'If you don't say it no one can listen.'

Manchester Housing Festival got off to an inauspicious start as a man in a full lion suit watched volunteers huddled around in the cold and drizzle as a man put up the much needed gazebo. Keen to get going but unable to hand out flyers due to his paws, John the lion waited for another Wythenshawe volunteer to help him and they headed out to find the best pitch near the tram stop.

David

An urgent plea for people to take part in some filming led to me and Heather being outside a Subway in Trafford in the rain as the Homes for Britain film makers got the ‘final’ shots they needed for the campaign film.

Whilst we faced the curious stares of passers by and those on the bus David got stuck in carrying the flag, a responsibility he embraced with all the seriousness required of some people dressed in fuscia tabards pretending to be on a housing march on a wet Wednesday afternoon.

A gift that keeps on giving

When for my birthday I asked for donations to my charity instead of presents none of my friends or family thought that was such a good idea. To be fair many of them give already but generally people like to give gifts, to pick something out and see it be appreciated. To me the idea of getting donations without painful form filling, standing in the cold or embarrassing ‘asks’ seems like a great gift but for people who can’t see it being spent, see the money making a difference or people enjoying what it provides for them it’s perhaps less rewarding.

With donations as with gifts it’s great to be able to see it make someone happy.

Apples, oranges and bananas

A couple of weeks ago on Twitter there was a flurry of promotion for a new account, City of Sanctuary Manchester. I'd heard a little about the movement in other cities so clicked through to the webpage and saw they were looking for support. I've done various bits of volunteer work in the past and it's sometimes tricky to feel that you'll be able to make a difference in a new group but I got in touch with their only paid member of staff, the enthusiastic Lynda.

Strike the match and the unknown

"The trust to communicate cannot await the other person's promise to reciprocate or the conversation will never begin"

Iris Marion Young

I'm a great believer in measuring, clicks, engagement, verbal feedback and conversions. This is probably what drew me to digital marketing in the first place. Last week I came up with an idea for a little campaign that didn't really allow for any of this. 

Social media: mundane to inspirational

Digital engagement for Bolton at Home can mean anything from online repairs enquiries to our staff chatting with customers through Facebook. We offer our staff training on using social media and are encouraged to use it to communicate where it fits with their job role. For more formal corporate services we have an IT and customer access strategy which is at introducing how we embed digital services across the business.

Challenges faced are similar when introducing new ways to engage to both staff and customers. Customers will generally only get involved when they need something – to campaign against bedroom tax, to contact someone when they have no phone credit or to make a complaint.

Learning and inspiration from others at the IOFNW conference

Slightly belated post on the Institute of Fundraising’s NorthWest conference...

Running a charity in evenings and one day a week doesn’t leave much time for stepping back and reflecting on what you do and having being offered a bursary by conference sponsor TPP it was fantastic to be able to have time and space to be able to spend time with other fundraisers and consider what we need to be doing as an organization.