Most of the environmentally damaging products that get the David Attenborough’s of this world in a rightful funk are convenient solutions e.g. single use plastic bottles. The thing is, we’ve organised our society in such a way that everything is as convenient as possible. And changing our habits isn’t easy. So what part can us marketers play in breaking the deadlock?

There are already plenty of environmentally sound, sustainable products popping up on our social feeds, e.g. Chilly’s bottles and Wild Rubber. What these have in common, and where their charm comes from, is that they are creative solutions. If we reframe sustainability from a ‘cumbersome problem’ to a ‘creative challenge’, it’s easier to get everyone on board. 

Given that Christmas is often a time of over-consumption, it seems like the perfect opportunity to start making a few changes for the better.

I was able to pick up a few tips at the recent #GreenArts Conference. It’s an annual meet-up of eco warriors who are on a mission to make the Scottish cultural sector more sustainable. Again, creativity was a common theme of the event. Talks from The Scottish Government, workshops with Creative Carbon Scotland and chats with local arts organisations left me feeling energised and inspired - from more than just the six cups of tea in my reusable mug. 

With all that in mind, here are a few creative ways to add a little Green to your Christmas. After all: Christmas trees, The Grinch and even the mighty, Quality Street Triangles are already Green icons.

Each year, we throw away 277,000 miles of wrapping paper. Most of which is unrecyclable and ends up in landfill. Which means it’ll probably outlast the presents themselves - unless you’re planning on gifting a Christmas Pudding to the back of the cupboard. Instead, why not try:

Furoshiki - it’s a wonderful, traditional Japanese wrapping style using scarves. It’s very en vogue this year. And if they don’t like your pressie, they’ve also got a snazzy new scarf.


Brown paper - if you’d rather not go cold turkey on the wrapping paper, wean yourself in with brown paper instead. It’s entirely recyclable and looks Pinterest perfect with a sprig of holly - just make sure you stick it together with glue instead of tape.


Cardboard boxes - this is a great way to combine recycling and wrapping (10 points to Green Gryffindor). Just fill a cardboard box with shredded paper. It actually looks surprisingly Instagrammable. And let’s admit it, shredding is such a satisfying day in.

If you want to end up on Richard Attenborough’s Nice List, you might consider a vegan Christmas. But for a more crowd-pleasing way to have a green Crimbo, give these a go:

Quality Street - fun for Christmas day. Frustrating for the rest of the year when your Gran keeps the tins and fools you by filling them with sewing stuff instead. But the good, Green news is you can keep the outer wrappers and compost them. Save me a Purple One.

Crisps - thanks to Geraint Ashcroft who led a public campaign to encourage big companies like Walkers to take on the sustainability challenge, you can now recycle your crisp packets. Find out more about this and other TerraCycle schemes here.


Recycle your wrappers - unfortunately not all plastic tubs are recyclable. So if you can, avoid black plastic as the machines can’t recycle the carbon in it (just think ‘no coal for Christmas’ and you’ll be on the right track). In better news, when you’re dropping off your old plastic carrier bags in the supermarket recycling boxes, you can also recycle things like beans wrappers/bread wrappers/cereal inserts too here. Now you can have a guilt-free Christmas breakfast.

While you’re in the spirit of giving, give the planet a little TLC too. Catriona Patterson, the Green Arts Project Manager’s tip is to do a Secret Santa. “Less stuff, often more thoughtful and resource efficient.” Combined with the fun of wondering who picked your name out of the Santa hat, what’s not to like? So here are a few of our fave good-for-the-globe gifts:

Who Gives a Crap Loo Roll - need a daft Secret Santa pressie? This toilet roll is made from entirely recycled paper. Because why are we ‘wiping with trees’? Like it says on the very pretty packaging…


4Ocean bracelet - two wonderful, best pals from Florida (what a great start, eh?) started a global business paying fishermen to fish plastic out of our oceans. They then make these unisex bracelets from recycled glass and plastic bottles, and fund further sea-cleaning projects with the sale of each bracelet.

National Geographic magazine subscription - naturally the articles are all about that big green and blue guy we’re trying to save. But their team have also opted for a biodegradable cover to wrap it in.

Adopt a penguin - OK, so more than a stocking filler - unless you count John Lewis circa 2014. But from £3 a month with WWF, adopting a penguin is an alternative gift that keeps on giving. You’ll know you’ll be helping conserve one of winter’s favourite friends, keeping them safe from pollution - and truthfully it’s cheaper than a doggo in the long run.

And here’s one final reminder. When you’re out picking up the last bits and bobs, heed the advice of two of my favourite actors: don’t forget your reusable bags.

Creative ways to save the planet this Christmas

Creative ways to save the planet this Christmas | Signal

In April this year, myself and three other (p)lucky adventurers from Signal set out on the challenge of a lifetime - trekking along the Great Wall of China, where it meanders through many miles of remote villages circling Beijing.

Signal China trekkers, L-R: Karen Wyatt, Lakshmi Balakrishnan, Graham Duffield and Leah Munting.

We prepared ourselves for what was billed as a mental and physical battle between man and the man-made. We were to conquer the impenetrable Wall, with its incessant steps, staggering climbs, demanding descents and searing heat - all to raise money for one fantastic charity - The British Heart Foundation.

Meeting our fundraising target of over £6,100 was no mean feat. We’d been frantically raising money since the previous August. As mentioned in the article I wrote during this time, we did everything we could to encourage donations, including organising raffles, gin tasting evenings, auctions, street collections and bake sales. 

So as we departed Heathrow, we felt lighter knowing we’d smashed our target, raising over £7,900 for BHF. Signal also covered the cost of entry, bringing the final total to £14,177.

Over 10 hours in the sky and 8,000km later, we finally landed and got some rest, having leapt seven hours in the future. We woke up for the first day of our trek jet-lagged and nervous. 

The iron sky outside belied the forecasts of sun, but our backpacks were bulging with wet layers, dry layers and any other layer we thought we could possibly need. So with our belongings stowed safely, we journeyed by bus to our first stop at Jinshanling. 

This is the question everyone asked us afterwards. But it hasn’t been easy to answer.

There are few words that can capture the sheer scale and awe of peering up and seeing the Wall rising in front of you. Thoughts flitted through my own mind about the impossible number of bricks, the feasibility of the challenge itself and just how infinitesimal I felt. 

Clambering up those first steps and emerging through the first watchtower, all descriptive abilities melted away as I looked down and traced the structure with my eyes, seeing it snake away from my feet, hugging the mountain spine and flowing into the endless horizon.

Then the terrain bought us back with a bump. 

We were of course prepared for there being a lot of steps. Extensive scouring of the internet had told us that much. We were sort of okay with the hills too. However, we were not prepared for steps that were sometimes higher than our knees! 

These would often appear entirely at random, hidden on a downhill or camouflaged in an uphill flight – essentially whenever we were just able to get a pace going. Our guide told us later on that this was a deliberate tactic to slow down invading armies from the North (along with us 21st century trekkers).

Sometimes there were no steps but this didn’t bring much relief, as we were faced with smooth stone surfaces worn down into a slipperiness by thousands of footsteps over the ages. 

This brought the high possibility of a long and painful roll to the bottom of the slope, so we were often clinging to the sides of the wall, fingernails digging into the brickwork to stop us from falling.  

We experienced isolated and unrenovated sections of the wall, which had us picking our way through ancient rubble and fresh undergrowth. This pushed us perilously close to several scary precipices.

(The sign shown above on the right translated to ‘Danger! Do not pass’, which we weren’t aware of until we passed it)

And then there were the climbs! These were unpleasantly frequent. The terrain never failed to tease us, so when we thought we could see the top within reasonable distance, the Wall would inevitably climb upwards to the next mountain crest and then disappear from view. 

Whilst it’s a popular misconception that the Great Wall can be seen from space, at times the ascents were so steep and unforgiving that we were sure it actually must be true. 

But for every moment of chest-heaving, sweat-drenching and heart-bursting uphill exertion, there were so many emotional highs. 

There was the zen-like tranquillity of stepping out from our inn in Gubeikou onto a riverside lined with cherry blossoms, whilst kingfishers darted out, scattering the resident goldfish.

Or when we trekked for over an hour through the dense forest at Mutianyu to get to a particularly remote but original and spectacular section of the Wall, only to find the ladder to climb onto it had gone. 

Together, our team built a cairn of rocks and scrambled, pushed and pulled everyone up to the most breathtaking and overwhelming view.

We dedicated prayer ribbons to family and friends and tied them to the trees to whip in the eternal winds at the top of the Heavenly Stairs.

And after a long day of walking, as the last visitors of the day to the Ming Tombs,  we were able to watch the sunset fall down behind the temples.

We walked for between six to eight hours most days, often not seeing anyone beyond our group. We would mostly hear our own voices, our footsteps, the clack-clack of walking poles, deep breaths and quite often the internal pounding of our hearts.

When we woke up on the final day and headed to Huanghuacheng, we were all a little quieter and more contemplative. Scaling the last peak and taking the last step we celebrated the achievement in the individual ways we’d become accustomed to over the past days with each other; Karen’s singing of ‘On Top of the World’ echoing around, Graham beaming from ear to ear, Lakshmi giving it her all right to the end and me simply contemplating the moment.

Before that finishing descent, standing on top of that ultimate peak and feeling on top of the world, we laughed (and maybe we cried). 

We thought about what we’d done, we thought about our loved ones and we thought about home. We thought about walking and we thought about not walking. We thought about the journey and just how good it was, how far we had come and what we had achieved, for us and for the BHF. It left us all speechless.

As the Tang dynasty poet Wang Zhihuan (688-724 AD) wrote:

But you can widen your view three hundred miles

By ascending a single flight of stairs…

Conquering the Great Wall of China for Charity

A team of adventurous Signal staff took on the challenge of a lifetime in China - for a great cause.

Taking on the challenge of a lifetime for a great cause.

In a recent article for the Institute of Fundraising I explored how the dialogue around change is failing the not-for-profit sector.

We paint the future as a distant utopia and charities as behind the times. While, at the same time, we ignore or misunderstand their resilience.

The result? Change is seen as too big, too costly, or plain out of reach. Charities struggle as they try to do everything at once, or they just put it off until another time.

How can charities find the right pace for transformation when the commercial urgency isn’t always there?

And how can they maintain or grow their traditional fundraising operations without neglecting their progress towards future goals?

Priorities likely include better experiences for supporters; an increasing focus on digital; and a diversification of fundraising products (or a combination of all three).

Not to mention a likely scenario where large scale investment either needs to be justifiable to donors, or isn't an option at all.

It's a conundrum. But, fundraisers, fear not!

We've used our experience working with charities on this exact issue to create a process that will help. Six small, but significant, steps that will help your organisation to better manage big change.

Don’t worry, you don’t need a crystal ball for this - just a good data analyst. Project what your next five years will look like, based on your current trends. You’ll need to simplify, and there are sure to be assumptions made, but write it all down and own it.

Is individual giving going up or down? By how much?

How is your audience mix changing over time?

Many charities have huge growth targets, but at the same time they’re looking for significant cost savings. This is in a context where their resilience means there isn’t a commercial urgency to drive large scale change at pace. This is a dangerous position to inhabit, leaving charities stuck in the change conundrum. 

Solid analysis will offer you the first key to driving change. It’s about understanding how sustainable your current approach is, and not assuming that a complete transformation needs to be immediate.

From there, it’s a case of working out the scale and speed of change that’s right for your organisation. Base these goals on your new insights, otherwise you could face a bottomless pit of potential costs.

2. Define your purpose - where are you going and why?

Your analysis will start to paint a picture of the type of change needed at your organisation. But change in and of itself shouldn't be the goal. The purpose for the change must be an intrinsic reward for the charity - usually the potential impact on beneficiaries or supporters.

Your purpose should articulate this benefit, and it should also serve two important purposes:

1. It should paint a picture that inspires passion in people to help you get there. 


Passion goes hand in hand with success on both an individual and a corporate level. Your purpose needs to give people something to believe in and get excited about.

2. It should have a profound effect on the silos that can slow down change. 


Silos can be particularly damaging given today's challenges, few of which fit within one directorate. A solid, high level purpose doesn’t just remove silos, it plain ignores them. Your unifying purpose should focus your teams and give them the clarity they need to understand their roles and work towards a common goal.

3. Take your first step. Then another. And another…

When you're trying to define the perfect plan it can be far too easy to get bogged down in details - sapping the fun and speed out of the change initiative. The truth is, in the complexity of today’s world, there is no perfect plan to address your big challenges. 

Some will say it’s all about digital transformation. Or perhaps investing in brand, or becoming supporter-centric. The reality is that you’re going to have to make progress across all these fronts. While, of course, also still delivering your ongoing BAU.

So, this step requires you to cast aside your ‘master plan’ and instead focus on just moving forward. Keep your purpose firmly in mind and try something. It almost doesn’t matter what you try (within reason), the point is to see what happens and revaluate. The step will either take you closer to where you're aiming, or further away.  Bear in mind, if it takes more than 3-6 months to understand the impact it probably isn't the right step - at least for now.

These test results will be the life-blood of your change programme (and they don’t even need to be positive!) Anything that you can learn from is good, as long as you analyse your failures as well as your successes.

4. Assemble the right ingredients - people, processes, tech and tools. 

Change is multi-dimensional, so when assessing your approach it’s helpful to ensure you’re covering off the three areas below:

1. The right people. 

Combine experience and expertise from the charity and agency partnerships. Multiple viewpoints (when aired in a collaborative environment) usually provide the best results. Getting the right people in the room from the start enables a much faster pace (you can deal with any objections nice and early too).
 

2. The right processes. 

Any action must be supported and facilitated across the whole organisation, with clear ways to move forward. This will allow you to adapt and improve along the way, creating a culture of curious, fast learners.
 

3. The right tech and tools. 

Make use of what you already have available, while also laying the groundwork for future progress. Adoption of technology is not the end goal, but it often helps to serve the desired outcomes. It should never be a barrier to change.

Confused? It's likely that finding the right partners for one or more of these areas will be helpful for you. Look for those who can flex around your existing capabilities, plug immediate gaps, and help you build for the future.

5. Look back, as well as forward - simplify your old world to create space for the new.

Something that is difficult one year should be streamlined and simplified for the next. This applies to change initiatives, but equally to your BAU activity - something that is taking charities more and more time and resource to fulfil. It’s not unusual for teams to deliver the same campaigns year in, year out. Even senior leaders in charities are spot-buying on print production.

But technology is there to transform outdated processes into simpler and more effective ways of working in the present, as well as helping you to embrace the future. Then you and your team can do what you’re best at - thinking, planning, strategising and imagining.

6. Stay positive - we’re living in exciting times.

Finally, and to an extent most importantly, change should be fun. It should enable your teams to feel excitement about their work like never before.

There will be times when it’s hard work, but it shouldn’t be a burden. This isn’t just a nice-to-have sentiment, it’s good business sense. 

Ultimately, your organisation will thrive when - and only when - your people thrive.

We're currently working with a number of charities to help them drive large-scale change forward in a manageable way. If you want to have a chat about your goals, or just find out more about the change conundrum then drop an email to Mark at mark.dibden@cellosignal.com

6 ways to challenge the ''change conundrum'' in the Third Sector

Signal's Senior Planner Mark lays out his 6 step process for challenging the charity change conundrum.

Signal's Senior Planner Mark lays out his 6-step process for challenging the charity change conundrum.

6 ways to challenge the “change conundrum” in the Third Sector

The Institute of Fundraising Convention is the largest event for professional fundraisers in Europe - thousands of attendees descend on London’s Barbican Centre at the height of summer for three days of expert presentations, keynotes and panels. Covering the experiences, insights and challenges of charity organisations of all shapes and sizes, it’s a treasure trove of useful information for anyone associated with the not-for-profit sector. 
 
The speakers were diverse and the topics were broad, but we particularly took note of one key takeaway that cropped up again and again in different forms - the idea that moving away from the justification that something ‘has always been that way’ often leads to huge successes. 

We’ll be delving a little bit deeper into some real-life examples of this that were shared during the three days, as well as adding some of our own thoughts on the insights that piqued our interest. 
 
Feeling inspired to challenge the status quo in your own organisation? Here are three ways for you to get the ball rolling.

Status quo challenge #1 - break down internal silos:

The topic of breaking down the long-standing silos between departments was a common theme this year, as our Senior Planner Maxine discussed in her recent post.

There was an underlying message of collaboration, understanding and empathy – the core elements necessary to deliver amazing services to a charities’ beneficiaries - but being applied between internal teams as well as within them. 

For example, the NSPCC’s Ben Ingram (Senior Philanthropy and Development Manager) and Debbie Boughtflower (Head of Planning, Programme and Operations) shared how collaboration across their teams and the introduction of a robust sprint process has enabled them to get quicker decisions from senior management and move faster in response to high value funding opportunities.

Ensuring fundraising and service delivery teams “own and commit to the same language” to describe the work of the charity has helped everyone remember that they’re ultimately working towards the same goals.

A motivated, multi-discipline team can achieve great things because everyone is pulling in the same direction.  So it’s great to see the increased focus on circumnavigating the internal barriers that stand in the way of fundraising success.

Status quo challenge #2 - don’t make assumptions about supporter motivations:

We all know how it important it is to foster long-term relationships with supporters, but it’s equally important to consistently reassess these relationships - remembering that donors are human and that consequently their circumstances and motivations are bound to change. 
 
It’s also key to bear in mind that an organisation’s motivations and concerns won’t necessarily mirror those of their supporters. The National Trust provided a fantastic case study on their recent White Cliffs of Dover appeal that proved this point perfectly. 

According to the National Trust fundraising team, back in the 1960’s their acquisition appeals were driven by the idea that it was better for them to take ownership of the land over a less desirable buyer - a holiday park developer, for example. They considered this angle for their recent appeal (“If we don’t buy it, who will…”) but ultimately opted for something that they felt fit their current motivations better - that of preserving the environment and the wildlife within. 

Interestingly however, when supporters who donated to the appeal were surveyed, it turned out that their motivation was not at all linked to nature preservation. Instead people were driven by what the White Cliffs represented to them, citing emotional memories like childhood holidays, links to their grandparents or the day they arrived in the UK for the first time. 

The British Heart Foundation also shared how they used data analysis to identify and understand the most committed participants of their London to Brighton Off-Road Bike Ride, and then communicate with them as directly and relevantly as possible. 

Despite previously considering professional mountain bikers as the least likely to fundraise, it turned out they were actually raising the most money per head. As a result of providing a better experience for this highly engaged community both in the run up to, and during the event, the charity have achieved an increase in the event’s income from £230k in 2015 to £435k in 2017. 

It just goes to show that not only is audience insight hugely important, it also needs to be an ongoing process - no more relying on outdated assumptions. 

Status quo challenge #3 – change needs to be inclusive and sustainable

Cultural change doesn’t come overnight and it can be tough. On Day 3 of the event, Tom Barker, Head of Digital at the National Trust, compared digital transformation to quitting smoking - you’ve got to really want it, and be prepared to make sacrifices.
 
There’s also a pervasive assumption that everything has to start from the top down, but all changes have to start somewhere and that doesn’t have to mean the CEO. 

Ultimately it’s on the ground where the real change happens, and new processes need to be given space and time to evolve organically through a process of testing and learning. 

It was clear from this year’s Convention that teams and even individuals can absolutely change the way they work to be more inclusive, insight led, efficient and ultimately more successful. We also  saw how reaching out between departments often leads to the discovery that there are many opportunities to collaborate, to share knowledge and to fill in any gaps. 
 
Finally, fundraisers also need to be sure that any plan for implementing change is realistic and sustainable - both for the charity and themselves.  Resilience and self-care is as essential for fundraisers as it is for carers and support workers - all are professions/vocations where others come first as a matter of routine. This is especially important for those fundraisers who care enough to challenge the ingrained status quo of their organisation as well as meeting the income targets they've been set. 

IOF Convention 2018 - challenging the fundraising status quo.

The Institute of Fundraising Convention 2018 - 3 takeaways for charities looking to challenge the status quo.

The IOF Convention felt different to me this year. Perhaps it was because the spectre of the GDPR deadline has finally lifted, or because there is a bit of clear blue water between some of the old morally suspect ways of fundraising and the new. Whatever the reason, there was a noticeable optimism about the sector that has been slightly lacking recently and it was great to experience first-hand.

The three day event was kicked off by BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz, whose inspirational plenary speech encouraged everyone in the audience to think and act more like an artist - to challenge, innovate and keep asking fundamental questions.

Just because something has always been done one way, that doesn’t mean it always has to be - and this was a theme that continued throughout the Convention.

There were some great examples of organisations that had started applying their core skills of collaboration, understanding and empathy between their own internal teams - breaking down the long-standing silos between brand, fundraising, PR, digital, welfare and supporter services.

 
Why is breaking down silos so important?

If your main objective is to get a strategy, plan or creative campaign through the internal process as unbruised as possible, then how focused can you really be on what your supporters need and want from you? 

After spending all your time overcoming internal barriers (such as a tussle with brand over the use of an image, or another product team over who you can mail in a particular timing slot) you might come to the sinking realisation that you have lost connection with who your charity’s supporters really are and why you have their support.

Judging by the talks on offer at the Convention this year, charities are starting to really understand why this is such a big problem for them. And if any further convincing were needed, here are just some of the benefits that can be derived from challenging the departmental status quo:

- A motivated, multi-discipline team can achieve great things because everyone is pulling in the same direction. Fundraisers tend to be good at working in teams, but are being held back by outdated department structures. 

- Chances are that there are gaps in any one department’s knowledge and established systems. Changing the way we work to be more inclusive and insight-led is bound to be more efficient and ultimately more successful - and allows us to utilise the expertise of our colleagues to plug said gaps. 

 
Of course, a cultural change won’t come overnight. It can be tough to get started and it will almost certainly need an impartial external facilitator to keep momentum. But everything has to start somewhere - and there’s no reason you can’t be the person to get the ball rolling.  

Sustainable change is not something you can achieve alone. Look for allies to help you raise the bar, challenge the status quo, innovate and keep asking the fundamental questions. That’s an approach I’m sure Will Gompertz would approve of.

Collaboration, not competition - why charities need to challenge the silo situation

How fundraisers who challenge the status quo can help their charity succeed.

Okay, we know. It’s the 25th May and we’re guessing there are four little letters you probably never want to hear again, let alone read about. 

You’ve likely lived and breathed GDPR for the past 6 months, with not a day going by without today’s much-hyped deadline and what it means for your supporters’ data on your mind. 

And now, naturally, we’d all like to have a bit of a rest and not think about consent, legitimate interest, personally identifiable information and all the other intricacies of the new laws. 

Well, sorry to break it to you, but dropping the GDPR ball now is the last thing anyone should be doing - especially charities. Today is just the start of the consent process - not the end of it. 

Your charity will have spent a lot of time getting databases in order, policies written and permission granted for communications to existing supporters, but you can’t afford to rest on your laurels now. GDPR will (quite rightly) mean that every individual is more aware of their data rights, and they will be more likely to turn off this consent if their relationship with an organisation gives them reason to do this.

Charities must take this opportunity to leverage the momentum that has built up over the last few months by continuing to improve their long-term supporter relationships.

Understanding supporters better will help charities navigate this brave new world

To achieve this, charities will need to consistently give something back to the supporter, rather than value being a one-way street (ask, ask, ask). You can do this by connecting with supporters about the issues that matter to them most and giving them a strong reason to continue to stay engaged.

Call it what you like; a two-way relationship, stewardship, CRM - it’s the same thing. It all boils down to understanding what your audience cares about and how you can connect with them on a deeper level, and crafting content that reflects that.

Get this right and you’ll create an even stronger relationship than one based on ‘doing the right thing’ and donating. For example, the new supporter relationship could be built on showcasing inspiring, personalised examples of how donations are being used, or finding new ways to share your organisation’s expertise that provide tangible value to the supporter. 

This is a big shift, but a series of steps (some big, some small) is the best way to start. Here are a few ideas that will hopefully be helpful:

1. You’re not going to do this on your own

It’s likely that, in many instances, your charity will need to make changes internally. In the brave new world we live in, supporter engagement shouldn’t be just a job for the fundraising department. Acknowledging this is crucial. 

You’re going to need to break down internal silos and get teams working together across brand, marketing, IT and digital to make this happen. You need to be part of a connected team to make this change, not work on your own. 

The next step is to set a vision and re-evaluate how your success is measured. Prioritise supporter experience as well as income.

Designing better relationships with supporters will mean consent shouldn’t be a barrier. But it also offers much wider benefits - higher engagement and increased satisfaction, for example.

Get this right and the income targets should take care of themselves. 

3. Be practical and pragmatic - work out where to start

Think big, start small, and act fast. Identify the first audience or products that have the most to gain, e.g. regular givers, and test here, before layering into other supporters or products. 

Supporter centricity, stewardship, CRM – they’re all the same thing, and the key to better supporter relationships is the sweet spot between:

Do you have a clear understanding of the parameters of the brand? Do you have quality insight in place which shows what the audience expects and needs? Use this insight and overlap as the basis for your strategy.

Once you know what your supporters need, you have to make sure the content is in place to continually serve them this information. How good is your organisation at gathering this information and, critically, sharing this information? 

What great stories can you share about where donations are going, what tips can you provide to help supporters with their problems? Content forums where people share internally are a great start.

Charities are bound to fail if we try and manage this change with manual data extracts and traditional creative briefing processes.

Embrace the automation technology that will make delivering this supporter-centric approach quicker, easier and more scalable - lots of CRM databases have this functionality. 

7. You’re not going to get this right straight away

Give yourself breathing room to try new things and permission to fail. The key here will be to test and learn from the results quickly.

Set plenty of tests that enable you to figure out the answer in the real world, then make sure you’ve got analytics in place and a team who can quickly huddle around the insights and look for ways to do better next time.

Supporter consent is not a ‘tick box exercise’ that can be dealt with once and forgotten about. We’re talking about living, breathing people whose goodwill can never be taken for granted. It needs to be valued and nurtured long-term. 

The new laws that come into effect today provide a solid foundation to ensure we are dealing with people’s personal data in the right way. But it’s how charities build on these basic guidelines in creative ways that will set them apart and ensure their long-term success.  

Happy GDPR Day! Charities, your big challenge starts now.

Dropping the GDPR ball now is the last thing anyone should be doing - especially charities.

As well as working with many of the UK's major charities, Signal staff are involved in plenty of our own fundraising efforts.

In the last couple of months, we’ve raised over £450 for WWF by getting in touch with our wild sides for WWF.

And we've volunteered for a number of local charities such as Cheltenham Animal Shelter, CCP (Caring for Communities and People) and Priors Park Edible Garden and Allotments:

But the biggest fundraising efforts of the year are our annual Charity Challenges. Previous years have involved a cycle from Niagara Falls to NYC for Marie Curie and a Peru trek for The Salvation Army.

Here are a few more details about 2017 and 2018’s big challenges.

A massive shout out to our colleagues who went to the northern reaches of Swedish Lapland earlier this year to dog sled over 180km of Arctic terrain, raising over £13k in aid of The Royal British Legion.

They spent five days following a team of huskies through snow-covered forests and mountains, tending to the dogs and battling the elements in temperatures ranging from -5°C down to -45°C.

Signal covered all the costs for the trip, so every penny the team raised went directly to funding The Royal British Legion’s important work. The charity provides financial, social and emotional support to the millions who have served and are currently serving in the British Armed Forces, and their families.

This summer, myself and three of my Signal/Brightsource colleagues (Lakshmi Balakrishnan, Karen Wyatt and Graham Duffield) were chosen at random for another amazing challenge:

“You'll conquer the imperial masterpiece of the Ming dynasty and test yourself on one of the world's most iconic structures. Starting four hours north of Beijing this challenge takes you on a series of upwards climbs of over 10,000 steps over the course of a week, covering approximately 50km over five days.”

Yes, we'll be taking part in a once-in-a-lifetime trek along the Great Wall of China in April 2018, to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation.

Coronary heart disease is the UK’s single biggest killer, and there’s a seasonal spike as we head into the winter months.

It’s no surprise that each member of the team has been affected by heart disease in some way making it a cause really close to our hearts (no pun intended) and one worth striving for. We’ll be keeping this in mind as we try and exceed this fundraising target to help the BHF as much as possible and certainly during the trek itself.

Signal has covered the costs of the trip, leaving us with a fundraising target of £6,190. The good news is that we’re already over 40% of the way there, which we’ve raised by:

Inviting local restaurant The Coconut Tree to come and cook a taste of the East for us in in our Cheltenham office

Providing a tuck shop and making homemade tablet, biscuits and cakes

Leveraging our prize draw expertise by organising raffles and competitions

Standing outside in during a wet, cold and eventful weekend to collect change for the British Heart Foundation. Alongside donations, we ended the weekend up one umbrella and one marriage proposal!

During the same weekend, a gentleman had a heart attack and collapsed around 50ft away from one of the team. There was a brilliant response from the medical staff on the scene and trained members of the public, but it reminded us exactly why we’re undertaking this huge challenge, and certainly spurred us on to head out again the next day with renewed energy:

Over the coming months we have lots more planned so we can raise as much as we can for this excellent cause, including ringing in Chinese New Year in February.

If you’re feeling generous in the meantime we’d really appreciate your support:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bhf-china-trekker

Charity Challenge 2018: Trekking the Great Wall of China

Find out about our 2018 China Trek in aid of British Heart Foundation as well as some of our other fundraising efforts during 2017.

Fundraising initiatives by Signal staff in 2017 and a big challenge for 2018.

Charity Challenge 2018: Conquering the Great Wall of China

How do you show someone’s life descending into total chaos and despair in just 45 seconds?

That was the challenge we set ourselves after being asked to create a short film for Change Centre Scotland.

Change Centre will be a new kind of accommodation for homeless people. It’s the brainchild of David Duke, founder of Street Soccer Scotland, and it will have football at its heart.

David and his team wanted a film that would show potential funders how the descent into homelessness is a downward spiral that shatters confidence and can leave you locked in a cycle of despair.

And it would also need to demonstrate how Change Centre, and football, can turn things around by putting routine, confidence and self respect back into people’s lives.

It was the football connection that gave us the concept for the film.

Because, as anyone who’s ever played football knows, no matter how bad things get, you can always turn things around in the second half.

charity

Creative ways to save the planet this Christmas

Conquering the Great Wall of China for Charity

6 ways to challenge the ''change conundrum'' in the Third Sector

IOF Convention 2018 - challenging the fundraising status quo.

Collaboration, not competition - why charities need to challenge the silo situation

Happy GDPR Day! Charities, your big challenge starts now.

Charity Challenge 2018: Trekking the Great Wall of China

The life-changing power of football - a short film

Facebook’s new fundraising button offers charities mixed blessings

Cheltenham

Edinburgh

London