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Starting community fundraising from scratch
- 1. “Starting Community Fundraising from Scratch” Lucy Holmes Senior Fundraising Executive www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/cymru Follow us on Twitter: @hearinglossCYM
- 2. OVERVIEW • My background • Organisational context; name change & the history of community fundraising • Talk through step by step 3 existing community fundraising products • Top tips for starting from scratch • Opportunity to share and learn from one another
- 3. MY BACKGROUND • Studied Social Psychology at Loughborough University • Respite Centre for adults with learning disability • Tele-fundraising at Epilepsy Action, Sydney • Fundraising Executive at then RNID • Charityworks Management and Leadership Programme • Senior Fundraising Executive
- 4. WE HAVE A NEW NAME Action on Hearing Loss is the new name for RNID Why have we changed? • To show people more clearly what we do • To communicate our passion and determination more forcefully • To stay modern and relevant • To ensure it works for everyone who needs us and whom we need We’re very excited to be Action on Hearing Loss!
- 5. ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT • Two fundraisers based in Wales • 2010 the organisation made a commitment to developing community fundraising as an income stream • Up to that point community fundraising had been reactive • Culture changed required at organisation
- 6. COMMUNITY FUNDRAISING INCOME 12000 10000 8000 Target 6000 Actual 4000 2000 0 2009 - 2010 2010 - 2011 2011 - 2012
- 7. FUNDRAISING INITIATIVE ONE A sponsored silence aimed at schools and youth groups
- 8. WHY A SPONSORED SILENCE? • Little time and effort to organise; fundraising team and the youth group • Could be replicated with minimal contact from the fundraising team • Materials themselves were easy to produce cheaply in- house • Concept is flexible • Could be made more interesting by use of silent games and sign language • Fitted the „niche‟ of Action on Hearing Loss • Educational benefits
- 9. HOW IT WAS ROLLED OUT • Designed pilot materials • Created a spread sheet of contact details of schools in Wales • Promoted via email to head teachers and youth group leaders • Printed materials in-house as when we needed them • Packs sent out to interested schools and groups • Some schools offered assembly talks
- 11. SUCCESS OF THE PILOT • We increased the income raised by schools and youth groups by 2810% • 6 schools and youth groups took part • One school alone raised £1,366 • ROI was excellent – little amount of money spent on translation
- 12. WHAT DID WE LEARN? • Promotion of the event was too large scale and not focussed enough . Follow up calls and emails are essential • Many schools had already identified their Charity of the Year – needed to approach in September • The more we put in the more we got back • The concept works!
- 13. WHERE IS IT NOW? • Zip it is now being rolled out across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland • From September 2012 co-ordinated approach • Working with the digital and marketing team to link in with Deaf Awareness Week
- 14. FUNDRAISING INITIATIVE TWO “Hike & Bike”
- 15. WHY ORGANISE A CHALLENGE EVENT? • Average age range of our members and typically our supporters is 65 + • An event like this would need to appeal to a totally different supporter group – one which we were not currently in contact with • Challenge events are becoming increasingly popular • We felt it was a risk worth taking
- 17. BREAKDOWN OF EVENTS Event No. of Income Expenditure Profit Participants raised North to South 2 £1063.75 £962.36 £100.64 Wales cycle Brecon to Cardiff 18 £1651.27 £390 £1261.27 cycle Caernarfon walk 6 £105 £25 £80 Cardiff Bay walk 16 £741.61 £48 £693.61
- 18. WHAT DID WE LEARN? • Large amount of time spent on organising the events • Not enough time spent on marketing the event and recruiting participants • Participants of the walks tended to be members of staff, or their friends and family. To make a sponsored walk sustainable and profitable we would need to engage with the wider community • We didn’t feel there was a call for the North to South Wales cycle anymore
- 19. BEACON TO BAY BIKE CHALLENGE • The initial planning of the event in 2011 was time consuming but left a legacy e.g. the logistics of the event and the relationships with Lions and Rotary clubs that had been built • Created a project team lead by fundraising but included staff from other teams • This allowed us to market the event appropriately – website, e- flyer, twitter, facebook, flyers • Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth
- 21. STATS FROM THIS YEARS EVENTS • 40 cyclists took part • 28 volunteers helped at the event • We raised a total of £3400 (as of Sept) • Expenditure was low – time & money so profit margins good
- 22. FUNDRAISING INITIATIVE THREE Christmas Sign & Sing-a-long Carol Concert
- 23. WHY A CHRISTMAS CONCERT? • Wanted to do something more than collections at Christmas time • We felt there was a market for a Christmas Concert with a twist • Signed performance not only expanded our reach to BSL users who could enjoy the concert, it’s also a draw for hearing individuals
- 24. HOW WE MADE IT PROFITABLE • Non-established events such as this have low attendance in their first year • Important to keep costs to a minimum • Musician from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales heavily involved • Jazz players from RWCMD, Deaf Choir, Beverley Humphries compere • Costs involved – venue hire and mince pies • Hamper raffle which was donated by Lloyds Banking Group to further boost funds
- 26. SUCCESS OF THE EVENT • 46 people attended the event – venue was appropriate for this amount • Income total was just under £500 • Expenditure low so profit margin reasonable • Decent for an event in its first year • Atmosphere it created was its greatest success • Hope to use this to grow the event this year
- 27. TOP TIPS FOR STARTING FROM SCRATCH • Invest your time wisely • Use volunteers or an intern to help with time consuming tasks • Start small and aim to grow • Pilot ideas or sound them out with staff & supporters • Be flexible and willing to adapt • Be prepared to be resilient • Do your research
- 28. ANY QUESTIONS
- 29. “Starting Community Fundraising from Scratch” Lucy Holmes Senior Fundraising Executive www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/cymru Follow us on Twitter: @hearinglossCYM
Notas del editor
- My background – firstly a short overview of my background. Who I am and how I got to my current role. Organisational background – I think its important to provide you with a little bit of organisational context. For those of you who don’t know Action on Hearing Loss used to be RNID in 2011 we changed our name and rebranded. Also a little bit about community fundraising at then RNID and how underdeveloped it was, and perhaps still is to a certain extent. 3 existing community fundraising products – the main bulk of the workshop will be spent talking through 3 existing CF products that were created and rolled out during 2010-2011. It will be less about abstract thinking and more in the way of practical examples and advice; how we created the product, how we rolled it out, how we made income from it and what obstacles did we face, what did we learn? I hope that you can learn from this more practical approach and relate what I’m saying back to your organisations. Open forum – opportunity to share your experience of community fundraising, what stage your at and what obstacles you are facing at the moment. Together as a group we can offer guidance and advice.
- Spent time in the public sector working closely with adults with learning disability – good opportunity for me to work directly with people who benefit from service. Helped to develop my passion for what I do today.I took a year gap leave and worked at a charity called Epilespy Action in Sydney Australia. First introduction to charity sector and fundraising. Making warm & cold calls to get people to sign up to a lottery. Developed my thick skin needed for fundraising Back to Wales I became FE at RNID in 2010. Taking responsibility for Statutory, Trust, Corporate, Community & Events. I’ve just spent a year undertaking the Charityworks programme – wide ranging programme aims to develop and retain talent with the third sector. Recently taken on Senior responsibilities within my role.
- I think its important to give a little organisation context – the products that I am going to be talking though later all took place over 2010 – 2011. June 9th 2011 it was our centenary we changed our name and rebranded. Some may say that it was a good opportunity to start something from scratch given the heightened media attention the organisation was receiving – good or bad. Although as I’m sure you’ll agree, a good brand awareness is vital for community fundraising, or any type of fundraising. It certainly makes things a lot easier. Even though our new name now shows people more clearly what it is we do and I have no doubt that this new modern and relevant brand will assist us in the future. I think we did well last year to develop new products from scratch.
- My post was introduced so they were 2 fundraiser in Wales. I think that important to mention here because the organisation recognised that in order to develop CF you need greater capacity. And still with both posts we rely heavily on other members of staff and volunteers to help with promoting initiatives and supporting and attending events.If your starting something from scratch you need your organisation to understand the commitment and the capacity that it needed to develop this income stream. It can be a hard slog; hopefully I can pass onto you some of the pitfall and mistakes that we made and you can learn from that. Odd cheque here and there that would be banked and thanked but nothing proactive. Culture change – the fundraiser at the time was someone who was seen as sitting as a desk writing applications, collecting KPI’s and report writing. One of the first things I had to do to develop community fundraising was to get staff onside – particularly members of staff whose work overlapped with fundraising; comms and volunteering team and also those members of staff who work in the community. They weren’t adverse to the idea, it was just new. I build relationships with colleagues so that people didn’t feel they had to now build in fundraising into their jobs, made them feel as though they wanted to do it. At lot of this was built through personal relationships with people – being friendly and helping out other people’s activities or events. This ethos is reflected in the organisations values, helping one another out. This is seen up and down the organisation as well as across – we’ve had senior heads & directors helping out at street collections. It was about making sure that when people wanted to help out, the new fundraising activity or event was the first thing they volunteered for. Important that they enjoyed time spent volunteering and obviously they were thanked and recognised for it.
- 2009No target was set – everything reactive Actual - £1654.45However this figure is misleading as one of our staff members who is a Soroptimists nominated RNID to be the groups charity of the year and they raised over £1400. If you take that away from the total you are left with just a few hundred pounds. 2010 Target £2500Actual £40442011Target £4,250Actual £9,660 From 2010 to 2011 we doubled our income and at the moment we’re half way through the year and we are on target to significantly increase on last year’s total.
- Up until this point there had been no proactive fundraising in schools and youth groups. In FY 2010-11 total income raised was £65 from schools. We wanted to pilot a product which could be used as a tool to proactively target and approach schools. I’m not going to tell you why – I think everyone here agrees that schools and young people can be excellent fundraisers you probably get far greater value if I talk through the development of the product.
- Relatively simple concept – its not really all singing, all dancing. We didn’t need or want that for a pilot. I’m just going to talk though why we choose to do a sponsored silence and on reflection why this made it successful. We needed something that we could get off the ground quickly. Something that could be organised with little time or effort. Once we decided on a sponsored silence and came up with the name – ZIP IT, there were very few logistical things to sort out. Everyone knows what a sponsored silence is and how to arrange one. This is a selling point to head teachers and youth group leaders. We gave them the concept and the materials - something to help them out, they are busy people, so they don't have to arrange a fundraiser themselves, but it doesn’t require extensive organising. LOW RISK – which is important for head teachers and group leaders in this day and age. Time is a huge factor in community fundraising, especially at the beginning stages of something. You need to invest your time wisely into activities and it should be appropriate for how much income your getting back. It was a case of sending out materials and waiting for the cheques to come back in. Flexible – schools and youth groups can adapt the concept to fit in with the age and needs of their children. Whole day or for 10 mins. We did ask people to coincide their sponsored silence with our centenary and name change. Two most important factors for its success:Fitted the niche of the charity. Us as an organisation playing to our strengths. Educational benefits; learning about deafness and hearing loss, what's its like without sound, sign language and BSL materials. Makes it an easier ‘sell’ to your first point of contact – Head teachers and group leaders. It also fits into our organisational strategy in that we are engaging with young people – children learning BSL so can communicate with BSL users. They are also given messages about prevention of hearing loss
- Materials – the logo that you see there is a new addition. At the offset because it was a pilot we created a few materials, nothing extensive. Didn’t want to waste time on something, in case the pilot was unsuccessfulSpreadsheet – was quite time consuming but this spreadsheet can be used for years to come. Headteachers may change but addresses of schools rarely do. Initial investment was worth it for the long term. Volunteer also helped out to reduce the amount of my time spent on this activity. Details are easily available on local authorities websites. Youth groups this is more difficult. Emailed all correspondence to keep costs low.
- For a pilot, which had a short lead in time it was a success. We showed that the concept could work.The more you put in the more you get out. Evenlode school raised £1,300 and were given a 10 minute assembly talk. We have outreach information officers who deliver talks and presentations to groups who were able to do assembly talks on our behalf. This year we are looking to recruit Zip it champions – volunteers who promote the initiative in their local area and deliver assembly talks.
- The pilot was so successful in Wales that the organisation has decided to roll it out across the other countries. Marketing materials were designed and re-branded using the pilot materials.Learning from the pilot we have decided to have a co-ordinated approach from September onwards and to link in with DAW. Co-ordinated approach makes it easier to market the event. Webpages have been designed and are held and advertised centrally. Working with the digital and marketing team to heavily promote the sponsored silence via website and social media.
- Our centenary was the perfect opportunity to hold a large scale bespoke challenge event – another first for the organisation in Wales and at a UK level. Hike & Bike essentially started out as a North to South Wales cycle ride. This was the core event which took place over a week in August 2011. During that week we had other activities taking place in the towns that the cycle ride passed through – street collections, a sponsored walks in Caernarfon, a rotary club presentation. On the last day of the event participants joined the core cyclists and cycled to Cardiff, and a sponsored 10k walk around Cardiff Bay where the finish line was held.It was the total opposite of the Zip it appeal. It was a huge event
- This type of event doesn’t really fit in line with our typical membership and supporter base. But we did recognise that in order to make CF successful and to maximise income we needed to branch out and engage with a wider range of supporters. We decided to have lots of varying degrees of difficultly wit the challenge events not to alienate our current member and supporters – which is why we had the shorter walks as well as the more demanding cycle rides. All in all we felt it was risk worth taking and that we should at least pilot the events, in our centenary year.
- An example of a poster that was created for the event.Marketing couldn’t start until after June 2011 as we were waiting for the new name and re-brand to be released. Wasn't ideal.
- N to S – small number of participants who raised a significant amount considering there were only 2 but expenditure was huge. Accommodation and travel costs were expensive so that profit was only £100. This event was most time consuming to organise – accommodation and risk involved. However this event was excellent in terms of widening our profile across the whole of Wales especially during our centenary year. Beacon to Bay cycle – we had a reasonable amount of participants who raised a decent sum, expenditure was low so profit much better. Walks – we did slightly better in Cardiff than in Caernarfon, amounts raised were OK as was expenditure and profit reasonable. In terms of profit the Brecon to Cardiff Cycle was the best.
- Too many events, too much to do Walking participants tended to be members of staff, volunteers or friends and family. To make a sponsored walk sustainable and profitable we would need to engage with the wider community. Difficult to do given that walking events are such a saturated market. Challenge events are so popular now people don’t want to do a 5k walk, it’s getting more extreme.North to South cycle was almost a little old fashioned. Cyclists was that amount of fitness want something new and exciting.
- Best option for moving forward was the Brecon to Cardiff cycle – we felt this was the most successful event in terms of engaging with new supporters and raising not only income but profit. Changed the name to reflect the new trimmed down version of the event. Because we are a small organisation in Wales we used our resource from other teams to help us for example; a volunteer co-ordinator joined the group who was given responsibility for recruiting marshals Marketing – website, twitter, facebook, posters mailed to cycle clubs and leisure centres and gyms – all mail outs were complied and co-ordinated by volunteers Word of mouth – if people enjoy the event. Not only will they tell people they enjoyed the event but they are also more likely to do the event again, and bring more people with them.
- Live tweeting throughout the day, thanking our cyclists and organisations who helped us on the day. Good opportunity to promote the event for next year. Finish line stalls – cake sales, tombola, face painting etc in Cardiff Bay. Stall alone raised £350 – additional extra. People were going to be there anyway so we capitalised on that to increase income.
- Still room for improvement.We have a vision for this event that it will grow and grow. We would love to get sponsorship but we haven't managed to attract a corporate sponsor as of yet. Hopefully when the market picks up this will be a possibility. You can have a successful challenge event without using an expensive events company and without having corporate sponsorship. 1)You need to work out your costs and charge a registration fee that totally covers there costs per person. 2) Enlist the help of volunteers, we have a good volunteer base at AHoL, we have also made links with Lions and Rotary clubs who help us out on the day.
- Last year we had out very first Christmas carol concert
- Hearing individuals enjoy watching sign language users, we also enjoyed everyone to sing and sign so they enjoyed learning how to sign the carols.Because of this twist that fits the niche of our organisation the event was a success. Without this element we would have struggled in what is a very saturated carol concert market.
- Andy Everton – high level volunteer who did a lot of the ground work and the organisation of the event – the music, reading etc. All we had to do was book the venue and sell the tickets. In other events we had spent too much time organising the event and not enough time promoting the event, so this suited us perfectly.
- Marketing materials were printed in-house as and when we needed them. Volunteers took flyers to put into local businesses.We piggy backed onto other Christmas mail outs that were taking place e.g. Wales members mail out and Christmas card list. We didn’t spend money on postage. Used our BBC connection to have a slot on BBC Radio Cymru to promote the event Used our networks within Deaf clubs and sign language classes
- We had targeted for about 50 people so the room size was appropriate for this amount of people. Lots of people aim to breakeven at an event in its first year so for us to make profit was very good Everyone left the event feeling good. There was a buzz in the room.
- Time is money. Easy to get sucked into community events for very little ROI – especially if you are responsible for other areas of fundraising. If you spend too much time organising the event and not enough on marketing and promoting. It will be great event with no-one there. Or a great activity that no-one is taking part in.Research tasks, flyering. We are going to get a decided event intern that will work on the bike ride all year and then the Christmas event. Start small – something that we learned from the bike ride Pilot ideas first before ordering expensive materials. Another great way to sound out ideas is to do it online – twitter especially. Be flexible and willing to adapt – if something isn't working don’t be afraid to adapt it or if its really not cost effective STOP. But similarly give something a chance to grow Starting with nothing is hard work…but it can pay offSee what other organisations are doing. Need to do something different – find your niche in the market