Slides from the session held at SYFAB on 20th November 2018, facilitated by Lou Mycroft @loumycroft

1. Is it for me?...
Introduction to social media in
your fundraising

2. (Folded Arms Brigade)
Digital Resilience Model

3. How can you use social media
in your fundraising?
Good news
It can help at all stages of your fundraising, build fruitful networks and
market your services
Bad news
It might not raise that much money in terms of actual funds to start with.
It’s going to take some work to build your digital networks…(but it is the
future)

4. People give to people, people don’t give to organisations.
Building networks is vital and takes patience.
People will want to support the difference you are making.

5. Your shop window
A chance to tell the story of your organisation so people feel connected to your
work. What could you showcase in your shop window?

6. Your shop window
• News of the groups or services you are running
• New projects you are starting, events coming up
• Your supporters’ successes in raising funds for you #fundraisingheroes
• Pictures of a group or an event in progress (using an event #)
• Welcome new staff and volunteers and thank them when they move on.

7. Keep it interesting…

8. First Principles
Twitter
• Better for broadcasting
• Use Lists to build community
• Use Tweets to market your services
Other affordances
• Hashtags # can be used for themes and
events
• Live Twitterchats can bring your
community together around an issue
• Tweets can be scheduled as part of a
marketing campaign (£)
• Lists can be used to manage followers
Facebook
• Better for narrowcasting
• Use Groups to build community
• Use Pages to market your services
Other affordances
• Events can help build attendance
• Events and Pages can be boosted as
part of a marketing campaign (£)
• Group posts can be scheduled to
maintain presence
• Communities can be longer or short term

9. First Principles GDPR
General Data Protection Regulation
• Becomes law on 25th May 2018
• Toughest data protection law in the world
• Do you have less than 250 employees?
You need to:
Identify a data controller (person)
Identify what your data processor is
(software, eg MailChimp)
Gain consent
Audit your data flow
Draft a GDPR statement

10. Purpose
Do you want to…
Engage in conversations with your existing supporters?
Develop new relationships?
Attract new donors?
Identify new volunteers?
Raise the profile of the organisation within the sector/locally?
Attract political support for your organisation?
Market your services?

11. Facebook: who is doing it well?
Facebook
• Roundabout Sheffield
www.facebook.com/RoundaboutSheffield
• Onboard Sheffield Skate Park
www.facebook.com/OnboardSheffieldSkatePark

24. Facebook Top Tips
Facebook
• Set up a Page (not a profile) – or a Group to build community
• Use cover images for events, campaigns, members
• Use your Facebook Page timeline to tell the story of your organisation
• Put a Donate button on your page/facebook.com/fundraisers
• Having a special event? Use Facebook Events
• Identify a small budget (£10-£20 a time) ’boost’ posts or events
• Tag people/organisations/pages in to help your reach
• Always reply promptly to comments or messages
• Use the analytical tools – they are very sophisticated!

25. Twitter: who is doing it well?
Twitter
• Rotherham Hospice
https://twitter.com/RotherHosp
• Support Dogs
https://twitter.com/supportdogsuk
• South Yorkshire Community Foundation
https://twitter.com/SYCF1986

26. Who is doing it well?

27. Who is doing it well?

28. Who is doing it well?

29. Who is doing it well?

30. Who is doing it well?

31. Who is doing it well?

32. Who is doing it well?

33. Who is doing it well?

34. Who is doing it well?

35. Who is doing it well?

36. Who is doing it well?

37. Who is doing it well?

38. Who is doing it well?

39. Who is doing it well?

40. Who is doing it well?

41. Twitter Top Tips
Twitter
• Utilise discussions and engage with debate, e.g. #CharityTuesday
#ManchesterTogether (including synchronous Twitterchats)
• Use auto-hashtags, e.g. #SheffieldHour #journorequest #sheffieldissuper
#Doncasterisgreat #Barnsleyisbrill #rotherhamiswonderful
• Get involved with other campaigns if relevant #GivingTuesday
• Consider your followback policy (check bio, are they real people?)
• Consider welcoming new followers if they are relevant to you
• Beware over-automating as this can seem insincere
• Identify a small budget (around £20) for Twitter Ads

42. Social Media Support
• Use YouTube tutorials
• Respect 80/20 content (80 educate/20 promote)
• Check your tone - humanise a brand (“tweets by…”, respect your target audience,
be consistent
• Get the basics right (personal thank yous)
• Use emojis
• Add something new regularly – maybe 3 x week Facebook, 3 x day Twitter.
Practice makes perfect 
CONNECT | NETWORK | HUMANISE

43. Fluency
• Collect copyright-free content ready for curation e.g. feedback, photos, quotes
(check out Padlet and Creative Commons)
• Consider a dedicated social media gmail for smooth access across platforms
• Put your social media links everywhere
• Use a scheduling platform such as Hootsuite (you can schedule within Facebook)
• Investigate analytics (don’t overcomplicate this)
• Put together a social media strategy
Consider SYFAB’s Social Media Masterclass ;-)
Keep it FAB

45. Making a Film
First Principles
• Record on your phone or tablet, then upload onto the Cloud* as an .mp4
file
• Host on YouTube or Vimeo then share across different social media
platforms
• Or do it LIVE! (Periscope, Facebook Live)
• Keep it short – 3 minutes or ideally less
*Cloud = online storage space, hosted in Silicon Valley

46. Purpose
So film is very engaging, but what are you asking people to do once they
have watched it?
Inspire action, not just likes.
• Visit your website?
• Sign a petition or vote for you?
• Use your services or buy something from you?
• Donate towards your good work?
• Download one of your free resources?
• Amplify your work on social media?

47. Inspiration

48. Support
• Make it clear what you want viewers to do next
• Include your website/giving link/logo at the end
• Get permissions first
• Engaging title, tags and description
• If it costs money, make sure it has a purpose
• Make people pause and think

49. Fluency
• St John’s Ambulance ‘Helpless’ campaign
https://vimeo.com/49560426
• Tippexexperience ‘Shoot the Bear’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RoG6S9WdP4
• Africa for Norway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJLqyuxm96k&feature=youtu.be

50. Question for you…
Think back to the last time you gave to a charitable cause…
Did you look for anything or check anything before you donated to that
organisation?
If so, what did you check?

51. Common checks
• What the story is
• What the donation will be spent on
• Brand reputation
• Safe method of payment
• Easy to do
• Effective on mobile devices
What do you think are the average online/offline donations?

52. Average donations
(Givingtueday.org, 2014 and Just Giving, 2015)

53. Online tools
Helping you raise funds
• Donate button on your website or Facebook
• Dedicated donation platforms, like Localgiving, JustGiving, BT Mydonate, or
Virgin Moneygiving*
• Crowdfunding platforms e.g. Kickstarter, Patreon, Indigogo, GoFundMe*
You will probably need a Paypal account (linked to your bank account)
*These services have charges

54. Online tools

55. Online tools

59. Tools to make it easy
Make your fundraising ‘shareable’
• In 2012 a further £1.4 million was raised for charities by ‘post-
donation’ sharing on Facebook
(Just Giving, 2013)
• 1 share on Facebook encourages between £1 and £18 in extra
donations (Just giving, 2015)
Many donation services make it possible for people to ‘share’ on
Facebook or Twitter the fact that they’ve just donated to you by clicking a
‘post to Facebook’ or ‘tweet your donation’ button.

60. Tools to make it easy
Mobile phone giving
• Quick and easy to donate
• JustTextGiving - a six-digit number and a code specifically for your
organisation which you can share
Example:
This tweet from the Trussel Trust: “1/5 mums skipping meals to feed
their children – can you help? #HelpCrackUKHunger, donate the cost of
an Easter egg. Text EGGS13 £3 to 70070”

61. Tools to make it easy
Donation shopping list
• Add a donation ‘shopping list’ stating what certain amounts will enable you to
do
Examples:
Free Cakes for Kids Sheffield on Local Giving
https://localgiving.org/charity/freecakesforkidssheffield
Cathedral Archer Project
http://www.archerproject.org.uk/donate.php

62. Online tools

63. Online tools

64. Tools to make it easy
Crowdsource your Marketing
• Get your supporters to ‘donate their status’ to you on Facebook or Twitter
on a given day, to encourage their friends and family to donate to you
• You can provide a list of status updates for them to choose from
• Link to your donations page or a page where they can find more
information.
Example:
www.chickenout.tv/spread-the-word/donate-your-status.html

66. Crowdfunding
First Principles
Platforms such as Kickstarter, Indigogo, Patreon, GoFundMe – linked tyour
Paypal or bank account and easy to use. Invites individuals to contribute a
small amount of their own money towards your goal.
Benefits include:
• Freedom from external monitoring
• Focus on your own priorities
• Build relationships
• Get people talking about your work
Birdhouse Tea Club

67. Online tools

68. Crowdfunding Purpose
Purpose
• Encourages a group of people to each give a sum of money to support
ideas or ventures
• You share details of your project, your fundraising target and deadline
• Statue of Liberty
• Yorkshire Sculpture Park
• Man of Steel
35.8% Kickstarter projects reach their funding goal, and around 14% don’t
receive a single pledge.

69. Crowdfunding Support
NESTA
Crowding In
Institute of Fundraising
Speaking up for Fundraising

70. Crowdfunding Fluency
Making the Case
• Evidence of need, previous successes and beneficiaries
• Add images or videos, more memorable than written descriptions alone
• Make it personal - if people can identify they are more likely to support
• A risk is that your idea is public before you launch it.
Rewards and updates
• Suitable for size of donation
• Extrinsic motivation (virtue-signalling)
• Regular updates, share your success and progress.

71. Crowdfunding Fluency
Reality Check
• Be realistic - funders will be motivated by the opportunity to make up a
meaningful percentage of the total amount
• Be clear what you will spend it on
• You make the first donation
• All or nothing
Example: Just Giving - Crowdfunding
A simple platform to raise money over 30 days. Operates an all-or nothing
model with 5% commission and card charges for successful projects.
Kettering Town FC saved by 1,182 pledges totalling £20,546

72. Online Payment
First Principles
More ways to pay, credit cards, debit cards, direct debit, Paypal, text
donation
Purpose
• Making it easy to donate
• People can now donate abroad in their own currency
• Gift Aid (for taxpayers using their own money)

73. Making a Difference
• Feelgood factor – thanks, appreciation, good news stories
• Sharing with friends (and making new ones)
• Amplifying the difference you’re making
• Tagging in individuals so they feel good too
• Encourage supporters to tell stories, post photos
• Updates make it clear you’re still live
• Don’t tell the same stories!
• Use in funding bids as evidence of impact

74. How are you coming across?
Humility Check
• Narrowly organisation-focused?
• Forgetting to say thank you?
• No humility?
• Limited interaction with others?
• Playing it too safe?
• Dated or mono-cultural images?
• Constant self-promotion?
• Not following etiquette?
• Spending time on the wrong networks?
• Website out of date?
• Broken links?

75. Top Tips
• Followers can be forever...
• Tell good stories
• Develop a social media strategy
• Get your financial lines sorted (Paypal)
• Pay attention to your tone
• Be social, conversational and engaging
• Inspire action, not just likes
• Treat others with respect
• Keep your backroom (website) up to date
• Align with your monitoring
• Take inspiration and keep improving
Build community

76. Reflection
What is your
freshest thinking?

77. Thank you 
Please complete and hand in the evaluation before you leave.
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