"Ask and Ye Shall Receive"

Malcolm Roddis, Chairman of BC's Focus on Life television ad campaign talks about drumming up support for their fundraising banquet.

LC: How did you manage to get so many people interested in buying tickets for the dinner?

MR: A great amount of work was done through and with the Archdiocese of Vancouver, particularly the Respect Life Office as it was then called and, specifically, through the efforts of Peter Ryan who mobilized the Catholic parishes. Archbishop Adam Exner was a solid supporter from the get-go and remains so today. He permitted us to approach the parishes directly and sent out a letter of support. For our part, we presented to our pro-life supporters a real and visual project - something they could embrace immediately, get their arms around and feel a part of - and one that held much promise to impact the "culture of death." We believed that the support was there in the community and all that was needed was the vehicle - start up the engine, and they would climb on board. We are the vehicle (or rather, the ads are the vehicle), and we continually hear from our supporters when they see the ads. We are now hearing from people not connected with pro-life who see the ads and whose perception of pro-life has been changed. "What wonderful ads. Do you know who puts them on?" is a common remark we hear.

LC: How did you sell your message?

MR: The Catholic parishes' participation was imperative as was the participation of the pro-life groups around our province. I travelled to all parts of the province speaking to as many groups as I could at their respective AGM's, social gatherings, and arranged public meetings in various communities. Monica and I were invited into several protestant churches at their Sunday services as well. The ads sell themselves. The message within the ads sells the concept. We structured the campaign with two objectives: to reach out to women; and to change public opinion - these represent an outreach of service and love as well as the desire shared by many Canadians that we need to embrace life. We change the image so often portrayed by the media and those opposed to life and the image is positive and not an "in your face" attitude which has not moved us forward that much since Monica and I started in pro life in 1975 !

LC: Did you go to churches to get people to sign up and advertise in church bulletins?

MR: One of the "commissions" I have on the committee is "Church Liaison." The chair of this sub-committee is responsible for church contact, both into the Catholic as well as into the Evangelical communities. The majority of support comes from the former but the latter participation has been increasing. I do have Dr. Darrel Reid, President of Focus on the Family, as one of my Board of Reference people and this helps! Peter Ryan also asked each parish to purchase a table (for 10 people) and fill it. Almost all of the 70 or so parishes in the Vancouver Archdiocese did so and that gave us close to 700 people right at the start! We prepare bulletin inserts and send to all churches - we have found that these will be inserted as long as that is all we ask them to do.

LC: What other forms of advertising and promotion did you use?

MR: We did not use newspapers that much other than place an ad in the BC Catholic (Catholic) and in the BC Christian News (Protestant), and I also wrote an article for each paper and issued press releases which cost us nothing! One activity of note is that we developed "Table Captains." These are people, perhaps business leaders, community leaders, etc. who had a circle of influence among their peers and who would commit to buying a table for $500 and commit to filling it. In this way, we could leverage their investment several times over through the guests they invited to their table.

LC: $50 a ticket sounds like quite a bit money. How did you drum up support for what might seem like a rather expensive meal?

MR: From the very start we wanted to position Focus on Life as a high-end, value-added campaign, "worthy of great sacrifice but worth every sacrifice." Fifty dollars a ticket was unheard of and it is a lot of money. Some who attend the dinner can only afford the ticket itself and we recognize that in what we say - and we welcome their participation. For us, it is a wash because the cost of the evening (speaker costs, travel, the dinner, and the location) comes out at around $50 or so. The issue is this though - make sure the evening is worth $50. Worth as in the dinner itself, several courses well presented and efficiently served. Worth as in the evening's events and programme. Worth as in everyone gets escorted individually to their respective table by high school students dressed the same in white shirt/blouse and black pants/skirts. We have 40 of them and we give them $5 for McDonald's after (we can't afford to have them eat at the dinner). I rehearse with them an hour before people start to show.

LC: Do you have any other advice for groups wanting to plan a similar event?

MR: Yes, I would say for the appeal part of the evening, "go hard!" So often do we ask people for $5 when we should be asking for $10. Wherever I do appeals, at dinners or public meetings, I have seen the rewards of going hard. It always is amazing that, when given the right stimulus and the right project, people will give! Case in point, Monica and I travelled into the Interior of BC and I was asked to make the appeal at a dinner. There were about 130 people at the dinner - mostly moms and pops, and very young families, not a good demographic. Donations for the evening amounted to $8,500! Just blew me away and taught me a very valuable lesson:

Never sell your audience short - they will always amaze you! ?