Gedling Borough Council’s recent funding campaign has drawn in substantial funding in support of local residents in need of food during the crisis. The campaign funding target, which started at £20,000, was met within the first 48 hours and this target was subsequently revised as £25000. This target was also achieved and resources are now being distributed to food banks supporting the council’s COVID-19 response.

The campaign’s success is owed, in part, to clear and simple campaign strategy, involving multiple technologies and handful of messages, shared via different platforms. Spacehive provided the crowd funding platform and campaign messaging was spread through traditional press, social media and, most effectively, email. Using multiple platforms helped the council to engage a more diverse audience and maximise reach.

The campaign email was sent to 19,000 subscribers, had a 51% open rate (9,620 users) and the link was clicked through by nearly 1,000 users. The email had a strong, emotive subject line and a clear call to action. The council used the image of a local foodbank in the email and created strong branding around our ‘Giving for Gedling’ logo, which was used for several campaigns as part of the COVID-19 response. The familiarity of this branding helped to reassure residents that the email came from a trusted source and therefore ameliorate concerns it might be a scam.

The social media aspect of the campaign was managed through Orlo, an online engagement platform, involving three main platforms, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The posts were short, with a strong brand and clear call to action. Facebook proved the most successful as it used by most community members.

The communications and broader strategy surrounding this campaign were developed by the council’s communications team in collaboration senior management and leadership.