By Laurence Lepetit, Chief Executive Officer, France générosités. 

Our annual campaign “Vos dons agissent” has just ended and as France générosités we thought we’d share our successes and lessons learnt with WINGS members.

Each year in France, 40% of donations are received in the last quarter of the year and half of them only in December. Our annual campaign aims to raise awareness among potential French donors just before all the fundraising campaigns of charities take place.

All France générosités’ members, 110 charities, work together every year to encourage more people to consider giving to charities. They pool efforts to invest in non-profit future resources: young donors.

Together, we aim to do what no single charity can do alone: to raise awareness among potential French donors, especially the youngest, about giving. Nonprofits often rely heavily on their donors and volunteers. Once they’ve built a steady foundation of loyal supporters, though, it’s important to regularly add to that in order to keep moving forward. But bringing in new donors can be challenging, specifically young ones.

The covid-19 crisis and containment have impacted all charities. The France générosités campaign echoes the particular needs that have emerged and the indispensable role, on the front line, of the entire voluntary sector at the heart of this crisis.

A modular campaign

At the heart of the campaign is a video celebrating generosity and inviting internet users to show that they are supporting charities with a dedicated hashtag #MerciLesAsso.
In order to rely on the communication and mobilisation strength of each member organisation, the campaign is modular and adaptable by each charity, whatever its field of intervention. To date, more than a hundred associations have already participated in the campaign!

A multi-channel campaign

In order to gain maximum reach our campaign includes:

• A media partnership with Brut (well-known French influencer with 6 million subscribers) “5 things to know before making a donation“
• A campaign landing page vosdonsagissent.fr
• Testimonials of donors and new donors mobilised during the covid-19 crisis
• A digital campaign including social media activations, traffic generation via keywords and banners
• Advertising on television and online
• The participation of all our 110 member associations and foundations in sharing our common message #VosDonsAgissent

An action anchored in time with infodon.fr

Beyond this time of collective communication at the beginning of October, France générosités pilots and animates a year-long information platform on giving: http://www.infododon.fr.

The objective: to raise awareness, inform and guide donors in their philanthropic journey around 3 questions:

• Why giving? by highlighting the power of donations and the actions financed by donations

• How to give? by explaining all the ways to support and commit to charities: donation by SMS, legacy, volunteering (etc).

• Who to give to? by connecting internet users and organisations in need of donations.

---