Over the past 13 years, the CCID’s annual Social Development fundraising campaign for the homeless – Show You Care – has grown in stature and reputation. Here we look back at its evolution.
Show You Care supports the CCID Social Development department’s efforts to make winter more bearable for people living on the streets of the Central City and surrounds. It highlights the plight of the homeless, and showcases the wide-reaching work done by the department’s dedicated social and field workers, who engage daily with the CBD’s most vulnerable citizens.
Encouraging people to “show they care” is a message the CCID promotes throughout the year, however, during winter, it’s amplified by the three-month-long campaign because the challenges living on the street present to the homeless multiply during Cape Town’s cold and wet conditions.
The campaign was conceived to boost the CCID’s six main partner NGOs that help the homeless have a better life. The 2020 campaign, which for the first time was called Hope for the Homeless, set its sights on raising R100 000 after successfully achieving a total of R85 210 donations in 2019. Currently, R81 218 has been raised and will be distributed to the partners in June. Donations of food and clothing via the campaign’s donation bins are also distributed to its partner NGOs.
While this is impressive, getting the Show You Care campaign to where it is today has been a long journey.
EARLY DAYS
When it was launched in 2008, the campaign messaging encouraged people to “Give Responsibly” to the homeless. As it evolved, it adopted the “Show You Care” tagline, which considered the needs of homeless people and how better to assist them.
CCID CEO Tasso Evangelinos says the campaign has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception. “I’m proud of how far we’ve come and where we are now,” he says. In 2015, the International Downtown Association (IDA) awarded the campaign a Certificate of Merit for “bridging the social divide” in Cape Town. Evangelinos says this international recognition is testament to the strides the campaign has made.
Pat Eddy, CCID Social Development manager, joined the CCID when the campaign had just commenced. She concedes that at the time, “the messaging was rather harsh” and unwittingly adopted stereotypes such as “giving directly to homeless people perpetuates a cycle of living on the streets”.
Fast forward to present day, and Eddy believes the campaign “has been successful and has become more sensitive to the needs of the homeless”. “It shows compassion and care and acknowledges the person and their reality,” she says.
KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES
Eddy says the campaign now functions very effectively thanks to the availability of direct “giving” channels such as SMSing a single word to a number to donate and the introduction of SnapScan.
“The feedback from the public was that they wanted to respond immediately by donating when someone was begging as opposed to doing an EFT the next day when the immediate desire and emotion to assist was no longer felt”. Today, in addition to giving via SMS, SnapScan and EFT, people can also donate via PayPal.
The promoting of the campaign via digital channels, and not through traditional marketing such as street pole posters, flyers, brochures and newspaper adverts, has also guaranteed its ongoing popularity and success.
THE NGO PARTNER ELEMENT
One component that remains unchanged is the focus on the CCID’s partner NGOs, who are the main beneficiaries of the campaign. Funds raised and items collected are distributed to its NGO partners, including Khulisa Social Solutions, The Homestead Projects for Street Children, Ons Plek Projects, Straatwerk, Youth Solutions Africa (Y.S.A) and The Hope Exchange. These NGOs assist adults living on the streets with shelter (when it is available), as well as food and social services, while others ensure that children are afforded the necessary care and protection.
Eddy counts the NGO partner element as one of the campaign’s successes. “Over the years, the CCID has been able to collect increasing amounts of money to be distributed to the NGO partners as well as identified items like warm clothing, blankets and non-perishable food which have benefitted them.” She further notes: “The campaign has also allowed us to promote some of the services that our partners offer their clients and many new initiatives and projects in the CBD.”
The identified goods Eddy mentions are usually collected via branded donations bins that have become a feature of the campaign. These are rolled out in key CBD building foyers, allowing corporates and members of the public to also donate much-needed goods.
THE DESIGN ELEMENTS
From 2008 until 2019, Central City-based design company, Design Infestation, played a key role in the look and feel of the campaign in consultation with the CCID.
Sam Bainbridge, former senior art director at Design Infestation, believes design is just one of the tools they use to solve a complex problem. Other considerations include “the voice and tone of a piece of work”.
She says in the case of the Show You Care campaign, they had more than one audience: the CCID itself, the CCID stakeholders, the general public and the homeless people themselves who they needed to consider to ensure whatever message they put out “can be challenged by the people whose cause we are championing”.
“Our work was to be as sensitive and compassionate as possible and create awareness and inform the public of behaviours and attitudes that are helpful to address the bias that naturally exists,” Bainbridge says.
STAND OUT CAMPAIGNS
Out of the many iterations of the campaign created over the years, the CCID Social Development team members finds it hard to pick their favourite.
Field worker Headman Siralarala opts for the award-winning 2015 campaign with Smiley which he believes was successful in educating the public about homelessness. It encouraged people to “help the NGOs that help the homeless and give where it will make a difference”.
For social worker Sameegah Hoffmeyer, the 2017 campaign is close to her heart. “The message was bold and clear. The call-to-action posters were self-explanatory and encouraged CBD visitors, residents and office workers to take cognisance of the homeless.”
The 2019 campaign resonated with field worker, Mark Williams. It depicted shoes and a plate of food made with cardboard, with a message for people to make a life-changing donation.
Eddy favours the current “Hope for the Homeless” campaign as it focuses specifically on the needs of people living on the streets and why it’s important to give them the gift of hope, as well as how NGO partners are meeting the needs of the homeless.
While all the campaigns had their own personality, their message speaks the needs of the city centre’s most destitute population and how we can help them take a step towards a better life.
- To donate to the campaign, click here. For more information and updates, follow the CCID on Instagram (@capetownccid) and Facebook (@CapeTownCCID), or visit CapeTownCCID.org.
IMAGES: CCID