A charity to believe in:

Inspiring supporters & asking for money

The Community Fundraising Team

fundraising@nct.org.uk

Introduction

NCT’s 2020 strategy is an ambitious one. In order to achieve it NCT will need to generate more income.

We are traditionally very good at raising money through transactional relationships eg. fundraising through companies and Nearly New Sales where customers receive something in return for their money.

We’re going to look at how we can ask people to give money to NCT, not because they will receive something in return, but because it is a charity worth supporting.

This is the essence of charity – asking those that can afford it to give to support those in need.

How you can use this information• This presentation will enable you to put together an appeal which you

can use in a number of ways to raise money for NCT:• Maximising income at a fundraising event• A written or spoken Charity of the Year proposal to a local company• Appealing to your local rotary club / soroptomists etc. to work with NCT• Personally on a JustGiving page or when asking friends to sponsor you• It may also be useful for recruiting members and volunteers

• The Big Push (NCT’s newest branch fundraising event) is an ideal way to practise the skills that you will be developing for a different type of fundraising

• The Big Push is a sponsored buggy push, “Pushing to combat isolation in new parents”

• During the pilot participants raised an average of £91• With 20 participants that’s £1820• Compare that to the average NNS income of £1650

• For more information visit http://babble.nct.org.uk/bigpush

Creating an appeal

• There are a 4 points that we need to cover to demonstrate that we are a charity worth supporting and to prompt donations from supporters:

1. What problems do parents face

2. Stories from parents to demonstrate that these problems are a reality

3. What solutions can NCT provide & why do these require money

4. Break the money into easy to raise chunks

• Let’s look further into each of these points…

The problem

• The majority of fundraising appeals will focus almost entirely on the problem

• Next time you see a charity advert on television, you will notice that they probably spend about ¾ of the time showing you the problem and only a few seconds at the end telling you that money is the solution

• This is because demonstrating the problem elicits an emotional response which is fundamental to the act of giving

The problem continued…• It is really important to look at this from the parents’ point of

view. For example: • The problem is, ‘local young parents aren’t being

emotionally supported by existing services’• Not, ‘our branch can’t afford to hire a hall for our young

parents support group’

• Have a think about what problems are parents facing in your branch?

• You might come up with some of the following: isolation, loneliness, relationship difficulties, feeding choices, information overload, lack of confidence / pressure from family and friends, poverty / job insecurity etc.

• You can choose one of these issues as the basis of your appeal

The problem – some examples

• 10% - 15% of new mums suffer from Postnatal Depression

• Four women in every thousand will be admitted to a psychiatric hospital

• You are 300% more likely to get depression after childbirth than at any other point

• 50% of new parents experience relationship difficulties and the father is absent in from the registration of 22.8% of births

Using stories to illustrate problems• Watch this Barnardo’s advert from 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAYLh09JxJE • Stories provoke an emotional reaction• They make giving personal• They make you think about your own situation• They make an appeal memorable• They are powerfully persuasive• They show what a difference a charity makes• They bring a situation to life• Can you think of any other benefits?

Using stories - why do you support NCT?• NCT volunteers are in a unique position. You are often

the people doing the work ‘on the ground’ with beneficiaries and you have probably been beneficiaries yourselves. This puts you in an ideal position to gather information about how NCT has supported parents in your area and to share this with others

• Take a few moments to think about why you give your time and / or money to NCT. Have you had a good experience of NCT’s support and services?

This information will help you to persuade others to support NCT

What is the solution?• This bit is easy, you just need to tell your audience that

the answer to the problems you’ve described is their money!

• If you are raising money for a specific support group or services your solution will be starting or continuing that group

• You may be raising money for NCT more generally. Your solution can then include everything that NCT does to help parents with your earlier specified problem eg. local groups, NCT’s helpline, subsidised antenatal classes etc.

• See Making a Difference for details of where branch fundraising goes to

Why the solution needs money

• It is important to relate your solution to the amount of money you need to raise

• You can take an overall target, eg. how much it costs your branch to run a bumps and babies group each year

• Or, you can use a target for a particular event eg. we want to raise £700 from our Big Push in 2012 which will enable us to run bumps and babies for x weeks.

Remember

You are giving donors examples of where their money could be spent, not promising to spend it on something specific.

Money that you raise through an appeal like this is still unrestricted, ie. NCT can spend it wherever it is needed.

Writing a shopping list• It can be useful to breakdown your target into easy to give

chunks eg. £10 will pay for x, £100 will pay for x etc. This will depend on your audience, perhaps ticket price etc.

• We have used this technique for the Big Push. There are 2 shopping lists, one for branches and one for participants:For branches…

£480 will cover the cost of 100 new parents calling NCT’s helplines allowing them to share their worries and concerns and receive support from qualified practitioners.

£855 will pay for a study day for a group of Postnatal Leader students learning how to support new mums and dads in their transition to parenthood.

£1,500 will allow NCT to safeguard ten vulnerable new mums against isolation by giving them the support of an Early Days course.

For participants…

£10 could pay for one hour of mum to mum support at an NCT bumps & babies group

With £40 we can provide 6 weeks of support from an NCT Postnatal Leader, giving a new parent confidence to care for their baby

£93 could pay for a new mum to attend an NCT Early Days course, giving her much needed support and reducing her risk of postnatal depression

To summarise…• Your appeal will be based around four points:

1. Choose a problem facing parents in your branch or in the UK and focus about ¾ of your time on this

2. Find a story that well illustrates the problem you choose. This can be your story, a story from a service user in your branch or something you have read in an NCT publication

3. Describe how NCT offers a solution, this can be local or UK wide, and explain what the cost of this solution is

4. Break the cost of the project down into appropriate amounts eg. entry to your Cheeky Monkeys Tea Party may be £3.50 so you could say ‘buying a ticket for our party will provide one new mum with an hour of breastfeeding support from a trained peer supporter’

In conclusion…

• You can create an appeal when you are doing anything that requires financial support

• You can use branch meetings to share positive stories that you have heard about NCT from parents in your branch. This will help you with creating appeals but also remind each other of the fantastic work that you’re doing and why NCT is needed in your area

• You can use the Big Push this summer as an opportunity to practise using an appeal to fundraise

• Get in touch with fundraising@nct.org.uk if you need any help