Should I just give up?

[sfhyouthforum]

I've been working for the Sydenham and Forest Hill Youth Forum for four years and four months.

I had a vision that the Forum - made up of schools, police, youth clubs and youth and community organisations can meet regularly and share experiences and work practices, hear about projects and exchange resources.

In the midst of recession cuts and hard-to-obtain funding, I also had an idea (like the big charities), ask people to give £2-£20 per month to support gaps in Sydenham, Forest Hill and Perry Vale and fill it with the things young people need to excel, things they may not get at home, and activities that will help them socially and improve their education development.

The money coming in each month would be distributed to local groups and charities who evidence their projects on our website: www.sfhyouthforum.org.uk.

In that time, we have about £1800 from the public, which sounds good, but translates to £52 per month. We've been able to do some things with this funding but not enough to really make an impact.

My boyfriend says I set my expectations too high and that I should recognise when something isn't going to work and leave. I just can't see why people don't want to give to a charity on their door step, with the money going to kids on their door step, and invest in organisations who do fantastic work at a fraction of the cost of a big national charity or local government. Most councils agree that the third sector produce better outcomes for youth at a lower cost than council-run services.

But something isn't working, because most of you don't believe in it. Otherwise, I would have hit my first target of £1k per month by now.

Should I just give up?

[sfhyouthforum]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... ion-theory

stay on the bus

or

jump

[dickp]

Possibly. Consider this:

a) How many people (outside this forum and the local “great and the good”) know you exist? Especially those who might be tempted to donate? Have, for example, you tried leafleted parents around Sydenham’s various schools? They are an obvious target market.

b) Rightly or wrongly, the name of your organisation might be a problem. People might be willing to fund specific activities – but not a vehicle for (indirectly) funding activities offered by someone else. “Forum” sounds like a talking shop. Getting people to donate to (what sounds like) talking shop is a tough call.

c) You’re battling against compassion fatigue. People are constantly being bombarded with countless “just £2” per month requests. It doesn’t matter how worthy, or local, the cause – they’ve just switched off.

d) Money is tight. Everything’s more expensive. Even among those of us who aren’t on the breadline, there is a massive temptation to simply blow any spare cash on treats and fun – especially considering the rubbish weather we’ve had recently. We need cheering up, and – bluntly - hedonistic pleasures give us more of “kick” than worthy causes.

[dickp]

Apart from the six month (largly unpaid) voluntary research project I'm currently undertaking, the community improvement website I'm creating on the side for free, the fostering application process I'm currently working on, and the fact that I'm my flat blocks' (unpaid) landlord liasion rep?

Yeah, I'm such a selfish, corporate, SOB.

But this ain't about me...

[dickp]

Good. On my current budget, a hedonistic pleasure is sunday lunch at a nice (independent) local pub.

Anyway, continuing my assessment / suggestions... Have you considered targetting donations from local nurseries, or cafes and pubs with community notice boards where parents gather (im thinking forest hill, realistically) or even the constuction company, architects etc involved in the wells park youth club rebuild?

[size=80][b][i][ Post made via Mobile Device ][/i][/b][/size] [img]http://sydenham.org.uk/mobile.png[/img]

[dickp]

Final comments (I really am trying to offer constructive criticism btw)

First, I think you might need to redesign - or rename your website - if that is the main vehicle you use to raise money.

I visited your website for the first time yesterday and (if I’m honest), it left me confused about what purpose a donation would achieve. Because it’s called a “forum”, I was expecting to see one of two things. Either:

A “brochure” website, setting out which local groups you work with, what benefit you bring to them (i.e. you give them money), and a little bit about yourself. If I was reassured, on visiting the site, that you were well connected, and were using the money raised to help out local youth groups, then that would be a more compelling reason to donate.

Alternatively I was expecting to see a discussion forum, similar to this one. That would be harder to “sell” as a reason to donate - but not impossible, if legitimate funding reasons were set out.

Instead, what I came across was what appeared to be an events and groups listings service. And here’s where I was confused. I couldn’t see why, because I hadn’t been explicitly told, I should donate to support a listings service. To my mind, a listings service should either be populated by volunteers (like Virtual Norwoods is), or run on a commercial basis.

Of course, the organisations you list might also be the organisations you donate to - but I can’t see that fact mentioned anywhere on the website. And it needs to be.

[Rachael]

I think dickp's comments and advice are spot on the money. The website is unnecessarily complicated, especially the home page with the interactive map. It takes quite a long time to load - and I'm on superfast broadband! I want to see a front page that tells me exactly who you are, what you do, who funds you, who uses your services. That's it. All the rest can be click-through.

Don't give up. Re-focus. Perhaps scale your focus down. Rename and make one or two flagship projects your main focus for now. Make sure they are branded with your group's name and that they make a splash. So people will recognise the name and say, oh yes, those are the people who did x, y or z. Get established, then broaden your focus.

And don't lambast local forum users for not stepping up to the plate. I understand your frustration, but it doesn't help sell your message. In my experience, online communities react well to a single, clear call for specific help.

[JRobinson]

completely agree - stay on the bus! (or get off and change buses to one going in a similar destination - but don't get off and stand there wondering why you're not going anywhere)

definitely worth redesign of website to take the map off the front page.
Also think about the target market for the website - is it designed for local youth to look at to find out what's going on, or is it for parents to look at to find out what's going on, or is it there to garner interest to get funding.
Put up information about the local places that offer youth involvement.

Have you got user accounts on other local online fora? - SE26, Norwood, etc? if so - put up a similar request on there - just the one to start with, and make it friendly.

other good ideas posted above - talking to parents outside of schools at picking up time (when they arrive early for a natter). Take some A5 leaflets to hand out.

places where parents are taking the children already - for example The Horniman, might be interested in getting involved, and letting you have some space on a notice board, or spend time there talking to parents with smaller children.

I'm guessing here, but the site is aimed at youngsters who are independent, so teenagers, who want to get out and do their own thing rather than children - so talking parents of children, getting them involved before the children are old enough to need the services, so that when they do, in a few years time, they already know about you and what you do.

Maybe there should be an online forum on your website, where youngsters can discuss their issues. A good website will bring an increase in web traffic, which in turn will bring an increase in locals knowing that you exist, bringing with it increase in donations.

Please don't give up! I'm not sure I know what I'd do with the extra money each month if you did

[edit to add] - £52 a month, at most that's only 26 people signed up for donations (and it could only 3!)

first and foremost - market the service. Then make sure it's a good service, and it's what people want. After that it should be snowball from there.

If people are on here complaining that all they hear about is that 'blinking' SFHyouth forum, then you're still not marketing enough!

[gerispringer]

I wouldn't donate money to an organisation called a "youth forum", I have donated to organisations such as Kids Company where you can see tangible results of your donations.

[leenewham]

I agree with dickp also.

I think this is an example of where this forum can be useful. Melissa, don't give up. I know what you do is amazing. And important.

One problem is charity fatigue. We give a fair amount to charities every month plus have a largish sum invested in Kiva. I get a bit sick to be honest being asked to give more and more all the time. Times are tight.

Having said that, £2 a month winging their way soon Melissa.

[sfhyouthforum]

Firstly, I never thought how hard it would be to try and run a small charity. And I thought people would jump at the chance to invest in a small charity on their door step.

Website: The website is made with money I got from writing funding bids. It is design for teenagers to see services that are happening locally to tackle the 'there's nothing to do in my area'. They can see in a clear way, where things are. The main problem is that not enough services are adding their activities on there, despite it being free to sign up, free to add their stuff and I have a userguide that is simple to use.

The name 'Forum': It was already existing and registered when I got the job. A small charity with a few thousand pounds needed a revamp and I took in on board.

Leaflets: Cost money and take time to deliver. I only had one paid day per week, which didn't cover the overtime I did and currently I am fully volunteering until some new funding arrives at the end of the month.

My tone: I think if you look at all posts, there are plenty of calls to action, happy ones, informing ones, as for 'agressive' ones Rod Taylor - you may be thinking of the riots posts or when someone starts a prejudice rant. And apologies is I am blaming you. Or sound like I have no tact.

But thanks for the points. Will take them with me to the management committee meeting.

We do need some website developers who could hep put updates on the site and be clearer about what we do.

Essentially, the Forum is a collective of organisations who work with teenagers and by giving to us, you are giving to over 30 local organisations, and in time this will see services to young people in the area improve dramatically. But you're all right, this needs to be evidenced. It all takes time and money to do in a small team, but many hands, makes light work.

If some of you want to help me, please get in touch mel@sfhyouthforum.org.uk

Our current project is Enterprising Youth - working with young people, getting experts in to teach business skills using Corporate Social Responsibility days and then the chance to run their business model in practice.

Will keep you posted.

[sfhyouthforum]

Just to be clear, I'm not blaming anyone, just that I got told: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein and perhaps it is time I move on to work on something else.

[JRobinson]

Maybe some of the older young people could help you out with rewritting the website - all kids these days seem to be IT geniuses!

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