How well do you know your audience?

User generated content

Encouraging core supporters to create user-generated content, to provide authentic and engaging fundraising ideas and messaging, is an important way charities are utilising the expertise of their audience.

The pandemic has given this focus on user-generated content an even greater power in charity’s fundraising efforts, with core users using the time to become increasingly savvy in using social media and digital content tools.

Young Epilepsy and Marie Curie are among charities to work together with their users and supporters to create engaging content and support fundraising. The former has done this through inviting young service users to tell their own stories on video amid the pandemic. Meanwhile, Marie Curie worked with 63-year-old terminal cancer patient Lin Dalton to create an engaging video diary. This was released on Instagram until Lin’s death in June.

Charities are advised to work with their core-supporters and help them to develop their content creating skills further, in particular using the wide range of cost-effective remote video tools available.

Among good causes successfully engaging with core supporters using digital in recent months has been the Co-op Foundation for its Lonely Not Alone campaign.

This has assembled a core group of 13 to 25 year olds involved with the charity to take part in creative sessions online with design agency Effervescent to develop the campaign, which focuses on raising awareness and funds to combat loneliness among young people.

This group helped create last year’s campaigning on this theme, which encouraged young people to wear yellow socks for a day to show their support for the campaign. In April they worked with Effervescent via Zoom to help create new campaigning. This is set to include young people’s ideas on using animation.

Webinars

An effective way of helping users to work with charities to create effective fundraising is to provide them with training and advice through webinars.

Charity Digital has been running a webinar programme for the last 18 months and earlier this month produced its findings on how charities can run their own webinars.

This advises making sure a charity’s audience is communicated with on what they would like to see in a webinar and what topics are of interest. This could generate ideas such as including key donors views within content, its scheduling and which technology they would like to use to be involved and view the webinar.

Surveys tools and consultation

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations strongly advises charities collect feedback from stakeholders, including their core supporters, to get to know them better. Using online survey tools is a cost-effective way of ensuring supporters can be better involved in decision making.

Among the most used tools among charities and fundraisers are Survey Monkey, Smart Survey, Survey Gizmo and Cognito Forms. These can offer a valuable insight into how core users like to be approached by a charity and how they can help raise further funds.

Charity supporters and users are a ready-made, valuable resource for charities. Now is a great to get to know them better and help them to raise vital funds for good causes.