Charities that creatively hijacked May the Fourth #StarWarsDay

Howard Lake | 4 May 2016 | News

Today is 4th May, or May the Fourth, otherwise known as #StarWarsDay. The joke is a little old, but here are some fresh takes from charities today on making the most of this date on social media.

1. RNLI

On #Maythe4th, we proudly bring you the trailer for Storm Wars: The Crew Awaken.

😉
Happy #StarWarsDay!https://t.co/VAvR3Jfyeq
— RNLI (@RNLI) May 4, 2016

2. WaterAid UK

Great Fundraising Organizations, by Alan Clayton. Buy now.

3. The Running Charity

Yes Luke Skywalker likes our work & so should you! Support homeless young people through running #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/YSs9DYVQF1
— The Running Charity (@Running_Charity) May 4, 2016

4. SolarAid

5. Rainbow House

#MayThe4thBeWithYou: Irvine Star Wars fanatics climb mountain for charity https://t.co/HD2toE3i7s pic.twitter.com/LkmYfC2Tw9
— Irvine Herald (@Irvine_Herald) May 4, 2016

6. Keech Hospice Care

Check out this R2D2 created in our children's unit! #MayThe4thBeWithYou #charity pic.twitter.com/YvpNEHCq5l
— Keech Hospice Care (@KeechHospice) May 4, 2016

7. Star Wars: Force for Change

#MayThe4thBeWithYou on This #StarWarsDay … "Star Wars: Force for Change", the #charity organization https://t.co/EbHiuXDkgu #STXFG
— Maurizio Gioli (@Maurizio_Gioli) May 4, 2016

8. Julia’s House

#STARWARSDAY @DorsetTroopers and members of @juliashouse joining us! #NonUniform ALL money raised goes to this incredible charity
— Manor Court Community Primary (@ManorCourtChard) April 26, 2016

9. Macmillan Cancer Support

https://twitter.com/MacCentralSouth/status/727790574183534592

10. Dogs Trust

Lots of #StarWarsDay tweets from charities today. Think this is my favourite so far. (cc @howardlake) https://t.co/NFgQFz3ufI
— Madeleine Sugden 🌎 (@madlinsudn) May 4, 2016

11. Phoenix Dance Theatre

Sort of got a bit excited and made a Phoenix-style #StarWars opening crawl! #MayThe4thBeWithYou https://t.co/X72zBBn846 @davidburgessmc
— PhoenixDanceTheatre (@PhoenixLeeds) May 4, 2016

[Video from http://play.starwars.com/html5/starwars_crawlcreator no longer available].

12. The Children’s Society

Here's a little treat for #MayThe4thBeWithYou https://t.co/3CvXEb6fMj pic.twitter.com/T7ahU2EKAK
— The Children's Society (@childrensociety) May 4, 2016

13. Terrence Higgins Trust

#MayThe4thBeWithYou! This amazing stormtrooper helmet raised £70,000 at our #THTAuction: https://t.co/PlPpUGmMog pic.twitter.com/o1JHEUQGJd
— Terrence Higgins Trust (@THTorguk) May 4, 2016

14. RNIB

https://twitter.com/RNIBRadio/status/727812589720317955

15. Age UK

See what Star Wars goodies we have in our charity shop!! #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/HAzrnnSy8I
— Age UK Gateshead (@AgeUKGateshead) May 4, 2016

16. YHA

#MayThe4thBeWithYou when you ride like a Jedi on the 31 July in the Prudential Ride London. Limited places available pic.twitter.com/biWXCOHXW0
— YHA Fundraising (@YHAFundraising) May 4, 2016

17. Anthony Nolan

DON'T mind-trick your mates. But DO ask them to sign up & save lives. https://t.co/FPucfMgwR6

#MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/oP82zoSgLm
— Anthony Nolan (@AnthonyNolan) May 4, 2016

18. Gurkha Welfare Trust

Hey @Gurkha_Brigade … Just in case Luke needs a hand in the next #StarWars film #Gurkha #Jedi #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/7Dp5YKZFui
— The Gurkha Welfare Trust (@gwtorg) May 4, 2016

More #MayThe4thBeWithYou fundraising

[Tweet at https://twitter.com/FutureCop999/status/727751199110369280 no longer available].

And don’t forget David Burgess at The Management Centre teased out 10 lessons for fundraisers from Star Wars in a guest blog post here.

More Star Wars fundraising

Star Wars Landspeeder to be auction on eBay for Children in Need (15 November 2019)
Unicef prize draw offers a role in Star Wars Episode VII (2 June 2014)
Star Wars fans raise £250,000 for children’s charities re-enacting their favourite scenes (12 April 2018)

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.