Fundraising Video for Fatherhood Initiative Offers Lessons for Others

SpoFI! Say what? SpoFI!

SpoFI is short for the Spokane Fatherhood Initiative, one of the most impressive father-serving efforts in the country.

Ever since National Fatherhood Initiative^® (NFI) partnered with SpoFI to run our evidence-based 24/7 Dad^®program, I’ve continued to be impressed with how the initiative and its fatherhood program has grown and pivoted during the pandemic. (SpoFI also runs NFI’s Fathering in 15^TM and Understanding Dad ^TM programs. They’ve delivered 24/7 Dad^® and Fathering in 15 ^TM virtually during the pandemic.)

How they’ve grown offers lessons for other father-serving efforts. Their latest set of lessons is on fundraising; specifically, how to create a virtual fundraising campaign anchored by a video. Before I share those lessons, watch the 27-minute video below. It’s well worth your time.

What lessons did you glean? Perhaps you gleaned the following lessons.

• Don’t skimp on the cost to develop the video. Ensure it is of high quality and “pulls at the heart strings.”
• Land a sponsor to fund development of the video.
• Clearly communicate the focus of your effort, such as its mission, goals and objectives, and activities.
• Clearly communicate the grounding of your effort in evidence/research. (If you have outcomes data on your effort, such as from an evaluation, include it.)
• If the video is part of a time-limited fundraising campaign, include details about the campaign, such as its start and end dates, how much money it seeks to raise, and matching donations.
• Include staff who run the effort.
• Include board members and a diverse mix of well-known and respected community leaders (e.g. from media and politics) to show their support of the effort and how the effort benefits the community.
• Include dads, children, and other family members positively impacted by the effort.

Have you considered launching a virtual fundraising campaign for your father-serving effort?

Did you glean other lessons from the video? If so, please email us at info@fatherhood.org so that we might consider updating this post to include those lessons. Include “Fundraising Video” in the subject line of your email.