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As Neil Gallaiford, president and CEO of StephenThomas.ca, likes to say, “Always keep in mind that your campaigns should be branded, time-limited, cause-focused, goal-oriented and multichanneled.”
Some success stories may help paint a picture. The Canadian Diabetes Association ran an online/offline fundraising campaign this past summer branded “Summer Surge.” It asked people to help by becoming online fundraisers. One elderly gentleman created an online fundraising page he named "The Loser" and attempted to raise $10,000 by losing five pounds of body weight by practicing Tai Chi. He instead raised $14,000 and did it through multiple media channels (Facebook, print, e-mail). The Canadian Diabetes Association raised more than $535,000 and attracted more than 1,000 Facebook fans … and plans to run “Summer Surge” again this year.
Another success story is the campaign that Kids Help Phone launched called “Buy a Kid Some Time.” It utilized dramatic lines such as "I want to be dead by Christmas," and "I think suicide is my only way out" to grab people’s attention and deliver a powerful, emotional message. It asked people to literally “buy a kid some time” by making online donations. Each donation equalled a certain number of minutes. This multithreaded campaign (Web, e-mail, Facebook, billboards, newspaper, TV ads) helped Kids Help Phone raise 2.5 times more revenue than it had raised the previous year.
The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation in Australia recently launched the “Virtual Everest Challenge,” where participants are asked to do a virtual climb in teams and raise sponsorship money. Each participant receives a branded pedometer to strap to his or her belt, and everyone keeps track of how many steps he or she takes each day. The accompanying iPhone app allows participants to input their steps, as well as check on their online fundraising success. When climbers reach a certain level, the iPhone app lets them know that a funky T-shirt is on the way, and if they keep fundraising they may be lucky enough to get a mug to go with it!
So keep in mind that some of the best online campaigns have strong offline components … and happy fundraising!
Philip King is president and CEO of Artez Interactive, an online fundraising solutions provider.
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