On 9 October this year I will be running the Oxford Half Marathon. I first completed this event last year, by being given a place to run for The Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary and very soon after crossing the finish line, I asked if I could have a place again this year. The minimum amount they ask us runners to raise for them is just £125. Having raised way more than that for other charities, over the last twelve years, I know there is more that I can do for the charity. Last year, instead of trying to raise thousands of pounds, instead I offered them some marketing support.

A charity is like any business. It needs to promote its services (caring for and rehoming abandoned cats, dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs, in the case of the Sanctuary). It needs to persuade its ‘clients’ (its supporters) to part with their money, by making a donation. However, spending money on marketing is not something that charity Trustees are keen to do. Many will try to get by doing as little marketing and spending as little money as possible. Which is probably why, when I offered a full day of Marketing Strategy, worth £3000, they jumped at the chance!

The day after I completed the Oxford Half Marathon in 2015 (and raised £600 in donations) I sat down with the team responsible for doing all the marketing for the Sanctuary. I took them through the nine stage planning process that I’ve used for hundreds of small business. The same process applies to charities and by the end of the day, we’d worked out a twelve month schedule for the charity to follow, giving them a focus for each month’s campaign. One key marketing tool that we’ve launched is an email newsletter. This is a much cheaper way to keep supporters up to date with what’s happening at the Sanctuary, than printing and posting them a newsletter a couple of times a year.

Spending the day creating a Marketing Strategy didn’t cost me anything more than my time. This year, to carry on supporting the charity, I’ve offered to write the regular newsletter for them. I love writing and have the time to do it. Visiting the Sanctuary every few months, to see how they’re getting on with building the new kennels, won’t seem like work. (The only tricky bit will resisting all the cute kittens who want me to take them home.) Hopefully the end result will be increased awareness of the great work that the charity does and better financial support from a wider range of people.

What could you offer to a charity that means something to you? How can you share your skills and expertise with a charity, to help them achieve their goals? How can you then talk about the work you’re doing for the charity, in your marketing?

If you’d like to support the Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary, you can find out how to do this on their website.

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