The festive period is renowned as a time for giving as half (48%) of people say they are more likely to give at Christmas than during the rest of the year. In a time where every charity is pushing to get their message heard, you need to stand out! Here are some of the best charity Christmas campaigns and how they helped generate donations…
Shelter – The Drive
An advertising campaign that ran across all of Shelter’s social media channels depicted the reality of people living in their car at Christmas time. This campaign generated a 60% increase in Facebook donations, proving how a powerful story is the most important part of your Christmas campaign. So how can you recreate this campaign’s success?
- Find your hero story – Focus on a story rooted in truth that your audience can empathise with.
- Build out a storyboard for your campaign.
- Create a short and snappy call to action to encourage your viewers to donate or get involved with your fundraising efforts.
Shelter – The Good Fire 
This campaign is slightly different to a traditional advertising campaign, using the ad revenue generated from this video’s watch time. The current amount of views on this video is over 31,000, in the UK creators are paid an average of £12 per 1000 views, meaning this simple campaign (by our estimation) generated over £372 in ad revenue alone and thousands more in additional donations via the website. This is an amazing example of how partnerships can help spread your message as a charity. With the backing of a powerhouse like YouTube, you are able to reach a whole new audience.
Out Of The Cold – Akt
This campaign ran across all of Akt’s social media platforms and directed people to their donate page on their website. The simplicity of this campaign is what makes it so effective and therefore so accessible to all charities, no matter their marketing budget. The main reason this campaign was successful is because of the story and emotion it invokes in people who see it. Once again proving that your story is the most important part of your Christmas campaign.
In summary, you do not need to spend a lot of money to create a Christmas campaign. Instead, you need a powerful hero story or a unique concept to help grab the attention of your donors.
