Apocalypse now fundraising online

Howard Lake | 12 September 2000 | News

This week the Royal Academy of Arts’ launches its first online fundraising campaign to recruit members for its Friends’ scheme.

This week the Royal Academy of Arts’ launches its first online fundraising campaign to recruit members for its Friends’ scheme.

In the run up to Apocalypse, a major exhibition of contemporary art which opens on September 23rd, the campaign aims to recruit new Friends through a combination of banner adverts, cold e-mail and viral e-mail. Online fulfillment is managed through a bespoke Web site.

Susie Dawson, Marketing Manager of the RA, explains, “Apocalypse is an exhibition inspired by the arrival of the 21st century. It will reflect aspects of the richness, beauty, horror, complexity and diversity of the world today. So what better medium than the internet to carry our recruitment campaign?”

Strategy and creative has been managed by Whitewater, specialists in not-for-profit marketing. Steve Andrews, Managing Director of Whitewater, said, “Historically, the RA has pursued a successful strategy of recruiting Friends off-line with a strong offer. For Apocalypse, we felt that new media offered us the most appropriate vehicle to reach a young audience, primarily London-based and interested in contemporary art. The resulting campaign will introduce a new audience to the RA’s work.”

Visit Apocalypse now online.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.