Charity Hack offers to produce free fundraising campaigns in 12 hours

Howard Lake | 9 May 2013 | News

The first Charity Hack is open for registrations from charities that need access to skills and expertise to create a fundraising campaign.

The idea of Kevin Delaney, a fundraiser with the Irish Cancer Society, Charity Hack "is open to all charities, non-profits, arts and sports organisations etc. that are willing to commit to a 12 hour hack to create a brand new campaign for them to roll out". The event will take place in Dublin in August.

While it is open to all charities, Delaney recommends that only charities in Ireland and Northern Ireland consider getting involved in this first Hack. 

A 'hack' in this sense is a short blitz or burst of activity to focus on a specific problem and to build a solution. Delaney is assembling a volunteer team of fundraisers, journalists, copywriters, marketers, designers and fundraising experts to help work on a few campaigns on the day. Also, one hacker will be assigned to each shortlisted charity to guide them after the campaign has been created.

Delaney explains: "Hacks are common in the computer industry with companies like Facebook using them regularly to work on new ideas".

He stressed however that the campaigns created on the day need not be digital. "We are just as likely to create a traditional fundraising campaign that is tried and trusted. It's about whatever suits the organisation and the problem".

He asks that all charities enter into the Hack "with an open mind and a willingness to implement the solutions that we develop together. We don't want to put all this work into creating a great campaign only to hear that the Board wouldn't approve it afterwards!"

Why Charity Hack?

Delaney explained why he was creating Charity Hack. "I know that there are lots of people who have amazing causes, great ideas and hearts as big as houses, but they can be held back because they may not have the knowledge that I've been lucky enough to learn and they may not have the resources to hire expert consultants or agencies, to help them make the next step to grow their organization. So I thought, why not bring together a team with lots of experience and expertise and put them together with these organisations?"

Registrations are open until 24 May 2013.

Photo: under construction tape signs by zentilia on shutterstock.com

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.