Virtual may be reality for Hamilton nonprofit looking to adapt to ‘new normal’
Published June 18, 2020 at 3:44 pm
A Hamilton non-profit is proving that virtual could become the new reality for effective fundraising campaigns in the months and years to come.
A Hamilton non-profit is proving that virtual could become the new reality for effective fundraising campaigns in the months and years to come.
The Cancer Assistance Program (CAP), recently held their sixth annual CARE Walk virtually and, to date, it’s been the most successful they’ve had.
Ashlee Leggett, CAP’s manager of fund development, told InTheHammer that the virtual walk generated close to $65,000 in funds for the organization.
This is more than the walk has ever generated and it surpassed CAP’s $45,000 goal for the event.
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“The community really stepped up,” Leggett said.
“Not that we’re really surprised by that, because it’s always been a very supportive community, but we just didn’t know what to expect.”
Leggett points out that given the digital format of this year’s event, much of the overhead costs associated with the physical event, usually held at Bayfront Park, are no longer a factor.
“So little of that money went towards expenses,” she explained. “It’s pure revenue that goes directly into services.”
Since the success of the walk, and CAP’s Drive to Deliver program, which was launched in response to COVID-19 in an effort to keep their clients supported, CAP has been contacted by several organizations to understand how they kept going through the pandemic.
“When we closed our offices on March 16, we didn’t know what we were going to do,” said Debbie Logel Butler, CAP’s executive director.
“We knew we couldn’t just stop. Cancer doesn’t just go away and we have a body of individuals who need us.”
So, the team at CAP and its Board of Directors went to work to figure out how to move forward at a time when the world was coming to a halt.
“It was really all a blur, in the beginning,” Butler said. “But our board really just gave us the support to go ahead and think outside the box.”
They came up with the Drive to Deliver program which was providing contactless deliveries of nutritional supplements, incontinence products and food for cancer patients still undergoing treatment.
The program was wildly successful, thanks to support from private donors, grants and CAP’s semi-annual mailer fundraiser in May — a campaign the team struggled with whether or not to undertake in the shadow of a pandemic.
“We knew how everyone was struggling [with the pandemic],” Leggett said, “But then we remembered why we do this and we have nothing to lose from trying.”
The response was overwhelming and the initiative has helped hundreds of cancer patients in this time of uncertainty.
“People were just looking for ways to help any way they could,” Leggett said. “It was a fast and furious response [from the community] and we’re so glad we did it.”
The walk, however, was a different beast: the walk, in its traditional form, would require physical presence and inviting people to leave their homes, which contravened physical distancing and stay-at-home protocols in place at the time.
“Just before lockdown, we had everything ready to go [for the walk],” Butler said. “Then just like that we weren’t sure we could have it at all.”
Not trying was not an option for this grassroots Hamilton organization that depends entirely on the support of their community.
An in-depth Google search gave the CAP team the idea to try something completely different and take the walk to the digital sphere.
“It wasn’t a difficult thing to do,” Leggett said.
The team got to work figuring out how to adapt their website to the endeavour and setting parameters for participants.
“We wanted to encourage people to get active but given [the pandemic] we didn’t want to encourage people to go out too much so why not get active in the comfort of your home?” Leggett said.
They developed a social media kit for participants and sponsors to use on the day of the walk to keep everyone connected.
“We ramped up social media more than ever before,” Leggett explained. “The reach became broader. Sponsors were getting some great exposure. We noticed for the first time people from outside of [Hamilton] were participating.”
Butler says without social media they wouldn’t have come near to the success they achieved.
“Investing in social media and the people who have experience with it is worth every penny,” she said.
Following the CARE Walk, the CAP team wanted to understand more about its success and how participants responded to the new format so they sent out a survey.
They were pleasantly surprised by the findings.
“Donors are mostly interested in pure philanthropy,” Butler said. “Most people [who responded to the survey] said they didn’t want all the bells and whistles,” that can eat into fundraising revenues like swag and big parties.
They also found that many of this year’s CARE Walk participants liked having the option to complete their activity of choice at their own pace and in their own time.
“The world is changing and we’re all re-aligning,” Butler said. “We’re going to figure out a new way to do things.”
Specifically, one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for CAP, their annual Gala in November.
Many experts are predicting a second wave of COVID-19 in the Fall, with the peak expected in October and November.
“We’re a bit nervous about it,” Butler said. “But what we’ve done so far has given us the courage to motor on and try new things.”
In the meantime, for those out there looking for ways to adapt their organization to our new reality, Leggett and Butler are eager to share their story and encourage others to reach out to them if they need help.
“We saw other services that were paralyzed with fear,” Butler said. “And I would say to them [boards of directors] to trust in the people you have running your organization and trust in your mission.”
Leggett adds: “We have to remember why we’re doing this.”
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