When the UK Government declared lockdown on March 23rd, Brentwood Rotary knew they needed to consider new ways of working in order to remain active and relevant in their community.
The Essex-based club agreed a crowdfunding campaign could be really beneficial to raise much-needed funds to support their chosen charity, St Francis Hospice.
Rose Bolton, from Brentwood Rotary, said: “We heard St Francis Hospice was struggling during the pandemic and knew we should be able to do something to help them.”
Crowdfunding is a method of fundraising which harnesses the power of people’s contacts. By simply reaching out to people who know, can make a big difference to the success of the fundraising campaign.
Thanks to your help, we raised an incredible £8,300 to fund vital PPE equpment for Saint Francis Hospice. @SFHUK think what you have achieved is amazing. We appreciate each and every donation received, big and small 🙏 pic.twitter.com/S1BG60k8q3
— The Rotary Club of Brentwood (@RCofBrentwood) June 27, 2020
Rotary and GlobalGiving are working together to engage Rotary clubs in crowdfunding for community projects in the UK and abroad through their Accelerator Programme.
GlobalGiving is the largest global crowdfunding community connecting non-profits, donors, and companies in nearly every country.
Brentwood Rotary put in an application to be part of the accelerator programme and used the tools they learnt in the global giving training sessions to create a plan of action for their campaign.
We wanted to say a great big thank you for all your support this week – we’ve managed to raise an incredible amount so far with your help – but we’re not finished yet!
Please do share this post if you haven’t already – every donation, big and small, is one step closer… pic.twitter.com/uZIbfcsGEX
— The Rotary Club of Brentwood (@RCofBrentwood) June 20, 2020
So how much more successful was Brentwood Rotary’s fundraising campaign after the support from GlobalGiving?
Initially Brentwood Rotary were aiming to raise ÂŁ4,100 with roughly 40 people donating to the cause.
However the power of crowdfunding impacted their campaign more than they could ever have imagined.
The club raised in excess of ÂŁ8,000 plus gift aid and additional contributions from GlobalGiving, and had 190 people donate to their cause within 3 weeks.
Throughout the campaign the club members all worked hard, reaching out to people they knew. They built up their social media presence asking for help from two professionals within the social media industry to ensure it looked professional.
The club raised in excess of ÂŁ8,000 plus gift aid and additional contributions from GlobalGiving, and had 190 people donate to their cause within 3 weeks.
Club members actively went out into the community to speak to people and actively promote the campaign.
Rose added: “GlobalGiving were brilliant. They were so supportive all the way through the campaign.
“We never would have raised £8,000 without them.
“We are know GlobalGiving partners and they continue to give us so much support and encouragement.”
If you are interested in seeing how GlobalGiving can support you or your club to help maximise your fundraising efforts head to our Landing Page where you can see more information about the current projects.
The next Accelerator course will take place in September. To take part you will need to register no later than Friday, July 31st here.
For more information contact Garth Arnold: gartharnold@btinternet.com. Garth is available to do District & Club talks on Crowdfunding through the Speaker Programme
