My donation strategy for Cafébabel
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CafébabelWe’re launching a series of informal articles written by Cafébabel staff to explain the changes the magazine is going through. Most importantly: a new editorial line, new sections, new plans, new faces... in short, it's a whole new world!
When we talk about donations in the non-profit world, we often imagine young people waiting outside a metro station with a cash box or a form to fill. We’re an organisation; we’re young, so it’s only normal that we started looking into the world of donations. Still, you won’t be seeing us at the exit of a metro with a form to fill.
For Cafébabel, donations haven’t been an option up until now. But that’s going to change. If you follow us regularly, you must be aware that we’re going through some major developments. We started thinking about a donation strategy that will take the form of a simple, basic button stating: “Make a donation.” After all, most non-profit website have a button, why shouldn’t we?
Let’s play it fair and square. For several years now, we’ve been receiving less and less public subsidies to keep our organisation going. It’s getting harder and harder to go full throttle when it comes to our activities, the way we did in the past. That’s why diversifying our financial resources is an essential goal for 2018.
In the past, I’ve managed to put donation strategies in place for other non-profit organisations and I’ve seen that it works. In 2016, to celebrate our 15th anniversary, we launched a crowdfunding campaign for our book, XYZ (highlighting the magazine’s top articles over the last 15 years), and it worked. Galvanised by this victory, I told myself that our European network could also take part the success of our actions; help us shake up the continent and contribute to young, offbeat journalism from the ground. I started researching anything and everything I could find on humanitarian and non-profit websites. At the end of this intensive research phase, I created a PowerPoint presentation of about 40 slides presenting the way in which other non-profits showcased their donation pages (let’s be honest, they all look the same), and gave a few suggestions on how we could do the same with our new website. Our graphic designer was mega happy!
Donations are obviously only a small fraction of our overall financial strategy. They aren’t going to double Cafébabel’s budget, but they will definitely help us develop new projects and actions.
So we’ve decided to take the plunge. Maybe as an independent media outlet that’s young, diverse and passionate, we could spark your interest in supporting us!
Translated from Ma stratégie de don pour Cafébabel