WHAT MAKES CHARITY EVENTS LIKE CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH SO POWERFUL?
It’s all there in the ads, hashtags, celebrity endorsements, fundraising appeals and golden ribbons: September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in SA, and few other causes inspire more widespread support.
“This makes it the perfect time for supporters of the relevant charities to start their fundraising appeals, and for the charities themselves to make the most of the heightened awareness,” says Jannie Smith, regional manager: sub-Saharan Africa at GivenGain, a global online crowdfunding platform for charity.
Big days (and months) for charity
In fact, says Jannie, awareness months throughout the year are big opportunities for fundraising – whether you’re a charity, public event, company or just one person or a group of people looking to make a difference.
If these aren’t on your calendar yet for this year or the next, block out a couple of weeks for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month every September, Human Rights Month in March and National Women’s Month next August.
It’s well known that national and international days of giving can focus public generosity, thanks to heightened awareness around their subjects. On Mandela Day 2022, charity supporters raised more than R680 000 for 77 of their favourite causes on GivenGain, while Giving Tuesday in November brings in huge support for charities around the world every year.
In fact, charities, events and fundraisers can even create their own giving days. The Boston Marathon set up its official charity program in 1989, and the 2022 race raised just under $35.6 million (R630 million) for area charities around the big event. Meanwhile, One in an ARMY, a fundraising group of pop group BTS’s fans, hold regular fundraising challenges to celebrate their favourite band members’ birthdays.
So why are specific days of giving so special – and how can you get involved as a fundraiser or a charity organiser?
Starting a trend
Magic happens when enough charities, events, fundraisers and supporters talk about an awareness month online and use its hashtag. Jumping on Facebook or Twitter’s trending topics gets you even more attention, as browsers click through to see what all the noise is about. The more buzz you create, the more likely people are to fundraise for a charity, donate to a fundraising project, or reshare posts so that even more people see them.
In every outlet
The excitement around big awareness days and months also gets attention from traditional media. As big as social media is, there are still millions of people who get their news from newspapers, TV and radio.
This is great for smaller charities, who usually don’t have enough media clout to start a movement all by themselves, but the biggest non-profits get their fair share of the action too, of course. This year’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month hashtag, #throughyourhands, has been shared by some of the world’s biggest cancer charities including South Africa’s Childhood Cancer Foundation – as well as grassroots charities, healthcare providers, fundraisers and supporters around the world.
It’s not only about money
Raising awareness can be a goal in itself. Making people aware of the early warning signs of childhood cancer puts charities like CHOC a step closer to achieving their mission, even if it doesn’t always lead them to donate straight away.
How can I join in?
Whether you’re a fundraiser or a charity, look for awareness days or months related to the cause you’re supporting. Palliative care charity Patch has this great list of major global awareness days and months.
After you’ve found the day you want to take part in, check out their website to discover if they have an official hashtag that you can use or themed events that you can take part in. If you’re a fundraiser, some charities may even have awareness month fundraising guides, images, social media templates and more that you can use to make your fundraising project a success.
And if you need to create your own day, you can do that too, organising an event, getting corporate sponsors, getting local print media or regional radio support, and of course working social media and e-mail lists for all they’re worth.
And throughout, know that with GivenGain you can have the fundraising portion sorted. Whether you’re a charity starting a new campaign, a fundraiser supporting a cause you care about, or an event looking to attract a new generation of socially conscious entrants, you can get started in just a couple of clicks minutes when you sign up for a free account on non-profit fundraising platform GivenGain.