Building an Individual Giving programme from the ground up - Music in Detention
What do you do when you – as a charity – have no brand awareness, an unrecognised social issue, almost no budget, and need to raise money from Individual Giving fast? You play to every strength you have.
I led a strategy process to help Music In Detention define their audience, craft their fundraising story, and build their tribe of donors.
Having identified that most people are unaware of immigration detention – the place where the Home Office locks up migrants for days, months, or even years, while their application to remain is processed – we needed to find a way to make the case for funding the music-making workshops that help people in detention find some peace in their soul.
Looking at our softest target audience, a liberally-minded charitable group, I identified the core shared values the story had to speak to: equality, diversity, belonging. From these, the fundraising story, which I wrote and you can read below, quickly emerged.
The story overcomes the barrier to support by speaking to the human experience of isolation in detention. It creates meaning by speaking to the wider narrative of the need for the nation to come together in the post-Brexit era. And further value is created for the audience in the personal, human stories we tell of people coming together under incredibly difficult circumstances to make some brilliant music.
Using the power of their networks and a marginal test media spend, I have helped the charity take the story to market in a series of fundraising firsts: their first crowdfunder, Facebook campaign and a BBC Radio 4 appeal.
In 2019/20 Music In Detention raised the most ever from Individual Giving since the charity first launched their programme six years ago.
The fundraising story
Right now more than 2,000 people are locked up in immigration detention centres across the UK without knowing when they can leave. The only sounds here are of doors slamming and people shouting in frustration. Many suffer from depression and feel totally alone.
If you believe that which unites us is far greater than that which divides us, join us in helping people in detention come together to make music. Your gift has the power to fill the rooms and corridors with the diverse sounds of Congolese drums, London rapping and Bangladeshi singing, helping people experience their shared humanity. It’s music to remind us we always belong.
“Chloë quickly brought shape, clarity and drive to our individual giving programme. Her strategic ability and creative flair have taken us into new territory, as she leads the development of fundraising to reach beyond our small existing circle, to a significant public audience who share our values. Chloë joins up her work to that of all teams’ in all the right places and is an absolute pleasure to work with. I believe that with her leadership we will transform how we raise funds and communicate about our work.”
— John Speyer, Director, Music In Detention