British Gas raises £10k for Shelter in Twitter hashtag campaign
Howard Lake | 28 November 2015 | News
British Gas plc last night used a Twitter hashtag campaign to raise £10,000 for housing charity Shelter.
The campaign followed the news that British Gas staff had helped raise £1 million for Shelter. On 25 November the company announced that, to mark this achievement, it would donate £1 for each person who tweeted a particular hashtag.
It went a little further than other company Twitter campaigns, however, in that you had to watch a short video showcasing just some of the staff who had helped raise funds. Hidden amongst the rapid series of faces was Wilbur the British Gas penguin holding a sign on which the mystery hashtag was displayed. The answer was #TweetForShelter.
Of course, once the hashtag started appearing it meant other people didn’t have to watch the video.
Our employees raised £1m for @Shelter. Tweet the hidden # & we'll donate another £1/mention https://t.co/vtZYVXpp09https://t.co/UQvxZJVtKH
— British Gas (@BritishGas) November 25, 2015
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The campaign began at 11am on 24 November, but clearly took some time to become established. By 3.30pm on 27 November it had raised £1,500. As a result, British Gas extended its duration into next month, although that was the conclusion of the campaign stated in the terms and conditions:
Our @Shelter campaign has been extended till Weds 2nd Dec. £1500 raised so far, help us reach our target of £10k! See pinned post on profile
— British Gas (@BritishGas) November 27, 2015
However, they didn’t need to. The campaign gained momentum yesterday evening and the total was reached at 10pm on 27 November.
Well done for those who spotted #TweetForShelter. With your help, we’ve hit our target of £10k for @Shelter pic.twitter.com/G3DUrCZ2lZ
— British Gas (@BritishGas) November 27, 2015
Twitter hashtag fundraising campaigns
Plenty of corporate hashtag campaigns (or ‘like’ campaigns on Facebook) have raised funds for charities. In this case, the initiative was that of British Gas, but other times they have evolved from a charity’s suggestion.
Some work remarkably well. The Aviva UK campaign for Railway Children went far beyond its original £10,000 target, raising £97,774 in just 24 hours in February 2013.
British Gas was careful to publish and link to the terms and conditions of its campaign in its main campaign tweet.
Update 30 November 2015
British Gas has now doubled the value of its donation to £20,000. Some people criticised the company for donating what they argued was a small sum when compared to its annual profits.
Thanks to the 16,564 people who got involved in #TweetForShelter. To celebrate, we're doubling our donation to @Shelter to £20k
— British Gas (@BritishGas) November 30, 2015
By referencing the number of people who tweeted the hashtag, the company is no doubt implying that it has even gone beyond the amount it could have donated, based on the number of hashtag tweets.
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.