Actually, that’s the approximate number of small charities in the UK: charities with an annual income of less than 1 million pounds a year, and then there are more than 7500 charities with an income significantly larger than this in the UK alone.

That’s a lot of organisations who rely on the largesse of the British public, government funding, and corporate donations in order just to survive, let alone do the good work they were established to provide.   

How does anyone choose who to donate to?

Primary in the decision-making process tends to be personal connection. If you have experienced a mental health issue or disease yourself or within your family, this type of charity will come to the fore. Next might come personal interest, such as an animal or ecological charity, and the third key decider is often local vicinity and connections, such as a community centre or hospice.

So the interesting question here for marketers is that if the choices of consumers are already pretty much primarily established, how the hell do you get people to engage with your charity?

I recently worked with a charity that dealt with supporting the families of children born with a specific disease. Within that particular community, they were well known and well respected and received significant funding, but outside of this user group, they struggled to engage with consumers in any meaningful way. 

In order to grow and establish a sound financial base, they had to appeal to people outside of their established user group, whilst at the same time respecting and continuing to grow their existing community. All of this had a significant impact on their comms planning.

Strategic offerings

A key part of this strategy has to be offering consumers a choice that they didn’t know they wanted. For example, my kids default to the golden arches when they want fast food, even if they then choose to order a chicken product.

Understanding this, I then took them to a chicken-focused fast food vendor, and they suddenly appreciated the delicious difference by going to a specialised provider. Previously, they had understood that other chicken products were available but defaulted to heir familiar supplier. When offered a significant difference, it opened up a world of new possibilities.

As charity marketers, we have to ensure that our comms offer consumers that significant difference.

Tangible benefits of creativity

Emotional benefits, cultural benefits, practical benefits. Something that takes givers to a new and different space as they dip into their pocket. This is why creativity has to be at the heart of charity comms, providing that giving alternative that people didn’t know they wanted or needed in their lives. 

Recycling the same messages over and over again that have taken a charity to a certain level, will ultimately lead to diminishing returns even if it plays well to their current user group. Charities need to be bold and brave, utilise their insight into potential donors and then apply that knowledge to new and exciting campaigns that secure a wider user group and guarantee long-term security.

To support Small Charity Week 2025, visit The Big Give to donate today.

The post Small Charity Week: Embrace creativity to amplify engagement appeared first on The Ripple Effect.

If you’re of a certain age, I’m going to guess you thought of Guinness swimmers, Levis laundrettes, Tango slaps or gorilla drummers. These are often held up as the pinnacles of great advertising. 

Now ask your 15 year old child, or borrow one if you’ve misplaced your own, and they’ll look at you with barely concealed hatred and incomprehension.

With the greatest will in the world, they couldn’t give a crap about your carefully crafted vintage adverts blessed with Cannes Lions and D&D pencils for creativity. But ask them what Sabrina Carpenter had for breakfast, and they’ll regale you for hours about the benefits of matcha protein shakes.

So what does this tell us about charity campaigns?

In order to attract an older, wealthier, more philanthropical audience, you have to be as engaging as the greatest ads in history, but if you want to grab a younger demographic who will learn to love your charity for the long haul, you have to create ephemeral fluff that seems to speak to them directly.

But you’ve got one campaign with limited spend and a target to raise money and awareness within the next two weeks, with an audience profile that might spread across all demographics. Possibly.

So you know you need to make something so good that it will win all the awards, but still be as inconsequential and throwaway as a paper straw.

This is when you’ve got to get creative.

The Rules of PR Creativity: Stand out. Speak up. Get noticed. Make a difference.

Who do you want to talk to? Choose your target audience and stick to it. This is not a time to compromise with a little bit of this and a soupçon of that. Be clear to whom you want to talk to and commit your message to that audience. Don’t try to talk to everyone, they won’t listen.

Be singular in thought and proposition. Say one thing. Say it properly and say it loud. Ensure that people know what you are saying and why you are saying it.

Give people a path for action. What do you want them to do? Be crystal clear about how they should act after seeing your comms.

Amplifying your message

Make it shareable, that’s not just a re-post, but ensure that it sticks in their memory so they want to mention it to their peers. Personal recommendations are gold-dust. Make it good enough to go organic. There’s no publicity like free publicity. The more shares, the more coverage the better, but remember you probably have to pay something to get that ball rolling so don’t forget to leave some budget set aside. It won’t get famous by itself.

All of these rules apply equally to any audience you want to attract, and to be frank there is nothing new here, but it’s the commitment to this approach that is vital. So many brands, especially charities and not for profits, start along this path and then choose to cover too many bases along the way and lose clarity, resulting in something more meh than memorable.

Last year I led a campaign for the Prevent Cancer Foundation in the US – too young for this shit – designed to attract an urban, inner city, mainly male audience who were choosing not to screen for prostate cancer. The client committed to a single-minded, outstanding proposition designed for a specific audience across print, social and OTH. It won numerous awards, but more importantly, tripled screening rates in the cities in which it ran. Some people didn’t like it. Some people who saw it had no connection to it. None of that mattered. It worked on the people it needed to and picked up fame far outside of its scope. Props to the client. They knew they were playing with fire but committed to it.

Remember what PR stands for – Public Relations – go out there and have a deep relationship with your audience, you’ll get results, and your audience will engage, and that’s what we are all here to do.

The post The Rules of Creative PR for Charity Campaigns appeared first on The Ripple Effect.

Allocating budget to marketing and PR is getting ever-tougher to justify, and the rise of social media and earned PR has amplified this issue. With so much free exposure seemingly up for grabs, it’s tempting to wonder: why buy it when media outlets are giving it away for free?

But like most things in this world, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

The current landscape

When you work for, or with a charity, free stuff happens all the time. People volunteer, donate or work pro bono; it’s part of the fabric of day to day life. And even when they do they get paid, it’s often at far below the market rates. A marketing director or creative director for a significant FMCG brand will earn well over 6 figures, the same role in a charity comes in at around a third to half of that.

So you could argue that a charity is saving 50 or 60 thousand pounds straight away and that’s a good thing, but is it really?

No one criticises P&G for spending millions of pounds globally on communications, hiring huge internal teams and employing multiple creative agencies, but if a charity were to spend a significant portion of their income on marketing, people would be up in arms. 

“How could you do that when people/animals/the environment need that cash? You are wasting our donations. I’m not giving you my money”.

Let’s look at it another way

Would you rather have 80% of a £50,000 annual income or 40% of a £500,000 annual income? Which one does the most good for the beneficiaries of the charity?

One charity has really changed the game in this respect is CALM. Armed with an ambition to push boundaries, engage people in conversations that no one thought they wanted to have, and with a desire to bring on board brilliant people to support them, CALM have grown by almost 500% in the past 4 years. They have picked up international awards and recognition for their outstanding creative work, partnerships, insightful ambassadorial connections and innovative media buys.

We know it’s really tough for charities to commit to significant creative development or marketing spends with no guarantee of income, but the alternative is much worse – essentially hoping that with conservative creative output and minimal coverage, income will magically generate beyond forecasts. 

Be the change you want to see

For me, charities should start acting more like brands, utilising the same insight and creative techniques that commercial companies do to encourage people to engage. It’s not an easy transition – too many charities can see themselves as charity cases, but this is the time to be brave; to consider putting a larger slice of income into communications in order to raise profile and revenue.

But of course, spending money can’t guarantee instant income. It might provide legacy support, which could take years to hit your bottom line or brand engagement, which leads to alternative revenue streams.

Money spent has to be used wisely; based on research, data, strategy, and delivered with exceptional creativity across the correct media for people to engage. 

All of this takes time, costs money, and requires effort, and even then, there are risks involved; but not doing anything that changes the game is a far bigger risk. In today’s world, standing still is going backwards. 

Charities: please don’t act like you need charity. Act like a visionary brand that wants to be seen, needs to be heard, and who truly wants to make a difference.

Fundraising & Charity PR

The post Do Charities Need Charity? Why PR Investment Matters appeared first on The Ripple Effect.