Saving Blackheath Fireworks Night! What a successful public fundraising campaign looks like

Through the public appeal. Lewisham Council wanted to test the popularity of the event to inform the decision for next year, and to raise money to cover the shortfall.

It promoted the appeal through traditional and new media. It set up a PayPal account for donations, held a collection on the night and even auctioned off a VIP package on eBay.

The VIP package included:

• access for 10 people to an exclusive VIP viewing area for the duration of the display
• a private tour of the firing zone by experts from Pains Fireworks
• VIP parking for three cars in the very heart of the event
• 10 meal vouchers from the Fine Food Company
• 10 drink vouchers to be used at any of the mobile bar units supplied by Creative Bars
• 10 hot chocolate vouchers supplied by Jaz and Jules
• Glow sticks for the whole party provided by Limelight Entertainment Ltd.

The appeal attracted a lot of interest and comment, especially online. Local bloggers got involved with championing the cause. Here are some of the comments from their blogs:

Blackheath Fireworks: Lewisham Council needs you! - The Kidbrooke Kite
“...BLACKHEATH Fireworks needs YOU!” reads the sign, although a little symbol hidden around the side revealed that it's actually LEWISHAM COUNCIL that needs YOU! I was aware that Greenwich had pulled their share of funding for the event, ...

Bid for a night out at the fireworks
...at the Blackheath Fireworks display. Lewisham Council has been trying to raise more cash for the event since Greenwich Council decided not to support it this year. It's good to see that the council is using a bit of imagination to try and raise the money - there's a £36k shortfall to make up and so far it has received £11.5k in public donations....from The Deptford Dame

Fireworks appeal reaches £10,000 mark
...to the Blackheath Fireworks appeal. This year, on grounds of budget constraints, Greenwich Council cancelled their support for the November 5th event, which has been co-funded by the two boroughs for many years. So-far, the public has donated £10,000 of the £35,000 target, with local companies like Glendale and the Clarendon Hotel chipping in. ...from Brockley Central

Was that the last Blackheath fireworks display?
... Blackheath fireworks display ended – good, wasn’t it? It felt a bit more low-key than last year’s display, but that wasn’t entirely a bad thing – no rubbish music, for a start. But it seemed like an almost perfect evening for it – mist and smoke hanging low over the heath, the streams of people walking from miles around...from 853

Others members of the local community generously donated their time and skills. A local amateur took the photos, and local professional film makers made a film of the event.

The eBay auction ran for 10 days with a starting price of 99 pence. The winning bid was for £1000.

The Council got several clear indications that people value the fireworks and that it would be worthwhile continuing in the future:

• There was a significant increase in traffic on the Lewisham Council website and mentions on social media channels (70% increase).
• There were over 350 donations via PayPal.
• Attendance was up by 20,000

The campaign raised £25,000 which went towards the shortfall of £36,000.

• £1000 was raised through eBay
• £2,500 was donated by individuals through PayPal
• £4000 was raised through the collection
• The rest of the £17,000 funding raised was secured from sponsors. This would not have been possible if it were not for the awareness raised by the campaign.

Initially Lewisham Council wanted to set up a payment account using its internal systems. This was not possible in the time frame and it was a challenge to get approval for the PayPal account. The disadvantage of PayPal was losing a percentage of donations to them, as transaction payments. In future, the Council hopes to be able to deal with payments of this nature in-house.

The Council had to take a risk as to how the support of the community would pan out. People might generally have called for the event to be cancelled. You have to be prepared for the fact that you cannot control the message once it is out there.

The campaign was targeted outside the borough, as well as using channels within the borough. The event already attracted many people from across Lewisham. The Council therefore had to be aware of the fact that this campaign might increase visitors – which it did. However, attendance did not go above the levels for which it had arranged – this will have to be watched carefully in future years.

The Council had to be clear that it would conduct this campaign with a minimal use of resources. Word of mouth and staff time taken to contact websites, social media, and press were the main use of resource. Photos and video were donated.

It was difficult to predict how the collection on the night would be received by the audience. Actually, it was very successful, so an increase in the number of collectors will be needed for 2011 to ensure everyone gets a chance to donate.

For more information on Blackheath Fireworks check https://lewisham.gov.uk/inmyarea/events/fireworks