I dont think any of us could quite have expected to be living how we are right now this time last year.
I work in the Charity sector and particularly in fundraising, with a speciality on events which under normal circumstances is a very busy and exciting thing to do with my clients. I have organised and hosted previous events such as the “66 Dinner” at Baltic, the World Record Firewalk attempt at Newcastle Falcons and the Northern Children of Courage Awards to name a few highlights from previous years.
When lockdown happened each and every charity event got postponed one by one as venues closed and initially it was looking at October time to potentially host them but the reality now is that we are looking more like 2021 to be safe. Sitting back and looking at it once the initial dust had settled it became clear that due to the lockdown there was now the biggest audience online ever, which in turn meant more potential for raising awareness and promotion to a HUGE social media audience.
The fear of the unknown was clear with my charity clients and it would have been easy for them to have almost gone into panic mode but we sat and looked at the situation and assessed what was now lost for at least this financial year and looked at how that could be replaced.
It would have been a mistake to instantly throw out a Justgiving appeal page in my opinion because almost every other charity went for that step one in the panic handbook. Why not do that? Well, theres a few reasons some of which are, you are putting an appeal out along with so many other causes it becomes an extremely diluted marketplace. You are also asking for money when a HUGE amount of people are unsure if they will have a job or not. It is a time to utilise social media to get your message out there and tell people what you do and how you are evolving to try to support your clients under crazy circumstances and all help is welcome.
Use your staff to research all of the Covid 19 emergency funds available to charities as there are several, look to your major donors historically and also do a treasure mapping exercise with the Board and Trustees etc, youd be surprised how many people want to help if asked directly and in the right way, take your fundraising online and think about how everyone is feeling stuck at home, many trying to look after children and stressed to bits, can you create something that engages with the kids to take a bit of pressure of the parents.
Get some recorded camera phone clips from your staff members or service users telling their stories about what they do and why along with what difference it makes, this can only get more support and the bigger awareness that you were crying out for when you were too busy to think before this. Are there individuals and companies out there who could donate services / items rather than funds to help support you through this? I have found that the community spirit has been amazing since the start.
Have you asked those who support you before this how they are coping?
Try to position your charity as one of the few who evolved quickly in this crisis and became a stronger charity for it to give sustainability for many years to come from what you have learnt. I think that if you can do that you have a great chance of gaining corporate support during and after this because you can walk the walk not just talk the talk.
I understand that it is extremely tough times and I understand the knee jerk panic, but if you can use the down time to utilise the vast skills and creativity at your fingertips along with your relationships you will survive this and potentially thrive.
