job of my dreams: nerves and a lack of driving licence. Therefore, I have been practicing what I want to say in interviews, speaking to professionals in the industry and of course, sending off for a driving licence. I applied for my provisional this week, and hope to begin my theory test as soon as possible. Although I am keen to drive, I am still giving myself until the end of 2015 to pass. I don't want to pressure myself and put myself under too much stress.

So why do I love fundraising? It is just so rewarding to know that you are working for a charity to make a difference to a valuable cause, rather than helping businessmen get richer! I don't look down on those who work in other industries, I wish I could have an interest in a career where I could probably earn more, but I just don't.

In my fundraising so far, I have wore ridiculous costumes to raise funds including dressing as a bunny rabbit for easter 2013 and dressing as a daffodil for Marie Curie Cancer Care (their logo). I have tried to be creative in my organisation of events including organising tea parties, race nights, quiz nights, and of course, a date auction for 2013's valentine's. I have also gained experience in different kinds of fundraising including for events, the community and being witness to corporate fundraising. I am always looking to learn more and believe you can never know too much about this industry!

Wish me luck in achieving my dreams! I hope you will enjoy reading about my fundraising, as well as my thoughts on methods used in fundraising, latest fundraising trends and news and my battle to get on the fundraising career ladder!

How about Crowdfunding?

Recently, I have been hearing a lot about Crowdfunding? With my continued passion for fundraising, I always want to learn more and more about the third sector. I thought it was important to research more into it! Here is what I found out:

Oxford describes it as "the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the internet."

Crowdfunding raised in popularity in 2013, when the economy of crowdfunding grew to over $5.1 billion, and thousands of entrepreneurs used its power and reach for increased development and growth. The majority of the growth has come from the world's developed economies because as demonstrated, crowdfunding has the most potential in emerging markets. A 2013 World Bank report has predicted that crowdfunding in China could reach $50 billion by 2025—and other emerging economies like Brazil may not be far behind.

Although crowdfunding may seem like a recent phenomenon, it has already been used in the US as a means to fund projects.The construction of the Statue of Liberty in 1884 was the biggest example of this. When resources were needed to complete the historical landmark, Joseph Pulitzer used his newspaper to persuade the public to give donations to help finish the project. This encouraged over 100,000 Americans to join the campaign, and gave as little or as much as they could. This totalled $100,000. Crowdfunding wasn't the term used then, but this demonstrates the key principles of the method by definition.

When examining successful crowdfunding, it can convey that two components make it work. Not only is crowd participation required to raise the funds, but a platform to engage with the audience is necessary. This might be the online community, newspapers or broadcasting networks. Social media is often used as a method to promote fundraising, such as sharing links to online sponsorship pages.

It is important to add that crowdfunding is not all about charities, but can be done on a business-to-business level. Websites like funding circle are the perfect example of this; businesses can get loans of up to £1 million, in a method to avoid banks. Funding circle is known to be very successful with "£330 million lent to 30,000 people to 5,500 businesses." In fact, there are three main types of crowdfunding  including: credit-based, reward-based and equity based.

Credit-based crowdfunding can be demonstrated with organisations like funding circle, who are non-banks who lend to businesses and organisations. This type of crowdfunding became more prominent in the U.S. in 2012, when they launched the Lending Club. With similar aims and objectives to the british website, funding circle, prospective borrowers first submit their requirements, and are matched with investors who are willing to accept the credit terms. In recent times, you can understand how these platforms are gaining popularity, as banks are increasing their interest rates or reducing their level of lending.

Reward-based crowdfunding could be used more by charities as it can be used for a wide range of reasons, such as: free software development, inventions development and scientific research. Two types of reward-based crowdfunding can be identified: "keep-it-all" or "all-or-nothing". The KIA is where the entrepreneurial firm sets a fundraising target and keeps the entire amount raised, while the AON sets a goal, but keeps nothing if the goal isn't achieved.

Equity-based crowdfunding can be described as a collective effort  by individuals to support efforts of others. 

I still need to learn more about the popularity of crowdfunding, if you know of any popular online platforms that use crowdfunding successfully, please let me know!

Do you think crowdfunding has gone beyond online solicitation from the crowd/audience?


SOURCES:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdfunding#Types_of_crowdfunding
Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hsbc/2014/08/05/crowdfundings-untapped-potential-in-emerging-markets/
Crowdsourcing: http://www.crowdsourcing.org/editorial/crowdfunding-its-no-longer-a-buzzword/32268