Life Savers Swim Clear of the Net
21 December 2000 at 12:12 pm
The Royal Life Saving Society of Western Australia sees the summer months as the best time to raise much needed funds when their public profile is higher than usual.
But the Society encountered a public backlash to its latest attempt at fundraising on the Internet. With all good intentions the Society signed up for a fundraising program with a new web page.
RLSS Executive Director, Alex McKenzie described the program on the new home page as an ‘imaginative fundraising project for our Society and if enough people participate, the income of the Society will be significantly increased….”
The Society web site said for only $100 US per year and $25 once only registration, you will not only help and support the Royal Life Saving Society, but have the opportunity of earning substantial income yourself from the explosive growth of the Internet.
The web site manager for the Royal Life Saving Society of WA, Mark Harrison says instead of getting a flood of donors to the site they received worrying e-mail criticising the Society for its fundraising attempts on the Net!
It sounded like a cheap form of fundraising but could have been much more costly in alienating their donor database.
Within a week the new site was disabled and the Society posted a notice saying “The Royal Life Saving Society (WA) is no longer associated with this site”.
Harrison says it was a bit of an experiment and the Society took the plunge to see if it could work! Tin rattling on golden beaches sounds a lot more enticing!
