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 :)