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| 22 Apr 2020 | |
| General |
Not All Superheroes Need a Cape – 9 Tips for Digital P2P Efforts
Rebecca Thomson, International Partnership Manager at iRaiser, provides 9 Tips you can implement to support your current fundraisers in continuing their collection efforts regardless of whether the event they were participating in was cancelled.
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Taking it online
Not all superheroes need a cape, and as it turns out they don’t need to venture out from their very own living room !
I’m sure by now you’ve considered ways in which to take your campaigns online. For example, a digital Pink Ribbon campaign, a virtual marathon, a virtual Biggest Morning tea and so many other creative ways to launch campaigns digitally, all of course, having a supporting peer to peer program. You may be the creator of a new viral campaign in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. With so many people at home and online, now more than ever, we must ensure we have the right digital strategy in place.
We must now consider how can we provide the best possible support to our current fundraisers, so they can keep fundraising and spreading awareness for your cause.
Tip 1: Create a group on channels like Facebook or WhatsApp to connect fundraisers with each other per campaign
Launch a dedicated group to support your particular campaigns. Here you provide an avenue for fundraisers to share their journey with other like-minded people. This is also a great place for you as the Fundraising Team to load downloadable materials, and daily support messages. You create a fundraising community for specific campaigns you’re running. A Pink Ribbon WhatsApp Group is likely going to attract a different type of supporter than that of your New York Marathon runners (potentially!). The point is, your marathon runners may want you to provide links and support on training indoors, diet etc, and this type of information is not always relevant across all your fundraising campaigns. Jumbling all your supporters in one group is not really a campaign specific execution. Ensure you communicate and share information with your online channels regularly to keep your fundraising community motivated.
Tip 2: Provide “Digital Tool Kits” to support your fundraisers so it’s really easy for them to make the ask to their networks
What digital assets can you design for your supporters to notify their networks that they’re running an important collection for your cause? Keeping in mind you want to show your good charity messages and have the clear ask “donate to my initiative now”.
Examples:
There are many more digital tips and tricks you could provide to your supporters. Rally your digital, public relations, fundraising and marketing representatives together to brainstorm and prepare your campaign kits.
Tip 3: Continue your traditional peer to peer activation donor messaging journey.
Continue to support fundraisers through an email activation and phone journey. Often, we see that at least 8 points of contact are required in motivating a supporter on their peer to peer donor journey. These emails are across several weeks with phone calls to top fundraisers throughout their journey.
Welcome Email Sample: Congratulations, you are officially awesome! You have chosen to participate in our “Virtual 30 mins for 30 days Exercise Challenge”. Walk, skip or run on the spot, around your house or on a treadmill in support of heart disease and to keep you healthy while at home. Starting from today, you’ve signed up to participate and challenge yourself for this amazing quest, all while seeking donations for your efforts. Because of you many people will benefit greatly from your decision to support us, so that makes you a 21st century superhero! We are truly thankful. Please keep an eye on your email as we will be sending you loads of tips and support to help you. We are here with you every step of the way! Please find some simple steps attached to help get you started.
Step 1: Get familiar with your Online Collection Page: Update your collection with your own profile picture and put some details on your page as to why you’re running/supporting for your chosen charity. A personal story can have a lot of impact. Consider making your own video and loading this onto your page. Just follow the simple steps by visiting your online collection page.
Step 2: Consider making a donation to your own page to let everyone know just how committed you are to your cause. The higher your first donation the higher your friends’ donations will be!
Step 3: Share your page with everyone you know! And then in two weeks’ time, share it again with all the same people. Everyone is so busy, and a little reminder can help. Reach out to work, Facebook, LinkedIn, sporting clubs, your local school, anyone and everyone. A simple email really has impact. Don’t forget to always include a link to your collection.
Step 4: Don’t forget to thank the people that donated to you. You can thank them on Facebook by making a special post just for them. You could also privately message them and ask them to consider sharing the news of their donation on their social channels asking their friends to get behind your good work by either running with you or also donating to your page.
Step 5: Now you must undertake your run/walk/exercise challenge! Have loads of fun training and running. We will be there cheering you on from the sidelines. Don’t forget, when your legs get tired, run with your heart!
Tip 4: Use segmentation tools so you can tailor the donor journey
In the previous point, we encouraged you to continue your donor journey delivery. Keep an eye on your fundraisers and identify “high performers” early and “potential high performers”. This group will need extra love and support as they deserve it, through one-on-one meetings, phone calls etc. Also be sure to profile such supporters in your Facebook/WhatsApp group channels. They’re shining examples for others to get inspired.
We would encourage to use 1:1 sessions with high value fundraisers and donors and group sessions for the aspiring ones. A simple option for online meetings is using Google Hangouts or Zoom.
Tip 5: Discover Virtual Games Nights
Many high fundraising results from a peer to peer angle will often have an element of an offline collection, for example an art show, Bingo night, friends coming together etc. These types of activities are organised by the fundraiser with their networks. Consider providing some other ideas like “virtual games nights” through Twitch or Steam.
Tip 6: Virtual auction sites
Similarly to point 5, consider provisioning your fundraisers with tips and ideas on how they could go about launching an online auction with donated goods and services from their local businesses.
Tip 7: Engage Your Ambassadors
Ambassadors are great motivational role models to inspire others, encourage fundraising and spread the good word of your charity. There are different types of ambassadors you could consider and in all these cases encourage them to join your “dedicated fundraising group channels” so you can ensure other fundraisers are informed and motivated by them. In all cases the ambassadors must have their own online fundraising collection where they can seek donations, and don’t forget to get them to make a donation of their own to their collections!
Hero Ambassadors: Can be high fundraisers or a beneficiary of your cause.
Social Influencers: There is no real science to this, simply identify influencers that connect/align with your cause, contact them and ask them if they would consider supporting you. They really range from professional bloggers to your average person and many people aspire and look up to them. Their digital reach positions them as ideal peer to peer fundraisers.
Celebrities: Now and always will attract and inspire many people. Select celebrities that are willing to digitally support your cause and interact with your top fundraisers.
Tip 8: Get creative with your fundraising incentives and rewards program
Use digital reward badges and consider a level of simple gamification to reward & thank fundraisers. Leverage off your celebrity and influencer ambassadors to offer “money can’t buy experiences” for high fundraisers. For example, those raising €2,000 euros or more will get to join a private group meeting with a famous singer or sportsman.
Tip 9: Engage Corporate Partners
While many companies are also feeling the impacts of COVID-19, use this time to help build on your corporate relationships by providing fun peer to peer programs for staff at home to participate in. Imagine a corporate challenge where staff are competing in a virtual run/walk all for charity. By helping your corporate partner to build good morale and motivation amongst their staff at this challenging time presents a great platform to start (or continue to build on) a long lasting relationship and later when they’re in a better position they will remember this positive impact you can have with the staff group.
Similarly, there are organisations who are in fact in a positive position at this time, and in this case you could continue to ask for corporate sponsorship and engagement activations including matched giving programs.
| Contact Rebecca at rthomson@iraiser.eu or +358 44 241 4276 |
