“How can I raise £70,000 in one week?” Hi everyone, my name is Naveed Khan and I’m speaking on behalf of the Islamic Society today. I think this is meant to be a session on fundraising as a student society group! So the tagline is, how to raise 70,000 in one week – because it is possible. But there’s a lot more to it…I hope you appreciate the HP reference? Naveed Khan KCL Islamic Society

Has anyone seen this before?

Okay, it’s the golden circle Okay, it’s the golden circle. It’s a well known theory in marketing/product placement/business. Research shows that most employees know what their job is. Slightly less, know how to do it. Even fewer know why they’re doing it and why it is important. Now why is this relevant for us? Well research also shows that the very few who know why, are the most productive, they will keep working to achieve their goals because they know how important they are. Think about your fundraising campaigns. Everyone knows what to do, pick up a bucket. How many know how to do it, and be effective, and more importantly, how many know why? There’s something special about Apple products. If you’ve ever seen one of their adverts, it’s all about the why. They don’t even bother with the How and What. They almost never price their products in adverts. They spend so long convincing you, by the end of if you don’t even care how much it costs, you want that new iPhone! Because their approach is inside out and it works.

What do we do? Why: Motivation Projects Competition How: Training Planning What: Innovation We’re going to go through this inside out as well. I’ll tell you about the ISOC’s Charity Week’s Whys. We have 3 Then I’ll tell you How Then I’ll tell you What. Frame your fundraising campaigns in the same way. There’s no point engaging so many people if they have no idea about what they are doing.

Why: Motivation For the ISOC – we have it easy. Our main motivation is from our faith. Verse after verse in the Quran teaches us the virtues of charitable deeds.

Why: Motivation Charity is mentioned hundreds of times in the Quran in fact, and it was an act practiced well by our Prophets and Scholars. So it brings all of our volunteers together and motivates them. What unites all of your volunteers? What common motivation will inspire them to get involved with the campaign?

Why: Projects Why else do volunteers get involved? Year on year, the ISOC’s Charity Week funds an amazing set of projects, and volunteers can access an annual report that tells them where every last penny of theirs was spent. They also get to vote for these projects. When they find out the stories behind who they are helping, and the plight of the beneficiaries, they understand how important their fundraising becomes. Why should your volunteers raise any money? What will the money be used for?

Why: Friendly Competition Challenges Campuses Regional National International This Why is maybe a bit of a How. But friendly competition. At every level, there is a bit of friendly competition to encourage volunteers and fundraisers to push themselves. Be it through fundraising challenges to see who can raise the most money over the phone in 20mins, or between campuses to see who can bucket collect the most. Whether its within a region – we work with other isocs at the same time of the year and the winner receives a trophy. A national – with different regions competing. Or an International competition. Whatever it is, our volunteers know they are just cogs in this system, in this bigger picture. When they see their friends spending 6 hours bucketing, they realise they can do it too. So why? Because everyone else can, so why not.

What do we do? Why: Motivation Projects Competition How: Training Planning What: Innovation So in summary, we’ve talked about the Whys. Once your volunteers and your fundraising committee knows why they should fundraise for such a valuable cause, they will be unstoppable. In the ISOC, our volunteers are motivated because of their Islamic faith and teachings about charity, because their money will support some fantastic projects, and because the competition element pushes them that little bit further. Next we’ll talk about how. How can I set up the perfect campaign?

How: Training This part is all project management. The first step of project management – train yourself and train your team. Has the project been done before? Okay easy, have a handover and you’ve got something to work on. If it hasn’t, skill up. Skill up on the laws, on rules in the SU, do some research and see how other campaigns are run? What could you do, what could you improve? We have regional training sessions where ISOCs are trained by the charity, and they also meet up and learn from one another’s fundraising campaigns. Training is key.

How: Planning Months in Advance Strategise Form a team Plan a timeline Start discussing with the SU - Get permission letters, permits etc. Implement! Accountability! Once you’re trained, it’s all planning. We have one week of fundraising. However, planning starts at the latest, in May or June. LATEST. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Simple. In the early stages, following on from your training you want to strategise. What will your methods be this year? What will your campaign be? Theme? Timing? Any big events that you need to plan things around? Strategies are just long term plans of action, simple. But it will help you achieve your overall aim. Form a team – you need able people to help support you. It’s not a one man job. I advise starting small and growing. One of the worst things on any team is static bodies doing nothing. Recruit more as you need them, train them, and involve them in the plans. The more you engage your team members, the more motivated they will be. Always remember Why. Plan a timeline. What will happen when. What are your main events and then plan backwards. Venues, speakers, permits, resources, advertising etc etc. When will each thing need to be done by. Do not leave any stone unturned. Planning ahead will help you prepare for all situations and save you the stress later on. Discuss this with the SU throughout. The wealth of experience here is key to your success. They will be able to support you in so many ways. It’s also important because you need to make sure everything is within the law. Sometimes there are bits of legislation we would never have known about but could easily get us into trouble. Implement it! Go through checklists and dry runs of your events. Cover things from every angle! Make it fun, make it loud, make it engaging and never forget why! Accountability – where does everyone’s money go afterwards? You need to tell them. It’s their right

How: Planning

How: Planning

How: Planning Months in Advance Strategise Form a team Plan a timeline Start discussing with the SU - Get permission letters, permits etc. Implement! Accountability! Once you’re trained, it’s all planning. We have one week of fundraising. However, planning starts at the latest, in May or June. LATEST. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Simple. In the early stages, following on from your training you want to strategise. What will your methods be this year? What will your campaign be? Theme? Timing? Any big events that you need to plan things around? Strategies are just long term plans of action, simple. But it will help you achieve your overall aim. Form a team – you need able people to help support you. It’s not a one man job. I advise starting small and growing. One of the worst things on any team is static bodies doing nothing. Recruit more as you need them, train them, and involve them in the plans. The more you engage your team members, the more motivated they will be. Always remember Why. Plan a timeline. What will happen when. What are your main events and then plan backwards. Venues, speakers, permits, resources, advertising etc etc. When will each thing need to be done by. Do not leave any stone unturned. Planning ahead will help you prepare for all situations and save you the stress later on. Discuss this with the SU throughout. The wealth of experience here is key to your success. They will be able to support you in so many ways. It’s also important because you need to make sure everything is within the law. Sometimes there are bits of legislation we would never have known about but could easily get us into trouble. Implement it! Go through checklists and dry runs of your events. Cover things from every angle! Make it fun, make it loud, make it engaging and never forget why! Accountability – where does everyone’s money go afterwards? You need to tell them. It’s their right

It’s simple… Why: Motivation Competition Projects How: Training Planning What: Innovation Okay so we’ve also covered How. Training and planning are two key strands to How. Everything else depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it. You will adapt your plans. Next is what you do? I will talk a little bit about some of the things that we do, but mainly talk about innovation.

What: Innovation What you do? The possibilities are ENDLESS. Cake sales, stalls with goodies, promotions, publicity banners, bucket collecting on the streets, tubes, fundraising dinners, auctions, skydives, bungee jumps, football tournaments, high tea, sumo wrestling…. The most important thing is what do people want to attend? How will you engage your volunteers and your audiences? Once you have them engaged you will be able to do anything successfully. But what interests them? You can go from past experience, you can try feelers. But two important things are that they are publicised well, and cost efficient. Ie raise significant amounts for the charitable cause. Never forget Why.

It’s simple… Why: Motivation Competition Projects How: Training Planning What: Innovation So we have talked about Why, how important it is and how it sits at the centre of our fundraising campaigns. We’ve talked about how we run them, how our teams are trained and how long the plan for, covering every small detail. Finally we’ve talked a little about what we actually do to fundraise, but this is individual and will vary for each society. Different things will work for their members.

“How can I raise £70,000 in one week?” So now you know how the ISOC tells it’s volunteers why it’s so important, and then spends 5 months training and planning amongst its team and then can raise 70,000 in one week. Do you have any Qs? Thank you. Naveed Khan KCL Islamic Society