The charity I work for, Royal Merchant Navy Education Foundation, is in an unusual position. We have enough funding but are struggling to find people to help.
The charity was originally set up in 1827 to provide board and lodging for children whose fathers had been killed serving at sea. Today it is an educational charity, helping the needy children of merchant navy seafarers, professional sea-going fishermen and RNLI lifeboat crew members with everything from school fees and textbooks to computers.
For the first few hundred years of the charity’s existence, seafaring was at the nation’s heart, so public awareness of the charity was high and many were in favour of our work. However, today general awareness of the merchant navy and the role it plays in British trade and commerce is at an all-time low, and the number of those working in the sector continues to fall.
Despite this, there are approximately 51,000 potential beneficiaries out there, and it’s down to us as a niche charity to work that bit harder to find and engage with those who need our support.
To do this we have recently appointed specialist communication advisers to raise our public profile and, so far, this is proving to be cost-effective and successful.
The messaging of our most recent advertisement campaign, which appeared in commercial shipping trade press, focused heavily on the fact we were seeking more beneficiaries. We have seen a 50% increase in inquiries since the campaign, and with this increased brand awareness we hope to increase our beneficiary numbers by 700% within the next five years. We are currently supporting 51 children, and are working to increase this to more than 200.
As well as requests for our services, we have received a handful of phone calls from regular readers of the shipping trade magazine who wanted to make a donation, even though our articles explicitly highlighted that we were well-funded. This just shows that, for charities of our size, the tactics we dedicate to finding beneficiaries can equally be used to find new donors who have an affinity to the work we’re doing.
I am yet to be convinced by the efficacy of high-budget advertising campaigns that spread the message widely but not necessarily to the people who need to see it. So instead of traditional advertising, our plan is to continue with our targeted approach.
The charity has also used social media to increase awareness among young people and families that could benefit from our support. Our Facebook page and advertising campaign was created to reach people living near British ports and those with links to seafaring.
We are also planning a national awareness campaign to launch on Merchant Navy day (3 September), to help re-educate people about this largely forgotten sector. We want to explore lobbying as a PR tool and provide more comment on personal finance and education issues, such as the recent cuts to student support grants.
I regularly meet with chairs and chief executives from other charities in our remit to discuss how we can improve our services. We want to cut administrative overheads by pooling resources and working much more closely with other charities that operate in the same area.
Seafaring has been integral to the UK for thousands of years, and we have adapted our offering according to the needs of those working within the merchant navy. From initially operating as an orphanage, then as a school, and now as an educational charity we’ve evolved over the past two centuries to provide the best possible support. It’s not a case of diminishing need; the awareness of what we’re here to do and what we’re aiming to achieve isn’t being heard as loudly as it once was. As long as there is a need, however large or small, we will be here.
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