You’ve probably all been nominated for a selfie fundraising campaign – here are 5 of the top selfies that really took off and raised loads for charity.
There’s no denying that the selfie has become the hallmark of many fundraising campaigns, either as part of a special charity strategy or a more spontaneous way to show support for a cause. Here are just a few of the most inspired recent selfie fundraisers:
1. No Make Up Selfie
This early 2014 #NoMakeUpSelfie campaign proved a major inspiration for many more selfie initiatives, in this case with Cancer Research UK at the heart of it. As it turned out, women posting bare-faced selfies online helped the charity raise more than £8m in just six days.
A host of famous women including stars like Beyoncé and Rihanna, model Cara Delevingne and X Factor judge Cheryl Cole took part in the trend, which spread across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The campaign had a double benefit, not only raising millions for a worthy cause, but also encouraging a positive body image as women took to social media to share a more natural look.
2. Stand Up to Cancer (Axa PPP Healthcare)
In another inspirational campaign, Axa PPP Healthcare supported a late 2014 Stand Up to Cancer initiative, offering to donate £3 for every selfie or video shared on Facebook or Twitter showing how that person was standing up to cancer. Participants were also encouraged to write a story about any personal reason they had for supporting the initiative – these messages often struck a chord with other people on social media, helping the campaign to go from strength to strength.
The sponsoring company pledged to donate up to £100,000 to boost the charity’s coffers, and in addition to people taking selfies, it also encouraged the use of slow-mo or speeded up videos using Instagram’s Hyperlapse app.
3. Movember / Decembeard
First, there was the pioneering charity work of the Movember foundation, involving growing moustaches throughout November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as depression, prostate and other male cancers and their associated charities. The charity encouraged men to take selfies of their progress throughout the month – often yielding some hilarious results! And then came Decembeard, a similar campaign asking men to use a free iPhone app to send in their bearded selfies using the #Decembeard hashtag. As a result, they helped to gain support and raise awareness of bowel cancer, raising funds for Bowel Cancer UK.
What’s more, in a later spin on the Movember campaign, coffee brand Douwe Egbert invited people to give themselves a frothy coffee upper lip, take a selfie and share it on Facebook by using it as their profile picture. At the same time they could nominate friends to do the same and donate to Prostate Cancer – an inspired way to get everyone involved, whether or not they are able or chose to grow a moustache for the campaign!
4. UNICEF’s #wakeupcall
This particular global selfie campaign was instigated by UNICEF, in partnership with one of its celebrity supporters, Jemima Khan. Jemima’s idea was rolled out in October 2014, encouraging people to post and share selfies of themselves taken moments after they woke up. Behind the campaign was a serious plea for people and governments around the world to ‘wake up’ to the plight of children suffering as a result of the civil war in and around Syria.
And it proved a major success, not least thanks to celebrity support from the likes of Heston Blumenthal, Jeremy Clarkson, Warwick Davis, Stephen Fry, Hugh Grant, Natalie Imbruglia and Liam Neeson.
5. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Perhaps the most famous charity campaign – while not strictly a selfie, it inspired people all over the world! It doesn’t seem that long ago that social media was crammed full of victims – some clearly up for the challenge more than others – from all over the world taking the plunge and being covered in ice cold water, initially to raise awareness of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). In time, others pledged to causes such as MDNA, Macmillan and many more charities.
At its peak, celebrities from George Bush and Gwyneth Paltrow to Stephen Hawking and Mark Zuckerberg were filmed being soaked and nominating others. With an estimated 17 million people participating, the phenomenon raised around $115m (£74m) for the ALS Association alone.
