Do you contribute to charity? Me too. And I resent their ineptitude at marketing. They are squandering our money. Read this and I’ll explain
Committed staff members on course to Shine!
Three highly committed staff members of the national charity Shine will be competing in the team category of the Virgin Active London Triathlon this September in their attempt to raise over £1500.
Spina bifida • Hydrocephalus • Information • Networking • Equality – SHINE is the only charity working nationally to support everyone affected by spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus.
Andrew Ellis, Kathy Shaw, and Robin Barnatt (pictured), who all work in different sections of the Fundraising and Health Development Teams, will each take on an individual discipline in the Olympic distance of the triathlon which consists of a 1500m swim, 40km cycle, and 10km run.
Kathy, who works as a Project Development Officer for the charity and will be the cyclist for the team, explains, ‘With so many people committing to our 20 charity places for this great race we thought what better way to get involved than to enter our own Shine triathlon Team.’
Since relaunching as Shine in October 2011 the charity has gone from strength to strength and the Fundraising Team are already beginning to see the results of this positive change.
Andrew, who will be completing the swim leg of the race, says, ‘The number of people entering running and triathlon races for us this year is increasing each day, we are delighted to see this success and I can’t wait to dive in and be a part of this year’s fundraising efforts.’
The charity, which currently has 10,000 members across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, offers support through a network of regional development workers and a core staff based at the Head Office in Peterborough.
Robin, whose work includes guiding people though the complex health issues related to the conditions, will complete the final stage of the triathlon as the team’s runner, ‘As much as I enjoy my work here in the office, it will be great to get out there and make a difference through this event. I’m already training and look forward to taking Shine to the streets of London this September.’
Donations can be made online at: www.justgiving.com/team-shine or by sending the following text message: Text GIFT42 the £2, 5, or 10 to 70070
To arrange an interview or for more information please contact Tom Scott, on 01733 421361 / 07769 217050 or email tom.scott@shinecharity.org.uk
Now those three young people are going to give their all for the charity.
And tell me: is an email headed “Committed staff members on course to Shine!” going to get you or me to donate? I had no idea what the hell Shine is. Do you?
The last time I was on the other side of the world I gave a talk called “If you can’t make them cry, you won’t make them buy” for the Fundraising Institute of Australia.
Where is the heart in that message, where the emotion? Where the competence at persuasion? Only in the pictures of the three people. The rest is almost all from the charity’s point of view, not mine
A report today by FastMap reveals that “Almost 6 out of 10 people are happy to see charity donations spent on raising more money
But they don’t like to see them spent on the pay of senior management – only 1 in 25 is happy about this.
I wonder how they feel about poor marketing. I resent it – though this is by no means the worst example I see.
Dear Drayton,
If may well be that we missed the mark with this email. For that I apologise.
I am also very sorry that you received it when you have no connection to the charity, we do our best to avoid this type of communication.
However, in this blog post you have undermined the dedication of staff who pour themselves into trying to help everyone affected by these conditions, myself included.
I do everything I can not to waste money. I do not earn a great deal of money. I do believe in helping others.
It would have been empowering to receive an email from an expert like yourself offering practical advice, that would have been more valuable than any financial contribution you may have made … if only the title had been right.
I guess at the end of the day you have proved yourself to be the best, your words grabbed my attention, and I for one won’t forget the lesson.
Tom Scott
What is really sad about this Tom is that I actually contribute to your charity, as I do to three or four others – but I never knew it because e name says absolutely nothing about what you do, and you don’t communicate with me enough.
One of those charities is World Vision. You could do a whole lot worse than study what they do. They extract money frtom me every month – and more on top with their mailings.
I am going to do a free video in charity marketing. It is one of the many things I have on my to-do list – and getting near the top.
I get quite a few sales letters and leaflets from charities and I feel uneasy about seeing a donation I made a decade ago eaten up by regular marketing packs aimed at getting another donation. I know why it’s done but it still doesn’t feel great that the money I’d imagined would be spent on those that need it goes instead to more marketing material. I’ve only seen one charity letter that sought to address this objection and I thought it was brilliant and simple. On the envelope it said something like: ‘This pack cost 50p to produce and will raise on average an extra £1.63.” I thought that was inspired!
You are absolutely right, Steven. The overwhelming majority of charity marketers forget how vital it is to say what the money achieves. In fact most haven’t a clue about marketing at all, to be frank – and I’ve worked for quite a few.