Social Marketing Plays As a Donation Box When It Comes to Fundraising

Abstract

Amount raised in 2017 Financial donation 628,111.61 USD Other donations 117,601.73 USD March 2018 Financial donation 109,844.00 USD Background and context: Qatar Cancer Society Marketing Department work hand in hand with the society when it comes to fundraising. Aim: Our aim is to bring cancer awareness into the Qatar community as well as provide cancer patients and the organization with the needed fund to either cover cancer cases who needs financial support inside Qatar. And to financial support the organization to continue its awareness activities. Strategy/Tactics: Our campaigns are based on the World Health Organization calendar, where every month we have a marketing awareness campaign for a type of cancer as per the below: January: cervical health awareness July: skin cancer awareness February: World Cancer Day (February 4) August: blood cancer March: colorectal cancer awareness September: childhood cancer awareness April: thyroid cancer awareness October: breast cancer awareness May: no tobacco and cancer November: prostate cancer June: cancer survivors December: cancer awareness We mainly use these tactics to promote each campaign: e-mail marketing, direct marketing, engaging events, social media campaign, cinema advertising, TV ads, SMS marketing, partnerships, sponsorships, and cancer patients visit. Program process: Costs and returns 2017 Marketing costs 98,096.46 USD Agreements: 18 Financial donation 628,111.61 USD Other donations 117,601.73 USD What was learned: In Qatar donation was limited to boxes only for a long time. Now marketing has proved that creative messages and inbound marketing can encourage people to donate and not only donate, it happens in a real time and remotely by donating via a link, SMS or bank transfer. Each and every sponsor support as part of their Social Corporate Responsibility which is a win-win situation for both the sponsor and the nonprofit organization. Social marketing works the same way as marketing, it is a systematic and planned process. However, the aim is to either change/enhance a behavior or to spread awareness. And for cancer, we work hardly to spread awareness and to tell people the importance of donation, early detection and how to live if you or one of your beloved one has the cause. Donation shouldn't be limited to cover cancer cases, it should also consider the importance of spreading awareness. As you can see in the statistics above, we were able to raise a fund of a huge amount this year comparing it to the previous year, and the only reason was social marketing.