e-campaigning and the economy

Submitted by Graham on Tue Feb 17, 2009

I came across some data from the most recent Charity Forecast Survey conducted by the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in the UK. 

"Four out of 10 charity leaders expect to increase their campaigning and service provision despite gloomy predictions about the impact of the economic crisis, a survey has suggested.

Only 4 per cent of the 167 respondents to the NCVO survey said they expected to do less campaigning over the next three months; 41 per cent said they expected to do more."

So what could this mean?  In the same survey, 43 per cent of respondents expected their own organisation's situaiton to worsen in the same period.

I would like to suggest that charities have recognised that campaigning, while intended to change government policies, can also bring additional benefits to help the charity to grow: growing the supporter base, cross promotion to activists of fundraising and volunteering, firming up the relationship with existing supporters and donors.

None of these things happen just becasue you start e-campaigning.  But it is clear that with good strategy and objectives online campaigning can deliver significant benefits to charities.  Especially in a recession!

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