Winning the FIA Impact through Events award for The Longest Day was a proud moment for the team, a boost to morale and great recognition for the hard work put in to grow this event, especially during the recent challenging times of COVID, which meant shifting strategies a lot and pivoting to ensure a safe and successful event.
The award has helped spotlight the value of event and community fundraising to our wider organisation, creating talking points and presentation opportunities, that as well as being financially beneficial, events also provide important community engagement opportunities and broaden the reach of our prevention and mission projects – win win really.
Placing importance on both quantitative and qualitative insights and really creating a focus on knowing our supporters, taking them on the journey and leveraging their insights to inform strategies has now been expanded across our Marketing & Fundraising division activities, and we’re placing a core part of our growth strategy on embedding this into all projects, it’s a really exciting time.
Cancer Council’s The Longest Day is a golf day with a twist, it’s a personal challenge rather than a classic charity day so it takes the pressure off clubs and organisations, and it’s driven by a highly dedicated and motivated community with mass reach – its inspiring! After developing our strategy, improving our marketing plans, developing relationships with local golf clubs, and hearing the feedback from the golfers themselves, our 2020 campaign raised an incredible $1.5million, and an impressive ROI of 17:1.
The key takeaways that made the event such a success were:
- Leverage your existing relationships
- Demonstrate and share impact as much as you can.
- Bring your key supporters on the journey with you
- You can never thank too much
If you’re thinking about submitting an application for an FIA award, I say do it. Keep your uniqueness front of mind, be concise and real with your answers and get ready for all the feels. Your team and supporters deserve the recognition.
