Discovering Quakers is a Quaker outreach initiative, a registered charity and a Quaker Recognised Body. We act as a first point of contact for people curious about Quakers online. We promote Quakers nationally through social media and our website, produce an enquirers' email newsletter, run weekly online events for enquirers, and occasionally we publish Quaker books such as 'Being a Quaker' by Geoffrey Durham.
Our outreach activities focus on the ‘digital marketing’ aspects of outreach – connecting with members of the public online, informing them about Quakers and letting them know that if they would like to give it a try, they will be made very welcome.
We work in three areas; reaching out, engaging and informing, and inviting.
Our main way of reaching out to people curious about Quakers is through social media advertising on Facebook and Instagram – you may have seen our advert on ‘7 interesting facts about Quakers’. Currently, around 5,000 people see our ads every month. We currently spend £300 per month on social media advertising and would like to increase this as we now know it helps more people engage with what we have to say and offer.
We also reach out through our website aimed at the general public with regularly updated content, and posting content on Facebook, Instagram and more recently TikTok. We currently have 1,548 followers on Facebook, 1,753 on Instagram and 1,415 on TikTok. Our website has 2,500 unique visitors per month.
In addition, we bring Quakers to the public’s attention through printed matter having previously helped Meetings produce posters to support their local outreach. We would like to do more of this, but currently are limited due to our level of funding.
Once we have attracted someone’s attention we seek to engage and inform them about Quakers with easy to digest information, signposting them to other information sources and events they can join. Among the things we do are;
We invite people to give Quakers a try in numerous ways – through our email newsletters, our website and social media, and at our online events.
In July 2024 we launched a new service for enquirers to put them directly in touch with a Friendly contact person from their Local Meeting. When people who are new to Quakers sign up to our email newsletters, they are offered an opportunity to be introduced to a contact person from their Local Meeting. An email is then sent to the enquirer and LM to make the introduction, and the LM can take it from there to reach out and answer any questions.
Earlier this year, we surveyed 49 Meetings where enquirers asked to be introduced. We gathered information from meetings and enquirers on their experiences. You can find the results of the survey here.
Here is some of what the enquirers we surveyed had to say:
"While in London, I was able to get to a meeting at Euston. I felt very welcome and it was a positive and prayerful experience. I will get to the Lancaster meeting as soon as I can get around more independently. In the meantime I have been reading 2 small books by Ben Pink Dandelion (what a wonderful name)."
"The Meeting contact was very welcoming and offered to speak on the phone if I wanted. I think I first need to find out a bit more, perhaps by attending the Quaker Lives sessions."
"I’m currently gathering information from the Discovering Quakers website - which is excellent - and I have purchased Geoffrey Durham’s book and I am about half way through it. I feel that I may be attending a meeting once I feel that I have digested all of the information available me and reflected upon it for a while."