NFPtweetup 12: I went as me and left as an Ewok!

I went to another fantastic NFPtweetup last night. Run and organised by the lovely people at Beautiful World it's an event that continues to motivate and inspire me. I just love the fact that third sector people of all types (from coders through to direct marketers) get together once a quarter, to learn, share, chat, drink and think together in such a relaxed and informal way. 

What really inspired me last night was James Sadri from Greenpeace UK’s presentation on the recent Volkswagen campaign; you just have to check it out if you’re not aware of it.

The campaign objective is for VW to turn away from the Dark Side by dropping their opposition of key environmental laws.

James’s presentation was brilliant, a perfect NFPtweetup presentation because he delivered it with a smile, shared lots with us all and was so obviously in love with and passionate about his job.

But what really got me thinking was a fantastic aspect of the campaign that was created to incentivise people to spread the word and get others to sign up.

In the hope that you might win a limited edition T-shirt, those who sign up to the campaign can embark on Jedi training. Basically you sign up, you register, and you’re given a personal page and URL. Then of course you are asked to spread the word into your own social networks. Greenpeace want to harness the power of your referral to get your friends and contacts to sign up and spread the word, you know the theory here.

But you get given points, one for every view of your personal page and five for every person who signs up to the campaign from your page. The more points you are given, the further along the Jedi training path you go. Starting as an Ewok the goal is to unlock the T-Shirt once you have accumulated 1,500 points. Genius.

James went on to describe the lengths that people have gone to in order to further their path to the T-Shirt. My favourite was the guy who set up a blog claiming to know how to hack the page and get the T-Shirt, when you click on the link for the way to do it; you of course end up on his personal page and give him an extra point!

So I had to give it a go. I got home, registered and set up my own page. So far I’ve progressed from Ewok to Princess Leia and just unlocked Jedi Mind Tricks next stop is to unlock the Wookie at 100 points. Have a look here to see what I’m on about.  (And yes, that was a shameless attempt to get another page view.)

I loved pretty much everything about the campaign, but think that this idea is brilliant. We can argue if all traffic is good traffic, but in this case putting the message in front of many people as possible seems like a decent outcome.

On a personal level it’s reminded me of how brilliant Greenpeace can be, and reminded me to set up that Direct Debit I keep on thinking about.

NB > I recognise that is the second post with a Star Wars theme in the last few months.  Please don’t worry, I would describe myself as geekish, but I’m not that Star Wars geek we all know! And here is the proof!

NFPtweetup: Amnesty integrating fundraising & campaigning for Burma

I’m a massive advocate of NFPtweetup and can’t thank Rachel enough for suggesting that I come along to NFPtweetup 8 last September. I'm not a social media expert by any stretch, but I am a fundraiser obsessed about the power and potential of new technologies to connect people with causes.

What I really like about NFPtweetup is the sense of community that builds up around the event. I blogged about it last year “The deal is that if you go with a friendly, co-operative and sharing attitude you can leave with lots of new ideas, a lot of inspiration and some new friends (real actual ones to supplement your online ones!).” And still feel the same about the event today.

I was really looking forward to February’s event as Amnesty were due to talk about their Burma campaign, however events in Egypt in January took over so the focus of the Amnesty presentation in February was their social media activity around that issue.  So I was really pleased to see Amnesty’s Burma campaign on the agenda for Wednesday night’s event.

The campaign was a really simple one to explain to the public. 

Providing radios to the Burmese people would give them access to independent media not controlled by the state and show the strength of international solidarity for the protection of their human rights. That’s it.

And radios are cheap. Really cheap. £12.50 would buy a radio that would help a family or community learn more about their rights.

Run in two phases and supported across a huge range of marketing channels including paid search, Facebook advertising, outdoor, Amnesty’s blogs and social media presence, the campaign was a runaway success:

•  The initial target of 4,000 radios was smashed with 14,000 being purchased and distributed.
• 82% of donations came via social media.
•  Over 2,000 people took an extra campaigning action after donating.

What I particularly loved about the campaign was the use of SMS as a method for supporters to buy their radio. This campaign was perfect for SMS response.

You see the ask, make the emotional or rational connection, reach for your phone and get involved. Simple.

What was great was the way Amnesty communicated with donors after their SMS donation. Obviously the downside to SMS response is that all you have is a supporter’s phone number, you don’t know their name! But in a way this is perfect, because it enabled the Amnesty in-house call centre (staffed by volunteers) to call donors, thank them for their donation and expand on the work of Amnesty. I didn’t ask the question on Wednesday, but I imagine these people were asked to join Amnesty and I’m sure it was a great success.

It’s a great example of how fusing campaigning and fundraising together can really work across multiple channels with social media at the core.  The idea was simple, it was conceived by Amnesty staff who connected what was needed on the ground with a clear and compelling creative approach. And it was brilliantly executed.

This post originally appeared on the NFPtweetup site, you can find out more about NFPtweetup here.

NFPtweetup is where it's at...

Last night I went to my second NFPtweetup and like the first one it was brilliant. I walked away with a real buzz of excitement for social media and how it can be used for campaigning and fundraising and to be totally honest, a feeling of pride that I’m a member of such a great community of people, (albeit a newbie!).

NFPtweetup is the idea of Rachel Beer, who with her fundraising agency Beautiful World organise this quarterly get together of like minded people. It’s a community of people who share a passion for the potential of digital and social media to change and update the way we campaign and fundraise.

The deal is that if you go with a friendly, co-operative and sharing attitude you can leave with lots of new ideas, a lot of inspiration and some new friends (real actual ones to supplement your online ones!).

It has to be the most important get together of non-profit sector people in the UK. This isn’t a place for the regurgitation of past success, the case studies presented are all very recent and in some cases still active. Crucially the whole emphasis of the discussion is what we can do next, not look at what we did ages ago.

The star of the show is the work, the ideas and the community. So it’s a format and ethos that really challenges the traditional fundraising conferences and seminars that we go to. This is an exciting step forward and for me mirrors the impact of social media in society by giving everyone in the room a voice, no sit down, turn off your mobile and listen to the person on stage go through 60 slides in 90 minutes at NFPtweetup!

Last night slides are here and if you want to review what was being discussed search for #nfptweetup on Twitter.

The next one is on the 16th February 2011. If you get the chance to go, make sure you do. I can promise that you will walk away with a big smile on your face and lots of ideas and enthusiasm for the day job.

Some links that you might find useful:

Twitter
NFPtweetup
Beautiful World
Rachel Beer

Websites & Blogs
NFPtweetup
Rachel Beer
Steve Bridger
Rob Dyson