# Fundraising opportunity of the Barack bounce and similar events?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/11/05/fundraising-opportunity-barack-bounce-and-similar-events/
- Published: 2008-11-05T10:54:49+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

I’ve met a lot of happy people here this morning following the US election result
last night, which makes me wonder if anyone has tried timing a fundraising appeal
to coincide with these occasional feel-good events?

Is there any research to show that fundraising appeals that arrive the day after
an event like a political landslide, zeitgeist change, or perhaps even a country’s
major sporting victory enjoy any particular success?

I imagine it would have been difficult to time such an appeal in the pre-Internet
age, even if one could see it coming a day or so beforehand, like the Labour election
landslide of 1997. But now we can get appeals out via our digital networks in minutes,
perhaps this is another fundraising opportunity for us?

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Anyone trying an appeal today to try to capture this surge of optimism?

And yes, I realise there are lots of people who won’t be feeling too happy this 
morning, and others who will not have any interest in the election result.

## Comments

### By: admin

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/11/05/fundraising-opportunity-barack-bounce-and-similar-events/#comment-3359
- Published: 2008-11-05T17:20:00+00:00

Congratulations to The Open Trust which is doing just that, according to Justgiving’s
blog ([openDemocracy launch campaign on back of Obama victory](http://justgiving.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/opendemocracy-launch-campaign-on-back-of-obama-victory/)).

Justgiving write: “To tap into the energy brought about by the election of Barack
Obama, The Open Trust has launched a campaign to support its openDemocracy program
that works to promote democracy, human rights and respect on a global scale.”

They quote the Open Trust’s fundraising page on Justgiving:

“The Open Trust have started their campaign to harness the feelings of change felt
by those outside of America and to give people a platform to show their support 
for 
 democracy…

“Energised, hopeful, excited? American voter or not, there’s an air of optimism 
and belief in the possibilities of the future.

“Let’s transform those feelings into real change”.

### By: jonathanwaddingham

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/11/05/fundraising-opportunity-barack-bounce-and-similar-events/#comment-3360
- Published: 2008-11-05T17:49:08+00:00

Howard,

Thanks for linking to the blog – I think this could be a great way to engage the
charity’s supporters and harness the enthusiasm for change that a lot of people 
are feeling at the moment.

But as with any campaign, you never know what will happen!

Jonathan Waddingham
 Charity champion Justgiving dd 020 7067 0923 email [jonathan@justgiving.com](https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/11/05/fundraising-opportunity-barack-bounce-and-similar-events/jonathan@justgiving.com#comment-3360)
6-7 St Cross St, London, EC1N 8UA [http://justgiving.wordpress.com](http://justgiving.wordpress.com)