Fundraising by doing nothing: Born Free gets comfortable
Howard Lake | 5 July 2012 | News
Throughout this week wildlife charity The Born Free Foundation has been encouraging its supporters to “do nothing for charity”. The charity’s ‘Big Cat Nap’ is an attempt to stand out from other charity campaigns by encouraging a more relaxed approach to charity action.
The campaign, which is running for the second year running, is designed to spread the word about threatened big cat species worldwide. Staff at the charity’s Horsham office embraced the theme by holding a “wear your pyjamas to work” day on Tuesday.
On Twitter and Facebook, sedentary supporters have been posting photos of their own napping cats. The best photo will be chosen to advertise Big Cat Nap week 2013.
During Cat Nap Week 2011, supporters joined in by organising cake sales, pyjama days and sponsored reading events. This year the charity has encouraged supporters to host a sponsored snooze or holding a leisurely lunch to raise funds.
The idea for doing nothing for charity is not new. Sponsored silences and non-events have been used over the years, and there are also the various methods of using your idling PC’s spare processing capacity to do good.
www.bornfree.org.uk/the-big-cat-nap
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.