IoF National Convention: Claire's Legacy - The tragic death of Claire Squires and the impact on...
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The tragic death of Claire Squires and the impact on Samaritans Rachel Kirby-Rider Director of Fundraising & Communications, Samaritans Gemma Randall Head of Charity Partnerships, JustGiving
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On 22nd of April 2012, one of Samaritans' marathon runners died a mile from the finish line of the London marathon. In the days following there was an unprecedented public reaction to Claire's death with over 80,000 individual members of the general public logging onto Claire's JustGiving page and donating to Samaritans in her memory. The reaction and aftermath of Claire's death was never something that could have been planned for, but her story has impacted Samaritans enormously and provided the organisation with a lot of learning's and new ways of working, what we could have done differently, how we could have been more prepared, how should we communicate to our donors.
Transcript of IoF National Convention: Claire's Legacy - The tragic death of Claire Squires and the impact on...
The tragic death of Claire Squires and the impact on Samaritans
Rachel Kirby-Rider Director of Fundraising & Communications, Samaritans
Gemma Randall Head of Charity Partnerships, JustGiving
WHAT WE’LL COVER IN TODAY'S SESSION
The background and the public response
The challenge and subsequent learning’s for Samaritans
Why did this particular event have such an impact?
Could we see something similar happen again?
22 April 2012
METRES FROM THE END…
A seasoned runner & fundraiser
Daughter of a long term volunteer
Attempting to raise £500
PRESS FRENZY
Tipping point – the response became the story
But it was swiftly
followed by what
can only be
described as a
torrent of giving
From £500 to £1,000,000
19095
32087
12016
4240 6331
1916 974 897 729 838 355 0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
23rd April - 28th April
In context...
Normal marathon period = 190,000 visits
per day from 150,000 unique users
+
+ 820,000
622,000
At it’s peak
- 8,000 page views
a minute
- 133 page views
a second
- 4,000 HTTP
request per second
to our servers
- Over 1,000,000
unique visitors
- 2,000,000 hits
over the day
- 13,500 concurrent
users
Where did they donate from?
What did people donate?
£11.68 average donation
£5000 Highest donation
46 People donated more
than once
£5 Average JTG
donation
How did people donate?
PROFILE OF SAMARITANS DIGITAL PRESENCE
Week following Marathon – up 380%
66k vs 17k same time previous year
Visits on Tuesday – up 993%
22k vs 2k same time previous year
People donating online – up 300%
Level of donation – up 400%
Social Media engagement – 80% increase
www.samaritans.org
DONOR COMMUNICATION
Initial ‘Thank you’ sent to 80,054 donors
6,341 donors opted in
6,217 donors still active
Industry standard click through rate is 21.5%
Samaritans’ click through rate is 28%
“How very thoughtful of you to send us all news of the inquest on Claire Squires.”
“It would be nice to be kept up to date with what you have managed to do with all the pennies.”
“Thanks for the update. I am still very happy that I donated on Claire's page.”
“I hope the family can find some comfort in the fantastic work that you will be able to as a result of the money raised by Claire.”
“Claire was an inspiration and I didn't even know her.”
“Her story still touches me very deeply and I hope her family are immensely proud of what she achieved in her short life.”
Establishing Claire’s fund
Public scrutiny
Demonstrate impact
Innovation not core
Samaritans still needed funds…
CHALLENGES
SAMARITANS LEARNINGS
Can’t plan for this but…
Work as a team and stick to your key messages
Don’t be afraid of making a mistake
Communication and cooperation
The power of digital
Why should you learn from this?
People are mobile, social and giving is global
– is that important?
High profile social giving is taking place with
increasing frequency
How the public responded to a tragic public incident in 1997
In contrast to 2012....
What’s changed?
1. Facebook
2. Facebook mobile
3. Twitter
4. Eurosport / Yahoo
5. Daily Mail Online
6. The Sun Online
7. Sky News Online
8. MSN News Online
9. Telegraph.co.uk
10. LinkedIn
Top 10 referrers to JustGiving the week of Claire’s page
26. 19% - from Facebook
(within this 9.7% of all traffic
came from FB mobile)
Distinct shift in public response to public events
I want to set up a page for One Fund
Boston but it isn't on the list
“I'm looking to raise money for those affected in the blasts of the
Boston Marathon. Can you let me know if there is a charity page for
this? If not, what can I do to support? Thanks, David”
Hi It there a way to raise money for the
victims of the Boston Marathon bombs
through JustGiving? Lizzy
Consistent and co-ordinated messaging
JustGiving – lessons learnt
• Reach out to the charity (or family) involved and ensure they
are aware of their options (particularly for controversial pages)
available support via JG PR and customer care teams
• Sharing and agreement on message for social media
• Keep lines of communication open at a level where
decisions can be made quickly
• Being transparent about decision making process. When the
public are being social you need to be as well - in real time.
ANY QUESTIONS…
THANKS FOR YOUR TIME
Rachel Kirby Rider Director of Fundraising and Communications
020 8394 8351
Gemma Randall Head of Charity Partnerships
020 7067 0925
