The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park are doing an appeal with a target of £5000 to get the Burdick family monument repaired. The FoTHCP is the charity looking after the beautiful, atmospheric cemetery park, which opened in 1841 and closed for burials in 1966. It has been a public park ever since, a quiet escape for humans and nature, conservation volunteering, dog walking, and a children's nature club.   In February 2019 a storm blew over one of the first trees planted about 175 years ago, the only silver lime we had.. It hit the Burdick family monument, an Egyptian-style obelisk. The monument broke into seven big, heavy pieces, and it’s going to cost £5,000 to put it together again permanently and safely.   Our biggest challenge is to repair the monument as soon as possible, because if it gets below freezing this winter, frost can break cracks in the stone and make the repair even more expensive.       The monument is the family vault of James & Amy Burdick. They aren't buried here, but two of their sons are. James and Amy had 6 children. James Henry, William, Charles all died before their parents, but Alfred, Lydie and Ethel survived.   The Burdicks were part of the Burdick & Cook merchant shipping company in Poplar. Sadly the company was as lucky with their ships as James and Amy were with their sons. There was a ship with Lydie's name, but it was torpedoed in 1918 by a German submarine. The SS Buresk and SS Burbridge were also sank during WWI.   James Henry drowned aged 21 and was buried in Sebastopol in the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea, likely on company business. William died when he was 20 years old, and Charles was only 7. We're not sure yet what happened to Alfred and Ethel, but Lydie married a baronet and became Lady Greenaway.   If you'd like to see the Burdick monument for yourself, the cemetery park is open every day.

Our Appeal pages are a proven way to raise funds and awareness for a new project or an urgent need. Appeal pages can help you focus your supporters’ attention on a particular issue - whether it be the need for extra funding for specialist equipment to make your activities accessible, funding for unforeseen costs such as break-ins, or urgent support for individual beneficiaries. From a pure fundraising perspective -  Appeal pages are an incredibly effective way of bringing in donations quickly. On average Localgiving groups raise 70% more through appeal pages than through fundraising pages. Over the last 12 months our groups raised an average of  £696 through appeals compared to £405 through fundraising pages. Moreover, Appeals provide an excellent opportunity to build awareness of your cause and grow your supporter community. Most effective Appeals make good use of beneficiary stories - enabling you to  highlight the issues you address and the difference you make in a relatable way. Furthermore, Time sensitive appeals are far more likely to be considered ‘newsworthy’ than a general call for support.  We have hosted and helped promote some truly inspirational, life-changing appeals over the years, ranging from saving community services to flood relief. Here are just a couple of our favourites! The Dahlia Project - Leyla Hussein, a leading anti-FGM activist and psychotherapist, set up the Dahlia Project to provide a safe space and therapeutic support for victims of Female Genital Mutilation. When the Dahlia Project came into financial difficulties in 2017, Manor Gardens Welfare Trust set up an appeal on Localgiving. Through harnessing the power of the traditional press, blogs and support from podcasts such as the Guilty Feminist, the appeal successfully raised over £100,000.       Calderdale Flood Relief Appeal - In December 2015, the Community Foundation for Calderdale launched an appeal in response to the Boxing Day flooding after the River Calder burst its banks overnight. Their campaign raised over £2.5m in total, £250,000 of which was generated through their Localgiving appeals page. The fundraising campaign went on to win several awards. Borderlands - Borderlands, a Bristol based refugee charity, have successfully used Localgiving appeal pages to raise funds for individual beneficiaries and their families. Their appeals have ranged from helping beneficiaries pay for family reunion to supporting them to access legal support to help fight deportations. Through focussing on the needs and narratives of their beneficiaries, Borderlands have consistently given an emotional pull and sense of urgency to their appeals. Since joining Localgiving Borderlands have raised nearly £12,000 through their appeals. So, have you been inspired to set up an Appeal?   As a Localgiving member, all you need to do is log in to your Localgiving charity account and go to the "My Pages" tab and click on the button that says "Create an Appeal Page". You can download our 13 tips for running a successful Appeal here, and remember, we are always happy to help promote your fundraising activities through our social media channels or blog. Not an Localgiving Member Yet? Find Our More

  The Crowdfund Wales Programme is now well underway with 13 organisations receiving support with their digital fundraising appeals and they are working hard to reach their £1750 target to unlock the match funding from Localgiving. Programme members are benefitting from 1:1 mentoring sessions to ensure their appeals are planned and promoted well and fundraising messages are reaching far and wide through the their networks and beyond. Here is what Small World Theatre said about the programme: “We have received the right advice for our company so we can engage with the public on a local level as well as giving our supporters who live further afield the opportunity to donate. Localgiving offers marketing support and online tools to help with fundraising. It's been great to meet with Amy on Zoom and chat through ideas.  Thank you!”   No time like the present You might be thinking that now is not a good time to start a fundraising appeal, setting your sights on the summer months when we have hopefully transitioned out of lockdown and are moving into the nicer weather and more outdoor activity – this could be a big mistake! In the world of online fundraising, December and the build up to Christmas always does well in terms of appeals. People are feeling more generous at this time of year and it is the season synonymous with giving! However, spring is the season of re-birth, hope and anticipation for the year. April is the start of the financial year and when people generally start to get their finances in order, not to mention that at the beginning of the month, people will have just been paid. At the moment, during the UK-wide lockdown, we are all online a lot more as we are stuck in their houses. Whilst the pandemic has hit many people hard, resulting in higher levels of unemployment and less disposable income for many, for other people general expenditure has decreased and therefore people are happy to give to those in need. A report published in October 2020 from Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), showed that “between January and June 2020, the public donated a total of £5.4 billion to charity – an increase of £800 million compared to the same period in 2019”. If you are still determined to hold off until the summer, consider this first - how many other local groups may have the same idea as you? These are your direct competitors who will also be planning their outdoor fundraising events and reaching out to your potential donors at the same time. In addition to this, the potential audience for your fundraising messages may be reduced with people making plans with friends and family in the warm weather; no longer sitting in front of their devices ready to click and give. According to recent data from Statista, there are 46.6 million daily internet users in the UK. Think about these people being a captive audience right now – these are your potential donors and also the promotors of your fundraising messages!    Winning formula for appeals So now you have reconsidered the timing of your fundraising campaign, here are some top tips to consider when appealing to the masses and to make it easier for you, they all start with a ‘P’: Make sure your purpose for fundraising is clear. Convey your passion for the cause and ensure people connect with it. People generally need to feel an empathic connection with their donation so ensure you are clear about what you need money for and how their donation will make a difference Never underestimate the need to plan. Tying your launch in with a key date in the diary and segmenting off your network into donors, promoters and potential fundraisers all takes time. The more you plan for your appeal, the more it will pay off Work on your publicity and your press releases. Have you read the local papers lately? They are a bit light on news due to less general activity so now is a great time to get your appeal in the papers. Online versions can have a direct link to your Localgiving donation page too which is an added bonus Be proactive. You will have good days and bad days when it comes to donations so ensure you are promoting your successes and thanking your donors publicly for their support Don’t forget to praise yourself on your efforts. You can segment your appeal into key target milestones and this is psychologically beneficial as it breaks down your total into achievable chunks.   If you are a not-for-profit group in Wales and would like to take advantage of the Crowdfund Wales Programme - receiving more advice about your online fundraising and with the offer of £250 match funding when you have reached your target, you can get in touch with me here.

At Localgiving we like to highlight the inspirational challenges individual fundraisers carry out for our amazing charities and community groups. Every month I (Byron,Localgiving’s Membership Coordinator and helpline guy) will be picking out some of the very best active fundraisers on the platform. Here are some of the most inspiring causes and fundraising appeals we have seen this month: The Liberal Jewish Synagogue - 10,000 Steps commemorate Kindertransport Esta Charkham and Susannah Alexander walked a whopping 10,000 steps on the 2nd of Dec, more than deserving of a sequel Proclaimers song named after them. They achieved this feat to commemorates and celebrate the refugees who were welcomed into the UK in 1938. They have raised a massive £2,585 for  The Liberal Jewish Synagogue. Everyday throughout the year, the synagogue welcomes members and the broader community to a wide range of social, outreach, community care and educational services, activities and programmes for people of all ages. Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support (SARSAS) - Little Vic Big Trek - Everest Base Camp for SARSAS This Christmas I've climbed a mountain novelty toblerone; Vic is climbing Everest! Vic’s challenge starts with 15 days in Nepal where she will have to acclimaise to the altitude. Best of luck from all of the Localgiving team! SARSAS provide free, confidential, trauma informed specialist support and counselling services to relieve the distress and rebuild the lives of survivors of rape and any kind of sexual abuse who are aged 13 and over. They specialise in working with women and girls. SARSAS raises awareness about rape and sexual abuse through informative campaigning, advocating for survivors voices to be heard and training for change.   Young People First- Skydive Challenge 2018 A big well done to every one of the 40 skydivers raising money for Young People First. Between them they have raised a sky-high £4,000! Young People First provides support to some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people living in Warwickshire and Coventry. The vision is to inspire young people to reach their fullest potential and support them in overcoming the personal barriers preventing them from achieving. The charity is committed to providing a long-term, holistic service which is centred on building positive relationships of trust with each young person.    

Social media is vital for the growth of every charity, and is a powerful tool to deepen relationships with your beneficiaries, donors and supporters. Having engaging conversations and interacting with your audience will help you to build trust and relationships online, which in turn can lead to increased donations, traffic and awareness. However, it’s not always easy to engage and grow your charity’s online presence – it takes time, and should be done carefully and thoughtfully. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a range of amazing local charities recently. It has become apparent that working in a small charity often means that there is a lack of resource and time to focus on growing social media. With this in mind, I have compiled a list of seven recommendations on easy ways to help your online presence: 1) Use analytics to inform your content All social media platforms have their own analytics and insights, which show a range of data, including demographic breakdown of your audience, top interests and engagement metrics. By checking these insights on a regular basis across your different social media platforms, you can discover exactly who your audience is (rather than assuming you already know), and tailor content to ensure that it resonates with your audience. For example, on Twitter you can take a deep-dive into your audience’s interests. If the majority of your audience is interested in food and cooking, you could encourage them to carry out a bake sale fundraising at their work, raising money for your charity. 2) Source content from a variety of places (and ensure it’s relevant) (Photo credit: Georgia de Lotz) If all your content is from one source, the level of growth on your social media will quickly stagnate. Ensuring that content is a mix of own publications (blogs) and external publications will keep your audience engaged. If you find it difficult to source content from different places, invest time in creating Google alerts with relevant key words, making a list of publications that post interesting industry news, following thought leaders on LinkedIn, and creating Twitter lists. All of these methods will help keep your content varied, and keep your audience engaged. Remember to keep your target audience in mind – will they find this interesting or useful? What actions will this inspire them to take?   3) Make content visual, with a particular focus on video Research shows that video drives better results. For example, Facebook video posts have the highest average engagement and, on average, will produce twice the level of engagement of other post types. With more and more brands investing in video, charities could benefit from creating their own visual content. Information is more engaging if you see your favourite brand post a funny video or GIF, or explain a process through a helpful infographic. This is also the case for your charity; you can use a variety of content types to grow your audience, using humorous or compelling, interesting content to appeal to your audience. 4) Adapt content for different platforms (Photo credit: William Iven) According to GlobalWebIndex’s flagship report on the latest trends in social media, internet users around the world actively use an average of 7.6 social media channels. Using this data, it is safe to assume that your audience will be active on several different channels, and might even be following you on multiple accounts. As a social media consumer, their expectations of what they will see on each platform will vary. Avoid using the same content in the same format, across different platforms. For example, use fun and colloquial language on Facebook, post opinions on Twitter, and industry news and opportunities on LinkedIn. In addition, make sure image sizes and description lengths are optimised for each channel – always think of the user experience. There are various tools online that can help you to achieve this, for example you can use Canva for free, allowing you to amend images to optimal sizes for each social media platform. 5) Have a process for dealing with negative comments It’s not always sunshine and rainbows in the social media world, and there are often occasions where your charity will have to deal with negative responses online. Having a process in place will allow you to deal with these types of comments in a swift and professional manner. Our simple but effective online harassment infographic will help you navigate the process, with advice on when to comment, when to ignore and when to block. 6) Know what best practice looks like on each platform The layout, functions and purpose of each social media platform are different, therefore what works well on Facebook may not work well on Instagram. By knowing the fundamental basics and best practices of each platform, it will allow you to maximise your charity’s reach and engagement with your audience. If this is an element of your social media strategy that is challenging, then check out our sister company Lightful’s best practice guides for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to help you. 7) Don’t use social media just to promote your organisation and services If you simply promote your own campaigns, you can guarantee that people will soon stop engaging with your platforms and your audience will slowly decrease in size. Social media should be about having a conversation and building relationships, posting a mix of stories about your audience, industry news and thought-leadership articles. This way, people will use your social media as a hub for information, where they can also discover more about exciting campaigns, news and your services. I hope you find this article useful; if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to find us on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram! Angharad Francis is a Community Manager at Social Misfits Media, who work exclusively with charities, foundations, social enterprises and non-profits to help better use social media to reach their goals.   

In the beautiful Welsh coastal town of Goodwick in Pembrokeshire, porpoises have become the hot topic in the community and with Localgiving’s support; one project has been making waves with its online fundraising efforts…   Sea Trust Wales which was the first organisation to join the new Crowdfund Wales Programme, has cause to celebrate this week as in the first five days since setting up their Porpoise Project Appeal with Localgiving, they have raised over £2000 and have unlocked their match funding of £250! Sea Trust Wales is a marine conservation charity based in Pembrokeshire, which focusses on redressing imbalances in ecosystems in the sea and more generally, conserving marine life. Due to the current restrictions, the Catch and Release Aquarium has been closed to the public and some of the vital work of the Trust cannot be undertaken, having a significant effect on the Trust’s fundraising. However, Holly Dunn, a Project Officer for Sea Trust, didn’t let this dampen her spirits and decided to turn to the community and online fundraising to generate some much needed funds.   “As a team, we didn’t have much experience of online fundraising before, we had a donate button but didn’t realise how generous people would be and how much we could increase the profile of the work that we do…we have been overwhelmed by the support of the local community!”   A group of extremely committed volunteers, led by Holly, work on the Porpoise ID Project.  The project is vital for monitoring the health of the marine environment as porpoises are one of the UK’s top marine predators so studying them tells the team a lot about the state of the sea. If porpoise populations decline in UK waters, there would be a huge impact on the food chain, therefore monitoring  is vital to ensure the entire marine eco system in Wales does not become imbalanced. Holly added: “It’s not just the porpoises that benefit from what we are doing; it has a huge impact on the local area offering opportunities for volunteers to help with the data gathering and to understand more about our local marine life. We could not run this project without the backing of our community and we have heard that giving back and being involved in something so rewarding is having a positive impact on people’s mental health during this difficult time”.  If you know of a charity or community group in Wales that might benefit from our Crowdfund Wales Programme or who would like support with their online fundraising generally, please contact our Wales Development Manager: amy@localgiving.org   For Sea Trust Wales, this is very much the start of their online fundraising journey and it is hoped that once their appeal target is reached, people will continue to make regular donations so Holly and the team can continue to protect the health of the seas. To donate to the Porpoise Project Appeal, click here and you can also follow the success of the appeal on Twitter and Facebook.