Author: era92 Creative

Securing donations from organisation advocates or well-wishers can get tricky to maintain for the long haul. Every now and then, you’re going to have to run a fundraising campaign or ask for donations for different causes. But before we get into it, pick some lessons from Charity Water on why video is important in story-telling.

So, how do you consistently create compelling videos that inspire people into donating to your cause?   

1. Have a compelling cause

Often times, people will give you an ear when you have something to say. Do you have a good reason as to why you’re advocating for that cause that even when other people hear of it, they cannot argue against it? Your cause has to irresistibly evoke interest and attention for every single time you call for donations.

People give because they know you’re doing some good work on ground and that you create great impact in the communities or the lives of people you’re transforming. So, make it known to them with evidence of your mission in action in order for them to give.

2. Evoke emotions. 

Did you know that money is emotional? Think about it. All the decisions on how to use your money are based first on how you feel before the logic kicks in. I bet you’ve read many articles on this topic advising you to use an emotional story-telling angle and they’re right. It helps me see you as a fellow human being and understand your struggle.  

At the same time, don’t guilt-trip them. They know that world hunger, youth unemployment, poverty exist. They only lack a reason to care and your role as an organisation is to invoke that reason. You can do so by sharing personal details, fears, and hopes of your beneficiaries that make it clear to viewers that the problem is impacting real people.

 
3. Choose a Relatable Character

Your main character isn’t necessarily an individual but can be community members who act as the “face behind your organization.”  Your character has to be able to connect to your audience. It, therefore, goes without saying that you ought to understand your audience first taking into consideration their demographics (level of education, income, interests, character, etc) For example, Save the Children uses kids as ambassadors in this video to solicit donations to their Child Refugee Crisis Appeal.

In this video of the US4Women campaign, they make a good choice of a relatable character to ask for donations to invest in sewing machines for the women in Katanga.

4. Sense of urgency

Any good copy should draw in people immediately and keep them hooked. Including a sense of urgency in your copy inspires action and this is usually embedded in the lead sentence.  

Let’s take a scenario of a non-profit appealing to the public for donations to invest in vulnerable women’s small businesses. Which of these leads is more compelling?

A. It’s devastating when you have brilliant ideas but no one will invest in them. These women under our care are suffering the same.   

OR 

B. After so many years of harassment, these women escaped domestic violence, came to us to rebuild into business moguls but now, we see that they could fall back into old patterns if they don’t find investors sooner than later.  

Option B gives me a clear image of what’s happening and explains the immediate adverse effects that could happen should they not receive that help they seek.   

5. Educate

You want to generate a video that’s both emotional but educational. The formula to rely on is the 5Ws + H. As you craft your copy, these are some of the questions to ask yourself and help your viewers answer them. For example, what in detail is the problem? Who is facing the problem? Why are they facing that problem? Where are they located? When did the issue arise? How can people help? Facts help you build trust and authority.  

Sometimes, it’s better if you let the community members tell their stories. That way, your viewers match the face with the issue you’re addressing. When you present with human evidence, it’s more believable than words from a C.E.O or Founder alone ever could. 

See how this video of 92hands crossed all the Ts. under this point. 

6. Include a strong Call To Action (CTA)

Give your audience a clear directive with a call-to-action. Your Call to Action will depend on your organization’s goal, but should always be action-oriented. When you ask your audience to donate to your cause, be clear on how much and where they can send the money. Make your call to action strong by making your audience feel capable of making small changes but with huge impact for example, “$10 can feed a child for a month,” “$20 can help educate one more young person.”

Points to note:

• Cross-check to ensure that your donor databases and the donation page work cohesively. If you don’t do this, you risk losing donor funds and probably never getting any in the future.  
• Always give Impact Reports to show your donors what their money was used for so that they have a reason to give another time.

 Try out these tips and let us know how they pan out! Have a great week ahead!

There’s like hundreds of brands of water in the world but you know what happens when you google how many brands there are? Google brings you a couple of links on “Top 10 bottled water brands in the world” or “Top selling popular water brands.” Yes, there are many organizations doing what you’re doing but what are you doing to stand out from them to make top lists? 

Here are a few mistakes to avoid when trying to maximize your organization’s presence online. 

1. Information overload.

This is the root of all chaos. It is easy to appear scattered to your audience if you don’t tread carefully. There’s a lot of information on increasing visibility in the market and at the end of it all, every digital platform mentioned seems like it is important to have. You’re allowed to do as much research as possible but remember to pick out only that which works for you, which brings me to my next point. How do you know what works?

 
2. Don’t be a social media junkie 

There’s a thin line between expanding your presence and simply hoarding apps. It gets tough maintaining and growing different types of audiences because every platform is different. Always keep this in mind. What is our target audience and which social media platforms are the most active? Is your organization about fighting for equality and human rights for women? Then why aren’t you active on Twitter and participating in discussions? That’s a platform you will most likely gain more stakeholders and donors who are in line with your vision. 

3. Your website is not a dumpsite

Most nonprofits starting out know how important it is to have a website and kudos to you who always make it top priority as you roll out. But many forget to make it interactive and organic. They stop at dumping information about the organization i.e. “About Us” “Meet the Team” yet there could be more. Update your website with work you do on ground, create space for your visitors to interact with you, allow them to explore how they can donate, connect you, or give you work. Take a look at some of these interactive websites we’ve designed for Tubeewo, Imani Schools, 92hands, and Kafeero Foundation to give you a full picture.

4. Wordy websites are a no-go

Remember that video is king in the digital world.  It is great with story-telling which is key for any nonprofit. Have words that are only necessary and use video to drive your vision and goals. User’s concentration is not that high so with video, you increase your chances of them learning more about your organization than what they originally came looking for. See how 92 hands communicated their COVID19 Response as opposed to slapping a long article about it.

5. Cheap design is costly

It is important for nonprofits to invest in good web and graphics design right off the bat to set you on a good path. The way you brand yourselves matters a lot because it’s among the qualities that attract your donors, stakeholders, and well-wishers.
It’s crucial that you have an appealing design in the digital space otherwise, you risk losing engagement with your brand.

With these few insights, we have no doubt that your organization will stand out, and in a few years when you google how many nonprofits are in your field, you’ll see yourself in a top 10 list. 

Like many around the world, we too have had to adjust and continue to operate during the lockdown. Surely, we cannot call ourselves a digital agency and fail to live up to that. Besides, COVID19 has proven that in order to survive, one must go digital. Hear from our team on lessons they’ve picked on this global pandemic and how they are managing to keep work moving despite being away from our physical office. 

EMMANUEL TRINITY NSAABANYE

Role at era92: Chief Job Creator

Challenges: My challenge has mainly been to adjust and find more work that is internet-based to keep my team engaged and productive. So, I’ve had to identify companies emerging during this pandemic to outsource us for work and in return help them build their brands. Most of these companies are also trying to adjust to the effects of COVID by taking their business online, i.e. sell their products through an e-commerce tool on the website, help them create a catalog, etc.  

What the future looks like:

1. Due to how COVID has disrupted industries, we are going to have to increase our efforts now more than ever to equip the youth that we train under our Elevate Program with skills like Flexibility, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual & Augmented Reality, Creativity & Critical Thinking. If they can learn these skills, they can survive the wrath of unemployment in the post covid world.  For example, night clubs and public events such as weddings, birthdays and festivals will be the last things they open up but if we can apply Virtual & Augmented Reality, we can help organisers bring an experience to people through social media. 
2. I think that more virtual meetings will be held post COVID vis-a-vis physical meetings. By now, people have realised how much time is saved when you hold an online meeting than drive through traffic for 2 hours to hold a 30 minute meeting. 
3. The other effect is that we’ll have a significantly declined number of tech laggards. Many companies that were reluctant to get online before the pandemic hit have now adjusted to working online

Final thoughts: To everyone out there, the best thing you can do is to commit to a lifetime of learning and unlearning and to up and coming entrepreneurs, this is the best time to start a business because there are many loopholes you can exploit. 

BRENDA JEZIEL NASSALI
Role at era92: Website Developer  

Tools: I am using Asana and Slack for continuous workflow and Google Hangouts for keeping in touch with the team. I also use WordPress and Joomla for building websites alongside Photoshop.  

Challenges: I think that some of the clients are used to reaching out to them in person, so they find it difficult to adjust to how we are doing things now, understandably so.  

What the future holds: “Creativity is the highest form of intelligence and it is intelligence not easily replicated by a machine. In 15-20 years when almost all other industries will be highly automated the creative industries will be even higher valued​. I predict a creative renaissance as more people find gainful employment in this broader and in-demand creative space.” Amanda Curtis, 

MUSTAPHA KASULE 
Role at era92: Creative Director 

Tools: The lockdown hasn’t affected me that much. My work is still as flawless as before. I use Gmail, Hangouts, Slack, Asana, and Zoom. I’m also doing a lot of file transfers from sites like wetransfer and Google Drive among others. 

Challenges: The internet speed is slow sometimes so it affects my timesheets. 

What the future holds: The digital world is evolving really fast and it’s slowly phasing out printing which means more people will lose jobs if they don’t adjust early enough. 

JASPER NSUBUGA 
Role at era92: Graphics Designer 

How the lockdown has been: Being under quarantine and not being able to work normally has significantly brought a negative impact on everyone. Personally, it has been a time for self re-brand and discovery learned a few lessons not forgetting the ridiculous spending in a season of not earning well.

Tools: During this lockdown, I’ve surely depended on quite a number of social apps like WhatsApp, Gmail, We Transfer, Slack, Trello, and last but not least Asana.

Challenges: the inability to access fast and cheap internet which as we all know helps us in our everyday work. Being that this is quite new, some clients were not well comfortable with the social apps and other online working platforms, this greatly slowed down the work

What the future looks like: Personally, I think and believe everything will be back to normal though can’t be sure when but it will happen.

How are you and your team handling working remotely? Let us know in the comments below.