How to move your end-of-year charity appeal online

20 November 2020  |  Neil Hocking

‘Tis (almost) the season to be giving, but with footfall limited due to the pandemic, charities need to gear up for an online version of their year end appeal.

We’ve already come up with a few suggestions on how to finish the fundraising year strongly. This article looks specifically at how you can move your traditional end-of-year fundraising activities online and bring them all together in one place.

Run your own livestream ‘telethon’

You may struggle to put on your traditional end-of-year dinner dance, disco party or carol concert but there is a way you can engage and entertain your supporters – a livestream event.

Many social media platforms, including YouTube, Twitch and Facebook, enable you to ‘go live’ with nothing more than a mobile device or a webcam. However, to create the best experience possible you should consider using a streaming platform or service such as OBS or StreamYard. These enable you to create branded graphics, bring remote guests on to the stream, share comments on screen, display donations and even set up pre-recorded videos.

Now is a great time to call in favours from your patrons and well-known supporters. With enough planning and publicity, you could even emulate the lucrative telethons of Comic Relief or Children In Need by combining fun challenges, guest interviews and mission-impact videos into one action-packed online event.

Set fun challenges on Strava

Strava is a freemium fitness tracker and social platform which brings runners and riders together online. Members can set themselves individual or group goals and compete on leaderboards for the twin purposes of having fun and keeping fit.

This can easily be adapted to a charity cause by setting up a sponsored challenge and asking people who take part to share their stats, stories and pictures. To stay true to the festive spirit, make the challenge a themed event with competitors dressing up as reindeers or sharing a post-race snap with a mince pie and mulled wine.

Zoom with Santa?

If your charity attracts parents and children, how about running a virtual Christmas grotto? You could sell tickets or ask for a donation in return for a Zoom or Google Meet call with Santa. Depending on your budget, you might want to send out a small gift in the post.

Connect your physical and virtual collection channels

Just because your end-of-year appeal is online, it doesn’t mean you can’t continue to raise money in the real world.

QR codes are a great way to connect your offline and online funding streams by giving anyone with a mobile device the ability to connect to your donations page.

It is free and easy to create your own QR code and place them on posters, leaflets, billboards and other physical marketing assets. Most people are now familiar with QR codes due to the COVID track and trace app so will know what they need to do to donate.

For more ideas on digital alternatives to the time-honoured collection bucket, check out our blog post on innovations in donations and fundraising.

Build a fundraising microsite

Rather than trying to cram all of the above on to a page on your existing website, consider developing a new microsite specifically for your end-of-year appeal.

Your web developer can then optimise the site for its purpose so that the layout is clean and beautiful, your livestream is fast and clear and donors know exactly where to go to make a pledge.

Create a buzz

Once you have settled on a date, time and (virtual) place for your appeal, it’s time to let existing and potential supporters know about it.

Send out e-vites to your mailing list, promote via all your social media platforms and include links on your website and in your email signatures.

If you haven’t already claimed your free Google Ads credit, this would be a great time to take advantage and run a pay-per-click ad campaign to funnel as much relevant web traffic to your microsite or fundraising page as possible.

While there is nothing quite like ending the year with a huge face-to-face event, you don’t have to write off the year just yet. By starting your planning now and making the best use of the digital tools and platforms available, your end-of-year appeal could be more successful than ever.