De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester has been awarded an 18
month project to develop and deliver a social media strategy for
Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People.
Valued at just under £100K, the project is a Knowledge
Transfer Partnership (KTP) between Rainbows, DMU's Institute of
Creative Technologies (IOCT) and the University's Faculty of Art
& Design to design and implement new media strategies to
increase awareness of the charity and embed new media within all of
its fundraising activities.
Loughborough based Rainbows provides holistic, family centred
short breaks, symptom control and end of life care for children and
young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions
from across the East Midlands. The charity needs about £2.8m
every year to support over 250 families and currently receives less
than 15% statutory funding.
KTPs are UK-wide Government programmes that enable businesses
and organisations to access knowledge and skills within academic
institutions in order to improve their competitiveness and
productivity. Recent graduates are recruited to an
organisation for one to three years to work on a project that has
been identified as a high priority for the organisation. During
this time the graduate is supported by an academic, bringing
valuable experience and stewardship to the project.
The Rainbows KTP will be undertaken by Edward Truman, a
Marketing Management with Multimedia BSc graduate from University
of Gloucestershire. Under the guidance of DMU's academics, Edward
has been tasked to examine the changing patterns of charitable
giving among its donor communities by firstly understanding the
shift in philanthropic behaviour and subsequently identifying how
social media may be used effectively. The project will also
aim to understand how new media technologies may enhance the
quality of life for residents at the hospice and their
families.
The lead academic for the project is Dr Tracy Harwood, Senior
Research Fellow and National Teaching Fellow based at DMU's IOCT.
She said: "Edward is a fantastic asset for Rainbows and the
project. He brings with him experience of working in social media
having most recently undertaken the role of Marketing Executive at
the National Space Centre in Leicester.
"Charities like Rainbows are constantly competing for consumers'
attention and appealing to their spending power. However
traditional tried and tested approaches are not working as well as
they used to. Social media is an increasingly powerful tool for
communicating with supporters and potential supporters of
charities."
Patricia Brookes, Director of Fundraising at Rainbows, added:
"Marketing online is becoming more and more important for Rainbows.
It's an incredibly cost-effective way to reach our community and
ask for their support. We're looking forward to working
closely with Edward and our partners at DMU to make this project a
success for our charity."