Integrating comms and fundraising. North West Regional Group 8 May 2014.
1. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
Integrating communications and
fundraising
Laura Irving, Director of Fundraising
Jenny Roberts, Events Fundraiser
2. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
What I hope to share today
• How the comms and fundraising teams work
together at RCLCF
• Reinforcing how fundamental marketing and PR is to
fundraising
• Some ideas for best practice, internal comms and
team working between the two departments
• A case study – The Dream Walk
• Q&A
3. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
About us
We are the only charity in the UK wholly dedicated to the
defeat of lung cancer and exist to provide help and hope to all
those affected.
We fund lung cancer research, provide support, help people to
quit smoking and give a voice to all those affected through our
campaigning.
4. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
The teams
The fundraising team needs to raise £2.2M in 2014 to contribute
towards funding research projects and patient support – one
director, ten fundraisers and one assistant.
The comms team support the whole organisation including
Research, Tobacco Control, LCISS, Fundraising and Retail - one
director, one marketing manager, one graphic designer and one
digital apprentice
5. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
“The marketing team should raise awareness so that people understand
who the charity is and what they are about and the fundraising team are
there to provide support in enabling people to actually give or raise money
towards the cause.”
6. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
What we need
• Continuously raising awareness of the charity
• Compelling our audience to get involved with our
events and campaigns
• Inspiring people to make cash or gifts in kind donations
• Building brand awareness, getting people talking about
us and creating a buzz
• Managing some aspects of our projects – Press, Radio,
Celebs, Social Media
• Work to agreed timelines
• Clear division of roles – who doing what at all times
9. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
Some ideas for best practice
• Plan early and plan together
• Have strategies that talk to each other
• Agree common goals at the start of each project
• Include income generation in your digital planning
• Measure success of campaigns and ROI
• Share great campaigns and ideas from other charities
• Involve fundraisers to generate stories, blogs, pictures to keep
website and materials fresh
• Respond quickly to what's happening in the world, especially things
in popular culture linked to the cause
• Work together with shared goals – keep each others objectives in
mind at all times
• Respect each other as experts in our field – combine knowledge
• Remember we’re on the same team!
10. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
What the fundraisers had to say…
A fundamental relationship
“I think the most important thing is that fundraisers cannot work without a
marketing team, because we need them to be the driving force behind
building awareness of the charity, making sure that people know that we exist
in the first place and that we do something that people want to support.”
”From a Marketing team I would expect – Enthusiasm, Support, A close
relationship, Ideas, Creativity, Expertise and Contacts”
“It’s fantastic to have a marketing team who get behind you 100% and give
you the confidence to take on a challenge. It’s important that they show that
they are focused and committed to the cause and the department, despite the
fact that we know that they have so many other departments to manage
also. When they get behind us with press and PR for event, it gives me and
the team confidence that this is a great event to be part of.”
12. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
• An established event that has been running for 6 years
Background
• Introduced at a time when charity walks where rare or
a novelty
• Increased competition has made it a larger challenge
to recruit ladies especially when we compete with
charities that have massive marketing budgets
• We have to finds new and varied ways of engaging
with the public and making our event stand out form
the crowd- with limited funds!
13. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
The design concept
• An event that
appeals to a wide
age range
• An event that is fun
15. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
• Direct Mail
• E mail communication
• Save the date postcard
• Flyer and poster distribution
• Discount offer to previous walkers
• Banners across the city
• Free listing sites
Marketing plan
The usual……
16. GIVING HELP AND HOPE
Collaboration with other departments
Utilising the resources available to us a charity: