Waysact Blog
-
Sharing is good for face to face fundraising
Recently I had the privilege of being invited to an inaugural global face to face knowledge share alongside 6 big brand charities with a discussion topic of digitising face to face fundraising. The outcome was clear - it’s not a case of IF it’s a case of HOW and WHEN.
Such an interesting and relevant topic and one I have been battling with for the last three years. At Waysact we have been wrestling with the development of a system specifically designed to manage and improve the acquisition of and initial communication to regular givers acquired via face to face fundraising. It’s now complete and very comprehensive but it was exciting to hear what others had been up to.
It was a great session and I would highly recommend charities who have face to face programmes getting involved. Knowledge sharing will only improve the sector as a whole. The first part of the meeting was a frank summary from each party on their experiences to date trying to bring face to face into the 21st Century, for me the term Brand Awareness sprang to mind. :)
There have been a number of different approaches including using online pages on a tablet. I think this is not a bad approach, but there were a number of security issues encountered. There were also reports of lower productivity as browsing an HTML web page has its challenges, not least needing constant internet connectivity. There have also been a number of “apps” developed by agencies and charities to replace paper. If you’re reading this then hopefully you’ve found out you don’t need to go down this often very expensive route!
The aim of the meeting was not to sell a particular method but to open a dialogue about how we can improve the quality of face to face recruitment, report on every aspect of the sign up, use new technology to it’s highest potential and communicate with the donor to ensure a life long support. Hopefully this meeting will spur more discussions and we can raise the standards as an industry.
What has your experience been? What are the drivers for your charity? Let us know!Vikki Fursee: vikki@waysact.com -
Video and face to face fundraising
A couple of years ago when we started out building Waysact, it coincided with another great event, the release of the Apple iPad. I’m kidding. Well, sort of. Happy Birthday iPad for next month by the way, we’re huge fans! When it was first released it was honestly billed as “a revolutionary and magical product”… “that allows users to connect with their apps, content and the Internet in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.” Well, we also believed it to be a magical and revolutionary product but for a higher purpose.
Charities have a wealth of video and still photography and it is really powerful stuff. We were so excited by the potential of this material, played on a beautiful iPad screen, to get people’s support. Funnily enough I was talking recently to a Fundraising Director who many years ago had tried using handheld TV screens door to door. It was tough, apparently, but proves the point that it’s an idea that is worth the effort.
I’ve been asked a lot recently for advice on video that works. There is still a lot of testing to do and we welcome people’s ideas and feedback. Here are some tips:
- The clip should be as short as possible. Less than 30 seconds is ideal.
- Delivering a single message simply has more impact than multiple.
- Facts and figures are very valuable for supporting a message, particularly that describe positive outcomes.
- Don’t underestimate the ambient sound outdoors. A video that relies on voice or music will lose its effect.
Animation with text is a great format and below are a couple of particularly good examples that tell a story with facts and that do not rely (overly) on sound.
50th Anniversary of Amnesty international.
Care: The Girl Effect series
If you have any ideas or examples, please share them. Please feel free to ask any questions as well
- "You know what? Face to face fundraising is hard. It’s hard to do, it’s hard to get right. But when you do, it makes a huge difference!"
James Goodridge
-
Our team hard at work.
-
Last day of the Dare to be Different conference on the Gold Coast. Come by our stand if you are up here and you haven’t already!
-
Welcome to the Waysact blog
The purpose of this blog is to share experiences, thoughts and insights on our quest to develop the regular giving movement worldwide.
If this plan isn’t grand enough, we also hope to provide a positive platform and a voice for the unsung heroes of this movement - the unique and inspirational men and women at the coalface of regular giving, the face to face fundraisers.
This first post is on the eve of the launch of www.waysact.com at the Fundraising Institute of Australia’s “Dare to be Different” conference. It’s also a week that has seen some ordinary PR for the industry and I’m afraid so, I’m going to borrow the theme - we’ll dare to be different and bring some of the great stories our industry has to offer to light.
We’d like to share the fantastic wins, the millions raised, the millions helped. If you have a story or a statistic from your charity - please let us know.
We’d like to open a door to face to face fundraisers and to some of the most incredible people I’ve ever met, working passionately in support of many causes. Please, there’s thousands of you, write to us.
We’ll reflect on the causes and the amazing work that has been made possible by the ongoing financial support of millions of supporters all over the world.
We’ll acknowledge the trailblazers and innovators, highlight the ideas that will help to bring people together with the issues they care about; in the most engaging and cost effective way. We know some of you, we’re going to hunt down the rest!
We’ll get geeky and talk about technology and the amazing possibilities the internet has to offer.
Lastly, we’ll share who we are and hope to make it a little bit of fun along the way.
Connect
- info@waysact.com
- +614 24 139 892
- Suite 201, 50 Holt Street
Surry Hills NSW
Australia
