Blogs

Four campaigns I love (but don’t want to hear about again)4

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 6 Jul 2012

There are four campaigns which are so great no one ever stops talking about them. Celina Ribeiro lists the fundraising campaigns which she has heard about very, very often. 

If you’ve been to a conference about fundraising in the last couple of months or years, there’s a good chance you will have heard about one – or all – of these four campaigns.

They are pretty stellar campaigns, each one of them, and deserve their time in the sun. They are not, however, any longer the latest thing and I for one have heard about each of them just a few times too many.

In case you have not heard about these four beauties, here they are in a very brief summary. Now that you’ve heard about them, let’s come up with some new examples, lest there be a flood of text-to-buy-a-net campaigns. These campaigns thought outside the proverbial box, it’s time that those talking about fundraising do the same.

1.    charity: water

Yes, absolutely. It’s great. Did you know they make videos in which staff thank individual donors? Did you know they filmed the drilling of the first well they funded? Did you?

You should. And you probably have.

charity: water first popped up on my radar in May 2009. It’s done great things since. The principles remain the same. Use the web to be as transparent as possible and let the cause be the brand. Oh, and leverage a whole lot of A-list celebrities while you’re at it. It’s fantastic. Check them out and keep an eye on charity:water.

2.    iHobo

Again, a brilliant piece of fundraising innovation. Most charity apps have failed to make a mark, and this one really has done it for Depaul. Launched two years ago, the app encourages users to care for their own personal homeless person – feed it, give it cash, make decisions about what to do. The app gives people a sense of the difficult decisions and situations that homeless people face, and bypasses the Apple ban on in-app donations by getting users to text to donate. It massively boosted their supporter base and brought on a new demographic.

Great stuff. Long may iHobo reign.

John Waddingham wrote a blog about it soon after launch on these very pages in May 2010 and started quite a lot of debate about the ethics of it all. Not many would question it now.

3.    Christian Aid’s buy a net text appeal

Fabulous. When the problems of the developing world seem insurmountable, who could resist the proposition ‘Buy a net. Save a child’s life’. Particularly when that proposition involves just a £1 text donation.

As a result, Christian Aid gets access to thousands of supporters’ mobile phones – their most treasured device – then converts and converts. The tangibility, simplicity and brilliance of this campaign is undeniable. It’s one of those ‘of course’ campaigns (as in, ‘of course, that makes sense, why didn’t I think of that?’). With an increased emphasis now on reaching out to church communities at Christian Aid, it’ll be interesting how this messaging and campaigns like this evolve at the charity.  

4.    I Can’s Adopt a Word

Oh, how I love this campaign. We’ve got a great case study on it from November 2009.

It’s a great credit to I Can, a little charity with a niche cause, that Adopt A Word is so routinely wheeled out for the innovative campaign it is. It works in enabling users to adopt any word they like (unless some other punter has got to it beforehand), and it’s theirs for a year. They get a certificate, the chance to buy other merch with their word and then get moved into a donor development programme which ideally sees them sign up for a regular gift. They partnered with Collins, the dictionary types, to set up the campaign and used celebrities to help launch and social media to keep it alive. A tweet or two by the verbose Stephen Fry didn’t hurt either.

Such a clever campaign. Using words – the thing which their beneficiaries have trouble with – as a marketable commodity. It’s quirky, it’s fun and it’s brought a lot more profile to a nimble and fresh-thinking charity. If you’ve not seen it, check it out – if only to help you when you think your chips are down in Scrabble. Hackbut? You couldn’t make that up!



OK. Now you have it. In a nutshell, the four most talked about fundraising campaigns (or charities) in the fundraising conference world. As I see it. Perhaps there are some I’ve eluded during in conference going life. This isn’t a criticism of the people behind these campaigns who generously share their experience. Not a jot. You’re great, your campaign’s great. That’s all fab.

This is a challenge to fundraisers and fundraising conference speakers alike. Be the next iHobo, Adopt a Word, text net or charity: water. Please. We need more of this stuff. Not just for your cause, but for me. Think about me.

And let me know if I've  missed out on any. 

Directory: Depaul UK | Christian Aid | Ican