ISPCC turns to online marketing and social media to support their 2009 Christmas campaign

Posted by: Krishna De | Posted on: December 20th, 2009 | 11 Comments | Posted in: Communication, Ireland, Social media, Social media and nonprofits

Over the last six months I have been working with many non profits and educating them about the use of digital marketing and social media as part of their advocacy and communications plan.

I recently came across some interesting statistics about on one well known non profit – the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) which shocked me.

As mum of three daughters I would have been distraught to have thought that they were not heard if they were reaching out for help – but that is exactly what happened in the case of 40% of children who called Childline on Christmas Day in 2008.

On Christmas Day last year, over 777 children engaged with the ISPCC, many seeking protection against abuse and violence on what should be their most enjoyable day of the year. To date, the ISPCC has already received an overwhelming 666,529 calls for assistance this year from children all over Ireland – an increase of 35,000 more calls than the same time last year.

The ISPCC recently launched a campaign to call on people to make a donation – donations can be made through the ISPCC website www.ispcc.ie, by calling 1850 50 40 50, or by purchasing an ISPCC ‘Holly badge’, available nationwide for €2 through ISPCC street collections and shopping centres in the run up to Christmas.

I was however aware that the ISPCC had also been using digital marketing and social media, so when I was approached by the organisation to tell me about their current campaign, I also took the opportunity to ask a few questions about how social media is being integrated into their communications programme.

Thanks to Ruth Gleeson of WHPR who is gifting her time to the NSPCC to support their PR campaign and who helped me access the interview below about the current situation with funding for the ISPCC and their current campaign.

I hope this example inspires other non profits to explore using social media and digital marketing to increase the visibility for their communications and advocacy programmes.

Tell us about the work of the ISPCC – what makes you different from other children’s charities?

The ISPCC is the only organisation offering a 24-7 support service to children across Ireland. As has been widely reported recently, current government child protection services are largely unavailable outside normal working hours and with expected cuts to government services this is unlikely to change in the immediate future (much to our dismay).

78% of the calls we receive from children are after 9-5 and on weekends, which means the ISPCC is filling a crucial child protection gap. The sheer enormity of the children we work with is most definitely unique.

There are just over one million children in Ireland – so far this year, we’ve received over 660,000 calls, texts and emails from children across the country and successfully engaged with the majority of those children – despite limited resources in these difficult times. In fact we’ve already worked with more children this year than the whole of last year. We believe that prevention really is the cure.

Our range of services – Childline, Childfocus & Teenfocus and Leanbh provide listening, mentoring and support services to empower children of all ages to better cope with the issues they’re facing, not merely today but for the lives ahead of them. Increasingly, we are offering similar mentor supports to parents as well, in recognition of the challenges of modern parenthood.

What is the problem you are experiencing in funding and how that has come about?

The ISPCC has always been dependent on the Irish public for the vast majority of its funding.

Historically we receive less than 10% funding from the government. We know these are tough times for everyone, and, as a result, charities everywhere are feeling the pinch as even the most loyal donors struggle to dig deep this year. As such, we are expecting a shortfall of income versus the budget of roughly 20%.

What is the impact of this lack of funding on your work?

As I mentioned above, we are working with more children now than ever before – despite the economic crisis. Our dedicated team of staff and volunteers have achieved this by working harder and smarter than ever before, cutting every conceivable cost and going over and above at every turn.

That said, the numbers of children seeking our services in these difficult times also continues to soar. As such, without additional resources, we will struggle to maintain, let alone expand, our current services to meet the needs of thousands of vulnerable children over the next year.

How are you responding to this challenge?

As I mentioned, we have cut every cost we can without directly impacting our service delivery to-date so that we are providing a quality service to far more children without additional resources. But, to truly meet the needs of children going forward, we will have to find ways of generating additional resources.

What is you new plan in terms of marketing and communications and public relations?

Christmas is always a busy season for us – our Holly Days badge appeal is now in its 22nd year and we of course have annual direct mail campaigns.

However, this is the first year that we’ve tied together all of our Christmas activities under one capital appeal, inviting everyone to support us in whatever way they can spare to play a part in helping us raise €1 million.

That’s €1 per child in Ireland to help us reach our ultimate goal of being accessible to every child in Ireland who needs us. It is our hope that people realise there is no such thing as a small gift this year and even donating their time to help us raise money is a huge help.

I understand you are engaging with bloggers – how have you identified the people you are reaching out to and what are you hoping will result from this outreach?

The ISPCC first dipped its toe into the social media pool last spring when we launched a campaign via an online petition site and Facebook to drive support for our 24-hour-child campaign. This ongoing campaign is aimed at lobbying the government to provide 24-hour child protection services that are clearly so vitally needed.

That effort was a huge success with nearly 5,000 active supporters recruited. A few months ago, when we were looking at the challenges of recruiting fundraising volunteers, our fundraising staff approached fashion bloggers [such as iblogfashion] about supporting an initiative to make good old fashioned bucket collections a bit more enticing.

This was our “bling your bib” campaign and we received great feedback and support from Fashion magazines and bloggers with the resulting buzz generating nearly 200 new volunteers. And, of course, when someone decided to hang balloons outside our office for the Cheerios Childline Breakfast appeal launch, we delighted to see that you covered this. I’d say within an hour, at least 5 people from completely different areas had commented back to us about your post. So, we are sold on the value of engaging with bloggers for sure.

Are there other social media channels you are using as part if your fundraising and awareness programme – where can we find them online?

Facebook is our only social media channel at the moment. You can find our ISPCC page here and our 24-hour-child campaign page here.

Our Christmas micro-site includes our virtual Christmas tree which will light up with each donation to make Christmas brighter for children in need of help.

Who will be responsible in the organisation for managing your social media communications?

Our Fundraising team have taken the lead on this and as none of the team had specific knowledge of or experience with social media communications, they’ve worked as a team and with the excellent advice of McCann Erickson and Ogilvy have taken it on as a project to develop.

What metrics will you be tracking to measure the effectiveness of your campaign?

We are exploring ways to measure online conversations including the use of Hash tags on Twitter.

If people want to find out more or make a donation how can they get in touch?

www.ispcc.ie is our website. As I said it has received it’s first ever festive overhaul from Monday, so please check it out. It’s also possible to phone us on 1850 50 40 50 or email us at fundraising@ispcc.ie.

We would love it if you could come back and share the outcome of your programme.

We’d be delighted to and many thanks for your previous mention and the opportunity to speak with you.

A final comment from Krishna: I know there are many demands on our resources and money and therefore many charities and non profits are finding it challenging to access the funds they need in the year ahead. I also know that many would like to increase their use of online communications channels to increase awareness of their cause but are not sure where to start or the actions to take.

I’ve personally worked with over 300 non profits this year both educating them and in a number of cases cases gifting my time.

I wonder how those of us who are interested in social media and digital marketing could support non profits in the year ahead? If you are looking to gain experience in digital marketing and social media, is there a cause or campaign that you personally believe in that you could gift a few hours per month to help them and at the same time have something to show in your portfolio in terms of a campaign or two that you have worked on?

What other ways could we bring our skills to help others and create a positive change being a force for good?