Coronavirus: Dos and Don'ts of running a campaign

Pushing the boat out on a charity digital fundraising campaign doesn’t have to be a fraught process. Learnings from successful campaigns like NHS Charities Together and its viral fundraising campaigns can motivate new and existing donors. From planning to post-campaign debriefing, we outline some dos and don’ts of running a campaign. Our top tips are:

1.) DO get to know your audience

Getting to know your target audience can kickstart your campaign and inform key questions about who, what, when and how to get the campaign message out. Millennials and even Gen Z, are demographics worth engaging – by understanding the demographic and building personas, charity marketing teams can use personalisation to engage and ask for donations.

Nigel Taylor, from Acquia, says maximising social media is important to tapping into millennials. As a generation, they gave £2.7 billion in 2017 through social media engagement. Speaking to Charity Digital on a podcast, he said: “Millennials get a bad rap. Especially in the press as well. The truth is, this demographic is highly engaged in the charity sector, and is willing to support charities either financially or through their own time. It’s vitally important to reach out to these guys.”

Developing donor personas including information on historical donations, income, volunteerism, and location can help charity marketing and communications team tailor content and engagement voice.

2.) DO soft launch your campaign with your inner circle of supporters

Setting aside a small, test audience for your campaign can help charity digital leaders avoid large scale missteps. Classy, the specialist non-profit sector fundraising software provider recommends identifying those in your ‘inner circle’. These supporters could be Board Members, past volunteers, donors, energised community members, or staff. Reminding them why they are connected to the cause can also motivate your inner circle to share the experience.

Once identified, launch your campaign with your inner circle. As a follow-up exercise, Classy recommends that with your inner circle, “discovering what problems they face and identify the resources they need to succeed. That way, by the time you push your campaign to your larger audience, you will already know how to best support them and enable their fundraising success.”

3.) DO keep the campaign momentum going and celebrate successes

Keeping the momentum going within the fundraising campaign means consistently updating audiences with new content. Planning ahead, charity digital fundraising campaigns should carve out milestone goals and if possible, identify match funders.

Celebrating milestone fundraising can keep volunteers and fundraisers on track and motivated – for example, COVID-19 fundraiser Captain Tom Moore initially had a modest goal of raising £1,000 for NHS Charities Together. Since gaining engagement, momentum, and visibility, his efforts have snowballed into £15 million. The consistent updates on his fundraising targets through social media encouraged more digital donors to pool together.