5 brilliant examples of how gaming can boost your fundraising

@StevenYorke

Gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry with a vast audience of people with time and money, so presents a great opportunity to the charity sector.  Gamification can have many benefits including increased website traffic, virality and increased engagement.

It can also be a way for charities to attract a younger audience and get them interested in the cause.  In a report by the Charities Aid Foundation last year, it was stated that ‘there is a real need to engage with people at a young age to give them an experience of charity’ and that ‘providing greater opportunities to learn about charity… can help ensure that future generations not only grow up giving but are connected to a positive process of engagement in civil society’. Gaming seems like an ideal way to do this, presenting a fun and educational way to engage young people.

Next month, Reuben Turner from the Good Agency will be delivering a session called Giving and gaming: what works and what doesn’t at the free virtual conference, Fundraising Online.  I’m looking forward to hearing from Reuben about the future potential of gaming in the charity sector.

Here are some great examples that I’ve come across of charities successfully using gaming to raise money or awareness for their cause:

Help for Heroes – Hero Bears app

The Hero Bears app was created for free by Supersonic Software and brought to market by AppyNation to raise money for Help For Heroes, with £1 from the sale of every game going to the charity. As well as raising funds, it has also raised awareness of the charity, with well-known people, such as Boris Johnson, coming out in support of the app.

Swedish Red Cross – Charity arcade

A joint initiative by the Swedish Red Cross and Stockholm Arlanda Airport saw donation boxes in the Swedish airport being turned into classic arcade games, making it more fun to donate and giving passengers something to do while waiting for their luggage!

RNLI – Boating safety

The RNLI website has a whole range of games on their website, including the one pictured below which aims to educate young people on boating safety.

Save the Children – Give Girls Power

The Give Girls Power campaign by Save the Children included a fantastic example of how a serious message can be delivered in an interactive way using gamification.

WWF – Wildlife education

This is a great example of a charity using gaming to get young people interested in their cause from a young age.  As well as online games, the WWF website has resources for offline games, such as how to make an African elephant finger puppet!

It will be great to hear what examples Reuben presents in his Fundraising Online session next month.  You can watch the session for free at 11am on 13 May (UK time) or watch it on demand for three months after the conference.

_{Header image designed by Freepik}

It’s about time your nonprofit became optimised for mobile!

Having either a mobile optimised website or an app is becoming more and more essential to any organisation promoting  itself online.  In the last year, mobile’s share of global internet traffic has increased 39%, with one-third of all web pages now being accessed via mobile.  Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt said recently that mobile apps have become a ‘cornerstone of people’s lives’.

In terms of fundraising, a recent study by Blackbaud found that an average of 9.5% of donations and 19.6% of fundraising event registrations come from mobile devices.

So without a responsive website or a mobile app, your nonprofit organisation is likely to lose web traffic as well as donations, event registrations and membership sign-ups.

So should you choose responsive web design or a mobile app? Let’s look at some benefits of each:

Responsive design

• It’s cheaper than creating a mobile app
• It helps with search engine visibility (mobile apps can’t be indexed by search engines)
• It will usually take less time to design and will have no need for app store approval
• It can be accessed by any device, unlike apps which have to be designed for particular operating systems.

Mobile apps

• Apps can incorporate features such as camera and GPS
• They can have better functionality and speed
• They can make use of push notifications
• They give your organisation visibility in app stores
• They encourage users to revisit
• Once the app has been downloaded, users can access without internet connection

The BBC have just revamped their news app and Robin Pembrooke, general manager of new products at BBC Future Media has given some interesting insight into app and responsive website usage:

Users that use apps are massively more engaged – they consume much, much more content than they do just using the web on mobile.

However, he added:

What’s driving our overall reach is the responsive site – when people land on us via Google.

A lot of nonprofit organisations will not be in the fortunate position of being able to afford to develop a mobile app as well as a responsive website, so should look at analytics and user requirements in order to determine which is most suitable.

But one thing’s for sure – one way or the other, mobile is the way forward!

_{Hand vector designed by Freepik}

Produce an awesome webinar for your nonprofit

Hosting a webinar can be a great way to engage your audience and get a conversation going around your cause, as long as you put in the thought and energy to make it a great interactive experience.

There’s some very good, free webinar software out there, such as Ustream, so you can create new and interesting content at very low cost!

Last week, I was lucky enough to help 101fundraising with the setup of the first ever webinar streamed live from the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) in the Netherlands.  It was a great success and I picked lots of tips for making a great webinar:

Test – Check bandwidth, audio and visual, recording function and the chat function well in advance of the beginning of the webinar.

Plan – Webinars shouldn’t sound too scripted, but make sure there is a structure to the webinar and that any guest speakers don’t get bamboozled by tricky questions!

Set up – Arrive early, put phones on silent, have your notes visible from where you’re sat, so there’s no need to shuffle papers, and make sure the lighting and positioning of speakers look good on screen.

Bring in multiple speakers – Webinars can work well with just one person talking to the camera, but the most stimulating webinars often have several people on screen. Try to bring in a couple of people who can provide varying opinions, tied together by a confident host – this can lead to an energetic discussion and draw in comments and questions from the audience.

Monitor – Have somebody other than the speaker monitoring the chat and the twitter feed so the speakers can keep focused on delivering an engaging webinar. The best questions can then be filtered out and handed to the speaker.

Promote and continue the conversation – share webinar details with your social media network well in advance and give reminders on the day to make sure people don’t forget to logon. Use a hashtag and keep the conversation going during and after the webinar.

Re-purpose the webinar content – Get the most out of your webinar by using the content to create follow up infographics, blog posts, slideshows, social media posts etc.

The 101fundraising webinar at the IFC delivered an awesome discussion on fundraising leadership.  Rebecca Davies, from MSF / Doctors Without Borders, was an amazing host and brought together the thoughts of Tony Elischer and Rory Green, resulting in a thought-provoking and energetic webinar.

101fundraising webinar with Rory Green, Tony Elischer and Rebecca Davies

 

_{Header image Designed by Freepik}

My favourite things from Fundraising Online 2014: Day two

Fundraising Online 2014 turned out to be a brilliant two days of sessions from some great speakers!  Here are summaries of my two favourite sessions from day two…

1. The inside story behind #nomakeupselfie & Cancer Research UK

Day two kicked off with Aaron Eccles, Cancer Research UK’s senior social media manager, talking about the #nomakeupselfie trend.  There have been lots of articles and blog posts about Cancer Research UK’s success with this hashtag trend, so it was great to hear Aaron’s side of the story.

Aaron explained that Cancer Research UK (CRUK) always used social media as a platform to create connections and engage with people so that they would come back and support the charity further down the line.  They never expected people to go direct from social media to donating.  That all changed with #nomakeupselfie.  Here’s a quick run-down of what took place:

• The CRUK out of hours social media team noticed #nomakeupselfie being linked to #cancerawareness. People asked @CR_UK  if #nomakeupselfie was started by them and they confirmed that it wasn’t.
• The next day, traffic to the CRUK website from social media was up dramatically. People wanted a tangible link between posting selfies with no makeup and fighting cancer (the ‘social proof factor‘). CRUK responded to this requirement by providing a text-to-donate number (keeping it mobile).

• People started posting screenshots of their text donation confirmations alongside their selfies.
• After day 1, £1 million had been raised for Cancer Research UK! 5.1m reach on social media, 196k likes, comments & shares, 225k post clicks. The below tweet became their most retweeted tweet ever!

• The media picked up on this and started sharing the story, including the text donation code.
• After so much organic success, CRUK decided to boost the campaign by putting some spend behind it.
• After just 6 days, £8 million had been raised!

This campaign has been listed by Econsultancy as one of the best social media marketing campaigns of all time!

Aaron outlined some of the key learnings from the campaign, which any nonprofit should take note of, including:

• Out of hours social media coverage is essential
• Simple, engaging content should be created that can be easily replicated by others
• Unique opportunities that arise from the action of others should be embraced
• Offline channels should be used to amplify a digital campaign (CRUK had a big boost from PR)
• Instagram is a major player and brands should keep using it

 

2. The art of mobile

Oisin Lunny delivered a great session about how to get more from your mobile strategy.   Despite some sound issues at the beginning, Oisin delivered a thoroughly entertaining presentation filled with very interested facts about mobile strategy.

Oisin put forward a strong case for any nonprofit organisation to have a good, well thought-out mobile strategy:

• 80% of global internet traffic will come from always connected mobile devices within 4 years.
• Mobile users have a different mindset to PC users.  They are more action orientated, so therefore more likely to respond.
• Acquisition can be so much quicker on mobile – 5 seconds compared to 4 minutes on PC.
• Desktop is flatlining, while smartphones are growing significantly.
• Click through rates increase when emails are optimised for mobile.
• Donations via text can be a good way to obtain contact details for your marketing list.
• Use mobile beyond fundraising: petitions, activisim, helplines, research, citizen journalism, location based services, staff and volunteer coordination, remote consultation and more!

I think one of the best bits of advice from Oisin was KISS: Keep it Simple at the Start.  If you’re interacting with people over mobile devices, you need to make it very easy for them to make the first step.  Oisin used a great example from from WWF, with a compelling headline and a clear, simple call to action:

Oh, and also, another great piece of advice: DON’T USE QR CODES!! Especially if you’re trying to encourage people to keep their smartphones locked away, on an underground train platform where there’s no mobile signal. Tube advert FAIL:

If you want to see Oisin’s full presentation, he’s kindly shared it on Slideshare.

 

Fundraising Online will be back in May next year!

What we can learn from #ThumbsUpForStephen & #nomakeupselfie

The huge success of a fundraising campaign by terminally ill Stephen Sutton, highlights the power that social media can have when it comes to fundraising.  Stephen explains on his JustGiving page that he initially aimed to raise £10,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust as part of his bucketlist, but following unprecedented support, he has now raised an incredible £3.1 million.  Teenage Cancer Trust has confirmed this as their biggest ever individual donation.

This campaign gained momentum when a number of celebrities showed their support and tweeted photos with #ThumbsUpForStephen posters, including Coldplay, Jason Manford, Rebecca Adlington and Robbie Wiliams. More recently, Prime Minister David Cameron visited Stephen to pose for a Thumbs Up photo and kept the word spreading about Stephen’s cause.

#ThumbsUpForStephen pic.twitter.com/hJhgLedKXl

— Robbie Williams (@robbiewilliams) April 29, 2014

Social media also has it’s downside. Stephen recently had to defend himself against internet trolls who suggested he was trying to ‘dupe’ people out of money. But in terms of the fundraising campaign, this probably only helped spread the news, with newspapers running the story and adding to the cause’s exposure.

RE the troll tweet I replied to yesterday, I really didn't expect the response to get so much exposure

— Stephen's Story (@_StephensStory) May 5, 2014

This isn’t the first time this year that we’ve seen a campaign take off on social media on an remarkable scale.  #nomakeupselfie went viral after women began posting photos of themselves without makeup on social media sites and nominated friends to do the same.  Cancer Research UK cleverly seized the opportunity to engage with people on social media and, through the #nomakeupselfie trend alone, raised an amazing £8 million.

The virality of campaigns such as these is extremely difficult to replicate, however, there are certain aspects that any fundraiser should take note of.  Obviously, a passionate, brave story such as Stephen Sutton’s encourages donations and was the cornerstone of his campaign’s success.  Other key points to take away from these campaigns are:

• Brand your initiative – An initiative with strong branding will travel further.  The trends of #nomakeupselfie and #ThumbsUpForStephen effectively added brand names to the campaigns and added to their success.
• Recruit influencers – In both of the above cases, celebrity involvement went a long way to increase exposure of the causes. Not all charities will be lucky enough to benefit from this kind of celebrity endorsement, but reaching out to influential people that you may have in your networks is a good place to start.
• Of course, the golden rule of comms, remember your call to action! – Just take a look at the Robbie Williams tweet above!

I’m really looking forward to Fundraising Online 2014 on 21-22 May, when Aaron Eccles (Cancer Research UK’s senior social media manager) is going to talk about how they were able to react to the #nomakeupselfie trend and change their approach to social media accordingly.  Fundraising Online is free, but you must pre-register. So if you’re interested in seeing the #nomakeupselfie session, make sure you register  before 12 May.