Think of a number

12 March 2010

I've just been looking through nfpSynergy's March 2010 Charity Awareness Monitor survey. It has a fairly large chunk of information on people's attitudes to fundraising. In short, they tend to find it annoying. They single out telephone and door-to-door techniques...

How transparency helps foundations advance their missions

11 March 2010

Transparency is sometimes perceived as a stick with which to beat foundations . But recent initiatives are showing that transparency, more than being a duty, can actually help foundations achieve their goals.

Launched in January, Glasspockets is an initiative of the US-based Foundation Center and its partners to increase the openness of foundations about their work. It hopes that by illuminating successes, failures, and ongoing experimentation, foundations will build on each other's ideas to increase impact.

The website which underpins the initiative is very nifty. As well as linking to foundations’ annual reports, grant-making policies and other useful documents, it contains a customised Google search that allows the user to search foundation websites for information on specific topics, for example homelessness. This is a really useful mechanism to improve the sharing of knowledge among funders. Often foundations make effort to push information into the public domain, but a resource like Glasspockets helps interested grant-makers and individuals find the information they need. It also offers a directory of foundation blogs, twitter and RSS feeds, and other social media.

In the UK , efforts to improve foundation transparency were spearheaded by Luke Fitzherbert who published the first directory of grant-making trusts in 1986, which courted controversy by naming and shaming those who chose to keep secret their grant criteria and who they fund. Fitzherbert’s efforts contributed to the creation of new transparency obligations for trusts and foundations in the Charities Act 1992. Others in the UK have carried forward this work. Intelligent Giving rates charities’ transparency by assessing to what extent 43 key questions can be answered using their annual report.

Many foundations voluntarily hold themselves to a higher standard than this, such as the Friends Provident Foundation which has published a report on its performance and impact. Another foundation, the Nominet Trust, is planning to launch an online knowledge-sharing hub to make available information about the projects it funds and applications it receives. Increasingly foundations are viewing transparency not as a threat, but as an opportunity to create more impact and have more influence through being open about their work.

If foundations aim to create the greatest social benefit with their resources, should they view knowledge-sharing not just an opportunity but as a duty so that others can use it to create impact?

Engaging entrepreneurial donors with creative thinking

11 March 2010

Many years ago, whilst working for the YMCA, we created a very successful donor recruitment and development campaign. The only trouble was that we didn't have enough cash to realise it's full potential. Rather than just sighing and waiting for...

I need your help

11 March 2010

I hope you can help me out. I am looking for some great examples of how charities display their income V’s expenditure on websites or in annual reports. I am looking for the most creative and the most donor friendly versions. I have actually found it hard to get any examples but the ones I do find [...]

Bmycharity to close

10 March 2010

Online fundraising site Bmycharity, the first site to offer commission free fundraising is set to close in the next three weeks. In a statement on their blog they say that they weren’t able to secure the investment they needed to continue operating You can read the full statement here http://bmy.typepad.com/making_giving_better/2010/03/withdrawal-of-the-bmycharity-online-fundraising-service.html Filed under: Uncategorized [...]

Off the shelf, on the agenda

10 March 2010

In my darker moments, I sometimes think: what is the point of research? All these reports that sit on shelves gathering dust…who reads them? What happens to them? What difference do they actually make?

At such times of crisis it is important to have articles of faith. For me, one of these is NPC’s research on disabled children, Ordinary lives. This report highlighted the need for short break services for disabled children and led to concrete change and additional funding for the sector. It prompted one foundation, The True Colours Trust, to fund a campaign that put the issue on the agenda and resulted in an extra £430m from government for services for disabled children and their families.

There is currently an appetite for change in the youth justice sector. Charities and funders can use research to ensure that they are focussing on areas where they can have the biggest impact. In our recent report on young offenders, Trial and error, we highlight a number of gaps where voluntary funding can help to tackle youth crime, including:

• work to support the children of prisoners (two thirds of whom go on to offend themselves);
• mentoring and advocacy for children at risk of offending; and
• research to build the evidence base into what works (eg, a cost-benefit analysis of alternatives to custody).

We want to talk to funders interested in filling these gaps. If you would like to discuss our research, and what we can do to help funders, please email me here.

Trocaire – Lenten Campaign

10 March 2010

Trocaire pretty much own the “Lent Fundraising” space. Not saying its the only fundraiser at this time of year, but you wouldn’t really go up against them in this particular space. When I was in school I remember the Trocaire Box coming into the class, you used to actually be excited about it. There was [...]

Boston Marathon spotlight: Jesse Vetter for Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership

10 March 2010

Jesse Vetter’s doctor lightheartedly said that he could run a marathon after his 14th knee surgery. Jesse took that literally and will be participating in the 114th running of the Boston Marathon this year. He is running to support Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership (MBHP), which provides an array of services to provide those in need with [...]

Will you put your hand up?

10 March 2010

I love the concept of hand raising.

In fundraising terms, hand raising is asking people to stick their hand up to do something for a cause they like.

Herein lies the art (and the beauty). By asking people to 'stick their hand up' and show they care, initially that's all we do. Get them to do something really small, almost too easy to do.

Examples have/can include:

- Signing a petition
- Filling in a survey
- Writing a message of hope to someone in need
- Lobby/advocating against a particular issue

In short, you're putting your voice to something you believe in, albeit in a small way to begin with.

Next comes the science.

Warming these wonderful people up, getting them excited about what you, showing them there's much more they can help you with.

And of course, asking them to do something slightly bigger. Ask them for a (financial) gift.

There are loads of examples of this happening around the world. From asking people on the street to sign a petition about action on climate change, to calling someone and asking them to send a note to a prisoner of conscience.

Once 'on board' as a hand raiser, spend the next week reaffirming why they stuck their hand up and then ask them to take the next step by supporting financially (and of course, ask for a monthly gift).

It helps if you're an advocacy group (although you don't have to be) - there is a natural remit to do this stuff anyway. The key is finding real, genuine ways for people to campaign on your behalf, tied in with the need for financial support shortly thereafter.

You can test time in between the first contact to the financial ask, the number of non financial asks before you ask for a gift and the various channels in which to do this.

I love the concept of hand raising because it advances your cause further (get someone to lobby on our behalf), it gives you an opportunity to have several conversations with people, and adds another vehicle to reach out and find new supporters.

I expect we'll see many more examples of this in the coming years.

Are you prepared to put your hand up?

Jonathon

Have you hugged your donors today?

10 March 2010

3.10.10 Updates to your FirstGiving Account

10 March 2010

As of today we are offering an easy way for your supporters to raise awareness about your cause, and help ask for donations. You can find icons on your supporters fundraising page that link directly to their Facebook and Twitter accounts. We’ve also added a feature for donors that allow them to “share” the page they [...]

Every big online statistic you’ll ever need (or at least quite a few of them)

09 March 2010

I see quite a few online videos summarising the latest ’state of the internet’. But this one from creative agency Jess3 (which I spotted in Fast Company) is particularly well done – and includes some fascinating data that you don’t normally see. Including a great history of key social media site launch dates (and closures) [...]

Forthcoming conference sessions – come and say Hello!

09 March 2010

I’m just back from holiday and straight-away immersed in all sorts of client work, as well as getting-down to preparing presentations for several conferences I’m speaking at over the next few months. As it’s often only at conferences that I get an opportunity to meet folks who subscribe to my blogs, I thought I’d give [...]

Seven year old raises over £200k for Haiti earthquake victims – with a bicycle and an online donation page!

09 March 2010

There have been many stories around the world of generosity shown in response to the terrible earthquake that hit Haiti in January. But the one that I love the most is undoubtedly that of little Charlie Simpson, who responded to what he saw on TV about the disaster by deciding to do a sponsored bike [...]

Pepsi Refresh – Part 2

09 March 2010

I know the Pepsi Refresh Project is now in its second phase with a whole host of new ideas for people to vote for. I know the project under went a little controversial blip last month, but lets move on. There are so many projects to choose from. I initially loved the look of the [...]

Events Fundraising: Should you promote your cause or the experience?

09 March 2010

It’s been interesting to see the various promotional material for this year’s Cancer Research UK Race for Life.

They are firmly focused on promoting the social side of the events and ask people to ‘Sign up for amazing moments’ with the ‘help beat cancer’ given only a small byline.

The photos are all positive images of ladies on the walk and sharing fun/emotional times together. This is the main selling point of the event and the fact that it also happens to raise money for CRUK is almost a secondary concern in the marketing.

The idea of selling a shared experience around your audience and market is also a feature of a recent essay by Mark Earl’s over at WARC. Mark explores why marketers need to reconsider their audience’s needs and includes this insightful quote from American film-maker Lance Weiler:

“More than 70% of the value of entertainment content is to be found in the services and conversations co-created around the core of the content itself. It’s what the audience members do, say and create (socialise) around the product you make that creates the real value for everyone. Your product and your marketing are primarily of value in so far as they create an excuse for the audience to ‘socialise’ around.”

Race for Life is certainly a product that gives people an excuse to socialise round and the marketing clearly reflects this.

It continues to be the biggest mass participation fundraising event in the UK and this shows the success of this marketing strategy. However there are a couple of inherent risks in focusing mainly on the experience and not the cause as much.

Firstly, there isn’t necessarily a huge amount of brand loyalty and so if someone comes along with a better/new experience or product then people are likely to move on to this.

Many people feel that they are buying an experience and so feel less obligation to also raise sponsorship at the same time. This is reflected in the high rates of non-payers that CRUK have experienced and is the result of focusing their marketing on the experience and the cause.

This pay-off between selling the experience and selling your cause is something that all event fundraisers need to be aware of when marketing an event. Doing everything you can to enhance the participants experience and making it easy for them to share and socialise round the event will help ensure it's success. However, don't completely forget to remind people why they are taking part and build your key messages into the social experience.

What direct mail fundraisers can learn from charity box collections

08 March 2010

So much fundraising research concentrates on the relationship donors have with charities via direct mail that we tend to forget that cash is still the most common way to give. The latest data from NCVO / CAF shows that 48%...

Fundraising strategy opportunity through Northeastern’s Nonprofit Management program

08 March 2010

Northeastern University’s Nonprofit Management program is seeking applications from 501(c)(3) organizations for a spring term course on nonprofit fundraising. Student teams will: 1. Research the nonprofit and its work. 2. Assess current fundraising activities for effectiveness and potential. 3. Identify a social media or other approach that will bring more donor prospects to the nonprofit. Findings of each student [...]

Boston Marathon Meet Up with Team Hoyt

08 March 2010

On Wednesday, March 3, 2010, FirstGiving fundraisers gathered at Dillon’s, just steps away from the Boston Marathon finish line, for a night of team building, networking, and fun. Dick Hoyt, a seasoned marathon and endurance athlete, gave a motivational speech to Boston Marathon runners. Rick Hoyt, Dick’s son, was a strongly felt presence throughout the [...]

Climate change skepticism

08 March 2010

We’re suffering worse bushfires, flash floods and a drought that never seems to end. These are all signs that we’re reaching a tipping point to a climate catastrophe.

It’s clear that ‘business as usual’ is not an option."

Scary, but not exactly shrill.

To recap: In one corner, a bunch of people who want to save the world. In the other, a bunch of people who want to stop us listening to a bunch of people who want to save the world.

Finally, if you haven't already, try reading the book What's the worst that could happen? by Greg Craven. His argument is less about who is right, but more about how to analyse and make a decision 'on balance'.

I'll let you know how I get on with my more thorough research of both sides of the argument. And I want to read more on geo-engineering; anyone point me in the right direction?