To reach out widely
Gill Sewell explains the outreach work of Britain Yearly Meeting, the strategy behind it and where the money goes
Working on outreach is exciting and fills me with optimism for potential growth in Quaker worshippers. We use many approaches, including media coverage, social media, stalls at big festivals and advertising. However, advertising can be an uncomfortable issue for some Friends. Surely people will find their way to Quakerism if it is the ‘right’ faith for them? Well, we know the journey to Quakerism can be slow – painfully so, with some suggesting seven or twelve years from first exposure to membership. In the outreach team we talk about ‘ten tastes’ on the way to active engagement, possibly seeing an advert or TV programme, receiving a free information pack, conversation with a local Quaker or attending worship. How can we help these happen over a matter of months rather than decades?
Advertising is one way we work to ensure that ‘Quakers are well known and widely understood… We share our practices as appropriate and make full use of relevant media to reach out widely’ (extract from Our faith in the future, a leaflet on your noticeboard).
The outreach team at Friends House exists to support Meetings to organise and deliver outreach events in their local communities. However, there are also some activities, such as national advertising, training in media skills and national press coverage during Quaker Week, which are more effectively organised by Friends House.
The annual outreach budget for advertising has been around £62,000 for the past three years. We make careful use of these monies. When placing ads we consider the total cost (negotiated down invariably) and circulation figures to calculate a per person/per pound cost. We consider short notice discounts and how closely the audience matches our target size and location.
Advertising is an industry that can be challenging to Quaker faith, values and ethos. We do not place adverts in publications which are linked to organisations or agendas that are in conflict with our testimonies. Advertising in new spaces can be effective in reaching people who mightn’t otherwise be exposed to Quakerism.
Quaker Week (now in its eleventh year) involves many Meetings across Britain. It is supported by the national advertising campaign, social media and efforts to get Quaker coverage in the media (for instance, speaking about conscientious objection on BBC Songs of Praise in 2016). We used about half of our advertising budget in October for Quaker Week 2016 and ran full-page ads in: Church Times (alongside a two-page feature), Private Eye and The Big Issue, with quarter page ads in Ethical Consumer, the Guardian, Daily Mirror, New Internationalist, Clean Slate and The Green Parent. We trialled adverts in football club programmes, social media adverts and digital adverts with Church Times, The Green Parent and PinkNews. Our cheapest advert was £50 and the most expensive £9,000 – whilst a promotion on Facebook cost £20.
The other half of the advertising budget was used for adverts across the year and we widened the range of media used (for example Red Pepper and Juno). Measuring the impact via circulation figures is helpful – but getting a reader to visit a website or request an information pack is a better measure of success. We use data capture measures to track this wherever possible. An analysis of Quaker Week 2016 can be read on the outreach page of the ‘Quakers in Britain’/Britain Yearly Meeting website. Friends can ask for help from Britain Yearly Meeting staff to guide Local Meetings when placing adverts.
Gill is outreach development officer in Quaker Life.
Further information: gills@quaker.org.uk and www.quaker.org.uk/outreach
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