Tribute fundraising – examples from the USA
Howard Lake | 5 October 2012 | Blogs
In my learning from the Blackbaud conference this week in Washington DC, I’ve been to a couple of interesting sessions on tribute fundraising. I think many charities in the US seem to be more creative in their thinking on finding ways to increase donations from in memory giving.
For example, for one charity The VFW National Home for Children, they have walls around the campus where you can purchase a physical brick online and have it personalised with your tribute message for $100. Even though many people might never visit the campus they know it’s there and they also receive a certificate.
In another charity Austin Humane Society they have a Friendship Wall where for $500 you can have a plague on the wall in memory of a loved one or pet. It’s a great way to get a high value donation and the supporter also gets something back for their donation.
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There were also many examples of US charities having tribute fundraising sites, several using off the shelf systems and some who had created a bespoke site. I think in the UK it’s definitely still a growing area for example we recently created a bespoke tribute fundraising & events site for Mind called Mind Memory Space.
Overall I think In Memory giving and using online to help is a definite growth area for charities in the UK, so I’m looking forward to seeing how this evolves.
Vicky Reeves, Founder & MD, Chameleon – The Digital Experts for the Charity Sector
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.