Who’d have predicted the events of 2016? We’d all love a crystal ball to see what the next few years hold for us all. In relation to fundraising, here’s the next best thing. In autumn Read more…
Each organization has a unique approach to how it funds its digital strategy, builds digital teams, and sets its digital strategy goals. We want to know about it! For the last two years, Care2, hjc, Read more…
Have you ever, in your first few months of a new job, asked a question and been told, “That’s just the way we do things here”? Have you ever been the person frantically multitasking to Read more…
“The Daily Mail is not inherently anti fundraising”, I recently and naively posted on a chat forum on Facebook. The response was vigorous, and almost universally in disagreement. I stand corrected. But some of the Read more…
Ever heard the joke about the statistician who put his head in an oven, feet in a freezer and confidently claimed “On average, I feel fine”? It came to mind as I read the recent Read more…
Recently I ordered two pairs of shoes from an online retailer. There was a problem on the order confirmation and so I had to call the company to sort the issue out. In that ten Read more…
My previous blog on 101fundraising earlier this week outlined some of the key theories from social psychology that Rogare’s project to review relationship fundraising had suggested might be usefully applied to the discipline. I now Read more…
You’d be hard pushed to overstate how important the concept of ‘relationship fundraising’ is to many fundraisers. You only need to do a quick search on 101Fundraising to realise that. But despite it being one Read more…
Good news for major gift fundraisers: major donors feel (way) more engaged than NGOs think. Apart from giving money, major donors want to invest their time in, and share their network with, NGOs. Also, the Read more…
With so much concern about how the charity sector treats donors and those it hopes will become supporters, suddenly the donor is right there in the spotlight. What do donors want? How can we meet Read more…
Some years ago, I had a charity Board insist that my fundraising programme should deliver a return on investment, or fundraising ratio, of 4:1; that is, not cost more than 25% of gross income. On Read more…
It’s Sunday morning and I’m helping my 9 year-old son with his math homework. 60 sums, 10 seconds each, all in his head. By question 50 he gets frustrated as thoughts of Lego dominate. It’s Read more…
Every year a collection of new or recycled buzzwords arrive on the fundraising circuit. Last year they were ‘behavioural economics’, ‘neuroscience’, ‘nudging’ and ‘decision science’. All the conference sessions with these words in the title Read more…
Oops, I did it again. Like previous years I sliced and diced the Central Bureau of Fundraising (CBF) annual figures into some sort of growth analysis for the Dutch market. Perhaps I should not repeat the methodology Read more…
“How can I ask others to give to a cause I believe in, if I do not give to it myself?” responded one fundraiser. I give “to support the mission and to be a role Read more…
There has been much online huffing and puffing recently about ‘evidence’ v ‘opinion.’ The scientific method in fundraising is misunderstood too often. On dozens of occasions I have found myself in debates at fundraising conferences Read more…
Along with the World Cup (depending on the team, of course), we celebrate fund raising achievements. We look at results and trends from last year and partly with a sigh of relief and hope for this year: in 2013 in US charitable giving was at the same level it was before the financial crisis and in UK there was an £800m increase in donations. So, why we shouldn’t do better this year? In reality we should also ask ourselves if this is the result of more people giving or if we are simply fishing in the same pond with a lower offer. Mark Astarita, the fundraising director of British Red Cross and outgoing chair of UK Institute of Fundraising, simply put it “Over 30 years of professional fundraising have we grown the pie, are more people giving? I’m not so sure.” And Ken Burnett argued that the actual costs of acquisition with typical low retention rates are not sustainable and charities would be stupid if they don’t take action to avoid eating their seed corn. (more…)
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…)
July will mark 100 years exactly since the beginning of the First World War – a battle that witnessed global carnage on a scale few could have imagined. Britain, for its part, lost just under Read more…
You might love it. You might hate it. But if you respect your donors and your work as a fundraiser you are likely to spend a few hours per week looking at reports. Those reports 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…
There are statistics and numbers that stay on your mind for months and constantly challenge your assumptions. One of the numbers that keeps me awake at night (seriously!) is the ratio 6 vs. 59. Yes, you know, or you should know, this is the % of customer attrition in the commercial world vs. the nonprofit sector, according to Bloomerang. (more…)
Now here’s a thing I don’t understand. I’ve picked it from a very long list of things I don’t understand which includes; differential equations (obviously), how to get jam to set properly (recent problem), and Read more…
The one thing we didn’t guard well was the treasured book itself. There’s a lot that I recall with affection from my first fundraising job. But one thing I remember particularly fondly – the good Read more…
I’ve had a hard time sitting down to write this. Not because it’s hard to write about, but because it’s been far too long since I’ve sat down to write! You see, I actually acted Read more…
