Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund

Supporter engagement with digital storytelling

We worked with RAF Benevolent Fund to create StoryLines - a digital engagement platform with stories at the heart, inviting users to post and share stories of RAF life.

Attract and engage

A digital storytelling experience

The RAF Benevolent Fund approached WPNC with the ambition of creating a new digital engagement platform, the primary objective of which was to attract and engage existing and prospective supporters in a two-way conversation through storytelling.

The digital experience forms part of their long-term multi-channel initiative that seeks to commemorate the achievements of the RAF and those who have served and are serving. The campaign coincides with key anniversaries, including the RAF’s and the charity’s centenaries and the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

We’re very pleased to have partnered with WPNC for this project. They have a proven record of creating excellent user experiences and delivering results.

Graeme Wallace, Digital Fundraising Specialist, RAFBF

Quick to design and prototype

Moving quickly, the WPNC team focussed their efforts on creating two prototypes and brands focussed on two particular strands of this idea; one was focussed on the rich history of both the RAF and the RAFBF and communicated via a timeline mechanic entitled ‘StoryLines’; the second idea brought users stories together into a hub where they could be uploaded and shared, entitled ‘StoryHub”.

Both concepts had users and stories at their heart, and ultimately the charity decided that “StoryLines” was closest to their vision for their new platform. The WPNC team then got to work fleshing out the user journeys and designing the various interfaces; for uploading, reading, and sharing the stories. The website was developed on Umbraco to provide RAFBF with a flexible and future-proof platform for the long term.

RAFBF Storylines

Launch success

The stories keep multiplying

The digital concept focuses on bringing people’s stories together through an interactive timeline of the first 100 years of the RAF. Storylines invites users to post and share stories of RAF life, either their own, or those of relatives. The launch campaign was being complemented by social media and Facebook Canvas to help encourage the uploading and sharing of stories.

I'm delighted that this inspirational digital storytelling platform for the RAFBF has been recognised by Charity Digital News as one of the best digital campaigns of 2018.

Vicky Reeves, Digital MD, WPNC

Moving the story on

Having launched the Storylines experience and encouraged people to upload, read and share stories, the team then moved on to the next phases of this programme. First, we enhanced data collection on the site, capturing email addresses to grow our prospect pool of supporters and donors. The next stage is to build-in the fundraising element – something we’ve begun by implementing goDonate, our online donation platform.

This campaign was announced as one of the best digital campaigns of 2018 by Charity Digital News.