Getting the support of celebrities for nonprofits may seem like a new trend, but it’s not. In fact, this been happening for some years before the rise of social media and other online sharing sources.
The trick is that the celebrity’s presence will cause an increase in your cause’s public awareness. Through their influence, you have the opportunity to persuade people who may not have been interested in supporting your mission before. When celebrities support a cause, people usually listen to them.
The other good point is that the individual or organization behind the cause will gain credibility. This can be very useful for startup causes and ones that are looking to expand their audience. In other words, celebrities can take your cause from unknown to a popular one.
Firstly, we should clarify the term, as “Celebrity” covers a wide range of persons that have a certain influence. Thinking about celebrities, the first people who pop into mind are the Hollywood stars and musicians. However, there are a lot of local celebrities like athletes, advocates, business leaders, any other person in the community who’s attracted positive public attention may also be a great choice. If you’re managing an organization whose goal is to make a change firstly on the local level, this can help to get some attention.
So here are our tips on how to reach a celebrity to support your cause:
1. Don’t randomly pester celebrities on social media.
These actions can make you look unprofessional, especially to their agents and management teams. Contact people through social media only if they seem interested in your cause or have commented or posted about it or similar topics. In this case, you will have a natural reason to join their conversation.
2. Decide what exactly do you want from the celebrity’s involvement.
You should know who your target audiences are and what message exactly you want the celebrity to get across to the public. Be clear about how you want the celebrity to help your cause, and make sure you choose someone your audience can relate to.
3. Make sure the staff at your organization supports your choice of celebrity.
Be sure that your association with the celebrity will have a positive impact on the employees at your organization. It’s no good picking someone who your volunteers or trustees don’t want to be associated with.
4. Don’t always search for established or top-bill names.
Try to work with emerging and new talents, as they often more open to new offers and are more likely to continue to support your organization. Also remember to include bloggers, bloggers, and podcasters in your celebrities list.
5. Prepare and have in mind a range of different offers that celebrities support.
Prove your flexibility, so they can support you when they are not busy or can fit into their schedules. It could be anything, for example, a list of social media posts to support your cause publicly.
6. Be extra-communicative with their agents.
Be open to working with these people as this is a great way to gain their trust and show that you can deliver great opportunities for their clients to be involved with.
7. Create a great pitch.
Invest some time to write at least one sentence answers to the following questions. Read more about how to write a great pitch in this article.
- Why your cause is important?
- How is your organization unique in solving the problem?
- What are your current supporters and how are they relevant to the celebrity?
- Are there already other high-profile influentials in your organization?
- What are three different ways the celebrity could lend their support? Always say you are open to their ideas.
8. Make the correct approach.
It’s always better if someone in your organization knows the chosen celebrity and is happy to approach him or her. Like all people, celebrities are likely to respond better to someone they trust.
Even if you are a small charity, don’t be afraid to approach famous figures: they may be keen to build some new social links.
For example, here is the list of the most charitable celebrities.
To sum up:
Now you know some tricks to reach a celebrity to support your cause. We hope, that they will help you!
