For readers in the northern hemisphere, spring special event season is just around the corner. And they can be deadly. Back-to-back events, exhausting staff and volunteers, not netting enough, no time for follow-up from one Read more…
When we asked Helen Upperton to fundraise for MSF Canada, we also offered her the support and guidance of our fundraising and communications teams. I figured the two-time bobsleigh Olympian and silver medalist could learn Read more…
Philanthropy as we have known it is changing. And while donors continue to focus their time and money on the causes to which they have the most personal connection, our understanding of ‘community’ has evolved so fundamentally in the wake of globalisation that one may have just as much tangible experience of a starving child a hemisphere away as of the patrons of a breadline around the corner. And yet, despite the increasing sophistication of our donor communications and marketing strategies, the security of our success as Western fundraisers is irrevocable gone. (more…)
Often we hear great quotes capturing the essence of the message. They are inspiring! They remind us of the important reasons why we work for charity and how we should do it, or how best Read more…
What’s the factor that will have more impact on the success of your fundraising campaigns than anything else? You’d be forgiven for thinking its your charity’s brand, because you’ll so often hear people citing an Read more…
Fundraising and the purgatory that is public speaking. Particularly when it goes wrong. This feature is somewhat longer than most, though as you’ll see, there is a reason. All this happened a few years ago, Read more…
Yeah, yeah, crowd-funding is the new big fundraising idea. Nothing new there. But I recently did something through Kickstarter. It got me thinking about why it is so exciting. It is simple, tangible, direct, involving Read more…
How many hours a week do you spend in meetings? Can you hold your hand up and say that for the majority of those precious hours ‘that was an excellent use of everyone’s time’? (more…)
If I told you that you could double your digital fundraising quite easily, wouldn’t be stupid of you not to? I think everyone would agree. Yet the sorry state of affairs is this- donation forms suck, and people are not fixing them.
There is this stubborn belief in fundraising, that if someone has decided to support a charity, surely they will do so even if the donation form is a bit heavy. This is simply not true. (more…)
The closing of a year is often a reflective time, and an article that recently appeared in my Twitter feed definitely inspired me to take a step back. The piece, entitled “How Many People Died Read more…
Charity: Water are amazing. They’ve funded about 10,000 water projects, providing clean water to about three and a half million people. They’re ambitious, they take risks. They share their successes and their failures. They’re transparent. Read more…
2013 was full of negative press about wasteful charities. Much as we refute the claim the fact is we are wasteful; just not of the things we are accused of. 
Real waste is the money we spent on PR and strategists who had us cowering rather than robustly defending ourselves. How many potential donations have we wasted by obfuscating instead of standing up? Why did we accept the premise of the accusations and whimper rather than reject it and fight? When did we decide people were too stupid to understand it would take more than a £3 donation to save the world? (more…)
Call me stupid, dear friends, call me stupid but I despair of some big charities. I am about to call communication departments of some large charities stupid and I think for very good reasons. PLEASE Read more…
Happy new year! We wish you all the best. We wish you health and happiness. We wish you a terrific 2014 with the best fundraising results you can imagine! “We will open the book. Its Read more…
The very last post of 2013! Thanks again for your visits, likes and shares. It was a fantastic year! One of our highlights was obviously when 101fundraising was chosen as one of two Best Fundraising Blog Read more…
“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.” – T.S Eliot After presenting an eight part blog series this autumn through 101fundraising, Tony Elischer has brought all his Read more…
It’s that time of the year again. Rankings are everywhere. Today we’re looking at a growth ranking of the 224 largest Dutch fundraising non-profits. The data (2007-2012) are provided with the courtesy of the Central Bureau Read more…
The New Lexicon of Fundraising Part 8 “Love is friendship caught on fire.” Northern Exposure One of the core lessons of leadership and management is that people can only take so much change. So, on Read more…
My dearest family, friends, fundraisers, and donors: In his 2010 Christmas letter, a donor wrote Count that day lost whose low descending sun sees at thy hand no worthy action done. This appears in the Read more…
The New Lexicon of Fundraising Part 7 ‘As with any journey, who you travel with can be more important than the destination.’ One of the most shameful statistics of 2013 came out of the AFP Read more…
Two sides of the same coin.
When we solicit a gift, we are making a promise to our donors. We promise to manage their money with care. We pledge to spend it as we agreed, advertised, stated in our appeal. We promise that the donor’s investment will accomplish something important, change or save a life, protect our planet and its inhabitants, advance our faith and values, achieve real good.
If we are wise, we also promise customer service in addition to making a difference. At the time of solicitation, we promise to report on the impact the donor has made. To connect the donor with that outcome. Donors Choose, for example, makes a promise up front that they will spend your money as agreed or return it to you if they can’t fulfil their promise. They state on their website that you will hear from the teachers and students your investments support. In clear, concise language, they promise customer service and making a difference. (more…)
The New Lexicon of Fundraising: Part 6 Greek word: ‘philanthropos’ = Humanity loving There has never been so much interest, focus or activity around what we have traditionally called ‘major donors’.The Sector has a new Read more…
Having celebrated over 30 years in fundraising (which probably qualifies me to be a really boring old fart) I find myself wondering whether anything has really changed in fundraising apart from social media – which Read more…
The New Lexicon of Fundraising: Part 5 “One loyal friend is worth 10,000 relatives.” Euripides We are all familiar with the normal division used in a direct marketing or individual giving teams: acquisition, development and Read more…
It’s pretty much impossible to be a fundraiser these days and not be thinking an awful lot about retention. As a sector, we’re losing more donors than we’re bringing in, and it’s getting scary to Read more…
