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Digital Campaigning: How To Effectively Deliver Your Services, Reaching Those Who Need Your Support

By Patrick Nash | Published 08 May, 2012

With asthma attacks being the cause of 1,100 deaths in the UK each year, leading charity Asthma UK realised it needed a new platform in order to reach sufferers who hadn’t previously contacted them for support. And the launch of their latest digital campaign has proven to be incredibly successful.

The one-minute online test asks a series of questions and assigns the respondent with a colour-coded category, diagnosing how much risk that individual is from having an attack. Once completed, the participant is provided with information on how to control the symptoms and what to do when having an attack.

So far, 36,150 people have completed the online test. This digital campaign has also provided Asthma UK with new findings. Those who suffer from asthma considerably underestimate the possibility of an attack with over half of those who took the test claiming that they did not think that they were at an increased risk. In fact, 93 per cent were at either increased or highly increased risk.

This is one example of many charities across the UK that have been able to reach new audiences and gain new findings through the use of digital campaigns. Digital literacy is widespread in the UK and many people prefer to access information, advice and guidance from the internet instead of face to face intervention. Since the launch of Asthma UK’s campaign, 2,300 people who had not previously contacted the charity, submitted their e-mail addresses to receive further information.

Many charities are using digital services but fewer are directly delivering online tests, advice or support to individuals through digital means. Connect Assist works with third and public organisations to increase their services without increasing costs, in order to reach more people and make fundamental changes in their lives. The range of online support includes web self-service, smart assistant, mobile services, live chat and social media.

If you suffer from asthma and want to take the Triple A Test: Avoid Asthma Attacks please visit the Asthma UK website here:

http://www.asthma.org.uk/get-involved/our-campaigns/the-triple-a-avoid-asthma-attacks-campaign/

 

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Buck The Trend: Survive And Thrive

By Patrick Nash | Published 24 April, 2012

“Leaders who are courageous choose a positive and optimistic attitude to enable their people to succeed in difficult and uncertain times. Organisations will need new strategies, different approaches to leadership and the ability to implement change in a pacey and agile way.” *Bath Consultancy Group

In this current climate of reduced budgets, fewer staff and a high demand for services, organisations are under pressure to restructure themselves, to maintain their high standards and reach more people. Of course issues vary for each organisation but the three concerns that the majority have are:

a.)    ways of saving money

b.)    ways of raising money

c.)    how to meet the high demand with little resources

80% of adults use the Internet and 94% of people own a mobile phone. Digital literacy in the UK is widespread with a large number of people eager to access information through digital means. Therefore it is crucial that third and public sector organisations find ways to keep up with this demand.

Due to lack of familiarity with the channels, some organisations are slow to act. Yes, many organisations are using digital media to communicate but fewer are actually delivering services to people on a digital platform.

Digital service has already proved its ability to cut costs and reach more people. Examples include:

•Health4Work. The Government’s occupational health advice service for small business was recently re-launched on a digital/multi-channel platform and has seen double the usage in just a few months.

•The National Council for Voluntary Organisations recently re-launched its Member Helpdesk on a digital platform, gaining double the utilisation and a 70% reduction in operating costs.

Why convert to using digital services when you are already happy with what you’re charity or organisation is providing? What digital service delivery provides is an additional access channel not a substitute. Offering a variety of choices for service users means that more people are able to make use of the services you have on offer.

For further information, download our discussion paper which discusses in detail the cost savings that can be achieved with digital delivery:

http://www.connectassist.co.uk/2012/04/white-paper-%e2%80%93-seizing-new-opportunities-in-difficult-times/

*“Leading through the downturn.” Bath Consultancy Group, 2011.

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White Paper – Seizing New Opportunities In Difficult Times

By Patrick Nash | Published 18 April, 2012

Welcome to the first Connect Assist Discussion Paper of 2012.

In the previous six papers, we examined multiple aspects of how services and civil society organisations can best prepare themselves to serve more people while using fewer resources.

The underlying theme has been that charity, voluntary and other civil society organisations must face the new realities of world recession, the current UK economic environment and the Coalition Government’s comprehensive spending review. This is not a temporary crisis. A fundamental shift has occurred. For civil society leaders and managers, now is the time to act on the challenges – and opportunities – of a new future.

That is why we now turn to the question of how to translate an understanding of the evolving landscape and how to respond to it, into constructive action and positive outcomes.

This paper focuses on the Children & Families Sector, which has been particularly hard hit by funding cutbacks at a time when needs are growing fast. How can you respond creatively to recessionary pressures? We suggest that the answer is to make smarter use of your resources, specifically by adopting a multi-channel approach to service delivery – which means, in addition to seeing people face to face, engaging in two-way communication via any or all of the phone, Internet, mobile, live chat or a Facebook portal.

Digital delivery can achieve significant cost savings. But the benefits go much further, helping you reach more users and empower them to make the very best of what you have to offer.

To access the full paper download here

About the authors :

Patrick Nash has worked in civil society and social enterprise for his whole career, establishing 14 services, social enterprises and cooperatives. He set up Connect Assist to help services improve their efficiency and impact, to provide transformational help lines and online platforms to deliver feedback and insight, and to engage with the communities that charities serve.

Duncan Fisher has worked in the children and family sector for 15 years. He created and directed the Fatherhood Institute and set up www.dad.info, the most used UK website for fathers. He created the Kids in the Middle campaign for better services for families in conflict, backed by 24 Agony Aunts from the national media. He was awarded an OBE for services to children in 2009.

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Who In Their Right Mind Would Tax Charities?

By Patrick Nash | Published 16 April, 2012

Despite promises of a Big Society, the Third Sector has had a pretty rough ride over the last year. Now the latest news to hit the headlines; Chancellor George Osborne announcing a cap on income tax reliefs, affecting both small and large charities and the philanthropists who support them. In simple terms, this will mean that large donors will give less to charity as the cost of giving will increase. This will affect the resources available to charities in a time when the demand is high. According to a survey conducted by the Charities Aid Foundation, nearly nine out of ten top charity executives believe that this will hit major donors and 78% hope that the Chancellor will reverse his decision. Its effectively a tax on charities.

These plans have caused an outrage with the ‘Give it back, George’ campaign created in hope that the decision will be changed, exempting charitable donations from the plans to cap personal tax reliefs. More than 2,200 charities and individuals have signed the petition.

Chief Executive of National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Sir Stuart Etherington believes that donating should be encouraged, particularly during this time of financial insecurity. He said “There have been disgraceful government attacks on charities and the motivations of people who give to them in recent days. The generous should be supported, not pilloried.”

The general public gives on average 11billion each year to charity and this does not include gifts from the very wealthy. NCVO estimates that nearly half the money donated to charities by individuals comes from just 7% of all donors. Many charities fear that this cap will deter philanthropists and higher-rate taxpayers from supporting their work.

Reading the papers this weekend, it seems pretty likely that the Government will have to find a way to climb down from this tax on charities. Coming on top of draconian cuts to funding of charity services, this attack on donations really questions the Government’s commitment to the Third Sector and a ‘Big Society’.

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Connect Assist Bucks The Trend By Employing Ex-Public Sector Workers

By Patrick Nash | Published 10 April, 2012

‘Welsh firms looking to expand…but won’t employ from public sector’. This is one of the headlines in last weeks’ Daily Post. It seems that whilst the majority of companies plan to create new jobs this year, they remain uninterested in ex-public sector candidates.

According to the Barclays Job Creation Survey 2012, the 670 executives interviewed revealed that they would mainly only be looking to employ private sector staff. The results reveal that 35% are ‘not at all’ interested in employing public sector workers who might have lost their jobs through government spending cuts.

Having received a £123,000 grant from the Wales Economic Growth Fund, Connect Assist has made the headlines this week for creating and safeguarding 23 jobs in the South Wales valleys. Ten of the new employees are ex-public sector workers. With Connect Assist offering multi-channel helplines and digital service delivery to charities and the public sector, my view is that ex-public sector employees have much to offer social enterprises such as ours.

Employing people from the public sector is a great advantage to a company delivering support to members of the public. They often have a real commitment to improving the lives of people who need support. From experience, we’ve found that public sector employees share similar values to Connect Assist and the third sector organisations we work with.

Connect Assist was the fastest growing contact centre company in the Wales Fast Growth 50 in 2011, employing 44 people by the end of the year. By December this year we expect to have 75 full-time employees and look forward to finding jobs for some of the many locally-based public sector employees who will be losing their jobs in the next 12 months.

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