Most innovative fundraising campaign

Howard Lake | 24 May 2013 | Blogs

For the campaign that shows significant innovation in fundraising.

The shortlisted entries are:

• British Heart Foundation, LOVE Installations
   
• Cancer Research UK, Dryathlon
   
• Natural History Museum, I love Dippy!

British Heart Foundation

This campaign saw two 30-ft metal installations displayed in central London during the Valentines’ day period. Spelling out the word LOVE, passers by could padlock a message of love on to them in exchange for a minimum donation of £3 to support the BHF’s research. The campaign was designed to appeal to the early-adopter and youth markets as well as international markets (tourists).

A new technology ‘izettle’ allowed BHF to take instant card donations and collect data. It raised more than £31,000 for National Hearth Month, but also supported the BHF’s brand and PR objectives and was features on Heart London radio, Time Out London, the Evening Standard and Design Week. More than 10,000 people bought a padlock. 

Care was taken to develop a product and proposition to appeal to high profile site owners that would generate additional footfall for them. The installations were staffed with knowledgeable BHF volunteers who could provide supporters with a deeper level of engagement and explanation. The volunteers also regularly scanned the installations for any offensive messages!

This was run as a pilot project and there was no online element.
 

Cancer Research UK

The Dryathlon was the UK’s first initiative encouraging people to stay off alcohol for one month to raise funds through sponsorship or personal pledge. It raised £4m at low cost from 35,000 participants, 52% of whom were male.

The primary business driver was to attract a new, young male audience to support CRUK. An easily navigable website resulted in over 45% of registrations being made via mobile device, while use of the JustGiving API ensured 100% of entrants received a personalised and automated fundraising page.

Live update team leader-boards fuelled competition and banter, badges and rewards via virtual ‘trophies’ were given at fundraising milestones.

Dryathlon attracted a Facebook community of 21,000 followers, 80% of them new to CRUK. The campaign innovated and challenged existing ways of working while always remaining true to the core proposition, consumer insights and business case objectives. CRUK intends to run Dryathlon annually with ambitious targets for future growth.
 

Natural History Museum

I Love Dippy was launched in October 2011 as the biggest visitor-facing campaign in the history of the Museum, engaging up to 5m annual visitors to raise funds to renovate the Museum’s Central Hall.

Visitors are encouraged to light up the Diplodocus specimen using text, cash and credit card donations. A text donation costs £3 and triggers a multi-coloured light show while displaying the donor’s name on a screen below the dinosaur. Other options cost £5 or £10.

The campaign is integrated across all areas of the Museum including dedicated webpages, a direct mail appeal, onsite restricted donation boxes and the use of social media. It has brought a potentially dry capital project alive to the public. Initially it was designed to run for 12 months, but was extended because of its popularity and to date it has raised around £400,000.

The technology could be applied to any specimen or product.

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.