How to deliver a successful mass participation …...How to deliver a successful mass participation fundraising event Welcome to our first ebook, which marks five years of us researching

How to delivera successful mass participationfundraising event5 years of the massive T p25

How to deliver a successful mass participation fundraising eventWelcome to our first ebook, which marks five years of us researching the UK mass participation events market and the biggest and most successful charity owned fundraising events in it.

In that time, while some fundraising channels have declined in effectiveness, the events fundraising market has grown in size and scale year on year. Driven we believe by an increasing desire for experience over passive consumption and the creativity, innovation and ambition of charities in the UK.

To celebrate five years of the massive top 25 we wanted to share some of what we’ve learnt from collating the report and our work as the sector leaders in mass participation. Our aim is to highlight some of the changes we’ve seen and give a view of what we think may happen in the next five years. More importantly we wanted to share the experiences of those people and organisations who’ve made mass participation events work for them.

Why do this? Because we like to share, yes, but above all because we believe there is something unique about the power of events and shared experiences to recruit, inspire and engage huge volumes of new and existing supporters like nothing else. Harnessing the power of social and more traditional media to communicate to an audience far larger than just event participants and all while delivering significant levels of unrestricted income to fund vital work.

So whether you are starting out on your events journey, overseeing an established event or looking to reinvigorate an existing campaign we hope you find this e-book useful.

If we can help you achieve your goals we would love to be part of making a difference with you.

5 years in numbers

Run / walk £241M

Social £135M

Walk £120M

Digital social £100M

Dress £31M

Cycle £25M

Viral £19M

Swim £9M

Other £9M

Golf £4M

Run £4M

28.7

9.6 Million Organ�ers

MillionParticipants

£700Mhave taken part in the events that have made up the massive Top 25 over the last five years raising almost

Charities with the mostappearances in the

242210

1

2

3

Memory Walk's income has increased

by 466% in 5 years

W e h a v e s e e n a to t a l o f

events feature in the over the p�t 5 years.........

42 different

Marsden March has increased

by 148% in 5 years

Christmas Jumper Day has increased

by 345% in 5 years

Go Sober October has increased

by 218% in 5 years

�e f�t�t growing events of the l�t 5 years:

Total Ra�ed by:

What we’ve learnt

Size doesn’t matterDespite the crowded market, events are a perfect way for smaller charities to compete with larger ones. Even if the 25 is dominated by bigger charities, smaller players have made events work for them and featured regularly. Tommy’s Splashathon delivering £2M and Royal Marsden’s position as one of the faster growers in the top 25 over the last 5 years make it clear that a well executed event idea can allow smaller organisations to compete with bigger charity names.

Events WorkYear on year, the top 25 has shown events fundraising going from strength to strength. Recruiting literally millions of supporters and delivering impressive fundraising totals as well huge levels of media exposure to drive and support brand awareness and messaging. Although the market is crowded, we have seen 42 events break into the top 25 over the last 5 years, demonstrating that in a market that is growing and developing year by year, there is always opportunity for the right event to deliver success.

Value keeps risingAs well as rising totals from the overall top 25, we have seen average fundraising per person rise significantly faster than inflation over the last 5 years. Despite ongoing fears around sponsorship fatigue, lack of trust in charities and economic woes we have seen average fundraising per organiser rise by 15% from £102 to £117.

Old Dog, New Tricks In a busy and ever changing market place, taking an established event or idea and putting a new spin on it is a strategy that can reap great rewards. The Alzheimer’s Society’s Memory Walk provides a great example of this, successfully using the foundations of a trusted and recognisable event concept - the walk - as a base to deliver an experience in a new and creative way, the event became the fastest growing event in the 5 years of the Top 25. This reframing of an established concept can also be seen in the impressive success of Social Bite’s Sleep in the Park event and Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day.

What we’ve learnt

Keep it simple Getting your message out and cutting through the ‘clutter’ is always a challenge. The best events keep messaging clear and the ask simple to communicate so participants can share and advocate for the event and the cause. Having to explain what an event is or establishing new behaviour around fundraising can make an idea harder to sell.

This doesn’t mean you can only launch new versions of existing events or use established fundraising mechanics, it just means innovation needs to be based around clear audience insight and tested to ensure what you’re asking can come across in a single sentence. Macmillan, who have launched more successful events than any others, put it best ‘keep your ideas simple – don’t’ over complicate’.

Stay Fresh All of our interviewees talked about the need to constantly evolve and develop their events to stay ahead of the competition. Ideas get old, attention spans are short and copy cats are always around the corner, ready to hijack and launch their own version of your ideas. In a crowded market place keeping your offer fresh is vital to maintain your audience. As an example the last 5 years have seen Race for Life introduce longer distances, marathons, hikes, kids’ events and mud runs to keep their offer relevant and maintain their position as the biggest fundraising event in the UK.

Take a Risk Despite the growth and potential in the sector, events come with no guarantee of success and making the case for investment is not always easy for this reason. For both new events and growing existing campaigns on our Top 25, the common factor to success is a willingness to take risks. It goes without saying that these risks should be taken having conducted extensive testing, research and positioning, but there will always be, to some degree, a leap of faith. As Louise Oakley from the Alzheimer’s Society puts it “we grew quickly only by being prepared to take risks and learn from them”

Lessons from the experts

From consistent high performers to brave new entrants, members of the massive top 25 have had a fascinating 5 years and we’ve gathered invaluable insight through working with them.

Here, we’ve spoken to the key players behind some of the most successful events, to understand more about the successes and challenges of the last 5 years and to share their insights into the key to success with mass participation events and their predictions for the future.

How to get bigger and stay the best: Emma Hyatt, Head of Events and Sports at Cancer Research UK

Race has consistently been the biggest and most successful event in our annual survey and in the last 5 years the event has raised over £240M. This becomes upwards of £540M over its lifetime.

In UK fundraising terms, it can quite rightly claim to be the original mass participation fundraiser and established the rule book for how an event should work. Firsts like utilising television for awareness and formulating major partnerships make Race for Life a paradigm of event innovation.

How important are mass participation events for Cancer Research UK?I can’t imagine Cancer Research UK without mass participation events and I don’t just say that because they are a really important source of fundraising for us. There is such power in getting anything from 500 to 5,000 people together in a field or venue who all share a common bond whether they knew it or not before turning up that day. Events like ours bring the charity to life, they put a name and a face to the brand and start to explain what we are doing about cancer and why we really need to raise a significant amount of money to help beat cancer.

Race for Life is obviously a giant in the industry, what are the pressures and challenges of managing such an iconic event?Race for Life is one of our biggest income streams and with that obviously comes the pressure to maintain that level of income in what is currently a challenging market. There is also pressure to innovate and change because you cannot keep on doing the same thing and expect to grow and once we try something new many others follow suit very quickly.

What do you think has been the key to your success?Race for Life has been going for over twenty five years – I think that has helped us build a very strong brand with really high awareness over time – at the time nobody else was doing anything like this in the UK. Also the fact that my team really really care about what they do and our participants and they are the best in the business in my opinion. They respond to anything we ask of them and without that we wouldn’t be able to try new things as easily as we do or have the confidence that the series of events will be delivered safely with participants going home happy.

What changes have you seen in the market & how do you think the market will change in the next 5 years? The obvious thing is that the market is even more competitive – most charities have events now and can see the positive impact they make. Many brands – charity and non – are putting more of their budget into this type of activity. This increases competition and clutter in the market making it harder for us and everyone to stand out but that is the challenge and it keeps us on our toes. Also a desire to do something different and novelty – this will only continue. A key focus for us in the next five years will be to look for new and different ways to persuade participants to sign up and take part – this isn’t a new challenge but I do think that bringing the impact and emotion of our work to life in different ways is so important to keep participants close to what we do.

What do you think the key lesson you have learnt since starting to work on Race has been?That we are nothing without our supporters – they make the event what it is – they have been as instrumental as us in building what is a fantastic brand. For example historically Race for Life was never pink. We didn’t define that at any point – it just happened thanks to millions of women!

�� evolution h� had to balance introducing new, novel ide� witho�ering so mething authentic, high quality and without gimmicks.

When it comes to virtual events and digital social campaigns, The British Heart Foundation have been amongst the most successful at creating and implementing successful campaigns that deliver at scale.

Their MyMarathon capitalised early on the trend for activity tracking and was one of the first virtual events to raise more than £1M. Similarly, De-Chox campaign has consistently delivered and after a dip in income in 2016 shows that with the right approach it is possible to refresh and reinvigorate social campaigns.

You are clearly an expert in digital campaigns; how do you see them differing from physical events?

The distinction I would make between virtual events and physical is not really about digital. I think both play a role in delivering consumer choice and both increasingly need to be digital centric to grow, thrive and survive.

One barrier to physical events is the fact that you have to be at a set location on a set day at a set time. In a world where we have more fluid working patterns and an increasing need for 2 income households as well as an increasing focus on fitting my lifestyle. It is not always possible for every audience and as such digital events allow us to reach some of those audiences.

From an operational perspective the benefits are the speed at which you can deliver vs physical and to some extent cost, but I do feel that this is often over played when virtual is spoken about.

How do you see BHF’s products differing from other events and campaigns out there at the moment?

Differentiation or the lack of it has become a big issue over the past few years. There are often lots of events with similar motivations and selling points, so standing out is key. One of the questions we constantly ask ourselves is why should a supporter do our event over other similar events for charities and what we constantly come back to is improving the customer experience, giving the supporter something different from last year.

D�pite any truth in the phr� e ‘build it and they will co me’, if you build so mething and don’t push it �rther each year, they will only co me once. Adaptation � key tothe maintained succ�s of events and products.

How to deliver digital and virtual at scale: Adrian Adams, Head of Mass Participation at The British Heart Foundation

When we launched MyMarathon it was the first or one of the first virtual running events. By year 2 the market place was awash with both charity and commercial offerings.

This means we need to keep evolving our existing offerings, it’s not as simple as launching it and leaving it. In the Film Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner says he was told that “If you build it they will come”. I think that may be true but I’d add if you don’t evolve it, then they will probably only come once.

What is it about your approach with events and campaigns that has been so successful? What do you think has been the key to your success?

- Constantly reviewing what worked, what didn’t and what we could have done better.- Recognising that events have a lifecycle and that we need to adjust how we manage / evolve our events to reflect the stage the events are at.- Being prepared to take risks and try new things.- Not just focussing on highly cause connected supporters but recognising that building supporter consideration from younger age groups is a valuable investment for the future. - We can now paint a picture of our audience based on attitudes, behaviours and fundraising motivations. This has improved our ability to target, but we recognise we still have a long way to go.

What advice would you give to someone hoping to emulate your success? What would your 3 key learnings be?

1) Be clear on your audience and their motivations. Clear targeting gives you a better chance of success.

2) Be prepared to get things wrong and make mistakes; just don’t make the same mistake twice.

3) Continually improve your product while it is on the market. You can’t just launch and leave.

As well as delivering the UK’s second biggest mass participation fundraising campaign The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning (raising £130M since our first report), Macmillan have consistently been one of the most successful organisations we have seen when it comes to launching new campaigns.

Since our first report they have had at least one new event enter our top 25 every year. This progressive approach to innovation around mass participation events has seen them almost double the amount raised from their mass participation activities from £24M in 2013 to more than £44M in 2018.

How important are mass participation events to Macmillan?Very- Coffee Morning is a flagship for Macmillan. It is hugely important for fundraising, but also it is synonymous with the organisation. Therefore, it goes beyond income benefits and into brand awareness.

Macmillan have consistently introduced more successful events and comparisons than any other charity over the years. Why do you think that is?We always start with the customer; everything stems from insight, what our customers want and need. It is also about simplicity. Innovation is not always about the flashy or crazy but something that people want to do or that is built around a pre-existing action or idea like Brave The Shave was.

innovation do not nec�sarilymean the ��hi�t or m�t co mplicated idea wins.

How to Innovate Consistently: Hannah Redmond, Director of Response Marketing at Macmillan

What do you think is unique about your approach to innovation? To be honest, I don’t know; our innovation process is pretty similar to other organisations’. The thing that sets Macmillan apart is that people who give to Macmillan have often been beneficiaries. There is a sizeable intersect between people who give and get from Macmillan. Also, cancer is a prevalent issue; as a cause it is very relevant and front of mind.

What do you think is the key factor in your success compared to other big charities e.g. CRUK? Macmillan are ambitious. We are always willing to try something new and push the boat out but also to test ideas and to fail. Not everything is going to be a winner. We also understand product lifecycles. Night In, for example, was part of the Top25 but has now had its day. It is important to not be precious about this but to accept the win and move on to the next thing.

What advice would you give to someone hoping to emulate your success? What would your 3 key learnings be?1) Keep it simple and don’t overcomplicate.

2) Don’t overestimate people’s interest in your charity, and keep products attached to their lives.

3) Test, learn, fail. Progress can be quite static, especially in giving. Don’t be afraid test your BAU and push the boat out.

Memory Walk has the title of the fastest growing event in the five years of market coverage we have undertaken. Its income has grown by more than 450% since our first report. Key to this success has been both having a focused long-term strategy and being willing to invest in the product.

How important are mass participation events to The Alzheimer's Society?Mass Participation events are crucial for the Alzheimer’s Society, not only for driving income but to also enable us to reach out to wider audiences. It means we can offer existing and new supporters a way to get involved and be part of something huge, growing our donor base to aim for a growth and to achieve strong lifetime value from our supporters.

Memory walk has been the fastest growing campaign we have seen in the last 5 years. How have you achieved this?I think this has been down to a focussed long term strategy. We made it clear that we needed to amend and make some changes if we wanted to see a step change in the participation and fundraising. These 3 main focusses were to put the Dementia cause front and centre, ensuring activity is relevant for the audience - Memory Walk is for all and brings people to together with a common purpose and delivering an experience that retains and attracts new participants to build income year on year.

Taking r�ks in adapting andrenewing any campaign � vital.

How to Get Bigger, Faster: Louise Oakley, Head of Mass Participation Events at Alzheimer’s Society

What do you think has been the key to your success?Marketing investment and emotionally led creative campaigns led by real life case studies have been crucial. We also standardised all the events to ensure whatever walk a supporter attends they will have the same experience and to streamline the portfolio.

We have also created a focussed supporter journey. This is a dedicated area of work, ensuring contact made has an objective and not just being sent for no reason.

What have been the biggest challenges you have had to overcome todeliver that growth?We have taken big risks by completely overhauling the creative campaign and investment into the creation and marketing of creative.

What advice would you give to someone hoping to emulate your success and deliver a high growth event?I approach most decisions evidence based but if you haven’t got any evidence take a risk but ensure you learn from it, even if it fails.

What would your 3 key learnings be?1) Don’t do it alone. Utilise your internal support networks and get internal buy in for mass products, by showing that they can add huge value.2) Supporters will tell you what they think, you just have to ask them.3) Use real life case studies, it is crucial to any campaign.

Whilst many in our top 25 deliver their income through a series of events or through thousands of supporters taking part across the country, until 2018 The Marsden March made it into our top 25 every year of the last 5 based on just one single event.

Since 2013 the event has raised almost £8M from around 27,000 participants, meaning that not only does the charity need to deliver a first-class event it also needs to drive a high level of sponsorship from their event participants.

What advice would you give to other charities looking to increase the value of their sponsorship income?

It is partly about making it clear how important what they are doing is. Although participants connect to the cause, they might not think about the impact of their individual effort. Showing them the impact of fundraising can make them more motivated.

What are the challenges of having so much income come from one event?It has challenges, the Beast from the East hit just days before the 2018 March - the potential of cancellation is scary! We are currently working on the portfolio to make it stronger as a fail safe.

Clearly you don’t have the powerful brand or bigger budgets that some charities have, so how do you manage to compete?There are so many walking events. To stand out you need a unique selling point, a hook. Ours is predicated on the fact that it is for people who know the Royal Marsden and want to say thank you. No one else can offer that opportunity.

To stand out you need aunique selling point - a hook’

How to deliver £1M+ from a single event: Joanne Bell, Senior Community Fundraising Events Manager at The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity

Looking to the future

What will the future of mass participation events look like? Reviewing the last 5 years and speaking to our experts, it is clear that whether through marketing, new channels or new products the sector will need to evolve in the years ahead. We see 6 key areas of change affecting the market.

More Competition The success of mass participation fundraising we have seen over the last 5 years is framed by growing pressure on other fundraising streams, government funding drying up and increasing difficulty in recruiting new regular givers. Against this backdrop we expect to see more charities launching new mass participation events at the same time as charities with events already in the Top 25 look to refresh and supplement their existing events. This increase in competition will mean that it is harder for any one event to cut through the noise, marketing costs will rise and it is likely that ROIs will come under pressure. In this landscape, smart and well researched propositions will be even more vital.

Great ExpectationsDue in part to improving tech and digital sectors, event participants and supporters will start to expect ever more in terms of engagement and personalisation, issues around trust will present challenges around transparency and demonstrating the impact of fundraising. Charities will need to respond to these expectations by investing to improve the customer experience, demonstrate impact and to provide more targeted supporter journeys and smarter marketing. We are already seeing single events offering different types of stewardship for different audiences with different fundraising behaviours and new approaches to thanking and post event comms respond to this, so if dealt with wisely these challenges can be leveraged to enhance fundraising.

Times are ChangingChanging national and supporter demographics will have an effect on the type of events and fundraising people want. Overall, the UK has an aging population and baby boomers may be less drawn to physically demanding events. On the other hand, Generation Z and the younger millennials, who already have significant spending power, place more value on personal and authentic interaction with charities. Charities will need to develop events that still appeal to baby boomers and that fit with way Gen Z’s want to interact with charities.

This is likely to effect the types of activity that win big. Digital and virtual events are already responding to this, but new physical events and hybrids of the two will undoubtedly be part of the mix.

Looking to the future

Commercial Thinking Changes in tech, pressure on budgets and attitudinal changes are likely to drive thinking around new business models and revenue streams for events fundraising.We are already seeing some innovative new business models emerging in response to these challenges such as Tommy’s flipping from charity to event provider with The London Landmarks Half Marathon, so we expect to see more charities explore opening up their events to others and working more collaboratively. As brands start to want to prove their ethical credentials, we also think the event sponsorship model will change and we could even see brands move into this space with their own fundraising events.

Whatever happens we expect to see the line between commercial operator and charity event owner likely to blur.

So, what does the future of mass participation events look like? At their core, mass participation events are always about people and across cultures and throughout history, gathering together to share experiences has been always been a basic human need.

The facts, figures and trends we’ve seen over the last 5 years indicate that mass participation events will remain a strong and ever evolving sector. With smart strategy and innovation, investment in mass participation will continue to provide not just good returns but also increased brand awareness and visibility.

So however, technology, markets and social norms may change we are confident to say that human nature will remain relatively unchanged and the need to get together and share experiences will remain constant.

If charities can continue to meet that need and communicate it in an engaging and attractive way, demand will be there, and events will remain one of the most effective ways to motivate, excite and inspire people to make a difference to people’s lives and the world we live in.

Thinking Bigger Driven by these trends and building on what we see happening already, over the next 5 years we expect to see an increase in the number of charities viewing their events and campaigns not just as vehicles for fundraising but also as tools for driving brand awareness and consideration. This would mean more teams taking the value of the additional benefits events deliver into account when calculating ROI and making decisions around which activities to prioritise in the portfolio. Taking this more ‘brand focused’ approach to events is likely to see the development of more varied and interesting ways for supporters to discover and interact with charities and a much-welcomed focus on the long-term value of new supporters and the power of events to acquire new life long supporters.

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About usMassive specialise in strategy, innovation anddelivery for mass participation experiences. For more information on us and how we can helpyou grow income and participation from your events visit us at www.wearemassive.co.uk or contact [email protected]