Confession: I still have, and use, a TV/VCR…that I purchased with the money from my bat mitzvah, thank you very much. I’m a complete luddite.
Thankfully, working in fundraising at a nonprofit theatre, most of my donors prefer a handwritten note to an online interaction. As the industry expands efforts to communicate with the next generation of theatre-goers and philanthropists, a lot of interesting innovations are cropping up. Nevertheless, I fear that industry is still dominated by tragic facebook posts like: “First rehearsal! Are you excited?” or “Gonna be a great show. Buy tickets!” The engagement is low, the educating information is non-existent, and the call-to-action is boring. I think the main culprit in these poor posts is that nonprofits embrace online media because it’s seemingly free and “anyone can do it” ... and the strategy stops there.
I read an interesting article today (link below) that introduces a new strategy that some nonprofits are exploring: gaming. This direction definitely is engaging, the call-to-action is a bit more interesting, and the opportunity to be informative is high although has the potential to carry the boring weight of an educational game (but, c’mon, who didn’t love Oregon Trail!).
My jury is still out. These games are certainly expensive to create, and I wonder if this is the best way to stretch nonprofit dollars. But, anything that helps to broaden the online audience in an engaging, memorable, and meaningful way is worth exploring.
That said, I don’t know if a game where a Stage Manager has to corral a room full of “method” actors really tells the story my donors want to experience.
http://www.netwitsthinktank.com/gaming/why-you-need-to-game-your-supporters.htm
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