Charity begins at festivals

eFestivals is fully behind this idea. £1 is such a small amount - and a very small percentage of the cost of going to a festival. Think of it as buying a drink for a new mate that you meet at a festival.

At the end of the article is a link to an online poll where you can express your support or dislike for the idea. eFestivals hopes that the result of the poll - if positive - may be used to show festival organisers the public support. Hopefully that will lead some to actually implement this idea.

DAVID COTTON from the Bristol based fundraising company Trytime has spent 12 months trying to raise Millions for Charity and give loads of Freebies and Offers to Festival Goers. Below he explains the idea.

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This is the deal Festival ticket-holders. Your ticket has gone up by a £1 supplement paid direct to charity, and in return that charity is providing you access to a £150's worth of freebies and offers on CD's, DVD's, Videos, Computer Games, Magazines and Books? These freebies provided on a compliment slip sized Festival Reward Leaflet enabling them to be sent with your Festival Tickets.

As ideas go, this might be more popular than Will Young headlining Ozzfest, though according to Festival Organisers the consequences are just as dire.

Is it unreasonable to suggest that people who attend the big music festivals throughout the year are likely to be spending the rest of the year purchasing CDs, DVD's and Videos? Well, strike me down with a Festival Crusty Burger the deafening silence emanating from most Festival Offices across the UK, seems to suggest so.

Various claim that this will put you off attending their Festival and those who do attend will deluge them with protests. Every Glastonbury sees about £4.50 of your ticket price go to charity, thanks to some fact checking from the website technos on Festival Chatrooms, you guys have had a lot to say about the 'Eavis Fest', but giving too much to charity has not yet featured. There are charitable elements to a lot of events, Creamfields is a strong supporter, but the rest seem to allow on-site 'chugging' (charity mugging) techniques. Most city dwellers reckon that this a lead up to bank details requests and take evasive action. Having worked with a lot of charities, I can confirm that they don't want to hassle people for money, it's just the only option they have.

Other Festivals claim they don't want to make the charitable element compulsory. To that I suggest that their moralistic stance is undermined by the fact that these same organisers choose every aspect of the Festival Experience for you. The line-ups, the additional entertainments, which companies can sell you things, why the toilets are next to your tent and such like. So to that argument I respond, present the charity as part of the Festival package. If there is one of you that goes to a weekend festival liking every band on the bill, then
a) You're single-handedly keeping the Record Industry afloat.
b) You're a serial voter on Popstars.
c) You're bloody easy to buy presents for.

For the 99.999% of the rest of us, we take elements from a Festival we enjoy and recognise, grudgingly, the right for morons to like bands we don't. If these organisers are so keen on the idea, they could always extend the voluntary contribution to the actual festival ticket itself.

The vital and unsaid arguments are the commercial ones. The Festivals are looking at the scheme and thinking what's in it for them? Aside from the benefits of raising large amounts for charity, the help it provides license applications, the feel-good factor as the crowd approve the amounts being shown on the screen, the main one has got to be giving something back to you, their customers. Over the last 12 months in various fundraising events this scheme has elicited universal praise from the recipients of the Reward Leaflets, way less than 1% moaned about the charitable element.

Six years in the charity industry has given me numerous examples of the willingness of the British public to contribute through indirect means. Its an effective one to administer, and when 50,000 of you gather in a muddy field the £1 that you all just paid equals a vital £50,000 for charity or Will Youngs' hospital bill if he does indeed appear at Castle Donnington.

© DAVID COTTON T/A TRYTIME

A FEW FACTS ABOUT FESTIVAL REWARD SCHEME
TRYTIME'S FESTIVAL REWARDS SCHEME

£1 to Charity, £150's worth of Freebies and Offers to Festival Goers!

FESTIVAL REWARDS SCHEME:
Down side: People to pay an extra £1 on their Festival Ticket to go directly to Charity.
Up Side: They each get a Reward Leaflet giving them £150's worth of freebies and offers on CD's, DVD's, Videos, Magazines and Books from the UK's top retailers and publishers.

TRYTIME RECEIVES?
If a Festival chooses for the money to go to Oxfam
100% GOES DIRECT TO OXFAM
If a Festival chooses for the money to go to ANOTHER CHARITY
10% GOES DIRECT TO OXFAM
90% GOES DIRECT TO CHOSEN CHARITY
What do the companies who support this scheme give you?
0% we don't charge them, they probably wouldn't pay anyway.

FESTIVAL ORGANISERS RECEIVE?
FREE access to provide over a £150's worth of benefits to their Customers.
ALSO ADDITIONAL FREE MARKETING for their own Marketing purposes based on how much they raise for Oxfam.
BIG NAME LOSS LEADERS to help attract other firms to the scheme, they ultimately get to choose the offers carried forward to their Festival Goers.

SOME ASSUMPTIONS BEHIND SCHEME:
That if it works for Glastonbury it can work for all large ticketed events: £4.30 of every ticket price goes to good causes, does anyone complain about this?
People who go to Festivals are likely to purchase CD's, DVD's, Videos, Magazines and Books throughout the rest of the year.
Festival Organisers choose EVERY aspect of the FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE, what bands, what DJ's, what additional entertainment, what we can buy, what we can eat etc.
The charity supplement is to be marketed as part of that FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE.

SOME HOPE?
Festival Organisers have had knowledge of the basic principle since November 2001. Most have ignored any opportunity to communicate.
This is the last and final offer from Trytime.
So what will happen? Is it
a) It will be adopted to the immense benefit of charity and festival goers.
b) The scheme will be ripped off and no money going to charity.
c) The status quo, oh except the overall price will go up.

CLICK HERE to vote in support or against this idea.