#PiDay – a chance to ask for £3.14
Howard Lake | 14 March 2017 | Blogs
Today is Pi Day, an opportunity to use the hashtag #PiDay (which is trending, not surprisingly), and add a fundraising-related message relevant to 3.14.
Today is 14th March, and in US date format, 3.14. That’s a rounded up version of mathematical constant pi (π).
Every year it’s the subject of puns, witty images, and birthday wishes to Albert Einstein (born on 14 March 1879).
Advertisement
Some charities and heritage organisations have good cause to mark the day:
A few fundraising and charity digital people note the day:
But very few charities or charity supporters do. Yet there is plenty of opportunity, especially for a sector that for years has promoted the value of giving £2 or £3 a month. How about a campaign promoting £3.14 a month, starting today?
Localgiving therefore deserves a piece of the pie as they seem to be the only UK charity suggesting that sum as a donation today:
Meanwhile in Seattle FirstInpires is inviting donations of $3.14 in return for unlocking Snapchat content:
Here’s one from five years ago:
Other ideas
PiDay could be relevant (if expressed carefully) to hunger charities, food banks, educational institutions, science charities, and food companies that support charities.
In addition, every charity must have a pie chart showing income and expenditure, or far better, expenditure and impact.
And instead of asking for £3.14, you could demonstrate what £3.14 helps achieve, and thank donors for giving that many times over.
So, creative fundraisers, 14th March is the day you can have you pi and eat it. Or is this just pi in the sky?
Share your #PiDay fundraising message in the comments below, or let us know if you spot one.
- How a Romanian women’s rights organisations raised funds through educational cakes
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.