How to Plan a Campaign using the OASIS model: Free Campaign Toolkit for Charities

What is a Campaign? 

A campaign is a planned series of activities designed to achieve a specific goal. That could be raising awareness, changing behaviour, promoting a service, or influencing policy.

In the third sector, campaigns are often used to highlight an issue, engage the public, attract funding or support, or drive positive change. They can include online content, events, lobbying, storytelling, community outreach, and more.

What makes a campaign different from day-to-day communication is its focus and structure. It has a clear start and end point, a defined audience, and a measurable objective. Whether it runs for a week or a year, a well-planned campaign helps you use your time and resources more effectively. It’s also a great option if you have very limited time to run a few, really focused campaigns a year instead of sporadic posting to get your message out there.

Why Plan a Campaign?

Campaigns are a useful way to influence change, raise awareness, drive action, and engage communities. But successful campaigns rarely happen by accident. They need structure, clarity, and focus.

Planning helps you

• Identify your purpose and audience
• Set clear, measurable objectives
• Use time and resources efficiently
• Stay consistent in your messaging
• Adapt to challenges and opportunities

What is the OASIS Model?

OASIS stands for Objective, Audience, Strategy, Implementation and Scoring.

Each step helps you build a campaign that is focused, achievable and aligned with your values.

Here is a quick breakdown

Objective

What do you want to achieve?

Your objective should be clear, specific and measurable. This could be increasing sign-ups to a service, growing awareness of an issue, or influencing decision-makers. The key is to know what success looks like from the start.

Audience

Who do you need to reach?

Think about who can help you meet your objective. It might be service users, local communities, funders, or politicians. Consider what matters to them, where they are, and how they prefer to receive information. To understand your audience more deeply, you could create an audience persona. This involves creating fictional characters to represent your target audiences, including their demographics, behaviours and goals. To try this out, use Media Trust’s persona template. 

Strategy

How will you achieve your objective?

This is your overarching approach. It includes your key messages, tone of voice, communication channels, and any partnerships or alliances. Your strategy should be realistic and focused on what will make the biggest difference.

Implementation

What will you do and when?

This is where your plan comes to life. Detail your activities and content, set out timelines and responsibilities, and prepare for delivery. Staying organised here will save time and avoid last-minute stress.

Scoring

How will you measure success?

Review your results against your original objective. Collect feedback, analyse engagement, and reflect on what worked. This step ensures you learn and improve with every campaign.

Setting campaign objectives 

An objective is a specific, measurable goal that a marketing or advertising campaign aims to achieve. It’s best practice to set SMART objectives. 

Specific

A clear and quantifiable result. Avoid using general goals like ‘get more donations’. Be specific about what you want to achieve. 

Measurable

Could stakeholders disagree on whether or not your objective was achieved? If so, it’s not sufficiently measurable. To do this, think about numbers or objectives with a ‘yes or no’ answer. Also, make sure you have the tools necessary to measure it.

Attainable

Your goal should be realistic based on your time, resources, and audience. You can look to previous targets and achievements to set a goal that is achievable but not guaranteed. Ambitious is good, but impossible targets can lead to frustration.

Relevant

Do your goals align with your overall marketing and organisational strategy? If not, it’s most likely not relevant. 

Time-bound

Set target dates and key milestones to keep your campaign on track. They help to organise and give structure to your campaign. 

Why Use the OASIS Model?

The OASIS model helps you

• Keep campaigns focused and purposeful
• Align your team and stakeholders
• Avoid wasting time on unclear or reactive activity
• Build in evaluation from the start
• Show impact and value to funders and supporters

It is trusted across government, charities and community groups and works at any scale.

Introducing the OASIS Campaign Toolkit

To help you get started, we have developed a practical OASIS Campaign Toolkit tailored for third sector organisations.

It includes

1. A key campaign information page

Keep all of your information about your campaign in one place. From the title, to key messages, lifetime budget and key dates. Having information in a centralised space will save you time in the long run.

2. A campaign plan using the OASIS model 

Use the OASIS model to create a clear and consistent campaign plan. It’s made up of five steps that help you create a rigorous campaign.

3. A two-week content calendar 

Plan all of your content for a two-week campaign. It includes who’s posting, where the content is being posted, and when. Additionally, you can measure the performance of the posts to assess what’s working with your audience. 

How to Use the Toolkit

1. Start with your objective

Use the Campaign Plan page to define what you want to achieve. Keep it specific and measurable.

2. Think about your audience

Who needs to hear your message? Consider their needs, motivations and behaviours.

3. Build your strategy

Define your approach. What is your key messaging? How will you communicate it? And where will you reach your target audience? Also consider your call to actions - what do you want your audience to do?

4. Plan your activity

Populate the content calendar with your planned posts, events and actions. Consider timing and variety.

5. Measure and reflect

Set some Key Performance Metrics (KPIs) to help you evaluate the success of your campaign. At the end of your campaign, use the scoring section to assess performance. What worked? What could improve? What will you do differently next time?

Example Campaign Plan: Cardiff Pride: More Than a Month

To help you get started, we have created a real-life example of a completed OASIS Campaign Toolkit.

ProMo Cymru run TheSprout, a blogging, information and campaigning platform created with and for young people in Wales. As part of the project, they deliver four digital awareness campaigns each year, focusing on the issues that matter most to young people.

A few years ago, they attended Pride Cymru to collect photos, videos and interviews for a campaign celebrating the experiences of LGBTQ+ young people. 

We’ve used this campaign to complete an example OASIS plan, showing how each stage of the model works in practice.

Feel free to use it as a reference or inspiration when building your own campaign plan.

Top Tips for Third Sector Campaigning

• Keep it simple: Avoid jargon and focus on what matters to your audience.
• Be human: Real stories and voices build trust and empathy.
• Collaborate:  Work with partners, communities and allies to amplify your message.
• Be consistent:  Repetition builds recognition. Stick to your core messages.
• Start small: You don’t need a big budget to make a big impact. Start with what you have.

Video Guide

To go with the template, we have created a video guide that:

• Discusses the importance of structured campaign planning.
• Explains the principles of the OASIS Model.
• Provides a step-by-step walkthrough on using the template effectively.

Start Planning Your Campaign Today

Download our free template and watch the video guide to develop your social media campaign planning. 

Need More Help?

For additional support, you can book a DigiCymru session where you’ll be walked through the tool and guided on how to plan your campaign.