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How effective is your welcome program?

Welcome phrase in different languages. Word clouds concept.Many charities have a welcome program in place to keep more donors in, to make them feel welcome or to ask for more money. Whatever the reason you have your welcome flow, there is always room for improvement. So, here’s a simple 10 point checklist that will help you estimate how much room for improvement there actually is. (more…)

The Known Unknowns

Donald Rumsfeld said, “There are known knowns – These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns – That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know.”

I don’t make a habit of quoting Donald Rumsfeld but that’s a phrase that keeps coming to mind over the last few months here in Ireland. You see, fundraisers (or at least some fundraisers) are taking a battering. Two big charity scandals resulted in Board resignations and disappearing CEOs and we’re all feeling the effects in some shape or form. (more…)

Fire Your Donors

Customer Service 2Over the past year, I’ve seen/heard/had a number of discussions around fundraising trends. They tend to revolve around the following topics:

  • Acquisition ain’t what it used to be, and retention is abysmal. It’s time to really love our donors!
  • Donor-centred fundraising – do it. You can’t thank these guys enough!
  • What’s the next thing after direct mail? WHAT IS IT?!?
  • You are a bad fundraiser. Bad! Work harder!

And finally…

  • What’s with this high fundraiser turnover?

(more…)

Communication Breakdown

junior-giscombe-communication-breakdown-mercury“I no longer support Autism Speaks and this is why.”

Those were the words a friend posted on her Facebook timeline a few months ago. This is a friend whose son is affected by autism, a friend who has dedicated thousands of hours to raising money to find a cure for this terrible condition. For her to be moved to reject a charity committed to her common cause, the crime must have been serious. (more…)

A debt to the master

How ‘the pope of advertising’ helped lay the foundations of my professional life.
by Ken Burnett

KB1a Ogilvymontage2When the advertising and communications agency that I founded in 1982 opened its doors for business, its proprietor 
– me – would most likely be found sitting on the front doorstep of the terraced Victorian house that was its first office with his nose buried in a book by David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man. It was my bible, though equally likely at that time, or perhaps a bit later, I’d be found engrossed in his second classic, Ogilvy on Advertising (see here). I never met the great man and I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t have liked him if I had (he was famously authoritarian and right wing), but to say Ogilvy influenced me would be a bit like saying that Scotsmen are occasionally affected by whisky. To call this a massive understatement is, in itself, a massive understatement. Back then I was so immersed in the wisdom of what he was saying that I would have highlighted at least three paragraphs on every page. Truth is, I modelled the best years of my business life on the sayings of this man. And I prospered as a direct result. (more…)

Want your board to give? Find a member who acts like these grandmas.

Convincing a board to give. It still is difficult in the Netherlands. Even when it comes to giving in times of a major gift campaign. Even when they know that giving as a board member will be inspirational, that it will set an example for prospective donors. Then why is it so hard to convince NGO boards?

I thought about this a lot last week. I did some research and had great discussions with colleagues and fundraising friends about it. We came up with several reasons why (Dutch) board members are still not that enthusiastic about giving to their organization. It had to do with culture: the culture of asking, the culture of giving. And even Dutch culture. (more…)

Feel the fear and tell it like it is

Marathon-AK-006On one Sunday in April, the streets of London overflow with determination and kindness. This year 36,000 people took part in the London Marathon and many more came to cheer and will the athletes on. If it were possible to bottle goodwill this would be the place to start.

Last Sunday, for the first time in years I wasn’t on the frontline near Embankment yelling encouragement at the athletes, instead I watched the London Marathon on television at home, with some friends. As you can imagine it was a different experience. I’m not sure if it was more emotional to be part of the noise on the sidelines, with the exhausted runners on the last leg of the race, or taking in the huge scale of the event from the wider television coverage. (more…)

Relationships vs. Results

handshake2 This is a tough one.

Since I’ve been working in fundraising, and especially over the past year, I’ve been noticing the similarities and the differences between fundraisers that I really admire.

They all live by the principles of Relationship Fundraising, but some really take donor-love to the next level, while others simply use the building of donor relationships as another tool to achieving great results. (more…)

Where to find all that money you’re losing

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You’re grocery shopping on a tight budget. You’ve got everything you need and a few things you want. You approach checkout knowing the £40 in your pocket will just about cover everything. But when you come to pay you find you’ve lost £10. Do you:

1)      Look for the missing £10 (you know you had it a moment ago)?

2)      Decide to do without a quarter of what you intended to get? (more…)

Dear events. Meet direct marketing.

I’m an unabashed direct marketer. Turned fundraiser. Or if we’re being pedantic, direct response fundraiser.

I live and die by results. It’s why (I think) our clients like working with us. No fluff, no window dressing. Just out and out obsession with producing great results.

Facetiously, it’s in part why I never really “got” events. When I started fundraising and met event fundraisers I felt uneasy when I was told that their event didn’t raise much cash but generated a “heap of awareness”, and “was great for stewarding some major donor prospects”. (more…)

It’s all about the money, it’s all about the briefings!

collectebusA few months ago I was approached by a door-to-door fundraiser. It was dark, it was cold, and it was raining. The fundraiser, not bothered by these circumstances at all, told me a beautiful story about the charity he worked for. I believed him and decided to become a donor. Was it the rain? Or was I the perfect target for this charity? Or did I just meet one hell of a good door-to-door fundraiser? (more…)

Don’t I know you from somewhere?

YOUNG-TALENT-logo-e_news3Recently the Dutch Fundraising Institute  announced the winner of the second annual Young Fundraising Talent contest. You can read the essay from last year’s winner here, and below a translation of the winning essay this year, by Paulien Boone.

This year’s theme was “Don’t I know you from somewhere?” and Paulien, with her entry, has won a trip to the AFP Conference in San Antonio, Texas. We wish her luck and lots of fun!

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That familiar and addictive icon popped up on my phone: new message alert. It’s from a friend I used to see nearly every day for years; when we were both students in Groningen and did everything together. We’ve been trying to connect for weeks and with no luck. We live 250 kilometers apart and don’t get to see each other so often these days. And with so much distance I don’t quite know how to begin a conversation and I default to the easy questions: “How are the kids?” and “Have you finished your thesis?” (more…)