In a digitised world with greater demand for an ‘experience economy’, the potential that community fundraising holds for supporter engagement, retention and development is huge, says Kerry Packman
The tides are turning in the world of fundraising. We are moving away from the old economy of products, slow development, focus on process and numbers-centric results, towards a new economy of experiences, fast development, emotional connection and relationship building.
Engaging people within a community (whether physical or virtual) to raise money for a cause (whether local, national or international), is perfect for this shift in direction. No longer is community fundraising perceived as the poor relation - an ad hoc, reactive method of fundraising which has resulted in a lack of data and research across the sector - rather, it is increasingly being seen as the driving force in creating new experiences and building better relationships with supporters.
We all know that the most important elements of a fundraising programme are supporter recruitment, retention and relationship management. It is surprising that charities are only just realising that community fundraising can help with all of these elements. It offers huge potential for growth and with a little nurturing, could soon become an important income stream for your organisation.
Passion points
Most people will have heard the story of seven-year-old schoolboy Charlie Simpson, who raised money for Haiti by cycling 5km round his local park. Hoping to raise just £500, Charlie raised a whopping £210,000. How?
The impetus for someone to engage in supporting a charity arises in a number of ways, all of which are about appealing to an individual’s ‘passion points’. Figure one demonstrates how Charlie’s Haiti fundraiser tapped into each of the four key reasons that compel people to give.
Sponsoring Charlie was an enriching experience for his supporters. This is largely because they were not supporting the cause itself so much as supporting Charlie, somebody who was closer to home and who in reality more people could relate to.
While a one-off donation, although not impossible, is unlikely to be an enriching experience in itself, taking part in a community fundraiser is. Sponsoring or attending an event is usually driven by a personal connection between donor and cause, whether this is a desire to support a particular charity or cause, or the involvement in the event of a close friend or family member. Even sponsoring someone you don’t know personally can be driven by the same emotions, as Charlie’s case illustrates.
Of course, not every sole fundraiser seeking to raise £500 through local activity will raise £200,000. Most will raise £500 if they are lucky. But through a combination of investment and strategic approach, all community fundraising can have the same emotional impact as Charlie’s. This form of fundraising can meet supporters’ expectations of instant gratification, while also bringing their relationship with the charity to life in new ways which other methods, such as straightforward donations, can struggle to achieve.
Quick win, low risk
Taking a look at the portfolio analysis below (figure2), you can see that community fundraising has the potential to be a ‘quick win’ deliverer for your organisation, while also carrying relatively low risk.
As a fairly simple way of raising relatively small amounts, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that community fundraising is limited in potential and therefore not worth a great deal of investment. However, the counter argument is that greater investment will, in fact, unlock the full potential that it holds for income streams.
Community fundraising can do more than just help recruit new supporters: it can also improve retention and strengthen supporter development – issues more important to the sector than ever before. By its nature, community fundraising brings supporters closer to the cause, giving them a personal experience that delivers instant gratification – think of young Charlie cycling around his local park. The reality is, supporting an individual is more tangible for most people than the concept of supporting a nation of people halfway around the world, in a country they’re likely to have never visited.
Community redefined
Market reports over the years have shown that those who are engaged in a community – whatever shape it might take – are much more likely to give to charity than those who aren’t. What the sector probably didn’t foresee was the extent to which those communities would change as they moved online. The stereotype of old ladies in beige cardigans holding tea and coffee mornings in their local church has been replaced by a new, more dynamic kind of fundraiser operating in a digital community. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are now where many of our communities exist. There are also vast numbers of online communities catering to specific hobbies and interests. All of these hold huge opportunities for fundraising.
The boundaries between online and other types of fundraising are blurring. So, to be relevant, your fundraising needs to be digital, at least in part. The days of paper sponsorship forms are coming to an end, and even local fundraisers are increasingly using online fundraising products.
Many UK forums make it easy to create online communities for fundraising. This has taken off in a big way, with tens of thousands of individuals creating fundraising pages online every month. In Germany, not only can you register your fundraiser on an online giving platform, you can now link directly to the projects you are supporting. The charity is almost invisible. What you end up with are many of the benefits of Kiva micro-funds, combined with the functionality of online giving platforms – and it’s open to all charities.
Pay It Forward, which launched only last year, allows donors, including companies, to link their giving to projects and to fundraise online. It charges a membership fee, and so may be slow to grow, but it is sitting on the cusp of crowd funding and online community fundraising.
Other charities have created in-house solutions, enabling them to build their own community of fundraisers, creating a group of groups, and providing a platform to give people more choice over what they fund – with area or cause restrictions or even using online resources differently – allowing supporters to customise and create their own branded materials, interact and get great customer service as well as learning more about the charity.
With online community fundraising, anything is possible – you can even raise money for a sponsored event that you only virtually compete in – in July 2010, the virtual event Second Life Relay for Life (USA) raised over $222,000.
No excuses
According to the Charity Market Monitor 2011, fundraising events made up 5 per cent of all fundraised income for the top 500 charities in the UK in 2009/10, raising £307 million. This is nothing to be sniffed at; community fundraising is a potential growth area that can deliver significant value for your organisation.
It is, however, vital to have a strategic, data-led approach, focused not on products but on supporters and experiences, as these can help recruit, retain, and deepen relationships while creating synergy across your fundraising.
Community fundraising is an infinitely adaptable form of fundraising, and using online solutions can be immediate and very low cost. So there are no longer any excuses not to take community fundraising seriously!
Kerry Packman is head of community fundraising for England and Wales at Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres
This article first appeared in The Fundraiser magazine, Issue 14, February 2012
