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helipad | www.daat.org
The
DO
Virtual Futu r e
NATE
of Fundraising
Fundraising is traditionally a ‘hands on’ experience - Peggie Clark, our Fundraising Communications cer, e plains how the DAA team had to move uickly and creatively into the world of virtual’ events when the pandemic hit.
O
ur fundraising 2020 plan started out much the same as previous years; our in-house DAA events were in the diary with venues booked and our community fundraising events diary was lling up with the wonderful array of activities organised by our supporters. Then the pandemic hit, the nation went into lockdown and our fundraising plan was thrown out of the window. vents were cancelled, bo holders closed, and we could no longer go into the community to engage with our supporters. ur fundraising income was severely affected in a way that we had not anticipated. ur fundraising team had to adapt uickly to the fast-changing situation and our whole approach to fundraising had to be revised virtually overnight. ith the fundraising team working from home we had to adapt our procedures and the way we connect with each other and our supporters as well as coming up with innovative ways to diversify our income streams. At the start of une we launched our first ever virtual event our #Base2Base Virtual challenge. This was a 40 mile challenge, the distance from our eter to our aglescott airbase, for participants to complete in up to weeks in whichever way they wanted – they could walk, cycle or skip their way to the finish.
T oo t e
irtual fundraising was completely new territory for us and we didn’t know what to e pect in terms of uptake from our supporters. But, what we did know was that doing nothing was not an option! In these unprecedented times we knew we were not the only ones struggling, with many of our supporters facing ob uncertainty and financial strains, we were aware that charity support was potentially not at the top of everyone’s to do list. ut we were overwhelmed with the response to the event - with over participants the event raised over , As we became familiar with the new normal, it was clear we were not the only ones adapting our fundraising plans. After the initial halt to all fundraising activities, which saw a significant decline in the number of online giving pages being created in support of us, we were delighted as our inbo es once again came alive with notifications of new online giving pages as our supporters began to adapt their own fundraising ideas to lone and virtual activities, including head shaves, virtual sporting challenges and online gaming, as well as many supporters signing up to national fundraising campaigns, including the ust iving . Challenge. nline iving platforms, including ust iving, irgin oney iving and Facebook have always been an integral part of our fundraising strategy. ith the ease of use for our supporters
nn n b es rom our rst ever rtual
eS o
