“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…
I remember volunteering for Childline. Kids would phone, text or e-mail with all sorts of questions and stories – from horrific cases of abuse to completely nonsensical banter. Many calls were pranks…groups of kids phoning Read more…
Sometimes it’s the simple things that transform the relationship with a donor into something magic. As part of my quest for examples of the best donor-centric fundraising for The Commission on the Donor Experience I Read more…
It’s a straight forward question for any fundraiser, but you’d be surprised at how difficult it can be to answer. As a donor, I usually phone up charities to give them my money. I like Read more…
When you are going back to your own country after twenty years abroad, it’s like you have never been there. You have to re-learn many rules, customs and social norms. You have to reconnect with Read more…
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in my pajamas, slowly adjusting back to Eastern Standard Time after a week in the Netherlands. I just had the incredible honour of attending the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) Read more…
Rockstar Amanda Palmer said it in the opening plenary of the #IFC2016 : “A relationship is not a trick“. And it came back to me throughout the conference. The best donor relations are based on authenticity and reciprocity. If that’s Read more…
International Fundraising Congress, The Netherlands – The Resource Alliance is pleased to announce that as of 1 January 2017, it will take over respected fundraising blog 101fundraising (www.101fundraising.org). The blog, which was created by Dutch fundraising Read more…
Over the years I’ve observed sparky, funny, passionate and clever people morph into vanilla shells of their former selves as they enter their office to get on with their professional job of being a fundraiser. Read more…
by Jackie Fowler, Ken Burnett and Tim Connor This article has been written as part of the preparations for project 13 of the Commission on the Donor Experience, ‘Giving donors choices and managing preferences’. In 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…
And that was the third quarter already. You know what that means, right? The IFC is almost starting! Will we see you there? Congrats to Charlie with the #1 position this quarter. But there are Read more…
When I introduced the Authentic Fundraiser I talked about the need for a less traditional sales approach. In this post I’m going to dig a little deeper into how “professional” fundraising professionals should be? People Read more…
For more than a decade there have been no radical changes to our fundraising strategies and techniques. Recent developments, in and outside our sector, will force us to develop new ways to engage with our Read more…
The theme of this year’s IFC conference is ‘Asking the Right Questions’. As someone who spends most of his time working with UK charities I don’t think there has ever been a better time to Read more…
Another year, another IFC. Another round of presentations ranging from the transformative (none more so than this masterclass, ‘Reinventing the Donor Experience’ by Kevin Schulman and Adrian Sargeant) to the tawdry (tempting but unfair to Read more…
Several years ago I went through a hefty psychometric evaluation for a role I was interviewing for. It was a great experience that left me with a fifty page document all about me and how Read more…
“What the heart knows today the head will understand tomorrow.” – James Stephens, Poet, 1880 – 1950 When I was a kid coming to terms with the insignificance of self, it was the infinity of the big Read more…
Non-profits are no longer guaranteed a free lunch. We have to work harder than ever to raise the funds we need, which — as we have seen in many instances around the world — leaves Read more…
What image do you have of the Middle East? Watch the television or read the news and you are likely to see bombs and bullets, injured children and the shifting sands of multiple war zones. Read more…
On a sunny afternoon in 1998, my progress along a central Brighton street was interrupted in a way that ended up changing the course of my own life, as well as heralding a step change Read more…
There will be hard questions asked about our sector and I wanted to take a crack at one of them: “If it’s true that one size does NOT fit all donors, and we have limited Read more…
Urgent help needed to persuade UK Prime Minister Theresa May to intervene on behalf of British-Australian fundraiser held in Dubai. Please sign our petition. Fundraising for worthy causes should never be a crime. Scott Richards, Read more…
The theme of this year’s IFC is asking the right questions. So here is my question: What is fundraising success? The answer is obvious surely? It’s how much money we raise. Success is based on Read more…
“How many supporters do I need to recruit to test whether email fundraising can work for my organisation?” This is a question that I used to answer numerically. I would explain that the sample group Read more…
