How The Kids’ Cancer Project boosted fundraising and acquired new donors during Covid

How flexibility helped The Kids’ Cancer Project raise over $1m for cancer research during a pandemic, double its database and adapt to virtual fundraising.

Kids and cancer. Two words you never want to hear in the same sentence.

But, tragically, 90 kids are diagnosed with cancer every month in Australia.

Horrifying numbers to digest 😔

That’s why The Kids’ Cancer Project is dedicated to creating a different world.

A world where kids who do experience the cruelty of cancer will come out the other side - without long-term side effects from harsh treatments.

In their most recent campaign, The Better Challenge, The Kids’ Cancer Project saw a dedicated group of fundraisers strap on their sneakers to run, walk or roll their way through September.

In just one month, the charity raised a jaw-dropping $1.05 million AND almost doubled its supporter base 😲

Staggering stats!

And the best news?

Those funds have been plunged straight into medical research to find cancer treatments that are kinder, gentler and more effective.

The Story behind the story: Stepping into The Better Challenge

For the charity’s first foray into virtual fundraising, they were inspired by the courageous kids they meet every day.

90 Australian children are diagnosed with cancer each month; why not push the community to get active for 90 km?

It was inclusive (fundraisers could do the 90 km in as few or many days as they liked), lockdown-friendly (who wasn’t looking for an excuse to get out of the house?), and it encouraged people to simply ‘do better’ and make a difference during hard times.

And so, The Better Challenge was born.

A virtual fundraising idea to unite the community during Childhood Cancer Awareness month and find:

❤️‍🩹 BETTER treatments

👍🏻 BETTER outcomes

🧒 BETTER cancer care for kids.

Now that’s worth getting sweaty for.

And it seems the rest of Australia agreed!

3,000 new fundraisers came on board from across the country, almost doubling the charity’s database.

Talk about inspiring!

We sat down with two of The Kids’ Cancer Project’s: Kate Fairclough, Head of National Engagement and Natasha Poulos, Community Fundraising Executive.

Talking more about The Better Challenge, they shared their top tips for running a campaign in a pandemic - how they smashed their fundraising goals and why flexibility is the name of the game.

Read on  👇🏼

Tip #1: Keep things flexible

If the last two years have taught us anything, it’s how to pivot at a moment’s notice (well, that along with homeschooling kids, sourcing elusive RATs and rationing toilet paper).

The Better Challenge team totally got this (we told you they were smart).

They launched their campaign while most of us were still in lockdown and unable to travel beyond a 5 km radius of our homes.

Not great for taking part in a fundraising run (or walk or roll), right?

Not so.

The creative crew at The Kids’ Cancer Project simply adapted.

They sent clear messaging to their community about being realistic, staying involved and doing what they could.

So, while some fundraisers didn’t get to their intended 90 km, they didn’t abandon the campaign altogether.

“Our community stayed motivated, kept moving and simply changed their goalposts. In the end, The Better Challenge raised more than double its $500k fundraising target!” Natasha Poulos, Community Fundraising Executive

Love your flexibility, team.

Tip #2: Try teams

Cast your mind back to the height of lockdown.

Gyms are off-limits. You haven’t eaten in a restaurant for months. And the highlight of your day is meeting a friend for exercise.

So for people walking every day anyway, it made perfect sense to raise money for a good cause at the same time.

Cleverly, the savvy organisers at The Kids’ Cancer Project had already got the word out about The Better Challenge (oh yes, plans were bubbling away well before many other charities clocked onto similar fundraising ideas during Covid).

That meant the campaign was top of mind once people decided to choose a charity to get active for.  They could help kids with cancer while making their own mental and physical health a priority - an important to-do during tumultuous times!

“There was strong uptake from individuals to get involved, pull their friends in and fundraise as a team. Similarly, corporates saw it as a way to create connection, motivate their staff and bring a sense of camaraderie to their teams working in isolation.” Kate Fairclough, Head of National Engagement

Tip #3: Embrace incentives

Fundraisers were encouraged to upload photos to social media as they clocked up kilometres.

And there were some party-pleaser prizes (activewear voucher, anyone? Erm, don’t mind if I do!) awarded along the way as people hit certain fundraising milestones.

These were heavily featured across social media channels - both as incentives for fundraisers to keep pushing and recognise peoples’ achievements.

Because who doesn’t like being recognised for their hard work?

Tip #4: Make the most of matched giving

Throughout the campaign, The Kids’ Cancer Project held not one but TWO matched giving days with generous corporate sponsors, QBE and RAMs.

Kate recommends a matched giving period to spur fundraisers on when excitement levels have started waning (read: somewhere in the middle of the campaign when initial enthusiasm has dropped, but the end still seems a loooong way away).

“Our matched giving days really paid off - collectively, they raised almost $250K!” Kate Fairclough, Head of National Engagement

Tip #5: Nurture your supporters

The Better Challenge organisers made the call (literally) to give the campaign a personal touch.

Natasha hit the phones (both voice and SMS) and reached out to countless fundraisers to answer questions, give supportive advice and generally rev them up to last the distance.

Similarly, the campaign’s corporate teams connected with organisations taking part, so they knew how to pull in employees to participate.

Tip #6: Get the right tools for the job

The Kids’ Cancer Project team use Raisely’s peer-to-peer fundraising tools for their campaigns.

And these came in super handy during The Better Challenge.

Organisers could track trends and behaviours of their fundraisers - from the moment they signed up to the day they reached their goals.

With the peer-to-peer fundraising platform, the Kids’ Cancer Project team could drop into their dashboards every day for a hot update.

In a quick click, they’d find:

• An easy overview of the days spent fundraising
• Reports for more in-depth analysis and trends
• Marketing automation options (to reach the 3,000 participants easily and reactively!)
• Campaign updates for action steps

This gave the team the data it needed to respond to all issues efficiently - and effectively.

Just one way to make fundraisers feel as special as they are!

Tip #7: Listen to your community

As with any campaign, the organisers put a lot of effort, thought and planning into crafting their communications strategy.

But as time went on, the team realised their initial approach was falling flat.

For whatever reason, people weren’t loving the imagery, nor the frequency with which their inboxes were being hit with emails.

So, The Kids’ Cancer Project did what any good charity does: they panicked slightly (only for a second), recovered, then tweaked their communications.

And that did the trick.

They incorporated photos of teams and went for a more active ‘get this done’ look.

They stopped communicating quite so much (but still enough to show they cared) and adjusted their copy to match.

And, they put a hold on brand ads so the charity could focus solely on The Better Challenge.

Before long, they saw a huge uplift.

The challenge was back on track!

They’d swiftly responded to the community’s needs, winning them more supporters and kicking their fundraising goals out of the (running) park.

A little extra advice…

Feeling inspired to get this year’s fundraising off to a cracking start?

Jot down these tips from the team at The Kids’ Cancer Project.

💻 Consider a virtual event

Ever thought about straying from IRL events? Now could be your chance!

Virtual events don’t stop for anything - least of all lockdowns or location of your supporters.

So, no matter what the coming months and years bring, a virtual event will future-proof your fundraising.

Chuck one into your campaign calendar now!

☀️ Warm up your community pre-launch

Switch your community on before your campaign kicks off.

This’ll give you a chance to make sure everything is tip-top before things go live.

Share the link with a limited group and listen (carefully!) to feedback.

You can then fix things that aren’t quite right, so when launch day comes along, everything is bang on.

Fundraising during a pandemic: yes, it’s possible

Got a virtual fundraising idea you think your supporters would love?

Give it a go!

Book a demo today to see how you can partner with Raisely to win new supporters and flatten your fundraising goals.

Because while the world looks uncertain these days, you can be sure your community still wants to help.

And so do we.