Once you have analysed the environment you’re campaigning in, you’ll need to decide if a campaign is right for you and your organisation.
You may want to start by exploring practical questions such as:
- Your mission: does the campaign fit within your organisation’s mission and priorities?
- Your resources: does your organisation have the capacity (time, resources, skills, knowledge) to run the campaign?
- Your authority: are you are a credible, authoritative voice on the issue? Where does that credibility come from? For example, do your beneficiaries or clients have experience of the issue?
- Practical implications: what will the impact of this campaign be on other parts of your organisation? For example, will it affect your existing relationships or resources?
- Charitable objectives: if you are a charity, you will need to be able to demonstrate how the campaign achieves or furthers your charitable objectives.
Think about your audience
Understanding your audience is crucial to running a good campaign.
Some things you may want to consider include:
- is your campaign proposition realistically winnable?
- is it (politically or publicly) popular?
- is now a good time to launch this campaign? How will it affect your organization internally and in the eyes of the public?
Shelter’s Million Children campaign
Shelter’s Million Children campaign focused on a number of issues relating to poor-quality housing. It highlighted the experiences of children living in uninhabitable conditions, skilfully tying this to government priorities such as reducing child poverty. At the same time, the campaign offered a message that could be easily communicated to both the public and people in politics.
The campaign helped to persuade the government to commit to building three million more homes by 2020, including significantly more social housing. It has also contributed to moving the debate about social housing up the political agenda and built support for building more affordable homes. The campaign attracted widespread support and has helped to build a consistent, public voice for Shelter.
