Barack Obama’s campaign had the whole world hooked. His fundraising repeatedly broke previous records for presidential primary and general campaigns, managing to raise over $650m (The New York Times, 11.11.08). There are many lessons that charities can learn from this campaign.
This was just one of the fascinating topics addressed at a recent nfpSynergy client debrief, which aimed to provide charities with insights into their latest research.
Here are some of the highlights:
What can charities learn from the Obama campaign?
Researcher Gemma Tracey and Research Director Jennifer Shea kicked off with an inspiring presentation about what charities can learn from the innovative way the Obama campaign was managed.
“Using new media to capitalise on supporters existing networks and build engagement was key to Obama’s success,” said Tracey. Obama was extremely successful in communicating to a mass audience through his online techniques.
“Sending personalised email requests every couple of days over a long period of time to his supporters asking them to give just a small amount each time enticed people to give more money in the end,” Shea explained. Every email told a specific story and had a detailed description of what the money would be spent on. “This allowed people to feel a sense of real involvement in the movement for change in America.”
Through his online presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, Obama was able to maximise his support and tap into new audiences. This was backed up by more traditional methods including door-to-door and telephone campaigning. New media was used to enhance rather than replace traditional campaigning techniques, and charities should consider doing the same Tracey said.
Having a clear, consistent, strong and easily identifiable brand and message like Obama’s, is also important for charities. Obama’s message of “Change” was easy for Americans to buy into because many believed that change would not only be brought to the world but to their own lives as well.
If charities are running a campaign it’s important to give supporters the tools they need to be activists. This is exactly what Obama’s campaign did, allowing supporters to manage their own projects and campaigns.
Another lesson from the campaign is the importance of keeping supporters on board even after a goal has been achieved: “charities need to keep the momentum going, thanking people for their support and keeping them updated on how their money is being spent,” Shea concluded.
Growth of charities and sub sectors
Researcher Jonathan Baker looked at how charity sectors have grown unequally in the last 30 years. Baker analysed the growth trends of total and voluntary income of charities in specific sectors such as health and social care. Here are his findings.
“Different charity sectors have different patterns of growth, and sectors are increasingly being dominated by single big charities/groups of charities,” Baker explained.
The health sector appeared to have the steadiest relative growth increase. Within this sub sector Cancer Research UK dominated with the highest annual and voluntary incomes. This was mainly thanks to the successful merger between the Imperial Cancer Foundation and the Cancer Research Campaign in 2002. “The same levels of growth may appear within the social care sector once the current merger between Help the Aged and Age Concern has been completed,” Baker added.
Other sectors including animal, children, and social care, have also seen steady relative growth over a long period of time. Only the international aid sector’s growth appears to be less steady as it is often dominated by events.
Does higher awareness mean higher income?
nfpSynergy’s Driver of Ideas Joe Saxton brought the morning to a close by looking at whether higher awareness does in fact improve a charity’s income. Saxton set out the practical steps for using awareness and brand to increase revenue.
“If you want to buy a new TV, you’re much more likely to buy a brand that you have already heard of. Why? Because you trust it.” The same principle goes for giving to charities, Saxton explained.
Awareness matters because it gives credibility to communications messages, facilitates fundraising and reduces the need to prove oneself.
Saxton focussed on the importance of charity differentiation. “Make sure people know what it is that makes your charity different from another.” Being able to differentiate is key, especially as competition among charities is fierce. People must also be clear on a charity’s cause and care about the same issues, and know the brand and key asks of an organisation.
Saxton pointed out that a relationship did exist between the media and charity awareness. If you spend more money on media your awareness will increase. This is true for the NSPCC, which has been successful in employing high profile media campaigns, and consequently is extremely well known. However from Saxton’s research the more a charity’s total income grows the harder it is to increase awareness through media spend. “There is a limit,” Saxton warned.
Spontaneous awareness and voluntary income are closely linked, yet which is cause and which is effect is still unclear, Saxton concluded.