The death of Claire Squires, who was fundraising for Samaritans by running a marathon, sparked a massive public response and donations for the charity. Donations skyrocketed from her initial £500 goal to over £1 million as the story was spread widely on social media. This highlighted how new technologies and social media have increased the speed and scale at which the public can respond to tragic events. Samaritans learned the importance of communicating effectively and working as a team in such situations of unexpected large-scale attention and donations.

1. The tragic death of Claire Squires
and the impact on Samaritans
Rachel Kirby-Rider
Director of Fundraising & Communications, Samaritans
Gemma Randall
Head of Charity Partnerships, JustGiving

2. WHAT WE’LL COVER
IN TODAY'S SESSION
The background and the public response
The challenge and subsequent learning’s for Samaritans
Why did this particular event have such an impact?
Could we see something similar happen again?

3. 22 April 2012

4. METRES FROM THE END…
A seasoned runner & fundraiser
Daughter of a long term volunteer
Attempting to raise £500

5. PRESS FRENZY

7. Tipping point – the response became the story
But it was swiftly
followed by what
can only be
described as a
torrent of giving

8. From £500 to £1,000,000
19095
32087
12016
4240
6331
1916974 897 729 838 3550
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
23rd April - 28th April

9. In context...
Normal marathon period = 190,000 visits
per day from 150,000 unique users
+
+820,000
622,000

10. At it’s peak
- 8,000 page views
a minute
- 133 page views
a second
- 4,000 HTTP
request per second
to our servers
- Over 1,000,000
unique visitors
- 2,000,000 hits
over the day
- 13,500 concurrent
users

11. Where did they donate from?

12. What did people donate?
£11.68
average donation
£5000
Highest donation
46
People donated more
than once
£5
Average JTG
donation

13. How did people donate?

14. PROFILE OF SAMARITANS
DIGITAL PRESENCE
Week following Marathon – up 380%
66k vs 17k same time previous year
Visits on Tuesday – up 993%
22k vs 2k same time previous year
People donating online – up 300%
Level of donation – up 400%
Social Media engagement – 80% increase
www.samaritans.org

15. DONOR COMMUNICATION
Initial ‘Thank you’ sent to 80,054 donors
6,341 donors opted in
6,217 donors still active

16. Industry standard click through rate is 21.5%
Samaritans’ click through rate is 28%

17. “How very thoughtful of you to send us all news of
the inquest on Claire Squires.”
“It would be nice to be kept up to date with what
you have managed to do with all the pennies.”
“Thanks for the update. I am still very happy that
I donated on Claire's page.”
“I hope the family can find some comfort in the fantastic work
that you will be able to as a result of the money raised by Claire.”
“Claire was an inspiration and I didn't even know her.”
“Her story still touches me very deeply and I hope her family
are immensely proud of what she achieved in her short life.”

19. Establishing Claire’s fund
Public scrutiny
Demonstrate impact
Innovation not core
Samaritans still needed funds…
CHALLENGES

20. SAMARITANS LEARNINGS
Can’t plan for this but…
Work as a team and stick to your key messages
Don’t be afraid of making a mistake
Communication and cooperation
The power of digital

21. Why should you learn from this?
People are mobile, social and giving is global
– is that important?
High profile social giving is taking place with
increasing frequency

22. How the public responded to a tragic public incident in 1997

23. In contrast to 2012....

24. What’s changed?
1. Facebook
2. Facebook mobile
3. Twitter
4. Eurosport / Yahoo
5. Daily Mail Online
6. The Sun Online
7. Sky News Online
8. MSN News Online
9. Telegraph.co.uk
10. LinkedIn
Top 10 referrers to JustGiving the week of Claire’s page
26. 19% - from Facebook
(within this 9.7% of all traffic
came from FB mobile)

25. Distinct shift in public response to public events
I want to set up a page for One Fund
Boston but it isn't on the list
“I'm looking to raise money for those affected in the blasts of the
Boston Marathon. Can you let me know if there is a charity page for
this? If not, what can I do to support? Thanks, David”
Hi It there a way to raise money for the
victims of the Boston Marathon bombs
through JustGiving? Lizzy

27. Consistent and co-ordinated messaging

28. JustGiving – lessons learnt
• Reach out to the charity (or family) involved and ensure they
are aware of their options (particularly for controversial pages)
available support via JG PR and customer care teams
• Sharing and agreement on message for social media
• Keep lines of communication open at a level where
decisions can be made quickly
• Being transparent about decision making process. When the
public are being social you need to be as well - in real time.

29. ANY QUESTIONS…

30. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME
Rachel Kirby Rider
Director of Fundraising and Communications
r.kirby-rider@samaritans.org
020 8394 8351
Gemma Randall
Head of Charity Partnerships
gemma@justgiving.com
020 7067 0925