How advocacy can transform engagement

Ruth Ruderham, Prince’s Trust International & Oxfam

Becoming a Fundraising Activist in 1 hour…

• Case studies from the Amazon to the Antarctic, stopping over in London

• Key learnings about how advocacy can transform your charity’s fundraising – as well as the world

• Practical steps you can take back at your desk to:

– Create powerful campaigns

– Break down silos and achieve more with colleagues from other departments

– Demonstrate financial returns from integrated approaches

But first… why this even matters

Brave (scary) New World

The Hero’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey

It doesn’t have to be this way…

… 2 classic case studies

Case study 1: A law to protect the rainforest

TARGET

As Senators are not voting for this law, let us, Argentines, Vote it ourselves

Let´s raise

1 MILLION votesfor the FOREST LAW

SO THAT… Maybe then Cristina will do it as well

HOW? STRATEGIC CONCEPT / IDEA

STRATEGIC CAMPAIGNING PRINCIPLEYour constituency puts pressure on your target.

FULLY INTEGRATED & COLLECTIVE EFFORT

WEB HOME PAGE

We reached 1 Millionvotes in 51 days

And 1,5 m in 65 days

THE “NEW” CAMPAIGN…Targeting Cristina

CAMPAIGN FACT: FOREST LAW APPROVED

• More than 70K financial supporters (monthly donors)

• 800K “cyber-activists”

• Over 250K mobile activists (people 20+)

• A new “BRAND” / Identity… “not only whales”

• 500% increase in income in 3 years

GROWTH: ASSETS FOR THE NEXT CAMPAIGN…

• Focusing the entire organisation on a specific, shared goalcreated alignment and momentum

• Getting fundraisers to campaign motivated them

• People were inspired by a successful campaign and wanted to make a financial commitment

• This became an archetype for a new way of doingengagement

KEY LESSONS…

Supporter Journey - Traditional

FR ASK 1

FR ASK 2

FR ASK 3

FR ASK 4

Time

Le

ve

l o

f E

ng

ag

em

en

t

FR ASK 2

Time

L. o

f E

ng

.FR ASK 1

FR ASK 3

FR ASK 4

Action

appeal 3Action

appeal 2Action

appeal 1L of Eng > “ZERO”

Alternative Supporter Journey

Case study 2:

A law to halt climate change

Friends of the Earth UK

• Friends of the Earth is one of the most extensive

environmental network in the world with almost 1 million

supporters across 5 continents and more than 70

national organisations worldwide

• In the UK it is a network of over 225 campaigning local

groups

• It is supported by 100,000 financial supporters and

250,000 campaign activists

• If you want to support Friends of the Earth there are over

75 different ways in which you can get involved

Considering integration…

In order to:

“engage far more people in both supporting

and taking action on our campaigning

agenda”

we are committed to working towards:

“a unified Friends of the Earth membership

that provides a clear set of options for

member involvement, appropriately

supported at every level.”

Our supporter spectrum

Integration principles

• We value all forms of support and create a spectrum of

campaign opportunities for people to take action with

FOE.

• We segment people according to what motivates and

interests them and we develop campaign plans and

messages to take account of this.

• We monitor what action people take, give them feedback

and opportunities for increasing their involvement with

us, both within their chosen type of involvement and into

other areas.

Step by Step Progress

• Introduction of a single contacts database

• Agreed a single multi-purpose Data Protection statement

and standard tick boxes that are now used on all our

materials

• Implementation of welcome process for all new supporters,

not just financial supporters

• Retrospective mailing to all supporters adjusting their data

protection and offering them a range of options scheduled

• Agreement about how to measure activism alongside

fundraising

Welcome process

• All new supporters now receive a ‘welcome’ within one

month of joining Friends of the Earth. This does three jobs:

• Thanks them for supporting us and lets them know

what difference they have already made

• Informs them of which ‘list’ they have been allocated to

• Offers them a range of other options that they may like

to consider

• Complies with our legal requirements

• This gives us the opportunity to outline the breadth of ways

that you can support us but also ensures that we base our

communications on what each individual chooses

Retrospective mailing

Integrated, permission based marketing plans

• Contact our entire database to update their Data Protection

status

• Use this opportunity to offer them the options to diversify their

support of our work

• Maximise the potential of our new flexibility by developing tests

that offer people who support us in one way the opportunity to

support us in another

Key questions we wanted answered

‘What is worth more: a postcard action or a one-off donation of £25?’

‘If a local group member leaves their group but sets up a regular gift in support of our work

instead are they worth more or less to us?

‘Can we prove that people who campaign with us

stay financially active for longer? And how does their

‘lifetime activism value’ compare to an activist who does

not give money?’

Measuring activism

Environmental Measuring Units

Measuring activism

URN: 00001

URN: 00001

URN: 00001

This is the starting point for a

supporter – with both financial

and non-financial value.

One year on, ideally both

values will have increased.

It is possible that one form of

value will increase while the

other decreases.

Some EMU values

Local groups

Local group member: 20 points

Local group officer: 40 points

Local group coordinator: 100 points

Individual activists

Campaign online action: 5 points

Campaign champion action: 20 points

Measuring activism

And the results?

More money, more action

Campaigners wanted to give

• Cold lead calling to campaigners created a 8.5%

conversion, compared to an average of 3.8% across the

cold files and a target of 5.5%

• £72/year average gift, compared to £70 average gift from

cold leads and a target of £54

Donors wanted to take action

• During the Big Ask Big Push Autumn 2007, of 646 MPs 38%

were personally lobbied by financial supporters during

autumn 2006

Some conclusions

Some conclusions

Integration is the new normal

• As consumers, we expect to be treated as whole people

and think about our interaction with charity as how to

create change not give change

• You can start from the campaign or from theoretical

principles – but you will achieve more if you cut across

silos

• Creating change externally can drive change internally

• You can track and monitor campaign actions as well as

income – and this is essential

Making it happen

1. Get your systems and processes right.

2. Think long-term not short-term, integrity not

gimmicks

3. Disprove misconceptions in your own context:

small results go a long way.

4. Whatever you do, don’t do nothing

5. Stay within the rules – http://www.cra-

arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/chrts/plcy/cps/cps-022-

eng.html

One last story:Creating an entire new country…

Founding a new nation

Passports / Embassies

Phase 2: Agitating for legal change

May 21st: Presidential Speech: Pledges protection

Impact:

• 79 days of campaigning

• 130K citizens

• 73K email supporters

• Media impact

• Campaign objective

achieved

Donors and Income Growth

Key Campaign Insights

• Be creative and aim high

• See the opportunities in the problems

• Fully integrate across the organisation

• Build momentum towards the ask

• Have a relentless focus on public engagement

• Have fun…

Thank you

and

questions