Newspaper Christmas appeals and the Web

Howard Lake | 29 November 1999 | News

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National newspapers have traditionally run charity appeals at Christmas. Despite having had award-winning Web sites for up to three or four years, very few of them have featured their Christmas appeals on their Web sites. Are they integrating their Web sites more effectively this year?

On 25 November The Times launched its annual Christmas appeal and this year it is in aid of Save the Children Fund and Help the Aged. It is an appeal with a difference though. First, the appeal, Times for Action, asks not just for money but also time, in terms of volunteer time. Secondly, the appeal has a Web component. As a result The Times claims to have launched “a unique charity appeal.”

The appeal does first give supporters a chance to donate cash, but then suggests working in a Help The Aged shop for a few hours a week, or organising fundraising events for Save the Children. The newspaper does not actually handle the donations to the charities, and indeed the donate cash link unfortunately does not take you to a relevant page or part of the page. The correct link is here, which gives details of where a cheque or postal order should be sent. There is no sign of secure online donations, either from The Times or the charities, even though Save the Children offers such a facility from its site.

Nevertheless, The Times is clearly thinking of developing the site into a bigger resource for charities: “this website will eventually be a bulletin board for volunteers and charities to find each other in the most useful way possible.”

The Guardian launched its Christmas appeal on 1 December 1999. It is supporting the Family Welfare Association, the Fairtrade Foundation, Friends for Young Deaf People, and Ockenden International. Editor Alan Rusbridger introduced the appeal with a consideration of what charity and philanthropy mean today. He explained that The Guardian’s commitment will go beyond Christmas, with updates on projects run by the supported charities appearing throughout December.

Although there is no Web address on the response form in the newspaper, The Guardian’s appeal is featured on their Web site. Indeed, the appeal’s page includes links to the various articles that the Guardian has run on the charities it is supporting. It recommends two ways in which readers can give – via the telephone and via the post. Although the newspaper encourages supporters to give via CAF charity account, it makes no mention of CAF’s CharityCard Web site which can take secure CharityCard donations. Fortunately, CAF is currently advertising its CharityCard on the NewsUnlimited sites and on other newspapers’ Web sites, so maybe the message will get across thanks to CAF.

The Guardian Appeal finally raised £200,952.

The Observer launched its Christmas Appeal on 5 December in aid of the National Eczema Society. Readers are encouraged to send donations by post direct to the charity. There was no mention of the Appeal on the NewsUnlimited Guardian/Observer Web sites on that day, and the appeal appears to get no other promotion on the online network.

The Daily Telegraph leads the field with its use of the Web to support its Christmas appeal. It launched its appeal on 18th November on behalf of four charities – the Cancer Research Campaign; The Passage; Send a Cow and Unicef’s work for Calcutta’s Railway Children. From the beginning it has publicised the appeal on its Web site.

Donations can be sent by post or by phone, and the newspaper even ran a one-day telephone appeal hotline on 5 December. Most impressive of all though was the fact that the Web site reported back on income generated to date, showing how much each charity is due to receive. The appeal launch was backed up with four separate feature stories on the Web site focusing on each of the charities and their work.

Even better, The Electronic Telegraph includes a direct link to a secure online credit card donation facility for its appeal, run by the Telegraph’s online shop The Best of British and with the secure payment facility donated by Datacash. Every online donation results in a thank-you screen with, appropriately, “a unique ‘thank you’ from the Telegraph’s award-winning cartoonist Matt.”

This combination of Web-based information, appeal updates, and use of both secure online donations and telephone appeals ensures that, this year, the Daily Telegraph puts the other national newspapers to shame in using the Web to support its Christmas appeal.

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.