Why does a familiar place make an unfamiliar conversation easier?
There's a particular ease that comes with walking into a shop you know well. The customer recognises the light and the sounds, and within a few steps the visit becomes a routine they’ve repeated a hundred times before.
That ease is the foundation of private site fundraising. A private site partnership brings a charity's fundraising team into a supermarket or shopping centre by invitation, welcomed by the retailer and hosted in a space its customers already treat as their own.
At Appco UK, we have recently secured partnerships at 400+ popular, well-known supermarket sites around the UK to keep these conversations going. What does this mean for F2F fundraising? It means our charity partners have more opportunities to meet and engage with the people in the community wherever they happen to be.
We look at how this partnership is helping start conversations, and the benefit of doing so in places where unfamiliar conversations are better received.
What is a private site partnership?
A private site partnership is an agreement between a fundraising organisation and a retailer that allows a charity's fundraising team to work inside a privately owned space such as a supermarket, shopping centre, or retail location.
The essentials of the model:
The private site retailer agrees on the location, dates, and terms in advance.
Shoppers encounter the team as part of the environment they already know.
Supporters have time to ask questions and understand the cause.
Private sites are one of the most consistent channels for building long-term supporter relationships in the UK.
Training, conduct and compliance are agreed with both Appco UK and the retailer.
Familiar brands sit comfortably alongside one another
A supermarket is an example of a private site with an established level of trust in its own right. This is built over time through consistency and long relationships with the people who shop there.
A charity that shoppers already recognise sits very naturally beside it. Two familiar names in one welcoming environment, and a conversation that feels like a normal part of the day.
This is where brand association becomes so valuable to the causes our fundraisers represent. A retailer isn't just allowing the cause in; it's choosing to be seen with it. That confidence transfers, and the cause is met with an openness that reflects the standing of the place hosting it.
Why do people feel comfortable in places they visit regularly?
Familiarity does several things at once:
People behave more openly in surroundings they feel ownership of.
A route walked many times frees up attention and leaves plenty of headspace for something new and interesting.
Routine visits carry a natural pace that suits a real conversation.
The good associations with the private site extend goodwill to everyone in the space
How Appco UK strengthens every partnership
Training to sector standards: Fundraisers work to best practice from the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and the standards set by the Fundraising Regulator.
Site-specific briefing: Teams understand the retailer's expectations before they set foot in a store.
Representing two names with equal care: Every conversation reflects on the charity and on the store that made room for it.
Supporter comfort comes first: The pace of every conversation belongs to the person having it.
Long-term relationship management: Many of the site partnerships have run for years, renewed season after season because the arrangement serves everyone in it.
Looking after these relationships allows Appco UK to keep growing its network of private site partnerships.
Bringing it back to the supporter
A familiar place makes an unfamiliar conversation easier because it lets a supporter feel comfortable enough to be curious, and curiosity is where a relationship with a cause begins.
That's the thinking behind every partnership Appco UK secures.
Choosing sites with care, building strong relationships with the retailers who host them, and preparing teams thoroughly all serve the same purpose: to meet people somewhere they already feel at home and give them the time to decide how they'd like to help.
Read more about our Private Site partnerships here.
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