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Community Leader: Heiko

Heiko Community Leader

Meet Heiko Plange-Korndoerfer, Chuffed.org’s first ever star Community Leader, based in Perth. Heiko is a Senior Philanthropy Advisor with twenty years experience in fundraising. Read on to see what other experience he brings to the Chuffed.org community….

Tell us a bit about yourself and your career (or life) so far.

I graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1994 with a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in management and marketing. As one of the top students in my year, I was awarded the Challenge Bank Prize for Strategic Marketing in 1993.

Over the past twenty years, I have gained an extensive background in developing, implementing and managing strategic fundraising and corporate partnership programs. I have worked in senior leadership roles managing PR & marketing, community engagement and fundraising staff within health, medical research, education, and community organisations across Australia.

Taking a three-year break from fundraising, I broadened my business acumen managing a successful start-up business servicing the Western Australian mining and construction industries. In 2006, I also completed a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance Investment with the Financial Services Institute of Australia.

In 2011, I was awarded a Qantas scholarship to undertake further study in the inaugural Certificate of Social Impact program at the UWA Business School. This program has expanded my interest in contemporary philanthropic trends and fundraising practice including venture philanthropy, social impact investing and crowd-funding.

I’m a Fellow of the Fundraising Institute of Australia (FIA) and represented Western Australia on the State Executive. I also teach the FIA Certificate in Fundraising and speak regularly on fundraising and philanthropy at conferences.

My achievements and contribution to the fundraising industry were recognised internationally with the fundraising certification of CFRE in 2015.

Why did you decide to become a Chuffed.org community leader?

I am passionate about ‘democratising philanthropy’. Far too often I hear people say that philanthropy is limited to the rich and famous. We all know that this is not true. Crowdfunding is a wonderful way to invite people to give to a cause you are passionate about and feel part of a ‘tribe’ that is making a real difference!

How did your crowdfunding journey begin?

I first became interested in crowdfunding when our local Primary School approached me to help them raise $40,000 to install a Climbing Dome on the school oval. Please check out our successful campaign here. 

What social cause are passionate about and why?

I am currently as the Senior Philanthropy Advisor at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. Perkins focuses on Cancer, Heart Disease and Diabetes. I lost my mother at a young age to cancer and I am very passionate about contributing to make a difference in this area of research.

What relevant fundraising or other experience do you have that you can share with participants in the workshop?

Early in my fundraising journey I was taught three things:

1. If you follow a process – probability will favour success.
2. People do not fund needy causes, they fund causes that meet people’s needs.
3. In real estate it is all about location, location, location – well in fundraising it is is all about leadership, leadership, leadership.

I am looking forward to sharing my learning’s across these three truisms with you at the next Chuffed workshop.

What social cause project or campaign on Chuffed will the funds raised through the workshop support? 

I am participating in the 2017 MACA Ride to Conquer Cancer in support of the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. 100% of the proceeds from my workshops go towards my fundraising goal of $2,500.00. For more information please click here. 

Heiko’s next Crowdfunding for Social Causes Workshop is on the 15th of August at Spacecubed! Register here.

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5 Steps to get PR for your Crowdfunding Campaign

Hand on Microphone - PR Guide

For your crowdfunding to really take off it’s important to reach past your existing networks. Getting media coverage is a great way to increase awareness about your crowdfunding campaign and access new supporters. With the right research and planning, you can achieve publicity for your crowdfunding campaign and boost your impact.

More important than finding the right journal or newspaper to pitch to, is finding the right person who will be interested to feature your story. Most journalists get hundreds of press releases and email pitches every day — many of which get deleted unopened. So how do you get your story noticed?

Here are some tried and tested steps to getting media coverage for your crowdfunding campaign:

  1. Find the right journalists

Rather than emailing the editor@newspaper.com or using the website’s online contact form, find the journalists that have shown an interest in you, your cause or related topics before. These include:

  • Journalists who have featured you or your organisation before (they already know you)
  • Journalists of your Local Press / in the city where you or your organisation are based, or where the project is happening (they want to know what is happening in their local area)
  • Journalists of your National Press who have featured a similar campaign or cause before (journalists who are already talking about issues relating to your cause are the most likely to want to publish your story)

There are some great free tools online to help you access the right journalists and their contact details. An effective way of doing this:

  1. Head to https://news.google.com/
  2. Click on ‘Advanced search’ and fill out the relevant search terms to find at least 5 contacts for each of the 3 categories above and build a list of articles and journalist names, grouping them by journal.
  3. Do a Google Search for ‘Journalist’s Name + contact details’ or go to the contact page of the journal or newspaper to find out the email format the company is using. You can also find example email formats at https://www.email-format.com/. If you really can’t find their details you can also email the editor or use the online contact form, but this should be your last choice.

Limit your search to articles published in the last 1–2 years to make sure it’s still relevant. An example search could be:

Search articles

2. Engage with the journalist before you pitch

Never underestimate the importance of connections — take the time to engage with the journalists on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Get on their radar by liking, commenting on and sharing their posts. Get to know what your key journalists want and how they work by following them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and any other social networks they may have. Get examples of what they’ve written so you can reference them later.

 

Engaging with Journalists

3. Shape the perfect story and turn it into an awesome press release.

Now that you know the needs of your target journalists and their audience, build a story around your campaign with these in mind. Put yourself in the journalist’s shoes and think about what aspects of your story are the most newsworthy for their readers. Emphasize the most human aspects of your story. What makes this story interesting? Is it the cause that drives it, the current affairs that link it, the emotion it brings up, the large amount you have already raised or the fact that something incredible is happening in your local community?

Adjust your story to the best angle for the journalist and their audience and make sure to include the 5 W’s of journalism:

  • Who
  • What
  • Where
  • When
  • Why

Also make sure you include clear links to your Chuffed.org crowdfunding campaign. Mention Chuffed.org in the text so we get notified when your story gets featured and we can help spread the word with our networks too.

For more tips you can follow the guidelines of our press release template here.

A great example:

Media Release Example

Some more great Chuffed.org story examples :

4. Write a compelling pitch email

Your subject line is crucial in drawing the journalist’s attention. There are 2 types of subject lines that work particularly well:

  1. Label it as ‘STORY IDEA’ or ‘PITCH’, followed by a concise heading that summarizes your story in no more than ten words. (They know what to expect when they open the email, and gets them interested to learn more)
  2. Refer to their previous article in the subject line. For example: ‘Following up on [Previous Article Title]’ (They will recognise their own Article Subject line and will like that you are following up on something they wrote)

Make sure you refer to the journalist by name, and get straight to the point in the first couple of lines. Explain who you are, the topic of the press release and why you thought it would be of interest to them (refer to one of their previous related articles) but don’t go into too much detail — a few lines is enough.

Leave a clear link to your crowdfunding campaign and either attach your press release or copy-paste the press release at the bottom of the email. Also make sure to include clear contact details and make sure you are available to respond and help them meet their deadlines.

An example email could look like this:

Pitch email

5. Follow Up

After sending your pitch, give it at least 1–2 days before taking more action. If you hear back straight away — you’re in luck. Make sure to respond to any questions as soon as possible. Journalists are working towards tight deadlines and whether or not they can feature your story will depend on how fast they can put it together for the next edition of their journal or newspaper.

If you don’t hear back, the next step is a phone call. When you call, introduce yourself, mention your earlier email and state that you wanted to follow up with a photo opportunity or to double check they don’t miss out on the story. Be ready to explain why your story should be of interest to them. If they decide it isn’t, accept defeat, but ask for some positive feedback, so you can take it to your next journalist target. If you can’t get hold of them via phone, give it a few days before you send a polite follow-up email, letting them know about any updates on your campaign and asking if they have any questions related to your previous email. Don’t follow up more than once, you don’t want to come across as pushy or impatient.

Journalists work towards very tight publishing deadlines and have only limited time available to explore new stories. Usually it takes a few days for them to respond, so don’t worry if you don’t hear back immediately. They may even feature your story without responding to your email. You will usually get a 10–20% success rate when contacting the right journalists with a relevant story, so the more you research, the better your chances!

When is the best time to contact Journalists?

We recommend contacting journalists either:

  1. Before your campaign launches — to let them know the campaign is coming up and with a link to the pre-launch page (make them feel special about getting a preview and let them be the first to publish your story — you can send a follow-up email once the campaign is live).
  2. When you’ve raised a considerable amount of your target in the first week (>30%) or are getting closer to your target towards the end of the campaign (>70%). Journalists are more likely to feature successful campaigns than a campaign that just launched and is sitting at $0.
  3. When your campaign is completed and you raised 100% of your target. You may not need to raise further funds, but it will help you raise more awareness of your cause and may help you get potential future support and funding. The journalist is able to feature a positive and successful story, and you have a new journalist on your list for your next campaign.

What if your story gets featured?

If your crowdfunding campaign gets publicity, make sure to thank the journalist for their time and effort and show their support is appreciated. If the journalist features your story, they’re more likely to cover you again in the future, so make sure you keep them in the loop as you hit milestones throughout your crowdfunding campaign.

Also make sure to the article amongst your social networks as well as on your campaign page to keep the momentum going. You can also share this in your email to other journalists to show the story is newsworthy and give them an example of where else the story has been featured.

Other websites and tools:

We’d love to see your coverage — share it with us as well!

Feeling inspired? Start your own campaign today.

 

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Success Story: Simon’s Beard for Good

A Beard for Good

A Beard for Good
“I’m very passionate about sustainability, by this I mean encompassing a triple-bottom-line approach to life considering the economic, social and environmental aspects of how I live my life. This is my main value and so I try wherever to minimise my impact on the planet and where possible to improve it environmentally and socially.

Beard for good was born from me deciding not to shave or cut my hair whilst I was away travelling last year. It was then that I then realised, as a former Movember participant, I could use this growth for good. Having witnessed a lot of stray animals and homelessness in South America, mainly Bolivia and Colombia, I decided I would donate money to these causes in Melbourne. Whilst I could have donated money to programs in these countries, there are issues with homelessness and stray animals on our own doorstep. After garnering some advice from colleagues, I decided to raise money for Pets Haven and Latitude.

Pets Haven – Pets Haven is not your normal every day animal shelter. We are a Pro-Life facility, we do not believe in euthanising healthy animals for economic reasons or to simply make room. Our emphasis relates to helping both human beings and our orphaned animals. We strongly believe in respecting both humans and animals. Our aim is to responsibly rehouse companion pets back into our community, where they belong.

Latitude – Latitude provides support to over 200 young people a year in Moonee Valley and Hobsons Bay, this does not include the additional 95 young people we assist to ‘purchase’ accommodation, this is providing access to crisis accommodation. Currently the list of young people actively seeking homelessness support is sitting around 139, this is only young people 16 -25yrs for the LGA’s of Moonee Valley, Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay and Wyndham. Many young people will exist for a number of years couch surfing before making it to a homeless service.

Beard for good may be perceived as a very simple concept (or lazy fundraising) but it is an everyday reminder to me and hopefully those that support me, that homelessness and stray animals are still a part of our inner urban fabric.”

Check out Simon’s campaign below:

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Success Story: Matt’s Walking to a Better World

Matt

“My name is Matt Napier and I want to see an end to world poverty.
During a trip to Nepal 11 years ago, I first realised how bad poverty can be in developing countries. I couldn’t face going back to my home in Australia and leaving these poor people behind when the only difference between us was the country we were born into. I had all the opportunities in the world but was wasting them, so decided to set my focus on becoming a voice for the world’s poor and since then have become an anti-poverty advocate.

Now, I’m no expert in International Development or a genius with a cure for the world’s ills, so what could I do? I decided to undertake extreme long distance adventures and use this to raise awareness of poverty, talk to schools and politicians and raise much needed funds for projects that I believe have the greatest chance of stopping the cycle of poverty.

So, in 2012 I cycled 3,800km across Australia and then in 2013 I bounced an Aussie Rules football from Perth to Sydney. These adventures were so successful that I then set my sights on Africa and in 2016 I walked 2,300km across southern Africa from Walvis Bay in Nambia to Maputo in Mozambique. I raised $62,000 through four separate chuffed campaigns (one for each of my charity partners) and also gave out over 200 soccer-balls to schools and community groups along the way. Oh yeah, did I mention I kicked a soccer-ball the whole way!?

This year I am walking 1,860km from the southern border of Namibia to the northern border with Angola. It will take me through some of the harshest terrain on earth including the Namibia Desert and the infamous Skeleton Coast. This year I have two charity partners – Empower Projects and Caritas Australia – and aim to fund a specific project through each of them. Each project is unique but the thing that they both have in common is that they work with the communities to identify their needs and solutions that will work for them, and then they support them to implement them in a way that is sustainable and will create long term change.

I am currently one week into my 7 week journey and although I am finding it a bit tough at the moment, I am encouraged by the support I have received and the emails I get from Chuffed telling me when someone has donated.”

Go Matt! Learn more about his mission by checking out his Chuffed.org campaigns:

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Become a Chuffed.org Community Leader

people attending workshop

Thanks for showing an interest in becoming a Chuffed.org Community Leader. Chuffed.org is a social benefits company and not surprisingly our campaigners are at the heart of everything we do.

Role Description

Community Leader / Crowdfunding Workshop Facilitator role in rapidly-growing, VC-funded, social-cause tech startup, changing the world.

Chuffed are seeking a team of enthusiastic and motivated campaigners to add capacity to the organizing of community events (ie. Crowdfunding Workshops) in your local area. This is a voluntary role, but proceeds from the workshops will go to support your next campaign on Chuffed, or any other cause on Chuffed that you would like to support.

Within the Community Leader role you not only have the benefit of raising funds for your cause through organizing workshops, but also a great opportunity to meet and support other campaigners in your local area and make sure they have the best possible chance of running a successful campaign on Chuffed.

Our Community Leaders are a vital part of helping more people raise the needed funds to bring their social cause projects to life, so why not check out the info below to see if it’s right for you!

LOCATIONS: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

 

What you’ll be doing

The Community Leader functions as a volunteer for Chuffed. With the support of the team at Chuffed, Community Leaders organize and facilitate crowdfunding workshops in their local area. In addition with this, you will work with the team at Chuffed to come up with other ideas for how to help better support your local community. We’d provide free training and resources to help you organize your first workshop.

STATUS:  Voluntary (min. 1 day / month) with proceeds of the workshop supporting your campaign on Chuffed (or any other cause on Chuffed that you’d like to support).

DURATION: August – October 2017 (1 day / month), opportunities for ongoing involvement

KEY RESPONSIBILITY AREAS:

1. Coordinate and facilitate at least one Chuffed Crowdfunding workshop per month in your local area for 15 participants.

2. Help promote the crowdfunding workshops in your local community and assist with finding a suited venue for the workshop.

Requirements:

We’re looking for people who:

  • have crowdfunding (or other relevant fundraising) experience
  • have experience running and facilitating events
  • are excited about Chuffed and what we do
  • have run a successful crowdfunding campaign on Chuffed before (*bonus)

In terms of commitment you’d need to:

  • Be willing and available to participate in training between 17-31 July (2x 1h Skype session + approx. 3h background reading)
  • Be available for 1 day/ month during August, September and October to prepare for and facilitate a 3-hour crowdfunding workshop for up to 15 participants.

This is a volunteer role, where proceeds from the workshop will go to support your project on Chuffed or any other cause on Chuffed that you would like to support (this can be anywhere from $200 – $400 per 3-hour workshop).

We provide free training and resources to help you organize your first workshop.

Who is Chuffed?

Chuffed is one of the global leading crowdfunding platforms for social causes, ranging from environmental, animal welfare and international development causes to social welfare and projects supporting refugees across the world. We’re a purpose-led company that’s transforming how people think about charities around the world. We’re making the face of charity awesome, bringing to life exciting projects that people want to be part of.

In contrast to many other charity providers and fundraising platforms, we do not charge any commissions or fees to campaigners. This way 100% of funds raised can go to support projects. Instead, we rely wholly on the kindness of donors to cover online transaction fees and include an optional donation to support our platform. Lucky for us, turns out they do!

Since launching in October 2013, we’ve raised over $13M / £9M for close to 5,000 projects in 20 countries, and this is only the start.

Everyone on team Chuffed.org deeply cares about the causes we support. We’re a genuine bunch and look forward to having you on board!

To apply, please complete the online form below:

COMPLETE THE APPLICATION FORM

Application closes: 30 November 2017

Skype Interview dates: ongoing

Trainings:  2x 1h Skype session + some background reading (approx. 3-4h)

If have any further questions regarding this role please contact info@chuffed.org for more information.