Latest fundraising news

Bogus collections cost charity shops far more than £3m estimated
The amount that charity shops lose to bogus house-to-house collections is significantly higher than the £3m figure that the Association of Charity Shops had originally put on the value of the scams.

CSDM asset sale benefits other Chris Stoddard companies
The owner of CSDM, which went into administration in June, has sold the fundraising agency’s assets to other companies he owns for a sum which some creditors allege is below value and jeopardises the repayment of debts.

Spending reviews should protect the voluntary sector, says NCVO
Umbrella body urges strengthening of the Compact and a level playing field for public sector tenders

NCVO calls for sector spending to remain 'neutral'
NCVO has made its submission to the Treasury spending review, calling on the government to ensure the net effect on voluntary and community organisations is “at least neutral”.

Graduate tax a 'disaster' for university fundraising
The proposed ‘graduate tax’ on university alumni could have a devastating impact on the growing philanthropic movement at universities, according to the sector’s leading body.

Stephen Bubb criticises charities over Newsnight report
Acevo chief executive says leaders failed to defend face to face fundraising

Latest fundraising jobs

HARRIS HILL: Temporary Events Fundraiser
£26,000 pro rata: HARRIS HILL
For more Charities jobs and jobs in Central London visit Guardian Jobs

HARRIS HILL: Legacy Development Manager
£35 000: HARRIS HILL
For more Charities jobs and jobs in Central London visit Guardian Jobs

FLOW CARITAS: Direct Marketing Officer
£25000 - £30000 per annum: Flow Caritas: We have a great opportunity for a Direct Marketing Officer to join a well-respected disability charity. London

THAMES HOSPICECARE: Senior Corporate and Major Gifts Fundraiser
£27,500 to £32,500: Thames Hospicecare: If you want to make a real difference this could be the opportunity for you. Based in Windsor

FLOW CARITAS: Community and Events Officer
£26000 per annum: Flow Caritas: We have a fantastic role in for a Community and Events Fundraiser to work with a well-respected homelessness charity. London

Latest fundraising blog posts

Proud to be a fundraiser: It's ok to cry sometimes

03 September 2010

As well as talking about my biggest mistakes, I also wanted to share some of the stories and experiences that have made me proud to be a fundraiser over the last 10 years. I'd also love to hear your stories of the moments that have brought home how important fundraising is to you...

If you’ve ever been to a hospice then you’ll know that men tend to be few and far between. Blokes under 40 are even rarer and when I started work at St Teresa’s Hospice in Darlington I was the only one!

This meant that I was often called on to help lift and shift equipment. This was everything from delivering donated goods to shops, to helping one of our volunteer drivers deliver equipment to people’s homes.

One of the main services at the hospice was a hospice at home service, where volunteer sitters helped to care for people in the last stages of life, in conjunction with the patient's GP and nursing team.

Often the person needed special beds and mattresses delivering at quite short notice and I occasionally helped Keith, our volunteer driver.

As a fresh-faced 22 year old this experience really taught me a lot about humility, compassion and emotions.

Going into someone’s home when they were only hours/days from death and playing a small part to help them die with dignity, surrounded by their love ones and in as much comfort as possible, was an emotional, but rewarding experience.

The gratitude shown to us by the patient’s families and carers made it all worthwhile and they often couldn’t describe how much it meant to keep their mum/dad etc at home to die.

One visit in particular sticks in my mind.

We went round on the early evening and set up a bed for someone in their front room. Sadly the gent died during the night and we had to go round the next day and collect the bed.

As soon as we walked through the door his daughter broke down in tears saying how much it meant to be able to keep their dad at home until the end.

Now, I’ve always struggled to keep my tears at bay at the best of times and within a couple of minutes I was also crying my eyes out in the this stranger’s front room hugging the daughter and comforting her.

It’s a moment I’ve never forgotten. It brought home just how big a difference the hospice made in the local community and why we needed to raise more funds. 

Experiences like this make you realise just how important fundraising is and how it can change lives.

Any time I’m having a bad day, I always try and remember moments like this and remember why I’m doing what I am. If you haven’t been out to visit some of your beneficiaries or talked to some of your front line workers for a while then I’d urge to do so today...

Read this post in full

You are part of the conversation

03 September 2010

replace the word customer with donor and this is now applicable for our sector! Filed under: Brand, Donors, fundraising, Social Media Tagged: Best Buy, Social Media

Read this post in full

The link between in memory and legacies?

02 September 2010

When I attended the Institute of Fundraising Convention in July I listened to some interesting stuff about the link between gifts made in memory and legacies (bequests).

Makes sense.

People are making a gift in memory of someone they care about. They are in that head space.

So we've recently been doing some legacy prospecting with one of our clients. Generated a chunk of new confirmed legators through the advent of online/offline surveys (with some follow up activity).

And guess what? One quarter of them had an in memoriam relationship with us. No other financial history, simply made a gift in memory.

It's fair to say this at the heart of legacy approaches for many organizations. Take Cancer Research UK for example. Check out the placement of their legacy and in memoriam asks within their website.

Coincidence? I doubt it.



I'd suggest looking closely at those who have left you that lasting gift and those that have planned to.

In memoriam programs are often the poor cousin of the fundraising mix. Usually because we don't really know what to do with them.

All is not always what it seems. There may be more value there than you think.

Jonathon

Read this post in full

A new social business model for DSPCA

02 September 2010

I was at a Fundraising Ireland conference recently and Lori Davis from the DSPCA had the entire room captivated by her presentation. I asked Lori would she write a piece for my blog so I could share what is going on at the DSPCA and how they have changed their thinking to create a new [...]

Read this post in full

My Biggest Fundraising Mistakes: Not Saying Thank You

01 September 2010

This is the first in a series of posts where I reflect on some of the biggest mistakes I've made in my decade of fundraising. Hopefully you can avoid some of the basic errors I've made over the years!

This might seem an obvious one, but it can happen (for a variety of reasons) and can lead to major problems if you don’t make amends. 

One of my responsibilities as Hospice Fundraising Manager in Peterborough was to oversee the running of our coffee shop, which was staffed entirely by volunteers.

The volunteers were a committed bunch and worked hard to make a success of it.

Anyway, they needed a new dishwasher and we didn’t have the budget, so one of the volunteers very kindly went out and bought one. Obviously, I needed to send her a thank you letter/phone call to acknowledge her kindness.

However, despite a reminder from the coffee shop manager I completely forgot and a few weeks later I heard through the grapevine that the volunteer was really upset about this and threatening to not come back.

What to do then?

Well, I dropped everything I was doing, bought a bunch of flowers (out my own pocket) and went straight round her house to apologise.

She really appreciated the gesture and I was able to turn round the situation, but if I’d thanked her promptly then the whole situation wouldn’t have arisen and I wouldn’t have had to go grovelling for forgiveness!

A really simple, but important lesson.

Key Learnings:

Always say thank you promptly and sincerely.

Never miss an opportunity to show your thanks and gratitude to a donor/staff member/volunteer.

If you say you are going to do something, do it.

Don’t put off until tomorrow, something you can do today.

If you do forget to say thank you, apologise, don’t make excuses, and do your best to make amends.

Read this post in full

24 Hour Web Design Challenge

01 September 2010

Here’s another possible freebie for you! Darragh Doyle posted about this on twitter the other night. 24 The Web is a 24 hour web design challenge, where teams of people build websites for a charity in 24 hours. The event will take place from 13th-14th November. They will be looking for (irish) charities that need a [...]

Read this post in full

Ideas For Your Fundraising Website

31 August 2010

So, you’ve decided to go ahead and create a fundraising website for your group? Once you’ve selected a domain and a host and set up your site (see Create A Website), you’re ready to add content. At the very least your fundraising site should have the following: - A blog A blog will allow you [...]

Read this post in full

What happens after that mailing pack lands on the mat?

31 August 2010

TNT Post have just released the results of a poll on the importance of direct mail for raising funds. They surveyed 2,000 British adults and found that: One-third of people who give to charity are prompted to do so by...

Read this post in full

Free You Tube Video

31 August 2010

(via MediaContact.ie) This year for Content is King 2010 on Nov 16th we are doing a YouTube experiment whereby we will create a YouTube movie to promote an Irish charity. With this project we have one objective; we want to make a movie that will be viewed thousands of times, that will be passed on [...]

Read this post in full

Counter intuitive ideas

31 August 2010

I am blogging live from Pareto Fundraising with Jeff Brooks of Future Fundraising Now fame presenting fundraising ideas to our staff. We are discussing donor retention for mail and email appeals. One advantage Jeff has over us is that his clients have much, much bigger data files so he is able to get more testing done.

Testing is great because lots of best practice fundraising is counter intuitive. For example, longer letters tend to work better, more frequent mailings asking for money increase retention and total lifetime giving, calling people at dinner time and asking them to upgrade their monthly gift works.

If you were to ask donors, in advance - perhaps in a focus group - about the tactics above they would suggest that these tactics won't work. But they do.

So here is a new counter intuitive idea that he says works, and we don't do here.

With the volumes of data available to him, he has been able to test the use of thank you letters as asking delivery mechanisms. This is not done by charities in Australia, and Penelope Burke who wrote Thanks! advises against it. But, according to Jeff, her research is based on opinion through surveys etc. He, however, has tested it on data and over many years has found that it does not increase attrition, but does increase income by 10-15%.

So, if you may appeals and ask for money here are some tips.

1) If you send more than one wave, do not remove donors who give to wave 1 from the subsequent waves. You are reducing your income now and in the future.

2) Test including an additional ask in the actual thank you letter. For example, a tear off option on the thank you letter, or a self mailer envelope. Always include a return envelope.

We have seen some recent success in sending a regular giving ask with thank you letters to newly acquired donors based on an American idea, so this cash ask approach seems an obvious thing to test, even it if feels wrong.  More forward thinking charities could try testing a regular giving self mailer or 'pack' which goes out with all thank yous to non-regular givers, not just new donors.

If you try it in the future, or already have - please let me know the outcome!

Sean

Thanks for subscribing, I really appreciate it and do hope that you find this blog useful. Take care.

Read this post in full

Questions your donors want answered

30 August 2010

I just came across this again, I must have forgotten to post it when I wrote it! I was reading on the brilliant A Small Change Blog about the book The 11 Questions Every Donor Asks and the Answers All Donors Crave. Jason provided a really useful summary of the 11 questions in the book: Why me? [...]

Read this post in full

Ten (eleven) best practices for online fundraisers

29 August 2010

Sean Powell has just published a rather useful free e-book that will point anyone who isn't well versed in online fundraising in the right direction. His key points are: Set up a listening post (I'd add samepoint.com to Sean's recommendations)....

Read this post in full

Fundraising Round-Up for the Bank Holiday

27 August 2010

I'm just about to go on holiday for the next week (off to see friends and family in Ireland, which should be lovely) and before I go I thought I'd do another round up of articles that have caught my eye.

In September it will be 10 years since I became a fundraiser (how time flies) and I'm planning to do a series of posts on my biggest mistakes (and what you can learn from them) and some of the moments that make me proud to be a fundraiser.

I hope you'll enjoy them, but do let me know if gets too much or self-indulgent!

Anyway, here's some of the reading I've done recently:

The first appeal to come under the Agitator's scrutiny is now available. A great idea and there are some strong suggestions in the comments.

Pamela with five ways to sabotage your fundraising.

A reasoned summary from Kev about Tony Blair's donation to the Royal British Legion and some of the ethical considerations.

Jonathan with some 'purls of wisdom' on personalised website addresses.

Jason on believing in your cause (via Jeff Brooks)

Is your fundraising in the valley of unremarkability? Mark Phillips has some ideas to climb out. It fits nicely with this article from Seth on talking points.

An interesting article from Conor on using comedy to build your brand.

Lori summarises some ideas on what's working in donor fundraising from Lisa Butcher.

A good summary of fundraising related tips from Robert Cialdini's book 'Influence' at Wild Woman fundraising.

Some tips for writing headlines from Copyblogger.

Mark Earls on social objects and purpose ideas.

The 'Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership' at the Good Experience blog.

Read this post in full

The Diarrhoea Song

27 August 2010

visit the site here, thanks to Amanda for sharing it Filed under: fundraising, Fundraising Advertising Tagged: charity, Dig Toilets not graves, fundraising, water aid

Read this post in full

PURL's of wisdom

26 August 2010

One of the more counter intuitive things in direct response fundraising is limiting response to just one vehicle.

In other words asking donors to respond through the mail, and the mail only.

Surely giving more options (web, phone) can only increase response/income?

Not necessarily. The reason/s?

- DM donors are DM donors. They're habitual. They love responding through the mail.

- It's easy. There are no distractions (especially if you laser all of their details on the response form and include a postage paid reply envelope).

- There can be a disconnect between the response form/appeal and the person on the end of the call or the landing page on your website.

In other words, you ask for $100 in the letter, all the way through. Then you send me to your 1800 number. The rep on the phone tells me I can "give whatever I feel comfortable with". Huh? But you asked for me $100 in the letter?

Similarly you bounce through to our donation page. The default ask is $40. Huh? But you asked me for $100 in the letter?

See what's happening here.

Now let me say that we have seen instances of more channels open = more income. But it isn't a given. You need to test it on your file. Let the donors do the talking.

The goalposts have shifted recently however. With the advent over the last few years of PURL's: personalized URL's.

Put simply, that means you can send people/donors through to a page where their details are dropped into their own personal page. That $100 ask is still $100, not $40 or "whatever you feel comfortable with".

We're about to do some more testing around pushing people online versus keeping it focused through the mail. But the difference being we're using PURL's in the online group to see whether this increases the chance someone will respond (by pre populating their details) and ensuring we generate the same level of gift we would through the mail (by including the same ask level).

Technology can make our lives easier. And hopefully our fundraising more effective. Who would have thought.

Jonathon

Read this post in full

Re-Inventing Flag Days & Charity Street Collections for the 21st Century

26 August 2010

Box_stack230

One of the tasks i've been given at work is to look at our two 'Geranium Days', when we go out on to the streets of London and raise funds.

These street collections and flag days have been going since the 1920's and reached a peak in the 1980's when over £115,000 was raised in a single day. The day is traditionally launched at 10 Downing Street with the Prime Minister making a donation.

However, in the last few years income has dropped dramatically and last year we raised less than £10,000, which is less than they collected in the 1940's and 50's!

I don't think we're alone in seeing income drop from street collections. Anecdotal evidence from other charities i've spoken to seems to confirm it's a sector wide trend.

This is hardly surprising. As we've seen the rise in face to face fundraising and online giving, people might be more reluctant than they once were to stick a couple of quid into a collection box.

Often, when I do give to a collector, it is to them rather than the cause. They might ask politely, be doing something extra or I just feel sorry for them standing out in cold,wind, rain etc.

As a community fundraiser I've spent many an hour in supermarkets, outside football grounds and on various high streets around the country collecting money, so I know it's not an easy job and admire the thousands of people who volunteer to do this around the UK.

So, on to the point of the post - can anything be done to change this trend and inject some new life into street collections?

Here are a few random thoughts so far:

  • Recruit artists and designers to come up with new concepts for collecting boxes. Place these works of art / creative designs in place around the city and turn the giving into a interactive experience.
  • Give all the collectors t-shirts with a prominent text number on. When someone says they've got no change, tell them they can text and give a fiver!
  • Use Twitter/Four Square to run a competition on the day of the collections. Check in or twit-pic yourself with a number of collectors around town and win a prize. A bit like a treasure hunt.
  • Give something away for a donation - give chocolates to all commuters at busy tube stations, offer a hug, give out an inspiring quotes etc, etc.

Those are just some initial thoughts - I'd love to hear if you've got anymore...

Read this post in full

Join the Board of Fundraising Ireland

26 August 2010

Fundraising Ireland has grown so much in its short three years, it has delivered some incredible seminars and conferences and it is on the verge of announcing its membership programme. Its success has come about largely due to a group of committed volunteers who take the shape of its Board of Directors and this year [...]

Read this post in full

Involved Vs Committed

25 August 2010

I’ve just started following Dave Trott on twitter (here). On Monday he tweeted about his latest blog post about knowing the difference between being involved and being committed and I thought the first part of his post was relevant to our sector. He wrote: There’s a difference between involvement and commitment. If we’re merely ‘involved’ [...]

Read this post in full

Where are you on the remarkability curve?

24 August 2010

Whenever we undertake research with donors, we rarely hear donors question the grass roots work of the charities they support... "The trouble with that charity is that they aren't that good at drilling wells." "I'm not sure if the housing...

Read this post in full

How To Make The Most Of A Cell Phone Fundraiser

24 August 2010

A cell phone fundraiser is an easy way to raise money. You are just getting people to donate their old cell phones, something they have no more use for anyway. But even though you are making money by collecting phones that people no longer use, you still have to know how to get the most [...]

Read this post in full