IFC-2015
The curse of the 20:2 principle
Do you remember being 6 years old? Did you ever experience the 20:2 principle? 20:2 is, when as a child, you show your parents or your teacher your math homework. There were 20 questions. You Read more…
individuals
The Future of Fundraising
“Wow. There are a lot of very clever, experienced and influential people here.” That was my first thought as we sat down to host the first Audience Future of Fundraising debates. This was followed by Read more…
101fundraising
Simply the Best: Top 10 blog posts! (Q2 2015)
The first 6 months are gone. How are you doing in your fundraising program? Are you on target? Yes? You must be a 101 reader! The 2nd quarter has brought us something unique. This quarter we Read more…
communication
Simple questions drive fundraising success
I’ve had a mountain to climb.
This is not a metaphor. In reality, I had six mountains to climb. In three days. With virtually no sleep. It started on Friday 3 July. Eventually we climbed eight mountains. I’m 53. It still hurts. A lot.
Of course, it was a fundraising challenge (really no need for you to give unless you want to feel great). (more…)
direct mail
I ❤ Premium Direct Mail!!!!
Choose one:
- You love premium direct mail
- You hate premium direct mail
- Love and hate are irrelevant – what you want is to maximize net revenue and life time value of donors to be able to spend more on the purpose of the charity now and into the future.
- You have no idea what premium direct mail is.
acquisition
Same, same. But different.
I’m likely preaching to the converted here. A group of fundraisers reading an international fundraising blog may not feel there are seismic shifts in the way people behave in different countries. And they’d be right Read more…
Latest posts
What Training for a Marathon taught me about Fundraising (and vice versa)
Last year I became an accidental marathoner. I entered the New Year as a recently quit ex-smoker and instead of simply getting rid of the cigarettes I decided to put something into the vacuum they left Read more…
acquisition
5 Ways to Supercharge Your Next Crowdfunding Campaign
Crowdfunding is a powerful tool for non-profit organizations. After running several successful crowd fundraising campaigns, it is my believe that every non-profit, no matter how small or large, can and should run at least one Read more…
career
How to nurture happy fundraisers
We have a unique profession, and one that very few of us plan to choose when we begin our careers. Many of us stumble on to a job as fundraisers, fall in love, and never Read more…
donors
Think, Feel, Do Major Gift Magic
I just finished re-reading “Deep Dive” by Rich Horwath, a book about strategic thinking. It reminded me how important that competency is to successful major gift work. There are lots of conversations on and offline Read more…
acquisition
How to ‘WOW’ your trustees by reducing your ROI
So what’s the problem? Income – expenditure = profit. This is one of the fundamentals for anyone in business. However, when these same business people come into a charity’s trustees meeting, profit, or net income Read more…
Latest posts
Believe the Hype (Cycle)
How many of you have been frustrated by the hype of the ‘next big thing’? Our whole sector experienced it last year when #nomakeupselfie and the #icebucketchallenge took off – ‘create a campaign just like Read more…
campaigns
Are you representing or stereotyping the people you serve?
“Show a people as one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become”, said author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in her thought-provoking TED talk on the danger of telling a single story. She Read more…
human resources
Fundraisers: you need to be one to hire one
Some months ago someone asked me why I spend so much time preparing the right set of questions for an interview panel. I told him that we only have one chance of doing this right. Read more…
communication
How to be relevant to your donors
Six major international development charities were asked a very simple question; “what’s the reason donor’s support you and not your competitors?” Each gave their answer. A cross section of their donors was asked a similar question; Read more…
communication
Mid-level donors and the element of surprise
If you knew there was a pile of money that people wanted to give to you that you weren’t getting, wouldn’t you commit some time and energy to getting it? Yes, fundraisers, I know you Read more…
communication
If you want more money, stop asking for it!
You can’t do that. **** Last week, Olive Cooke killed herself by jumping off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol UK. The Coroner has not yet established the cause of death, but her family has Read more…
campaigns
Peer-to-peer: fundraising without borders
With a young family, my wife and I decided we couldn’t support Ebola in the field by me going to West Africa, so she suggested we embrace the Walk Without Borders campaign instead! We fundraised Read more…
Latest posts
Optimism – an activity as much as it is an attitude.
“Usha, do we have a plan B?” This recent question from a client with whom I am working on an exciting major gift development plan, triggered the topic for this blog. We were preparing to Read more…
acquisition
3 Tips to win more partners by finding The Smoking Gun
‘…they called me back two hours after we presented, to say not only did they really want to work with us, but they had even decided to cancel the final stage of their own process, Read more…
communication
Relationship Fundraising – Get Real
Let’s call the charity in question Mr. Big. After all, they are a household name, and I am sure you’d know them, but I’ve made a promise never to kiss and tell. We got off Read more…
acquisition
Finding committed donors from disaster responders
A devastating earthquake hits Nepal. Many people are killed, and tens of thousands are without shelter, clean water and food. International organisations from nation states, UN and NGOs respond fast. People all over the world Read more…
events
Announcing: Top 20 Peer-to-Peer Events in the Netherlands
Inspired by the “Day of Philanthropy” presented by the VU University of Amsterdam last week on the status of the philanthropy in the Netherlands, we decided it was a good time to release our report Read more…
acquisition
In praise of the transformational fundraising entrepreneur
Why we should all adopt the retiring Giles Pegram CBE* as our role model. The police officer was puzzled. The women driver appeared to be quite annoyed about the fact that he’d pulled her over. Read more…
communication
The State of Relationship Fundraising – A Conversation, Part II
This is the second of two blogs looking comprehensively, and provocatively, at the state of relationship fundraising In the last blog, we defined relationship fundraising, and looked at its implications, strengths and weaknesses. Today, we Read more…