Our Blog
Is Coronavirus on Your Mind?
Charities advised to get creative with fundraising to counter the impact of coronavirus.
Many of the UK’s leading charities rely on large-scale events throughout the year for their fundraising efforts – in fact, the Institute of Fundraising found that they account for as much as 25-50% of charities income. As concerns of the coronavirus disease continue to grow, organisers have been forced to cancel major global events across a whole range of sectors including travel, sports, music and technology. It is therefore a cause for concern that charities might miss out on crucial opportunities to gather donations at public events whilst the disease poses a threat.
At instaGiv we work with a number of prominent charities including British Red Cross, and Macmillan to help with their digital fundraising. As the coronavirus issues compound, we have been working closely with our clients, taking on board their concerns and helping them develop new ideas.
Contingency planning and brainstorms are taking place right now to find new ideas and generate content in case the worst should happen and the events and campaigns they have planned for 2020 are cancelled. Many charities host popular sporting events, office bake-offs, and conferences that they are hoping to host in the coming months – most notable, perhaps, being the London marathon that raised £66 million for charity last year.
So, what can charities do?
We’re urging UK charities to get creative with their fundraising to counter any significant financial losses incurred due to event cancellations and isolation.
“At home giving” have seen incredible success in the past. One you may remember is the Ice Bucket Challenge that went viral in 2014. This saw Macmillan raise more than £3m in the UK via instaGiv text donations. Other well-known charities such as Cancer Research UK raised a significant amount of money as well as gaining more than 200,000 new Facebook fans and tens of thousands of new Twitter followers following the No Makeup Selfie viral campaign, driving further awareness and subsequent donations to the cause. Could this be the direction of fundraising campaigns to come amid the coronavirus?
Of course, it’s not quite as simple as just starting a viral challenge. So, we’re also proposing that charities consider hosting virtual events. Virtual events are rising in popularity as they are far more accessible and flexible than their traditional counterparts, especially as technology becomes ever more ubiquitous every day. From virtual conferences, where participants give video talks, to virtual marathons where participants run together from treadmills, there are a whole range of options open to charities. Our text to donate solution can allow charities to integrate fundraising into any of these events.
It’s no secret that social media has become an increasingly popular way for charities to raise funds – and viral campaigns are a big part of that. But now, mechanisms like Instagram and Facebook Live or Twitter’s Periscope are broadening the scope of what is possible with virtual events. We hope to see more of them both during the crisis, and we look forward to seeing some of the creative ways they are implemented.
Find out more about our solutions and how we can support your campaign or virtual event.
Register for your keyword here.