Run a campaign

Step by step guide

1. Do your research

Get yourself clued up on organ donation facts and stats to help start your campaign. Our handy fact sheets will help with this. If you’re running a local campaign make sure you look up the stats relating to your local area, as these are often very helpful in encouraging people to get behind your campaign.

In short, the key actions we want people to take from our promotional activity are to:

a. Join the NHS Organ Donor Register (by calling 0300 123 2323, registering their decision online or completing a paper registration form)
b. Have a conversation with their families about whether or not they want to become an organ donor when they die.

When encouraging people to join the NHS Organ Donor Register, make clear how important it is that they also have a conversation with their families so their family know what they want. This is important as if someone dies and could donate their organs, their family would be approached and asked to support organ donation going ahead.

Whilst doing your research, it is useful to understand some of the myths and barriers to donating and discussing organ donation. For some people, death is very much a taboo subject, and so it is important to be sensitive to this. But also encourage people so that they can overcome these barriers.

View our myth buster page for more information.

2. Get a team together

It’s often easy to underestimate how much time running a campaign or event can take. Getting a team of helpers organised early on in the planning process will help you to assess how much activity you can realistically do.

3. Put an action plan together

Decide what activity you want to do. The possibilities are endless!!

Suggested activities include:

• Holding a promotional stand in a busy area or at an event
• Distributing leaflets and posters to local businesses, organisations, clubs, and schools
• Offering to carry out a talk at local clubs, schools and organisations. We also resources designed for schools.
• Getting in touch with the local media and asking them to print an article on organ donation in newspapers and magazines – our press team can sometimes help issue a press release, email pressoffice@nhsbt.nhs.uk
• Contacting your local radio station and asking them to do a piece on organ donation and encourage their listeners to join the NHS Organ Donor Register and discuss organ donation with their families.
• Setting up a website with information of your campaign on – you can link this to our registration page and this can also be tracked to see how many people register via this method.
• Sharing our social media posts (search NHS Organ Donor on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube)
• Asking locally based celebrities to support organ donation by sharing messages on social media or including a photo and quote in the local media.
• Contacting your MP, Mayor or councillors asking them to support organ donation whenever and wherever they can to encourage local residents to sign up and share their organ donation decision.
• Do a sponsored event – instead of asking for money ask people to join the NHS Organ Donor Register.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, and it is often the more innovative ideas that attract attention so it’s time to get creative!

Think about who you are going to target with your campaign activity. Thinking about your audience will help guide what activity you might do and where you will carry it out. For example, if you are targeting a younger audience you might visit a shopping centre, for families you might look to visit a local family attraction.

You will also need to consider the language and tone you use with different groups of people, such as different age groups.

While deciding what your campaign will involve, it’s useful to research other campaigns and events taking place in your area.

There may be some good opportunities to join in with another campaign, or you may find some key dates that you want to avoid as another event/campaign running may distract your audience.

Tip: when putting your campaign action plan together, it is always a good idea to think about how you will evaluate your campaign too. For more information visit our measuring your campaign or marketing activity page.

4. Let us know!

At NHS Blood and Transplant we are keen to hear about the campaign activity happening around the country and there may be aspects that we can support you in.

We also love to share examples of great campaigns to inspire others to help so please do let us know your plans by emailing marketing.comms@nhsbt.nhs.uk and share pictures and posts about your campaign on our social media channels so we can share them.

Organ donation is different in Wales to the rest of the UK. So if your campaign is taking place in Wales, please can you contact: organ.donation@wales.gsi.gov.uk

5. Get hold of the relevant materials for your activity

We have a wide range of promotional materials available to help with promoting organ donation. These include digital materials to be downloaded and printed or used online, as well as physical items such as leaflets, tshirts, and pens etc.

• View and download our online materials
• Order promotional materials

If you need to place a larger order than the system allows or have any questions about organ donation promotional items, please email leaflets@nhsbt.nhs.uk.

6. Carry out your activity.

7. Evaluate how the campaign went.

Questions to ask include: How many people attended your events? How many people did you talk to about donation? How many pieces of media coverage did you secure? How many people signed up to the NHS Organ Donor Register? How many posts about your campaign were there on social media?

Have a chat with those involved about what went well and what you could all improve for next time.

Thanks for your help!