P2P Professional Forum Webinar

St. Baldrick’s Foundation

Bring ‘Em Back: Inspiring & Engaging Your Charity’s Most Valuable Assets

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The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is the world’s largest volunteer-powered organization for childhood cancer. We’re committed to funding the most promising research to find

cures for childhood cancers and to give survivors long and healthy

lives.

We’re known for our signature head-shaving events where people get bald to stand in solidarity with kids fighting cancer

and raise money to support childhood cancer research.

We get our volunteers to come back, year after year, with effective communication, by empowering them to

empower their peers, and because we don’t host events, we create experiences.

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More than 2,600 volunteers have participated for 7+ years!

Communication is Critical

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Data on the internet will increase by 500% in the next 5 years!

This means it’s only going to get more difficult to get your voice

heard and messages out to your supporters.

How can you avoid this?

Create content that speaks to your audience! Get your

audience to share with their audience! Learn to test and

adapt!

Get your volunteers to come back year after

year by…

• Developing imagery and messages that inspire supporters.

• Communicating with peer-to-peer fundraisers in ways that move them to act on your behalf again.

• Training and equipping chapter staff or volunteers to create memorable experiences.

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Top Ten Tips for Bringing ‘Em Back

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#1 Connect the Dots: People, Purpose, and Profit.

Create content that highlights why your organization exists. The most powerful content emotionally connects the audience to the cause. Make your content informative and use it as your call to action.

Use conferences to bring your supporters closer to the cause.

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#2 Show your unique personality on social media and engage your audience.

Connect with those who follow your accounts by following them back and liking/commenting on their posts to your page. Communicate with your

volunteers like you would a good friend or family member – listen to what they’re saying.

And most importantly, have fun with your content!

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#3 Empower your volunteers to tell their story.

If your organization doesn’t already have a blog, create one. Use your blog to get volunteers to tell their story. A story is most powerful

when it’s coming directly from the person who lived the experience.

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#4 Build a community.

Create a Facebook group and invite your volunteers to connect with each other.

Host a conference where your best fundraisers can meet and collaborate.

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#5 Create an experience.

Invite people affected by your organization to events to meet your volunteers – show your volunteers who they’re raising money for and

why it’s important.

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#6 Be transparent. Show your impact.

Make sure your volunteers know how important they are to your organization’s success.

Tell stories about people who have benefited from your organization.

“The consistency of the message across communication forms is

key. To get someone’s participation they need to be impacted by the message.”

-Robbie, 5-year St. Baldrick’s Volunteer

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#7 Follow-up

Don’t be afraid to follow-up with your volunteers! It can be as simple as updating your audience on a story you’ve told before or it could

mean sending reminder emails to volunteers who haven’t reregistered for your events.

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#8 Recognize your loyal supporters in unique and fun ways.

Cheer them on along the way!

Use social media to highlight your best volunteers.

Create programs to publicly recognize your best fundraisers.

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#9 Thank your volunteers in personal ways.

Don’t just send a standard or generic thank you card. Make it personal! Look for reasons to say thanks, like National Volunteer

Week or Thanksgiving.

Feature special people in your community on social media. Send a hand-written card, or make a video thanking your volunteers.

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#10 Make volunteering easy.

Provide resources and tools that make volunteering effortless.

The easier it is for a person to volunteer and fundraise, the more likely they are to come back and do it again.

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“The volunteers become family. It’s imperative to put a face to

the cause.”

-Garrett 10-year volunteer

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Q & A

Inspired to host your own St.

Baldrick’s “Brave the Shave” event?

To learn more, visit:

www.stbaldricks.org/get-involved

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