Spotlight on New Media · the donation. The mobile marketing agencies that run the campaigns – think Incentivated, Flytxt, justgiving, Charity Technology Trust, txt-appeal – will

The gr8 txt robbery » S2The sector is stepping up its battle with the mobile networks over commission charges

To affinity and beyond » S6Exploring new and emerging fundraising technologies

Everyone’s talking about… » S8Podcasting and blogging

Legal masterclass » S11How to stay within the law when raising funds through new technologies

www.professionalfundraising.co.uk

Spotlight on...

New Media

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Contributors

Jude Habib is a radio producer and consultant who specialises inpodcasting. She believes that audio is an enterprising solution toengage a new audience and inspire greater interest in the thirdsector. Jude has over ten years experience as a reporter andproducer at the BBC.

Jason Potts is director of digital activities at THINK consultingsolutions. He has helped numerous global organisations developstrategies for using New Media to communicate their mission anddeliver revenue, and speaks regularly at international conferenceson the future of the medium for the charity sector.

Lawrence Simanowitz is a partner in the charity department atBates, Wells and Braithwaite solicitors. His areas of expertiseinclude charity law, information law, and IT and New Mediaagreements, among many others. Prior to becoming a solicitor heproduced and directed documentaries for Channel 4 and the BBC.

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S2 �www.professionalfundraising.co.uk October 2006

The Mobile Data Association’swebsite www.text.it contains all sortsof useful information. It tells us thatWorld Cup fans helped make June2006 a record month for textmessages – more than 3.37 billionwhizzed through cyberspace duringthe month, almost 30 per cent morethan in June 2005.

It also informs budding texters that‘l8r’ is txt-spk for ‘later’, and that thebusiest texting day ever was NewYear’s Day 2006, when we sent 165million messages. We can even learnthat Betty Turner, a 78-year-old greatgrandmother from Aylesbury, Bucks,regularly texts her grandchildren,describing it as a “fun and personalway to keep in touch”.

But one statistic you won’t find onwww.text.it is howmany people usetext messages tomake a donationto charity, nor howmuch has beenraised by the UKvoluntary sectorthrough themedium of SMS(short messageservice). The MDAsays it onlycollates totals anddoesn’t breakthem down by

type of message or demographics.Neither the Institute of Fundraisingnor the Office of National Statistics(ONS) has any figures on it either.

This seems incongruous, given theUK’s flourishing love affair withmobile technology. By 2004/5,according to the ONS, 78 per cent ofhouseholds had a mobile phone –seven years earlier just 27 per centowned one. In the first six months ofthis year, we sent more than 18 billionpersonal texts. We use mobilemessaging to check our bankbalances, send photographs, find ourway, even dump our partner (one infive 15-24-year-olds have dumpedsomeone by text, according tomobileyouth.org).

Yet the numbers of charities able toaccept donations via SMS remainstiny, and anecdotal evidence suggeststhe amount of money donatedthrough the medium is no more than adrop in the voluntary income ocean.So why the glaring mismatch betweenthe massive growth in texting, and thecharity sector’s apparent reluctance toembrace its potential?

Anyone reading the small print onads appealing for text messagedonations will get an inkling. Therecent CLIC Sargent poster appeal forits ‘Home from home’ campaign is aprime example: ‘Text ‘BRICK’ to88100. 94p of every £1.50 goes toCLIC Sargent’. This is a prettystandard rate for premium rate textdonations – though each differentcampaign has lots of variable costelements, usually around 35 to 40 percent of a donation is siphoned off bythe other parties to the transaction.

And there is no shortage of partieswaiting to take their cut. The taxmangets his share – HMRC used to takeVAT on the whole amount but nowonly charges it on the cost of servicingthe donation. The mobile marketingagencies that run the campaigns –think Incentivated, Flytxt, justgiving,Charity Technology Trust, txt-appeal –will generally reap up to 6 per cent.Then there are the aggregators, themiddlemen who rent the short code(88100 in CLIC Sargent’s case) fromthe mobile networks and then rent iton to the charity – their fee can alsobe up to 6 per cent. And if the donoruses a pay-as-you-go mobile, eventhe newsagent that sold the cardfigures in the calculation.

But while all these pennies add up,even their combined total doesn’tbegin to snap at the heels of theproportion that the mobile networkstake. It’s very difficult to ascertainexactly how much they reap, as it’snot a figure they openly broadcast,but the Institute of Fundraising statesthey keep 15 to 19 per cent of anydonation – even though the cost ofprocessing the message is just 3p.They also make another 10p from thestandard message charge donors payfor sending the text.

Of course, none of this is news –the Institute opened discussions withthe networks about their“unreasonable” rates early last year.It wanted them to accept thatcharitable donations are a differentbeast to commercial text services andto introduce a long-term discountedpricing structure.

A year on, what has changed?

Eighteen months after the Institute of

Fundraising launched its campaign to get

the mobile networks to lower commission

on text donations, little has changed. But the

sector is determined to keep up the pressure, as

TANIA MASON reports

The Gr8 TxtROBBERY

‘If Vodafone and 02 do something, the rest will follow.’

new media


October 2006 www.professionalfundraising.co.uk � S3

Megan Pacey, the Institute’s policy andcampaigns director, admits progresshas been slow. “One of the operatorshas shown some interest in moving itforward, but the others are eitherlukewarm or not interested at all.”

She says the campaign remainslive, but there’s a distinct absence of the urgency that was so apparentlast year. It can’t be easy maintainingmomentum in the face of the doggedresistance shown by most of themobile networks. Orange is the onlyone of the five to have introduced acharity rate, which it launched in 2004.Orange takes an 11 per cent cut, whichit claims “only recovers our costs”.

The other networks are full ofreasons why launching a charity rateis “too complicated” – despite thefact they all managed to drop theircharges for the tsunami appeal andthe Live8 ticket draw, both of whichattracted mountains of publicity.

Vodafone says it cannot issuedifferent bills for charity and noncharity texts because it does not seethe content of text messages. It alsoclaims it takes less than HMRC.

“Vodafone recognises there aremore cost-effective donation methodsthan premium rate texting; however, ifUK charities do use it they benefitfrom among the highest payouts inthe world,” said the company in astatement. “The main benefit tocharities will come when VAT is notlevied on charitable giving.”

O2 relies on the same justificationmany of the networks use – thatcompetition laws make it impossiblefor the operators to sit in the sameroom and agree an overall charity rate.O2’s head of corporate responsibilitySimon Davis says premium ratetexting started off as a commercialapplication and charities are preparedto accept 70p in the pound. He saysthere are costs associated with creditcard donations and postal donationstoo, such as buying a stamp to post acheque. “I am not detecting anyreticence from the sector – CancerResearch and Children in Need haveall used it,” he says.

Davis adds that the fee thenetworks charge has to cover not only“a host of other costs” but also tomake provision for any bad debts.

He advises the sector to maintain adialogue with the telecoms industry,

but on an operator-by-operator basis.“I can’t see a situation where we gettogether to agree a rate becausethere are anti-competition issues andOfcom would have something to say.”

But charities remain frustrated thatthe networks reap so much of theirreward. William Hoyle, chief executiveat Charity Technology Trust, the onlycharity to offer an SMS donationservice, says: “The difference betweenwhat the operators make and what itcosts the donor to download the datais enormous. The cost is an nth of theprice they are charging.” BreastCancer Care’s head of fundraisingMarcus O’Shea agrees the networkcharges are the biggest sting – “all therest is just tinkering at the edges”.

Help A London Child – which,because of its affiliation with CapitalRadio, has more incentive than mostto maximise text donations – appearsto be taking over the campaign reins on the charity side. Director ofcharities Annabel James says: “It issuch a big issue for everybody, weneed to build a consensus and worktogether to get the solution we want.”

She says aggregators play a keyrole because of the volume ofbusiness they have, so the sectorshould be looking to them to helpexert pressure on the networks. “I amtrying to get a group of charities to sitdown and work out a plan of action.We need to get a lobby together ofthe more powerful charities.”

The mobile marketing agencies aredoing their bit too. Incentivated hasreduced its fee to 1 per cent of thedonation amount because, saysmanaging director Jonathan Bass, “wehave decided charities are not wherewe are going to make our money, sothis is our way of putting somethingback. Until such time as the networksrelease more of the revenue share, wewill reduce our fee to almost nothing,

so charities will do 5p to 10p better onevery donation.” Bass believes anetwork rate of 5-6 per cent would bea fairer deal for charities, and ispressing the operators to come upwith a new range of short-codenumbers just for charities.Incentivated has seven charity clientsincluding Macmillan Cancer Supportand the SSPCA. Explains Bass: “Theyhave understood it is better to getsomething and start a dialogue,unlike some charities who simply say‘We can’t be seen to be giving 30 percent to the networks’.”

However, he concedes it is difficultfor the networks to work together togrant charities a better deal. “They all need to set slightly differentpercentages. The average is now 30

new media

95p The average amount charities receive froma £1.50 premium rate text message donation

26p The average amount the mobile phonecompanies take from a £1.50 text donation

3p The cost to a mobile operator of processing atext donation message

£1.23 The amount charities would receivefrom £1.50 if the networks took just 6 per cent

0p The cut all the mobile networks took for theDEC tsunami appeal and the Live8 ticket draw

78 per cent The proportion ofhouseholds that owned a mobile phone in 2004/5

18 billion The number of person-to-persontext messages that were sent in the first half of 2006

20 per cent The number of 15 to 24-year-olds that have dumped someone by text message

Sources: Office of National Statistics, Breast Cancer Care, CLIC Sargent, MobileData Association, Institute of Fundraising, Incentivated, txt-appeal

Numerology:


S4 • www.professionalfundraising.co.uk October 2006

new media

per cent – one needs to say ‘we’ll do itfor 6 per cent’, and then another willcome along and beat that.”

But it’s Bill Leahy, managingdirector at txt-appeal, who looks setto be the biggest thorn in the side ofthe operators. Leahy, who spent 10years as a telecoms billingconsultant, is determined toembarrass the mobile networks intointroducing a charity rate.

Leahy disputes Vodafone’s claimthat VAT is payable on donations, andis in possession of a letter from HMRCthat states that charitable SMSdonations are outside the scope ofVAT. He also rejects its declarationthat it takes less from each donationthan HMRC, calculating that from a£1.50 donation, Vodafone takes27.5p while VAT eats up a total of0.081p (see table).

Leahy is also less than enamouredby Orange’s charity tariff, because acondition of getting the discountedrate is that charities must have theirown short code, which can cost themup to £940 a month, and has aminimum 12-month contract. “Thatmeans a charity has to receive over5,500 messages every month acrossthe Orange network on a £1.50 tariffto make it cost-effective,” he says. “Itseems like a great gesture fromOrange but in fact would cost charitiesreceiving less traffic than this, moremoney than running a service in thenormal way.”

Leahy’s solution is to have just onecharity short-code, with each charitygiven a different keyword to promoteto donors, such as ‘brick’ or ‘nurse’.He says that with a shared code, allcharities running campaigns wouldbe able to benefit from the bulkoperator discounts that are currentlyonly available to large charities thatattract high volumes of donations.

“In my ideal model, from a £1.50donation the charity would end upwith £1.23,” calculates Leahy. “Theaggregator takes 3 per cent, we take6 per cent, the networks take 6 percent. Then it becomes a cost-effectiveway for a charity to raise money.”

Another reason that the Institute’senthusiasm for the campaign hascooled is that there are otherdisadvantages to premium rate textdonations – mainly that they aregenerally limited to small amounts,usually £1.50 or £3, and that charitiescannot claim Gift Aid on them andnewer mobile technologies areemerging that it suspects couldsupersede premium rate texting.

Donating by mobile phone e-walletis one such method, where the donoruses a cashpoint machine or creditcard to deposit money on their mobile,and then sends a text to donate tocharity (See Cystic Fibrosis UK casestudy, page S7). This is more cost-effective than SMS as the donationbypasses the mobile networks.

Donation via WAP – already beingused by Macmillan Cancer Support –is another option, and Incentivated’sBass believes that within three yearsit will have overtaken SMS as themost popular mobile donationmethod. After the donor has sent theinitial keyword to the short code, theyget a charity-branded message backinviting them to enter their credit cardinformation, tick a Gift Aid box andchoose whether they wish to becontacted again by the charity. Anyamount may be donated, and thismethod is much better value inpercentage terms, especially forlarger donations. Downsides are thatit’s not immediate, is only possible onnewer phones and donors may baulkat giving their card details.

Another option available throughIncentivated is signatureless directdebit, another WAP-enabled

technology. And Charity TechnologyTrust is toying with a Java-basedapplication that William Hoyle sayscan deliver high-quality colour pagesto a mobile for a few pence.

Yet Hoyle rejects any suggestionthese new technologies will makepremium rate text messagingredundant, and insists it is “absolutelyworth tackling the mobile companiesover this. There are other applicationsthat could benefit from a charity ratetoo – what if an organisation wants torun a campaign based on a short videoclip, will that be charged at premiumrate as well?

“It’s about the principle – mobile phone companies have aresponsibility as part of their CSRcommitment to enable charities toconnect with their supporters in allsorts of ways.”

Hoyle says the excuse “it’s too complicated” is just that – aconvenient excuse for the networksto hide behind, when the truth is thatthey want to protect their profits. He believes the onus is on the twobiggest operators, Vodafone and O2, to set the standard. “If they dosomething the rest will follow.”

Help A London Child’s James insists the sector must keep up thepressure: “Text is a perfect donationmechanic, there is definitely a placefor it.” Breast Cancer Care’s O’Sheaadds: “It’s immediate, and it’smemorable. We should all get behindthe Institute’s campaign.” Leahy has no intention of backing off, andwants charities to email him [email protected] to buildsupport for the campaign. “The more charities that email me to say they would use text messaging if the networks cut their rates, thebetter our chances of success,” hesays. He promises to present thepetition to the networks and to thegovernment. “I’m not going to giveup. It’s not fair and there is a simplesolution so why won’t they do it?”

Even Ofcom seems to be on thesector’s side. A spokesman said:“Yes, it might be seen as collusion ifall the operators agreed any aspect ofretail pricing, but there is nothingstopping one of them unilaterallydropping their charges for charity –consumers may then encourage otheroperators to follow suit .”■

Txt-appeal’s model via all networks:

Donation £1.500

Network 6 % + VAT £0.106

Aggregator 3 % + VAT £0.053

Txt-appeal 6% + VAT £0.106

Charity receives £1.235Source: txt-appeal

Premium SMS donation via Vodafone mobile:

Donation £1.500

Ex VAT VAT Total

Vodafone commission £0.275 £0.048 £0.323

Aggregator commission £0.099 £0.017 £0.116

Txt-appeal commission £0.090 £0.016 £0.106

Total £0.464 £0.081 £0.545

Charity receives £0.955Source: txt-appeal


AA quiet revolution has been underway in the UK advertising market overthe last three years; television andpress remain the most valuablemedia, but even these are nowrecognising the challenge of a newkid on the block – search marketing.

Search marketing – also known aspaid-for listings or pay-per-click – hasovertaken radio and posters to becomethe fourth largest advertising mediumin the UK. Worth £500m in 2005,forecasts suggest that it will pass the£1bn mark within three years.

Companies such as Google andYahoo have been in the vanguard ofthis radical shift in the balance ofadvertising power. Their ability todeliver tailored results to peopleusing their search engines has led to the phenomenal growth ininvestment by advertisers in searchmarketing and a matching growth inthe revenues and profits earned bythe search engines. In the threemonths to the end of June 2006Google alone earned a staggering$2.4bn from advertising revenues for the quarter.

This growing market has begun toattract the interest of the charitysector, which rightly identifies it as anew and sustainable form offundraising. The particular appeal ofsearch as a fundraising tool is that itdoes not cost the user in either time

or money. Search is somethingpeople do anyway and the income isgenerated by advertisers who arepaying for the privilege of drawingtraffic to their site. This makes it bothnon-intrusive and, from the userperspective, free.

The concept of a search engine thathelps charities was pioneered byeveryclick.com. Established in June2005, everyclick.com is the fastestgrowing search engine and thebiggest charity website in the UK withover 300,000 users a month. Sinceeveryclick.com’s launch a clutch ofrivals has entered the fray, all offeringtheir own take on how charities canprofit from search marketing.

For charities considering arelationship with a search enginethere are a number of key questionsto consider:

What percentage of revenuesdoes it give to charities?Everyclick donates 50 per cent of allits gross revenues. Others pay 50 percent of ‘net advertising revenues’ or50 per cent of profits – both of whichare open to interpretation. Make surethat the search engine’s position ondonations is clear and unambiguous.

How transparent are itsoperations?Charities have to trust the searchengine to deliver its donations. Trustis more easily earned if the searchengine is transparent in its dealings.Everyclick.com is the only searchcompany to openly display its user,supporter and donation statistics onsite; these are updated monthly.

Does it demand exclusivity?Some search engines will demand anexclusive arrangement, effectivelybarring your charity from benefitingfrom other forms of online fundraising.Everyclick imposes no such restriction.Ask yourself whether you arerestricting the fundraising opportunityby signing an exclusive agreement.

Does your search partner offer awider service than just search?In a groundbreaking dealeveryclick.com has signed anagreement with CAF that will allowdonations to be made online to all 170,000 UK charities fromeveryclick.com. CAF has also agreedto make a £100 top-up donation to all individual accounts opened byeveryclick users between now and the end of 2006.

Does your chosen charity searchengine have a future?For this form of fundraising tosucceed you need a partner that iscommitted to innovation and that isgoing to negotiate deals with leadingonline providers to ensure the serviceretains your supporters loyalty.Everyclick.com has been nominatedas one of the “Hottest New Start Ups”by Netimperative, and reports fromHitwise suggest it’s one of the fastestgrowing search engines in the UK andthe busiest UK charity website.

Does your search partner help you increase your reach to donors?Search is an everyday activity for 68per cent of the nation. Ask your searchprovider how they are going to helpyou reach new donors – or whetherthey are relying on you to promote it.

There are many reasons for embracingthis new fundraising concept: searchis an activity already carried out by 32million people in the UK; it costs thedonor nothing; and can be carriedout by individuals and corporates. Itis also a market growing in terms ofincome and one that has the capacityto deliver even more revenue than thestaples of Christmas cards or shops.

As Jennie Pearson, head ofcommunity relations at CadburyTrebor Bassett said: “If everyone inthe world had everyclick.com as theirhome page what a wonderful world it would be.” ■

new mediaadvertising promotion


Click and giveWhy search marketing is a key fundraising

tool for charities


O


Online affinity schemesThere are several websites whichdonate a percentage of goods soldthrough them to participatingcharities. The UK’s largest affiliatenetwork is buy.at (www.buy.at), whichprovides charities with their ownhomepage through which supporterscan access a range of participatingretailers. Any subsequently madepurchases will then see a proportionof the price go to the charity thatmade the introduction.

There are over 100 high-profileparticipating retailers includingMarks & Spencer, John Lewis and

Amazon, with whombuy.at deal directlyin order to securehigher rates ofcommission. Over6,000 groups havewebshops includingcharities such asLeukaemia Careand the Royal

British Legion, with over £250,000having been raised in total so far.

In a similar vein is 4Rcharity(www.4rcharity.co.uk), which ispowered by Affinity Shopper and

provides charitieswith their ownonline shoppingmall. These siteslink to over 700high street andbranded retailersselling a widerange of goods and

services. The average commissionearned is 1.8 per cent of the salesvalue, with an average transactionvalue of £79.

“Approximately 30 per cent of ourcustomers have seen a financialreturn from their malls within the firstfew weeks of opening, earning onaverage £1.42 from every sale madethrough their mall,” according tooperations manager Philip Price. “The potential for charities, churches,clubs and schools to support theirfundraising operations through anonline shopping mall is thereforehuge, and we hope to see moreorganisations take advantage of thistrend to shop online to raise moneyfor good causes.”

Donate As You Spend(www.days.org.uk) offers a range ofmeans to raise funds for charities, suchas by booking holidays, insurance,buying gift vouchers and recycling.These opportunities are more nicheand accessed through individualwebsites, where once the user hasmade a purchase they can nominateone of the participating charities forthe donation. In return the charity mustpromote the sites on its website.

Another that has recently launched is UshopUcare(www.ushopucare.co.uk) which gives donors access to more than 500 online retailers. Fifty-six charitiesare currently registered but donorscan also nominate their favouritecause and it will be added free of charge. Shoppers are givencashback on their purchases and can donate some or all of this to the charity, on top of the sumdonated by UshopUcare, which varies according to the price of theproduct purchased.

EveryclickThe success of search engines suchas Google has been built upon sellingsponsored links, which appear whena user enters a relevant keyword,with advertising fees chargedaccording to how many times the linkis accessed. This revenue is predictedto pass the £1bn mark in the nextthree years.

Everyclick (www.everyclick.com)harnesses this for charities by

donating 50 per cent of this income tothe charity of the user’s choice. Itslatest advance means advertisers canbuy keywords on a ‘first come firstserved’ basis for a fixed price and afixed term, in order to get themselvesat the top of the main search resultsrather than just on the sponsoredlinks down the side. In return for themoney they receive, charitiespromote the site by encouragingsupporters to sign up, high profileexamples being Save the Children,the British Red Cross and theSalvation Army. Companies can alsoregister in order to enhance theirbrand reputation by encouragingemployees to participate.

More than 1,500 charities have nowsigned up, with more than 22,600registered users supporting a specificcause and more than 300,000 usersin total. Polly Gowers, managingdirector of everyclick, says: “Online

GARETH JONES and TANIA MASON

examine various new and emerging technologies

being used by charities to generate funds

beyondTO AFFINITY AND

new media



benefit. The way to counteract this isfor charities to get involvedthemselves, and eBay has launchedeBay for Charity in association withMissionFish, itself a charity, to makethis easier.

There are two ways charities canbenefit, by selling goods directly, andby encouraging other sellers tobecome ‘community sellers’, payingall or a portion of the fee to a charitychosen from a list of those registeredwith MissionFish. In both cases theauction item appears with the eBayfor Charity icon, details of the charityand the proportion of the fee going tothe charity. eBay subsidiary PayPal isalso offering special payment ratesfor charities.

A gentle word of warning comesfrom photography charityPhotoVoice. “Holding an auction oneBay can be a profitable way offundraising, largely because the costsinvolved for the charity are reduced,”says events and marketing managerJo Oldman. “However, it is importantnot to underestimate the benefitsthat come from holding a live event.PhotoVoice was fortunate to receive adonation made as a result of an eBayauction but we would not considerreplacing our annual live auction withan online one. It is very difficult to

create online the same atmosphere ofgiving that comes naturally whenyour supporters are together underone roof. And a live auction lets youengage with your supporters in a waythat goes beyond the success of theauction itself.”

See http://www.missionfish.org.ukfor further details.

Mobile phone e-walletsCystic Fibrosis UK (CFUK) has becomethe first charity to accept donationsvia a mobile payment system calledLUUP, which allows donors to give upto £800 in a single donation fromtheir mobile phone.

LUUP claims its system, which theInstitute of Fundraising describes as a‘mobile phone e-wallet’ combines thespontaneity of text messaging withthe good value of making a donationby card.

Mobile e-wallets differ frompremium rate text donations in thatthe money comes out of the bankingsystem instead of from a mobilephone account. The donor pays forthe cost of sending the text but theactual donation completely bypassesthe mobile networks.

In this case, the donor registers fora LUUP account online and transfersmoney into it from a debit or creditcard. They can then use their LUUPaccount to buy products and servicesranging from mobile ringtones to inkcartridges, from LUUP’s partners.They can also make donations to itscharity partners, and LUUP claimsthat on a £5 donation CFUK receivesat least 15 per cent more of theproceeds than it would throughpremium rate texts.

LUUP’s UK director Rob Perkins saysthe potential is huge but admits thatthe need to open a LUUP account isthe major barrier to growth for itscharity partners. Because of this, as anincentive LUUP is offering to donate £3to CFUK each time a new account isregistered through the CFUK website.

Perkins says LUUP takes 2.5 percent of all donations plus a fixed feeof around 18p.

Online gamingThough not yet widely utilised in theUK, something to look out for is thepotential of online gaming. On 22 and 23 July the American CancerSociety raised more than $38,000 byholding the ‘Second Life Relay forLife’ entirely within in the confines ofthe virtual reality community SecondLife. A Linden Labs creation, SecondLife is where users from around theworld gather to do all the things they do in real life and more, with the safety net that it is not actuallyreal. The event comprised 1,000participants walking their digital alteregos across the game’s 42,000-acrelayout, earning real sponsorship fortheir ‘efforts’. Other US charitiesinvolved with Second Life areTechSoup, Global Kids and theLeukaemia and Lymphoma Society. ■

new media

advertising is the fastest growingadspend medium in the UK andthrough everyclick, charities can nowaccess a bigger share of that pot. Thelaunch of our new keyword servicemeans we can raise even more moneyfor charities.”

VismailVismail from Fundraising Initiativesoffers an eye-catching method ofcommunicating with potential andexisting donors, providing emailswith embedded video content. Thenumber of times an email is viewed istracked, revealing on average a 78per cent view rate, while the call toaction response rate (when arecipient is invited to follow anexternal link) is 22 per cent.Fundraising Initiatives is working withmore than 40 charities worldwide,including the British Red Cross, theChildren’s Society, Crisis and RNLI.

Vismail director Michael Kaufmanexplains: “Because the video file is

physically embedded in theemail, it can get through 90 per cent of firewalls, andbecause it is not streamingfrom an external source itdoesn’t rely on the user’sbandwidth and is much morereliable. Nevertheless, theemail is still only 3-4kb in size.”

RNLI has just signed up. “Weare blessed with a lot of goodvideo footage,” says e-media

producer John Jones, “and think itis a very powerful mechanism forcommunication. We hope to use it ina number of different ways, such asfor generic emails, showcasingfootage of crews at sea and some ofthe rescues they have done, and forbranding emails such as those for ourlifeguard service and thosedemonstrating sea safety.”

eBayThe Charity Finance/ProfessionalFundraising Charity Shops Survey

released this monthhighlights charities’concerns at thepotential loss ofrevenue and qualitydonated goods, asthe public choosesto sell items onlinefor their own



A

still in the early stages and evencorporate players are still trying towork out how to do it. Some areexperimenting with adverts within thepodcast, while others are involvingsponsors. Other companies charge afee for each download. Take the RickyGervais podcasts as an example. Arecord-breaking two million peopledownloaded his free podcasts fromThe Guardian’s website at the end oflast year. Now they are no longer free.His reputation for comedy clearlyprecedes him and people will pay tolisten to good content. Encouragingly,the top 100 podcasts on iTunesinclude current affairs anddocumentaries, not just comedy andmusic, so there’s clearly an appetitefor hearing about the issues peoplecare about. But you will need extraspecial content in order for people to pay for a podcast. For example, do you have links with a famous band that would be willing to producean exclusive single for you? Or do you have the results from a specialreport that people would be willing to pay for?

Sarah Prag, senior project managerat BBC Radio and Music Interactive,says charities could encouragedonations by producing a podcastthat tells a story. “An unfolding storyabout a project on the ground,possibly with contributions frombeneficiaries, would be a great way toensure that people kept listening,”she says. “Podcasts are also a greatway to explore issues that might notget much airtime on conventionalmainstream media. And however they are used, they could include a

message to prompt listeners to makea donation.”

International fundraising academicAdrian Sargeant reckons thatpodcasts represent a significant‘supporter-get-supporter’opportunity. He says: “It has thepotential to become a significant‘development’ media, particularly for charities with a younger cohort of donors – by younger I mean under 50 years of age, although this will broaden with time. Onrecruitment, communicationpreferences can be logged anddonors’ kept up-to-date with the workof the organisation in an entertainingand informative way. I think this willbe the next growth area in onlinecharity communications.”

While many people believepodcasting to be a technical andcomplicated process, it is actuallyquite simple. Podcasting is a method ofpublishing audio files via the internet,allowing users to subscribe to a feed toreceive new files automatically – justlike subscribing to a magazine. Thename, which comes from ‘ipod’ andbroadcast’, is a misnomer in thatpodcasting doesn’t require an iPod andno over-the-air broadcasting isrequired. Any digital audio player orcomputer with audio playing software

Podcasting and blogging are hot topics at the

moment, but is there any way charities can use

them to raise funds?

podcasting & blogging

‘The key to success will

be to produce compelling

updates that people

want to hear.’

EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT ...

new media

Listen closely

JUDE HABIB explores the potential of podcasting

Audio is an exciting, emotive andpowerful tool that is under-used bythe fundraising sector. It is personal,intimate and enables charities tocommunicate to different (and new)audiences in a way that is not onlyexciting but cost-effective too.

Podcasting is an offshoot ofblogging, which is the art of keepinga public diary on the web and invitingentries and comments. It has beenseized on by companies, publishersand broadcasters searching for new ways of attracting audiences in this digital age. BMW, IBM, Virgin,The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times have all recognised therole podcasts will play in the future of corporate communications. VirginRadio, for example, has produced the UK’s first mobile podcast, whichenables listeners to download Virgin Radio onto their mobilephones, while The Telegraph hasintroduced British gallery andmuseum guides that can bedownloaded as podcasts.

So can podcasts be used to makemoney? Yes they can – you only haveto look at people’s willingness to payfor music downloads to see that theyhave potential. However, ideas are



can play podcasts or burn them ontoCD, meaning the information or musicis portable and can be listened to atany time. There is no shortage ofindividuals with the necessaryequipment to utilise this technology –57 million MP3 players were sold in2005, including 32 million iPods.

Additionally, they are relativelyeasy to produce – and the cost ofobtaining the software, recordingequipment and a day of trainingcomes in at around £1,000.

Yet while many charities are usingpodcasting as a means of educating

supporters about an aspect of theirwork (the ILPH’s download explainshow the ragwort weed can poisonhorses, while St John Ambulanceprovides first aid training,) only veryfew charities have identified it as afundraising mechanism. Ben Paine at MedAir is one of them.

“It fits very well with who we areand what we do. We’re an emergencyrelief organisation that concentrateson the forgotten crises of the worldand we think podcasting is a reallydynamic mechanism that wouldenable us to give a voice to thepeople living in these areas. Over thenext year, we are planning to equipour field staff with a MP3 recorderand microphone, and then to uploadthe podcast onto our website as wellas send it out to our donors.”

If you do decide to produce apodcast, don’t forget this advice fromBBC’s Prag: “Podcasts have thepotential to be much more direct andeffective than, for example, directmail or emails, but only if the contentis good. It’s one thing to get people tosubscribe, but another to keep theminterested. The key to success will beto produce compelling updates thatpeople want to hear.”

Jude Habib spent ten years as a BBCradio producer and now specialisesin podcasting for the third sector.

Find out more about podcasting www.apple.com/itunes/podcastswww.podcastingnews.com

Some podcasting platformswww.odeo.comwww.podcastvalley.comwww.mobilecast.comwww.mypodcastcenter.com

Training• Podcasting workshop by Jude

Habib. Tel: 020 8888 2951. • New Media seminars by the

Media Trust.www.mediatrust.org

Resources

new media

To blog or not to blog…

JASON POTTS looks at the value ofblogging for fundraisers

The word ‘blog’ wasn’t around whenmy paper dictionary (yes, they do stillexist!) was printed, so I figured it islikely to be one of those New Mediaterms that everyone talks about butonly a few actually know what it is. So,for those of you afraid to ask, here isone take on what a blog is and how itmight be used to fundraise. If youhave other thoughts, then why not setup a blog?

The word itself is short for web-log.Most simply expressed, a blog is anonline diary.

While online diaries have existedfor years, the term blog was morespecifically coined around theautomated process of publishingpersonal pages, most notably atwebsites such as www.blogger.com.Blogger.com defines a blog as apersonal diary; a daily pulpit; ormemos to the world. It is often amixture of what is happening in aperson’s life and what is happeningon the web, a kind of hybriddiary/guide site, although there areas many unique types of blogs asthere are people.

They are made up primarily of textand hyperlinks, though some have



pictures (photoblogs) or in somecases video (videoblogs). Somewebsites enable blogs to be updatedvia mobile phone (mblog) and otherseven let the blogger call their blog onany phone and leave a message thatis immediately posted as an MP3audio file.

Blogging has its roots in the world ofelectronic communities, such as chatrooms and bulletin boards. The firstreal blogs or online diaries started in1994, but didn’t become popular until2001 when in the US they were mostnotably used for political commentary.Since then they have becomeinfluential in swaying opinion andgetting issues into the mainstreammedia – not just in America but allaround the world. In the UK, MPs usethem as a way to reach out toconstituents and the press has alsorealised their popularity. When TheGuardian recently redesigned itslayout, it introduced a daily blogdigest on page 2.

According to a study by the PewInternet and American Life Projectreleased in January 2006, more thaneight million Americans have startedblogs, and 27 per cent of internetusers surveyed said they read blogs –a 58 per cent jump since lastFebruary. Additionally, 12 per cent of internet users have postedcomments to blogs.

For charities, blogging really cameinto its own during the tsunamiemergency. In addition to formal non-profit, agency-led advocacycampaigns, informal commentatorshad an unprecedented influence onconsumer opinion through theironline diaries. The Americandemocratically-oriented political blogsite, www.dailykos.com, had postingscontrasting the amount of funds per

capita committed by the US versusother countries, and also comparedgovernment contributions to thetsunami relief efforts with the Floridahurricane relief efforts. MedecinsSans Frontieres used text messaging(posted on blogs) to report fromaffected areas in Sri Lanka andSouthern India, while Unicef targetedbloggers, such as the Daily KOS, bytaking banner ads on the sites.During this period a single blog isknown to have raised aroundUS$10,000 for one emergency relieforganisation. Similarly, more than$1.2m was raised through blogs inthe wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Academic institutions are findingthat blogs can be a useful way ofraising funds by using alumni toengage their friends and formerclassmates in fundraising initiatives.Medical charities are also finding aniche in the blogosphere, whereindividuals suffering from variousconditions set up blogs thatdocument their treatment or their lifein general as they live with theirillness and then link through to charitysites where viewers can makedonations to support care.

Blogs also enable people workingwithin charities to show their work ina very real and human way – in themain around emergency relief

situations. This could be anyone froma doctor in the field to, in Oxfam’scase, its chief executive BarbaraStocking logging a diary of her visit toAceh. Celebrity blogs also seem avery likely source of instant attention,a daily report by A-listers such asAngelina Jolie or Robbie Williamsreporting from the field wouldcertainly guarantee great exposure.Indeed, Paul McCartney and HeatherMills could be found blogging fromthe ice in support of banning theCanadian seal hunt earlier this year.

Fundraisers have also used them topromote and show the progress ofindividuals doing challenge events(see case study). They use postings toprovide engaging content in a differentvoice to the one the organisation itselfnormally uses. This can also ease thecontent production burden on usuallypressed in-house staff.

Are blogs here to stay? It looks thatway. And just in case you hadn’t quitehad enough of ridiculous new words,the latest evolution of the blog is thatof the Blook, where a blog is printedand distributed in much the same wayas a traditional book! So, things seemto have come full circle. Whatever next?

Jason Potts is director of digitalactivity at THINK ConsultingSolutions ■

new media

Pete Thomas is using a blog (http://www.petethomas.co.uk/blog) tohelp raise funds for his trek along the Inca Trail in Peru. His chosencharity is Action On Pre Eclampsia (APEC)

“My blog currently focuses on my trainingschedule, however after I’ve completed the trekI shall continue to use it to fundraise for APECand other charities. I raise money by directingpeople to my website where they can buy

music, as well as encouraging donations via justgiving. It’s also easier tosend follow-up emails requesting further donations if I can direct therecipient to information showing them how hard I am training.

I promote the blog via links from my website and by using searchengine optimisation, which enables it to feature prominently on Googlewhen people search for the words “fundraising blog” or “peru trek blog”.

The research I have done so far into the effectiveness of the blog showsthat it really does seem to be working; people are now making seconddonations and I am managing to get new sponsors all the time. Thefeedback I get shows they appreciate the effort I’m putting into the project.

I’m hoping that people will find the blog interesting and witty as wellas informative and that in time, they will start to create links to it,increasing its popularity.

To date, I’ve raised £2,096 towards my target of £2,650 – much ofwhich has come via my blog.

Peru case study

The easiest way to find out is to go towww.blogger.com and set one up yourself – it shouldonly take a few minutes. Some other sites worthtaking a look at to familiarise yourself with theblogoshere are www.technorati.com (which lists thetop 100 most popular blogs), www.slashdot.comand www.globeofblogs.com. Google has a blogsearch engine and there is even a listing site forcharity blogs to be found athttp://dir.blogflux.com/cat/charity.html

How to blog



new media

want to receive further information,are perfectly acceptable. In fact thelaw does not require either an opt-inor opt-out. If individuals are informedabout the purposes for which datawill be used, and they choose to sendyou their information, then that issufficient consent. Of course theremay be other reasons why you wouldwish to allow people to opt out.

Other legal issuesI have focused on the top threeconcerns brought to me by newmedia fundraisers but there are alsosome key basic legal compliancepoints that should not be forgotten:• Fundraising webpages should

carry company and charityregistration details. For websitesrun by the trading company then of course the number will bedifferent and there won’t be acharity registration number

• If you use cookies, individuals mustbe told of this (it is sufficient forthis to be mentioned in the websiteterms and conditions)

• Don’t forget to include the Gift Aidstatement for online donations. If you are taking credit carddonations online and do not use anencrypted system there must be anotice informing people of this.

• I would recommend that you do notaccept donations online fromoverseas, since it is hard to be surethat the charity will be acting incompliance with overseas laws.

Finally I would recommend readingthe revised Code on ElectronicFundraising recently published by the Institute of Fundraising, andimmediately declare an interest here, as I helped write it!

LawrenceSimanowitz is apartner in thecharity departmentof Bates, Wells,and Braithwaitesolicitors.■Le

gal m

aste

rcla

ssThe good, the bad and the uglyThe regulation associated with new media fundraising can be complicated.

Lawrence Simanowitz explains what fundraisers need to do to avoid falling

foul of the law

IIn recent times it has seemed as if the law would be unable to catch up with the myriad ways in which new technology could be used.People saw the internet as thelawless wild west, with judges andlegislators being unable to keep upwith the ever-moving frontiers of thenew territories.

But over the years the law has caught up. And while a few areas ofambiguity do still exist, it is becomingincreasingly clear what new mediafundraisers have to do to keep on theright side of the law:

CopyrightWebsites are a minefield of potentialcopyright infringement, not onlybecause they can be accessed byanybody anywhere, but also becauseof the multiplicity of media that canbe used. Sophisticated appeals might‘exploit’ rights owned by severaldifferent creators – even on just asingle web page the text might havebeen written by one person, photostaken by another, the overall designcreated by a third, while theunderlying software code will almostcertainly belong to someone else. Ineach case, if these are not created bystaff members, you will needclearance to use them. This should beaddressed in your contract withconsultants/freelancers.

No formal steps are needed toprotect materials published on awebsite – you will continue to own therights. However I recommend thatwebsite terms and conditions makeclear which rights you are prepared togrant – for instance permission for non-commercial or purely private use.While it is not necessary to do so, someorganisations like to show that theytake copyright seriously by using astatement in the following form: © Name of charity, year.

Creators are also entitled to demandan acknowledgement or ‘credit’. Theonly exceptions are if the creator is anemployee, or if they have waived their

right. Again the contract should dealwith this.

Disability Discrimination Act 1995Under this Act, most websites mustavoid less favourable treatment ofdisabled people and makereasonable adjustments to enablethem to use it. Adjustable font sizesand compatibility with voiceconversion software are some of thesteps that need to be considered.Although so far there have been nocases under this Act involvingwebsites, it is only question of time,so steps should be taken now toensure compliance. I normallyrecommend the guidelines issues byRNIB on their website as a goodstarting point, though there are moresophisticated guides and yourwebsite designers should also befamiliar with these.

Data ProtectionWe recently have had to help a high-profile national charity which got intotrouble because of variousinconsistent and badly draftedstatements made when personaldetails were collected. It has tens ofthousands of supporter details whichit now cannot use.

While those in other departments(especially if you have a campaignsteam) may disagree, my view is that the initial data protectionstatement should be cast in thewidest possible terms. In otherwords, when information is collected,individuals should be told of allpossible purposes for which theirdata will be used. Trying to changethe uses later may be unlawful.

Fundraisers also can get vexedabout the question of consent.Regulations introduced in 2003 meanthat consent is required to sendunsolicited direct marketing usingelectronic means. However, consentdoes not mean that individuals haveto tick to ‘opt-in’. Opt-outs, wherebyindividuals must tick if they don’t


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Documents

Spotlight on New Media · the donation. The mobile marketing agencies that run the campaigns – think Incentivated, Flytxt, justgiving, Charity Technology Trust, txt-appeal – will