Fundraising trend spotter

How to break the rules of grammar for writing an excellent fundraising appeal

2012-02-02T20:49:00.002Z

Why do you think donors respond to your fundraising appeals? They respond to your appeals because they feel a personal connection with your work and that starts with how you write to them, how you get their attention and involve them in your work.
When I am asked to write fundraising appeals for my clients I try to make sure that my letter feels like a conversation – and in doing so I do indeed break the rules of good grammar. Why? Because, I don’t want my fundraising letter to sound like an essay, a theoolgical piece or an editorial filled with big or empty words.

In short, here are some of the things I edit my fundraising appeals for in search of conversational writing:
1. Frequent use of ‘I’ rather than ‘we’ – because a letter is meant to be a personal communication between two people and not between one person and a whole group. ‘I am writing to you today….’ ‘I am asking for your help….’ ‘I am inviting you to make a gift to our work…’
2. Beginning sentences with ‘and’ - one of my all time favourite connectors that encourages the reader to keep on reading. Think about it - when you speak to a friend - how many times do you start the sencences with ‘and’ to encourage your friend to listen.

3. Sticking to short paragraphs without worrying too much whether the sentences belong together or not. As a rule of thumb my paragraphs don’t’ have more than six lines. The reason for this is that people find it difficult to read long paragraphs. And, they are often reading your charity’s appeals quickly, giving them partial attention.

4. Incomplete sentences – missing either or both a noun and a verb. We don’t talk in complete sentences. Really. We don’t. So, next time you write an appeal your computer screen should be full of red lines warning you of bad grammar… if not, you haven’t written a fundraising letter.

5. Liberal use of dashes – they are very useful for linking phrases together - helping the reader to jump quickly from one thought to the next in a natural way.
6. Repeating key reasons for giving and arguments over and over again. I remember how when I was at school I was taught to organise my thoughts and arguments in a logical manner from beginning to conclusion.

As I already mentioned before, most people read fundraising letters only with partial attention so we can’t afford to present our main argument to them only once. In addition to this, most people don’t read fundraising letters in a sequential manner so in that sense every paragraph needs to convey the main argument – and be clear and succint enough to stand alone.

How to evaluate your charity's communications

2011-11-25T22:11:00.001Z

Before designing the communications strategy for next year take some time to evaluate the marketing and fundraising communications your charity sent out this year. Here is a hands-on, simple evaluation framework that can reap great dividends.

Step One: Gather the various mailing packages, and other related online fundraising and marketing materials that your charity has prepared and sent to donors and contacts on the last 18 months. What you have in front of you and on your computer screen is likely to represent the sum total of intentional messages received by your charity's constituents.

Step Two: Take a highlighter and mark every purpose statement, expression of your charity's mission and fundraising asks you find embedded in your communications pieces.

What do you think? Can you see message consistency? Clearly stated fundraising asks?

Are you speechless? Stunned? Pleased? Alarmed?

Step Three: Ask yourself and - get your colleagues to ask themselves too - the following questions as you evaluate your charity's communications. Remember to be honest, otherwise there is no point in undertaking this exercise.

1. Does every communications' piece contain a clear statement of your charity's vision and mission? - Your goal should be to have bite-size version of our mission and vision in all communications so that donors are reminded of what you do and why their participation in your wok is important.

2. Do your printed and online materials communicate your charity’s brand? - Examine the language, style, design, use of images, headlines, colour schemes - do they adhere to your charity's style guide? Do they express your charity's unique personality and style? - Donors should be able to recongnise your materials and your messages in a crowded marketplace.

If a donor visits your website, facebook page, or reads one of your promotional mailings, they should be able to easily identify elements (both copy and design) that set your charity apart from others involved in similar work.

3. How are you telling your charity's stories? - People connect with a cause through compelling stories. How are you telling your stories in words and images? Are they inspiring? Memorable? Captured in headlines, copy as well as powerful authentic images?

4. How are you communicating the impact that the donors are making through their giving? - Today's donors want to know how the money they give is being spent. Openness and transparency helps to build donor trust in charities. So, have a look at your communications? How often do you let donors know how the money is being used? Do you report back on how much was raised through various appeals? Do you let them know what your administration costs are and how much money goes to the project in the field? Is there consistency in these messages or do they contradict each other?

5. How do you thank your donors? - Saying 'thank you' is a way of strengthening relationships with donors and assuring them that their gifts will be used as intended. It is also a way of securing future gifts. How do you say 'thank you'? Are there any thank you messages incorporated in your newsletters, emails, etc as well as personalised letters? Are the thank you messages dry and formal or warm and encouraging?

6. Do you encourage donors to engage with your charity? - How many of your charity's communications give donors opportunities to offer feedback, ask questions, share their views about your work, or even tell you why they support your charity? Do you give donor's a voice through your printed materials, your website or online forums? Do you act on their suggestions and offer them feedback? - In a connected world one way communications are becoming extinct and collaboration is the name of the game.

These might seem like simple questions but you would be surprised as to how many time charities get them wrong .... so take your time with this exercise, evaluate the findings and improve the effectiveness of your communications in 2012.

How is the recession impacting Christian giving?

2011-11-10T14:00:00.000Z

The majority of evangelical donors (93%) answered our question about the impact of the recession on their charitable giving. The good news for churches and charities is that more than half of those who responded (62%) said that the recession had not impacted their giving while 38% said that their giving had been impacted. (The survey was carried out in Autumn part of 2009)

Furthermore, when asked whether they were donating the same amounts as they did six months prior to the survey the vast majority of evangelical donors (80%) said ‘yes,’ 9% said they were donating less than they did six months ago and 11% of donors did not answer this question.

Unfortunately, the opposite is happening in that charities and churches are tightening their belts and shying away from investing in their fundraising or stewardship programmes. Christian charities keep cutting their marketing budgets, or making fundraising staff redundant and some have even stopped their new donor acquisition activities.

If this trend continues, bearing in mind that 53% of current donors are either not likely to respond to new giving opportunities or are undecided, then charities who will grow their income are ones who are investing wisely in new donor acquisition campaigns amidst the recession.

Here are some more research insights that you might find useful:

Empty nesters are more likely to keep giving in recession
Evangelical donors without dependents at home are more likely to continue giving in recession compared to donors with dependents at home. 24% of donors with dependents stopped giving compared to 15% of donors without dependents.

Wealthy donors will continue to give
As expected, recession is having a stronger impact on the giving of donors from low household incomes. One in four donors from households making less than £10,000 stated that their giving has been impacted by recession, this figure fell to 22% for donors with household incomes of £20,000 - £30,000 and to 13% for donors from households making £50,000 or more annually.
Regular giving is safe amidst financial turmoil
The presence of dependents at home is not likely to be a key factor in a donor’s decision to stop giving regularly to a charity. We noted that 5% of donors with dependents at home and 6% of donors without dependents at home had stopped giving regularly to one or more charities as a result of the recession.

This data does not contradict the point we made earlier but can be taken to indicate that the majority of donors with dependents at home whose giving has been impacted by recession have probably stopped making one-off gifts. In other words, once donors decide to give regularly to a charity they are likely to follow through with their commitment despite the recession.
Men are steady givers
Men are more likely to continue giving in recession compared to women. Nearly half of women donors (47%) stated that their giving had been impacted by recession compare to 33% of male donors.

Older donors are most likely to be affected by recession
The economic recession is having a stronger impact on the charitable giving of older donors. Half of evangelical donors in the 75+ age group and 41% of donors in the 65-74 age group stated that their giving impacted by the recession. This figure fell to 35% for donors in the 54-65 age group and 30% for donors in the 45-54% age group.

Donors in employment still likely to give
Evangelical donors who are still working are more likely to continue to support their favourite charities through recession compared to donors who are retired or not working. 69% of donors currently working stated that their giving has not been impacted by recession compared to 58% of donors who are not working.

So, how focused are you on recruiting new donors from the empty nesters group? Have you got any plans to grow your major donor giving? How will you target men in a focused way to keep them connected to your cause? What about payroll giving schemes to encourage those in employment to support your charity?

Christians and legacy giving: facts, figures and insights

2011-10-26T13:58:00.001+01:00

Here are some basic facts about legacy giving that show how important this income stream is to UK charities:

Legacies provide over £2 billion of charitable income annually.
Legacy income currently represents 34% of the total fundraised income of the top 10 charities in the UK.
Although 35% of adults aged over 40 in the UK say they would give a small percentage in their will to charity and 74% support a charity during their lifetime, the current total legacy income comes from only 7% of the population.

My Christian giving research conducted in 2009 with members of the Evangelical Alliance UK showed that:

Eight out of ten evangelicals are likely to have made a will.
Only four out of eight evangelicals have included a charity in their will.
43% of evangelicals said that they have included a charity in their will compared to 26% of them who had done so a decade ago.
Evangelical donors in the 75+ and 65 – 74 age groups are most likely to include a charity in their will.
The least likely to include a charity in their will are donors from the 45 – 54 age group.
Donors who are single are more likely to include a charity in their will than married donors. (65% vs. 39%)

Why do donors leave legacy gifts? - Here are some reasons to consider:

Legacy donors believe in your charity’s mission. They are inspired by what your charity does to impact lives.

Legacy donors are likely to have first hand experiences of your work. They might have served as missionaries, or volunteers. They might be previous board members, staff or past supporters.

They trust your charity. They know that you will be a good steward of their gifts.

They feel that they have a relationship with your charity and that they know your charity.

They are people who enjoy giving and who want to help people in need.

They are likely to think highly of your cause. They think of your charity’s leaders as men and women of integrity.

They appreciate your charity’s work, how you treat beneficiaries, how you help peoplem share the Gospel etc.

They feel that a legacy gift is a way of honouring the memory of a loved one, a parent, a sibling, a family member who has been involved in your charity or has benefited from your services.

How are you going to use these facts and insights to shape up your strategy and resources on legacy giving?

How to make your charity's newsletters a compelling read - part one

2011-10-03T23:31:00.000+01:00

Here is a selection of insights and ideas to help you re-evaluate your charity's newsletters and make them a compelling read:

1. ‘Donor-centric’ newsletters
Think about what you want to achieve with your newsletters. The rule of thumb is to use newsletters to inform donors about your latest accomplishments; to share the vision for the future; to inspire donors so they continue to stay involved; to say Thank You and to invite renewed support.

2. Show how your charity is fulfilling the mission
Use one aspect of your charity’s mission as a key theme. Position your impact stories, statistics, case studies, etc to help donors understand how you are fulfilling the mission they have invested in.

For example, if an aspect of the mission is to educate illiterate women in Africa, a newsletter theme can be: ‘Breaking the cycle of poverty through education’. Use statistics to show how illiteracy causes poverty. Use impact stories to show how literate women are now earning a living. Include a donor interview about what motivates her to help illiterate women. Tell donors you couldn’t have done this good work without them. Share your vision for helping more women and invite financial support.

3. Offer news that interests donors
The word ‘Newsletter’ means ‘bearer of news’. News is something the reader doesn’t know about and something that makes them feel better connected with your cause.

Learn how to spot newsworthy stories that might interest your donors. Ask yourself: why am I telling this story? How will this make donors feel? What action steps do I want them to take after reading this?

Discover new angles on existing stories. Here is an example: ‘Life 1, Death 0 – We saved a life today.’ Highlight new challenges that can be addressed with donor’s future support: ‘We want to say ‘Yes’ to donkey work! – You heard it right. We are looking to purchase 1,000 donkeys in Ethiopia. The can be a great asset to poor families.’

Four simple steps to get a second gift from a new direct mail donor

2011-08-12T22:20:00.000+01:00

Our Fundraising Fitness Test often shows that a typical charity loses over 60% of their first time donors acquired via direct mail. Often charities put a lot of money and effort in acquiring first time donors and somehow they lose most of them through the ‘back door.’ Often the main reasons for such high attrition rates are failing to treat new donors in a special way and not asking them soon enough for a second gift.

If you want to increase the percentage of new donors who make a second gift to your charity here are four steps you can take:

1. Thank new donors in a warm and personalised way for their first gift.

2. Send them a welcome pack. Tell them why they are a valuable part of your organization. Your welcome package should include: a welcome letter, a general brochure, your latest newsletter or magazine, and a basic questionnaire to help you get to know these new donors. Make sure you don’t overwhelm them with too many things.

3. Show new donors how you are using their gift to change the world. You can do this most effectively with a donor-centred newsletter or e-update containing a few inspiring stories of how you are putting their gifts to work.

4. Ask for a second gift within three months of receiving the first gift. Many charities leave it too late to ask for a second gift and they lose 65% of the new donors in the process. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to secure that all-important second donation. So, make sure you have a good fundraising package you can use to secure a second gift from your donors.

Do these things consistently and see your new donor retention rates go up from one year to the next.

How can your charity engage with Baby Boomers online

2011-05-10T09:29:00.001+01:00

Debbie a typical Baby Boomer turns 54 on her next birthday, but she is likely to keep on working for the next 10 years. Her children have left home. So now Debbie is looking forward to spending more time with her husband, travelling and enjoying her hobbies.

At this point in their lives, Baby Boomers like Debbie (66 – 47 year olds) are likely to hold 80% of the UK’s wealth. They are ‘top spenders’ on new cars, cruises and skin care products. Boomers are very generous to charities too. In fact, they are likely to give more to charities than any other generation.

Generally Baby Boomers are comfortable with the Internet and are not afraid to make purchases or to donate online. But, the likes of Debbie grew up in the 1950’s and 1960s – the decades of heavy advertising, so they are sceptical of too much advertising and shrewd about their choices.

Debbie uses the Internet and mobile phone regularly but she doesn’t see them as an extension of herself. She is likely to use e-mail and social networking sites like facebook to carry out her work responsibilities or to stay in touch with friends and family. She is using search engines like Google and Bing to do her research before purchasing holidays, travel and other things online.

So, how is your charity to connect to Baby Boomers online? Here are some basic steps to consider for building effective relationships with Baby Boomers who are embracing new technologies:

1. Don’t ignore Baby Boomers online – A growing number of older people are taking advantage of the web right now so don’t ignore them. Often charities talk about using the web to connect with younger generations. Many charities tend to develop trendy applications or approaches that older people might find irrelevant or insulting. If you want to engage with Boomer’s online then plan to utilise the Internet and new technologies in ways that will empower Boomers to connect to your charity or cause.

Great examples of charities whose websites are engaging in creative ways with Baby Boomers are the National Trust (www.nationaltrust.org.uk) and National Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org).

Take a look at these websites when you have a minute and you will see how they tell their stories using words and images, how they explain their priorities and highlight their accomplishments, how they invite web visitors to take action – giving a wide menu of choices and how they promote donor benefits. Both these charities are targeting Baby Boomers in a big way so you can learn a great deal from them and the tools they are using to convert them from ‘website browsers’ into supporters.

2. Be authentic – Baby Boomers distrust institutions and have little time for un-authentic messages or appeals. You can’t just present ‘fudged’ stories or un-clear financial asks to them. So, if you want to get and keep Baby Boomers attention your website copy, e-mail appeals or other online giving campaigns should contain compelling messages that clearly state the needs you are meeting, the difference you are making, how much money is needed and how it will be used for the greatest impact.

As our research on Christian giving shows, transparency and accountability are of vital importance to Boomers. By including some information about your fundraising ROI’s and evidence of good stewardship of resources in your website and other online communications channels you are likely to increase the likelihood of receiving online donations from Baby Boomers.

3. Use lots of beneficiaries’ and supporters testimonials and photos. Testimonials can convert undecided Boomers into donors; so make sure you’re using them regularly. There is something about knowing that someone has really benefited from your charity’s work or, hearing that a donor has had a great experience as a supporter of your cause that helps other people decide to join in.

Trust is important for most Baby Boomers before they’ll buy or give online and testimonials or photos that show how your work has changed lives help establish that trust.

4. Make it easy for Baby Boomers to stay in touch with your charity. Boomers like to share experiences and connect with their families and friends and even with strangers via email and selected social networks like facebook. So make it easy for them to subscribe to your e-mail updates, like your facebook page, your blogs or follow your charity on twitter. Get a few Baby Boomer friends to have a look at your charity’s website and listen to what they have to say about ease of navigation, font sizes, content, images, etc.

5. Set up several social media profiles in addition to your charity’s website. If you haven’t done so already now is the time to get your charity on facebook, twitter, linkedin, upload your photos on flickr and your video clips on vimeo.

You can use facebook and twitter to start conversations online, share relevant news, invite prayer, and tell inspiring stories that are of interest to Boomers. Also, you can use sites like flickr and vimeo to load up photos and videos documenting the impact you are making and invite people to have a look and share these images with others. Through social networking sites your Baby Boomer friends and supporters can connect with each other, become ambassadors for your cause and turn from contacts into donors.

A good example of facebook marketing to Baby Boomers is the ‘The National Trust’ page. Note the abundance of photos, discussion starters, videos, simple competitions and other supporter engagement tools focused on building relationships with UK’s wealthiest and healthiest generation.

6. Make sure your charity is easily found by search engines. This might sound like old news but a lot of research actually suggests that the first stop for new web users (i.e. another name for non tech-savvy people) is a search site. So, what are you doing to make sure that your website can be easily found by search engines?

Another thing to bear in mind is making sure you have your full website address visible and in a prominent place in various printed communications. Why? Because according to a research paper from Yahoo! published in 2010 older first time web users (e.g. Seniors and Boomers) are 29% more likely than younger web users to type the full URL in a search box.

7. Whatever you do make sure you don’t call them ‘old’ – from their early days Baby Boomers have considered themselves to be a special generation. They might be getting old but they don’t like the idea of being told they are ‘old.’

So, as you tailor your messages and diversity your media channels to engage effectively with Baby Boomers you must realise that Boomers are going to be different from their parents. All you can do is to listen and respond to their needs.

What do you do with your charity's 'In-betweeners'?

2011-05-06T13:28:00.000+01:00

This is not about the re-runs of a well-known TV show by the way. In the context of this discussion -'In-betweeners' are two types of charity donors:

1. Those who have not 'stopped giving' yet, but who generally speaking they have lost touch with your cause. They might have given sometime in the last 24 - 36 months or so but they have not donated since. So, renewing their interest in your work is likely to be difficult and expensive. They are the people you mail regularly with your appeals or newsletters but who don't respond.

2. Another 'In-betweeners' group is the donors who appear to be 'Idle' at the moment. 'Idles' have probably responded to an appeal in the last 12 months; they are probably still excited by your cause and with some targeted efforts they can be inspired to give again, if you are prepared to act swiftly through your donor renewal programme.

In my opinion, often'In-betweeners' are closely aligned with the overall 'lapsed' donor population (those who have stopped giving) in terms of their perceptions of their relationship with the charity.

The typical 'In-betweener' doesn't feel any closeness to the charity and they might even feel unappreciated. S/he doesn’t feel involved, or well acquainted with the charity's recent activities or current successes. So when another cause or challenge comes along — things like financial problems, a troubling world event, a compelling ask from another charity — it is easy for them to leave your cause behind and embrace something else. But at the initial stages of this process the 'In-betweener' is still a good prospect for reactivation.

To say “Maybe you’ve gone through a difficult time”, show an interest in them, emphasise the benefits the donor will experience by giving to your charity, tell them how much you have missed their past support could be the best approach to encourage them to stay on board.

So, take a look at your donor base in the next few days and try to identify your charity's 'In-betweeners' - write a warm and personalised letter to them - remind them of the good they have done by supporting your work and invite them to renew their committment to your cause.

How to communicate well using new media tools; An example from Moral Wings

2011-04-06T09:55:00.002+01:00

I saw this promotional video created by my business partner recently for a small charity in Italy and really liked it. This is a great example of getting your charity's message across in creative and interesting ways:

Have a look and let me know what you think.

Why do evangelicals give money away?

2011-03-22T20:33:00.000Z

Every time a donor makes a decision to support a particular charity or to ignore their request the reasons underlying this decision are in some ways specific to their affiliation with that charity and their perception of the charity’s needs. However, it is also likely that there exist a variety of overarching motivations which the donor considers, consciously and unconsciously, every time they are presented with an invitation to give.

In order to throw some light on the general factors that are likely to influence an evangelical donor’s ‘give/not give’ decisions, we asked participants of our Christian Giving survey to tell us which of 14 potential reasons would feature in their thinking about whether or not to support a charity. The responses outlined in Table 4.1 offer several helpful insights.

Why do evangelicals give to charities?

2009 (%)
The charity offers a free gift in return for a donation 1%
The charity is promoted by a celebrity you like 3%
The charity might help you in the future 4%
The charity has helped people that you care about 4%
The charity helps you feel good about yourself 7%
The charity has presence in conferences and festivals 7%
The charity's appeals are very moving 8%
The charity offers convenient ways for giving 16%
The charity's work is covered in the Christian press 21%
The charity is recommended by friends 22%
The charity offers involvement in interesting work 43%
The charity helps people in an area of interest to you 50%
The donors has first-hand experience of a charity's work 73%
The charity is trustworthy and transparent about money 78%

Table 4.1.

As you can see from the data in Table 4.1 the most compelling reasons for giving are: trust in a charity’s effectiveness and transparency about how the money is used (78%), followed by donor’s having first-hand experience of a charity’s work (73%) and personal interest in the people or the area where the charity is helping (50%).

The factors that appear to motivate relatively few people include: receiving free gifts, endorsements by celebrities, an expectation of receiving help from the charity in the future, or the fact that the charity has helped someone the donor cares about.

While conducting market research projects for Christian charity clients we have learned that while Christian celebrities (e.g. respected Bible teachers, writers, artists, pastors, etc.) might not have the ability to cause a donation, their endorsements count a great deal when it comes to getting a potential donor’s attention.

So, when a Christian celebrity endorses a charity at a Christian event or, when they speak on behalf of that charity to potential donors, they make it possible for the promotional messages of that charity to receive a hearing in a crowded and competitive marketplace.

However, the credibility of the celebrity does not get transferred to the charity in the longer term. If the donor has made a gift or signed a standing order form because of the prompting from a celebrity they will in time evaluate the charity themselves in terms of trustworthiness and transparency.

Another way we interpreted this data is by grouping the responses under six categories. The category that emerged as the front-runner was that which related to a high match between the charity’s areas of work and the priorities and interests of donors (93%), followed by trustworthiness of the charity (78%) and having first hand experience of its work (73%).

Next were the charity’s marketing efforts (52%) followed by endorsements by others (24%) and personal benefits (16%).

Here are some useful questions to consider if you are working for a Christian charity:

1. Wwhat do you know about the priorities and interests of your donors?

2. How are you using that information to shape your fundraising
communications?

3. In what ways are you communicating to current and potential donors the
fact that your charity is trustworthy and accountable?

4. What have you got in place to offer donors firsthand experience of
your charity's work? If they can't travel to the mission field in what
ways can you bring a taste of the mission field to them?

What are the ingredients of a successful e-newsletter?

2011-03-07T12:42:00.000Z

Following on from the previous blog post here are a few tips for creating newsletters that will attract and retain your charity’s supporters.

Offer news items that are interesting to your charity’s donors. Note here that I said news items that are interesting to donors not to you! What you find fascinating is not likely what donors might find fascinating. So, the first step is to make sure that you are listening to your donors and you are discovering what they find interesting.

For example, donors to a charity helping teachers in Africa might be interested to know what happened at the training days for local teachers in Sierra Leone. How many teachers attended? What did they learn? How are they planning to use that knowledge in their schools etc? – This is the project you told donors about a couple of months ago and asked for their support – this a news item you might want to include in your e-newsletter to offer feedback on how this project impacted lives.

You might also want to share some news or statistics that highlight the types of problems you are trying to tackle, stories and comments from the people you are helping, a photo album featuring one of your projects etc.

Do some research, see how other charities in your field are sharing news and relating to donors online and work out how you can do the same. Bookmark or monitor RSS feeds from useful websites to receive information to help you craft better e-newsletters.

Use case studies. Most of your charity’s supporters don’t really understand the complex problems or issues you might be trying to tackle. What’s more they are not likely to give money to an abstract cause. So, if you want more people to engage with your cause use real life stories about how your charity is helping people.

Build e-newsletters around one of your real life stories and make sure you let your field workers or beneficiaries tell the story in their own words. You can position the story in such a way that your donors are included too – by reminding them that they helped make the change happen through their gifts and prayers.

Offer some spiritual insights or advice to your readers. A Christian charity can use an e-newsletter to bless its supporters by offering them some spiritual encouragement in the form of short Bible based reflections. These could be spiritual lessons that the leaders of the charity or missionaries have learnt during field trips, answers to prayers and much more.

Charities that are working in areas of education or healthcare too can offer their e-newsletter readers and supporters some specific advice or, ideas about issues that might concern them.

Make e-newsletters interactive. There is nothing more boring than being bombarded with information and not given a chance to participate. The growth of social media has broken the power of monologue and has given readers a voice. So rather than shunning this trend you should use it for your charity’s benefit.

You can do this by including a quick poll relating to a specific topic that your charity is addressing or to get donor’s opinions on specific initiatives. Many people love to have their voice heard, even if only through a quick vote, and they love to hear how others view an issue.

Make your e-newsletters fun. Many charities have a serious tone in their communications, but being serious doesn’t mean having no sense of humour. Add some humour to your charity’s e-newsletters and updates by including a photo caption competition, a funny cartoon, a link to an odd website, a trivia question, a quote of the day or something else that is likely to amuse your readers.

You are welcome to share your ideas here if you think of any others....

What are the benefits of sending e-newsletters?

2011-03-06T18:14:00.001Z

Everybody is doing e-newsletters these days. You are probably receiving them from companies you purchased products from, from charities, from friends or family members in the mission field, from your church, from consultants like us, radio stations and much more.

Inbox clutter – a term that did not even exist a few years ago, is now becoming a real issue. And, many of us are discovering the usefulness of the DELETE button. But, we don’t delete all emails we receive – as a matter of fact we enjoy reading some of them and use ideas or advice we get from others.

What we are likely to delete are emails we don’t find interesting, useful or did not ask to receive, like spam or mass mailings. The same can be said for people who receive your charity’s e-newsletters.

The bad news is that the majority of people who receive your emails might not be reading them right now. But, the good news is that you can change this situation by writing better e-newsletters that can be opened and read by your constituents.

Here is a quick list of benefits I have identified but you might think of others too:

1. E-newsletters can enable your charity to strengthen relationships with supporters and retain them for the long term. Inspired donors are more likely to keep giving rather than those who have not heard from you for a long time.

2. E-newsletters can help strengthen your charity’s brand and position your charity in the supporters’ minds as an organisation on the forefront of fighting poverty, making a difference to young people, or doing whatever your charity’s mission is.

3. E-newsletters can help you send timely messages and updates about your work as soon as you receive such news. Donors don’t have to wait for months until your next schedules magazine to hear about the launch of a new initiative, to respond to an emergency appeal for helping people in a disaster area, or to pray for a particular situation. An e-newsletter can help you get the message out to donors quickly before it becomes old news.

4. Sending emails to large numbers of people is more cost effective than sending direct mail and if your mailing list recipients respond to your calls to action you are likely to get much higher returns on investment (ROIs).

5. E-mail updates or newsletters are easy to create especially when you are using a hosted email sevice like Vertical Response (which is free for charities).

6. You can measure the impact of your e-newsletters and drive traffic to different parts of your charity’s websites, blogs, social networking sites, etc. You can also cultivate stronger relationships with people who are reading your emails because you know who they are.

What drives trust in your charity and its work?

2011-02-09T10:52:00.000Z

There is a great deal of talk and discussions about trust in the charity sector today. Why should donors trust charities? Are charities doing what they say they would do with the money? Are they achieving results? Which charity should I support? How do I as a donor know which charity to trust with my money?

At a recent fundraising event in London Prof. Adrian Seargant presented five drivers of trust in charities, derived from his research of the sector, that all of us can benefit from considering and implementing. So, if you want to ensure that donors trust your charity you should be:

1. Drip feeding data to donors through all your communications. Use facts and figures to show the needs, how you are addressing the needs and the impact you are making How you are using the money to do your work.

2. Demonstrate competence. First of all make sure that your staff are competent and well trained to deliver the services your charity provides and demostrate this competence in your communications. Talk about how staff handle difficult situations, share their views and perspectives about their work, tell donors that your staff members are receiving the best training to keep them competent and increase their skills.

3. Demonstrate good judgement. This applies to how you use your money and how you decide what programmes to launch and how you do your work. This doesn't mean that you have to be overcautious about everything but not being hallucinary helps as well. Show how you use research and sound thinking to decide what needs to address and how you go about meeting those needs.

4. Be honest when things go wrong. Newsletters and other communications are full of success stories and rarely do donors see how your charity addresses any difficult problems or issues in these communications. However, donors live in the real world and they know that live doesn't always run smoothly or predictably. So, if you want your donors to trust your charity make sure that you share with them about problems and setbacks - invite prayer and support and don;t be afraid to tell them that you have failed (sometimes) and share the lessons you have learnt and how will you do things in a new way in the future.

5. Develop and promote complaints procedures. Many donors leave charities silently because they are dissapointed with how they are treated (in impersonal ways) but they don't tell you anything mainly because they know you will not bother do reply or deal with the situation. So, if you want to retain your supporters for the long run make sure that you encourage them to interact with your staff, to offer feedback about your communications, frequencies of receiving appeals and other stuff that matters to them. Respond to their questions and concerns promptly and take every opportunity to let them know that they have a voice and that they will be heard.

Ten ways of nurturing new supporters

2010-11-22T00:10:00.001Z

In these difficult times of government funding cuts finding and keeping new donors is of strategic importance for many charities who want to be around in 2011 and beyond. What's more, I believe nurturing those new donors can be a richly rewarding experience for both the donor and the charity that shows them that they are special.

A donor's involvement, contribution, effectiveness and satisfaction are deepened by that nurturing process. Strengthening relationships opens up opportunities for regular giving, major gifts and even legacies.

As always, identifying the type of donor to be nurtured is important – it won’t be everybody on your database. By using specific criteria of recency, frequency and amount donated you can identify segments of new donors who are already showing an interest in what you do. For example, someone who gave within the last 12 months, has made 2 or more gifts or one substantial first gift could be the kind of donor you want to nurture.

Here are some simple ideas for nurturing your generous donors:

1. Write warm and personalised thank you letters.

2. Respond quickly to supporters’ enquiries, questions or comments.

3. Make phone calls to donors when they send in large gifts. Every now and then call regular supporters who have given to your charity over a period of time.

In my opinion, a CEO or fundraising director should be making up to 10 courtesy calls a week to show appreciation to donors and also to keep the finger on the pulse getting their opinions about the charity's work. Think about it 2-3 short calls every day should be in your agenda.

4. Make sure you send out a newsletter at least three times a year offering feedback and information on how donor’s gifts are making a difference.

5. Establish multi-tier regular giving programmes/offerings and provide special feedback and involvement opportunities to participants in these groups.

6. When asking for a gift, always thank donors for their past generosity.

7. Ask board members to send personalised thank-you notes to major donors.

8. Offer e-mail updates and communicate with donors in ways appreciated by them.

9. Send one mailing a year with no reply device – just a letter of thanks and/or information about current projects.

10. Pray for your donors regularly that they will grow in their love and service of God through their giving and everything that they do.

Lessons from Mister Brown's visit to Haiti

2010-11-10T23:37:00.005Z

Just in case you were wondering this is not Mr Brown as in the former Prime Minister of the UK. This is an Italian version of Mr Bean who has travelled to Haiti on behalf of an Italian charity and had done a fabulous video.

Mr Brown meets a group of children - teaches them a song and while they sing the group of children and Mr Brown travel across one of the areas where there is much devastation and suffering. However, the tone of the video is positive and upbeat - the key message 'There is nothing we can't do with a smile on your face - there is nothing we can't do together!'

So what makes this charity video stand out apart from the draw of a celebrity character?

First it reminds us of the hard realities of life in Haiti months after the disaster but it does so in a gentle way....Here is suffering and distraction but life goes on as the smiling and resilient faces of the children singing show...

It offers a refreshingly different perspective on a situation that has been addressed in many different angles by the press and many charities...

It tells us that live goes on... the children, the school... learning and growing,

It is fun and lighthearted while at the same time it drives an important message home - this is your opportunity to help these children and communities '

It is something that families and even children can watch and remember and be encouraged to give towards...

There are so many you tube videos out there full of facts and sad stories of communities and children who need our help... but few of them have those special elements that draw you in, make you smile and get your cheque book out... have another look at Mr Brown is back in Haiti and think about the things that might make your beneficiaries and donors smile and your charity's messages stand out from the crowd...

The favourite ways of giving for UK Christians

2010-10-29T12:04:00.000+01:00

Here is some interesting data from our Why Christians Give survey:

1. Nine out of ten evangelical donors have a favourite way of giving.

2. More than half of evangelical donors (56%) prefer to give via standing orders and direct debits.

3. The least popular ways of giving were: online donations (2%) and Stewardship or CAF accounts used by respectively 4% and 7% of evangelical donors.

4. On the whole evangelical donors are more likely to give regularly to charities compared to UK donors’ at large (52% vs.37%).

However, while the relative popularity of methods for UK donors might have changed little in the last decade, the popularity of regular giving methods has changed a lot for evangelical donors.

A partial comparison of preferred ways of giving in 2009 vs. 1998 reveals that giving by cheque was the most popular way of giving followed by standing orders and CAF accounts. Today, we see a 25% increase in giving by direct debits and a 14% increase in giving by standing orders, while giving by cheque remains almost at the same level.

So, do you know your donor’s favourite ways of giving? Have you ever asked them? In what ways would that information affect the way you ask for money in the coming year?

How are you engaging with Baby Boomers as Donors?

2010-09-06T18:36:00.002+01:00

One of the key findings of my Christian Giving Survey revealed that the typical Christian donor today is likely to be 55 - 64 years old male, a university graduate, still in employment (in other words a Baby Boomer).

In the UK today Baby Boomers are the largest and richest pupulation segment group - they hold 80% of UK's wealth and are set on spending it in ways they please them. While large charities with big marketing departments have worked hard at understanding this group and tayloring communications to meet the Boomer's needs and expectations many small, or medium size charities are trying to reach out to Baby Boomers without really knowing much about them.

Here are some pointers from our own research and from general thinking about Baby Boomers that can help small charities smarten up their fundraising and makw the most of their relationships with generous Baby Boomers.

1. Baby Boomers are likely to be university graduates who have an appetite for information (like to listen to Radio 4 or watch the news on the BBC) and have more discretionary income than older or younger people. Appetite for information and discretionary income are top requirements for direct mail fundraising.

The question is: What is your charity doing to acquire new supporters from the Baby Boomer generation? Find out what Boomers read or listen to, where do they hang out in your local community (clubs, groups, associations) and think creatively about how you can get your charity cause in front of them.

2. Our research showed that Baby Boomers appreciate good communications - inspiring stories, feedback about projects they have supported, big picture articles on issues you are addressing. How do your charity's newsletters or appeals tell your charity's impact stories? What compelling pictures are you painting for Baby Boomers so they can support your cause? How are you keeping them informed about the impact their giving is making?

3. Baby Boomers are often depicted as self-centered people who grew up in affluent times. They want to be treated as individuals and like to express themselves. That is why personalised fundraising appeals are a wonderful way of connecting with Baby Boomers and giving them opportunities to express themselves in the ways they engage with charities.

Our research showed that wealthy Baby Boomers want to have their say in shaping a charity's direction and future plans. Once you understand what makes Baby Boomers tick the question is: How can your charity provide ways for Baby Boomers to engage with your work and feel that they are playing a special role in making the world a better place through their giving?

4. Most major donors and philanthropists are likely to give generously not because they have high incomes (although that is often the case) but because they have accummulated assets. The fact of the matter is that Baby Boomers are and will continue to inherit significant assets from their parents. And, these assets will ensure that they can sustain their busy lifestyles as well as their charitable giving.

What is your charity doing to tap into this 'inherited' wealth of Baby Boomers? What opportunities can you offer them to leave a mark in the world that goes beyond consumerism and pleasure?

5. Many direct mail packages today are still focused on getting support from the 65+ age groups - long copy and short copy, photos, images, cause concepts, language that appeals to older people but does not necessary connect with Boomers and yunger generations. The fact of the matter is that Boomers are different from their parents.

So, if your charity wants to relate to them you need to start testing the length of the appeals, test the use of credit card donations or regular giving option. And more importantly, create personalised appeals and thank you messages that prompt generosity and philanthropic conversations between your charity and your Baby Boomer friends.

10 simple truths about direct mail every fundraiser should know

2010-08-10T12:38:00.001+01:00

Despite the rapid growth of online communications direct mail remains one of the essential tools in a fundraiser’s tool box for acquiring new supporters, soliciting support from present donors and strengthening the relationship between a charity and its donors.

Here are some basic truths about direct mail that can help you make the most of this fundraising and donor cultivation tool:

1. Charities that raise most money from direct mail are those that have a focused direct mail programme rather than an eclectic collection of appeals.

True measures of fundraising success are not the response rate or total income of any mailing but rather an increase in the total number of gifts compared to previous years and overall income generated through direct mail.

The question is: What would you do to ensure that donors increase their giving frequency and the amounts they donate to your charity?

Well, one thing would be to vary the copy and design of your fundraising appeals, to make them more interesting and appealing to your supporters. Another thing would be to allow for adequate amounts of time between different mailings so that donors have time to respond.

2. Fundraising appeals work best when there is a letter, a response form and a reply envelope. These three elements are essential and other additions to your appeal packages are likely to reduce rather than increase response rates.

However, it is important to note here that the letter enclosed in the appeal pack should contain a simple and straightforward ‘ask’ – a direct invitation to the donor or potential donor to make a contribution to the charity. I know this seems obvious but too many appeal letters hint at ‘the ask’ but fail to issue a straightforward invitation to give.

3. Thanking donors promptly and warmly is a key factor in ensuring the success of a direct mail programme. Showing appreciation for their contributions helps donors to bond with your charity and makes them feel they are partners in your work rather than ‘walking cheque books’.

4. A charity’s donors are more likely to stop giving because they have not been asked enough not because they have been asked too often! Some charities are reluctant to ask their donors more than two or three times a year fearing that they will stop supporting the charity if they are asked more often.

In our opinion, such fears unfounded, unless they are backed up by statistical data of increased donor attrition over a period of time caused by increased frequency in appeals.

Knowing how many ‘asks’ are right for your charity is not something that can be decided by looking at other charities but by testing the frequency of appeals with your database over a period of time and carefully tracking your donor’s attrition and retention rates.

5. Integrating newsletter and annual reports in a charity’s direct mail programme is likely to increase the overall income. Well-written and designed newsletters, magazines or annual reviews enable donors to see the bigger picture of what your charity is doing and encourage them to continue their involvement with your work.

Showing appreciation, gratitude and offering examples of how donor’s gifts have made a difference can sometimes be an excellent way of generating additional income without direct solicitation. However, in order to achieve this - your charity’s communications should be donor-centric rather than programme or charity-centric.

6. Brochures, DVDs or other materials included in fundraising appeal packages are likely to reduce rather than increase response rates. Sometimes, senior leaders of the charity insist that a particular brochure should go out with the fundraising mailing to reinforce its message. On most cases however, producing that additional piece slows down the process of getting the appeal out on time, adds to the appeal costs and the increase in response rates barely justifies the money spent on them.

7. Good fundraisers give donors opportunities to give whatever amount they chose be it £2,000 or £20. A fundraising appeal is in essence an invitation to participate in making a difference in the world through a particular charity’s programmes or activities. That is why fundraising appeals should contain opportunities for different types of donors to give at the level they chose.

Successful fundraising programmes contain different types of appeals for different segments of the database asking for varying amounts of support rather than one size fits all!

8. Emergency relief appeals are likely to generate more income than appeals for ongoing programmes or for general funds. This is understandable since the emergency appeals have an element of urgent response and are often responses to disasters, etc. However, regular giving appeals or annual membership renewal programmes have higher retention rates and contribute towards creating higher donor lifetime value.

Here is a challenge for charities involved in emergency relief work that they need to invest in increasing the number of people giving regularly to their work rather so that they can retain their donors for the long term.

9. Few donors who join a regular giving programme are likely to upgrade their gifts after a period of time. Data from your charity’s database is likely to confirm this trend – and show that further mailings to these donors to increase their giving are not likely to produce high response rates.

However, the good news is that those donors who increase their giving help offset the loss from donors who stop giving or decrease their support.

If most donors are not likely to increase their giving then it is important to ensure that your regular giving programme invites them to donate adequate amounts rather than the smallest amounts possible.

10. If you are mailing less then 10,000 contacts testing different variations of appeal packages using random segments is not likely to produce statistically valid differences in response rates.

This does not mean that you should not segment your database and use different types of appeals with different donor segments. What we are saying is that if your database contains less than 10,000 contacts you should not spend time or money unnecessary to test for example the size or colour of the outer envelope of a package with a relatively small random sample.

However, if your charity mails more than 10,000 at any given time then testing variations of fundraising packages with random samples of the database is likely to produce statistically valid results, help you reduce costs and increase the effectiveness of your fundraising appeals.

One thank you too far....

2010-08-05T17:45:00.000+01:00

Recently I have received thank you letters by two charities I don't support. Amazing - I haven't given them a penny and they have managed to make me feel good about my generous nature.

But, let me explain. One is a letter from a large international relief and development charity which is thanking me for my support in such general terms that it could be a letter from any charity. 'We are very grateful for your support. Together we have fought poverty, etc.' The other letter is from a small youth charity - I helped them write a fundraising appeal last year and now I have got a letter saying 'Thank you for your support. We raised £xxx through our latest appeal which exceeded our expectations.' It is clear that this is a letter to all their contacts in their database though ... not just me as their consultant.

I know I have not donated to these charities - so, why am I being thanked for support I have not given? I can accept the fact that the small charity has a lot to learn about donor segmentation etc.. but, imagine thousands of people receiving a thank you letter from the international development charity that makes them feel good about the giving they have not done.

One thing I had done though was participate in facebook campaings on behalf of the international development charity - but the only good deed on behalf of that charity had gone unacknowledged. I guess the social media guys are not in talking terms with the donor relations ladies...

Both charities have missed the opportunity to write to their non-givers (like me) a letter that said ...we know you care otherwise why would you be in our mailing list... today you have a chance to right the wrongs of poverty/ or to help young people by making your first gift.

Fundraising lessons from this situation:

1. Take time to evaluate your segmentation procedures and packages that go out with your newsletters or updates... what are you sending out to different donor groups? Why? What are you seeking in return?

2. Evaluate your thank you letters or other general mailing packages. Are they old and tired and generalistic? Are you or your charity's CEO signing things off that don't sound at all like you or them? Authentic communications win the day.

3. Get rid of the silo mentality - get people within each team and from different departments to work more closely and purposefully together.

What constitutes good content for charity websites?

2010-07-20T22:47:00.002+01:00

What kind of content should a charity include in their website?

If you are looking to re-vamp your charity’s website or even start from scratch you might want to have a look at Internet for Nonprofits Management, a new book published by Wiley containing some excellent insights and strategies for online fundraising and marketing.

Here is a brief list of good content ideas that online visitors who might know nothing about your work would want to see on a charity website:

• Home page

• Mission and vision statements

• Services and programmes

• Goals

• What's new

• Past accomplishments

• Brief history

• Issues or causes your charity addresses

• Message from the CEO

• Press releases

• Past and future events

• Urgent action alerts

• Testimonials from beneficiaries and donors too

• Photo album

• Endorsements or awards

• Donor hall of fame (maybe this is more a US than a UK thing)

• Privacy and security policy

• Annual report / review

• Project outlines/ other key documents to download

• How your charity can help

• Frequently asked questions

• Links

• Staff list and bios

• Board list and bios

• Contact information

• How to donate

How does your website measures up to the good website content list?

Three in four Christian donors are giving generously in recession

2010-07-05T19:00:00.000+01:00

Over 80 percent of evangelical Christians donated the same amounts of money in 2009 as they did in the years prior to the recession according to Why Christians Give, a new report on giving habits and attitudes of 21st century evangelical donors, published by McConkey ● Johnston international UK and the Evangelical Alliance.

The survey of 2,000 evangelical Christians carried out in August and September 2009 shows that the average amount donated was 11.5% of monthly household income of which 6.5% is donated to local churches and another 5% to Christian charities. Another 1.5% of income is donated occasionally to non-religious charities also.

However, the economic downturn is impacting Christian giving. Although the majority of the evangelicals are keeping their giving commitments nearly half of them (42 percent) are not taking on new giving opportunities.

Christian outreach, international relief and development and healthcare charities are the top three causes supported by evangelicals in a typical month.

Standing orders and direct debits are evangelical’s favourite ways of giving used by 56 percent of donors. The least popular way was online giving used only by 2 percent of donors.

Today’s evangelical donors are looking for meaningful relationships with the charities they support. They are likely to keep giving to charities that tell them how the money is being spent, truly appreciate their contributions and do not send them too many financial appeals.

To purchase a copy of the report visit: www.mcconkey-johnston.co.uk/researchongiving

Tips and ideas for increasing multi-year donor retention rates

2010-06-07T16:22:00.001+01:00

If your charity’s multi-year donor retention rates are falling then your charity’s financial heath is really at risk. This is because multi-year donors are often your most committed donors and the ones who are most likely to respond to your fundraising appeals.

Unfortunately, the most common reaction of fundraisers when they notice that the multi-year donor retention rates are falling is to cut back on the number of times they ask these donors to give to the charity. Often such actions prompt even more donors to stop giving. At the end of the day why should donors give to your charity if you stop asking them to support your work!

Instead, when you notice a fall in the retention rates of multi-year donors, you should evaluate the materials you are currently putting in front of your most committed donors and your fundraising activities. Here are some suggestions of fundraising tools and activities to undertake in order to increase multi-year donor retention rates:

Make your fundraising appeals urgent and emotional. Make sure that you or the person who writes your fundraising letters is not burying the need for funds at the end of the appeal or expressing it in institutional language.

Keep your cause in front of your donors in creative and fresh ways. Share compelling and heart warming stories in your newsletters, appeals and thank you letters.

Make every point of contact between you and the donor a positive and memorable one – this means regularly updating your website, responding quickly and effectively to donor’s requests for information, thanking them promptly for their gifts, give them opportunities to get involved in your work beyond making a donation ( e.g. ask them to pray, to volunteer, to visit projects in the field, etc)

Ask all your donors to renew their support or membership to your charity at least once a year.

Offer donor opportunities to give monthly or quarterly to support your work through online fundraising tools, mailings and phone calls. And remember that by investing in keeping your most valuable donors you will not only increase the donated income to your charity but you will also pave the way for receiving major gifts and legacies.

How to write effective e-newsletters that get read

2010-05-05T20:40:00.004+01:00

Well, here are a few tips for creating newsletters that will attract and retain your charity’s supporters.

Ideas about creating great content

Offer news items that are interesting to your charity’s donors. Note here that I said news items that are interesting to donors not to you! What you find fascinating is not likely what donors might find fascinating. So, the first step is to make sure that you are listening to your donors and you are discovering what they find interesting.

For example, donors to a charity helping teachers in Africa might be interested to know what happened at the training days for local teachers in Sierra Leone. How many teachers attended? What did they learn? How are they planning to use that knowledge in their schools etc? – This is the project you told donors about a couple of months ago and asked for their support – this a news item you might want to include in your e-newsletter to offer feedback on how this project impacted lives.

You might also want to share some news or statistics that highlight the types of problems you are trying to tackle, stories and comments from the people you are helping, a photo album featuring one of your projects etc.

Do some research, see how other charities in your field are sharing news and relating to donors online and work out how you can do the same. Bookmark or monitor RSS feeds from useful websites to receive information to help you craft better e-newsletters.

Use case studies. Most of your charity’s supporters don’t really understand the complex problems or issues you might be trying to tackle. What’s more they are not likely to give money to an abstract cause. So, if you want more people to engage with your cause use real life stories about how your charity is helping people.

Build e-newsletters around one of your real life stories and make sure you let your field workers or beneficiaries tell the story in their own words. You can position the story in such a way that your donors are included too – by reminding them that they helped make the change happen through their gifts and prayers.

Offer some spiritual insights or advice to your readers. A Christian charity can use an e-newsletter to bless its supporters by offering them some spiritual encouragement in the form of short Bible based reflections. These could be spiritual lessons that the leaders of the charity or missionaries have learnt during field trips, answers to prayers and much more.

Charities that are working in areas of education or healthcare too can offer their e-newsletter readers and supporters some specific advice or, ideas about issues that might concern them.

Make e-newsletters interactive. There is nothing more boring than being bombarded with information and not given a chance to participate. The growth of social media has broken the power of monologue and has given readers a voice. So rather than shunning this trend you should use it for your charity’s benefit.

You can do this by including a quick poll relating to a specific topic that your charity is addressing or to get donor’s opinions on specific initiatives. Many people love to have their voice heard, even if only through a quick vote, and they love to hear how others view an issue.

A simple recipe for sucessful fundraising

2010-04-29T16:32:00.003+01:00

Key ingredients:

Reduce the amounts of what your fundraising team finds fascinating
Add a dollop of listening to your donors
Add large amounts of donor input from observing and understanding your donors
Mix it well for breakthrough fundraising inovations

Here is a basic explanations for those looking to make the most of this basic recipe.

Reduce the amounts of what your fundraising team finds fascinating
Having attended my fair share of fundraising team meetings I have come to realise that the most dangerous words in fundraising are: 'Here is something interesting we can use for our next appeal.' Interesting to whom? To us or to donors?

Many of us in fundraising somehow get locked in our charity's world and slowly become fascinated with our charity's work. And we wrongly assume that donors will find a charity's programmes fascinating too.

When we take a long hard look at why so many donors are not responding to our appeals you might be forced to accept the fact that we have not made that leap from thinking like we do to thinking like the donors do.

Add a dollop of listening to your donors
How can we think like a donor? Well, first of all by listening to donors to discover what motivates them and what makes them tick.

I am not talking here simply about data analysis or evaluation of different campaigns and appeal packages. But, about stepping out of our world to connect with real donors... to do interviews with major donors and regular givers alike asking them why do they support our cause? what prompted them to support our work in the first place? why do they keep giving to us? ....what are they trying to acomplish with their gifts to our work?

Listening to donors can help us focus our fundraising messages to what they find interesting and fascinating about our charity's work.

Add large amounts of donor input from observing and understanding your donors Listening to donors is jut not enough to help you do sucessful fundraising .... An excellent fundraiser does more than listening ... he or she tries to understand the core needs, motivations and desires of our donors.

Such understanding according to an excellent blog entry by Bruce Temkin (http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/dont-listen-to-customers-understand-them/) can be achieved by engaging donors in conversations with charities and by observing the current trends that might impact a charity's future fundraising offerings...

In short a recipe for sucessful fundraising requires us to step out of our world of charity employees and step into the shoes of our donors; to engage donors in conversations leaving our assumptions about them at the door of the focus group meeting room and to tap into donors interest and desires giving them a chance to do something they have not dreamt about doing before...

How to craft email headers that get your emails opened

2010-03-18T15:36:00.004Z

Pokes and Tags and Tweets – do they annoy you or catch your attention?

It seems that if a statement or opening line has more than 140 characters then it is destined to go unread. In today’s world where people’s attention spans seem to be diminishing constantly what can you do to get your messages across to your charity’s supporters?

Since I am no expert in tweeting or tagging I shall stick to a subject I know one about – the email. Email headers to be more specific. Note here that by email header I mean the subject line and From name line.

Today, many charities use email to update their supporters about their work, to fundraise, to campaign and much more. And, while weekly or monthly emails are carefully crafted the email header is often a last minute job.

What is the first thing a recipient sees when an email drops into their inbox? – It is the subject line and the sender’s name. These two statements have to be motivating enough to make that person open the email rather than delete it.

Here are some things you might want to consider when crafting email headers for successful campaigns:

• Inform or engage? – Before writing an email header consider this question: what’s the main reason for sending this email? Do you simply want to share some success stories? Or, are you trying to get donations/ volunteers, etc?

• Be personal – Include the name of the recipient or the sender in the email header or some other kind of personalized message. A personalized header like: ‘Redina, here's a unique opportunity for you to help homeless Haitians directly’ is better than ‘Latest news from work in Haiti’.

Or, for example an email with a header like ‘Hello from Rob Parsons’ is more likely to be opened than an email whose header is: ‘Important news from Care for the Family.’

• Interest triggers. Since the words on the email subject line are the primary bait to hook the recipient into opening the email, you need to learn how to identify and write interest triggers.

Read through the content of the message, think about the purpose of the email and try to identify any interest triggers. Look at newspapers and magazines, what headlines and triggers pull your attention and how are they constructed.

You can try and use similar constructs of words for your charity’s headlines… Make sure you keep testing them though so that you can discover which ones might work best for you. Here are some examples of good triggers:

1. STOP THE TRAFFIC: Don’t be oblivious
2. Premier Christian Media: Is your freedom to vote a privilege?
3. Kyria.com: Leading your enemies

• Asking questions or making statements? - An engaging email campaign like a direct appeal or a meeting should be a two-way conversation, so you might want to consider starting with a question in your subject line.

You might want to use a question as a subject line for email fundraising campaigns or petitions.

• Going for long or short subject lines? – That depends on what you want to say but generally speaking a good length subject line should have about 35 characters. This doesn’t mean that you can’t experiment with longer subject lines – as always keep testing them to discover what works best with your constituency.

• Who is the email from? – You might have already set up your From name as the charity. If that is the case experiment with a different From name – that of leader in your charity or a well known field staff member. Do an A B test to see which From name performs best.

Also you might want to use different From names for your fundraising campaigns, e-updates or event invitations always using the name of a staff member who has the most relevant relationship with the recipients.

Like with anything else in fundraising and development the key is to test new approaches continuously. Use different email headers for different groups of the database and compare the opening rates, try to determine how the header or the From name is connecting with recipients. Knowing how to capture the attention of your email recipients will give your message a better chance of being read.

Is new donor acquisition harder than donor retention?

2010-03-14T23:35:00.000Z

One of the common accepted myths in fundraising is that new donor acquisition is hard and donor retention is easy. However, this is not true.

Yes, there is no doubt that acquiring new donors is an expensive and difficult task. But, retaining donors for five, ten or even fifteen years and encouraging them to increase their support to your cause is often far more challenging.

Think about it – in order to keep donors interested in your charity’s work you need to constantly find new ways to communicate your vision, fresh perspectives on sharing your stories, etc. Such activities take a great deal of thought, time and creative effort.

What’s more, cultivating strong relationships with donors means using a wide range of communications channels. And, this takes time and effort too in terms of launching multi-media strategies and sending out targeted messages.

So, every fundraiser should pay attention to both of these areas of fundraising.

Fancy a dog who can write nice letters to you?

2010-01-12T21:15:00.003Z

How far would you go to get a potential donor's attention in a crowded marketplace? -A couple of days ago two charity TV adverts got my attention and made me smile.

The first one was from Dogs Trust UK where apparently they have the most amazing dogs in the world - yes, you guessed it, the ones that can write letters to you and tell you how happy and healthy they are now you are sponsoring them.

And, the second one was from The Brooke and in this one a little donkey tells you all about his troubles - speaking in english and sounding very much like a middle aged man. The donkey even asks you to give to The Brooke to protect him and his friends - so sweet!

On a more serious note though is it ethical to make false claims like these? No one expects a dog to write notes to sponsors - so why can't Dogs Trust say ' the lovely people that care for these animals will write and let you know how your sponsored dog is doing.'

And, most people, apart from very young children, know that donkeys don't talk so why pretend that they are human?

Are the producers of these ads and the charities that they represent assuming that people will find this approach amusing? Are they trying to tug donors heart strings by making impossible and improbable claims?

Yet donors would not be amused if a charity that is in the business of child sponsorship got the fundraisers to write all the letters on behalf of the children - because this is what is going to happen in the case of sponsored dogs or donkeys.

At a time when many donors expect transparency from governments, MPs, businesses and charities is making up impossible and improbable claims the best option?

What can you learn from stillerstrong.org

2009-12-23T03:51:00.003Z

Right now one exciting charity venture that is making headlines in America is Ben Stillers (www.stillerstrong.org) charity aiming to raise funds of a school in Haiti.

At first sight, there seems to be nothing too special about this - celebrities big or small always seem to be involved in promoting a charity or another. But take a closer look at www.stillerstrong.org and you will soon discover that .... well, what Ben is doing is something unique and special. And, I dare say perhaps he is paving the way for a new kind of celebrity involvement in charity work.

Having had lots of fun watching the different videos on this site here are some of the things I have discovered that make stillerstrong work.

First of all the cause is simple and focused - Ben Stiller is not trying to save the world - he has simply teamed up with Save the Children to build a new school for poor kids in Haiti. And, he is asking fellow celebrities and other people who visit his website to donate to this cause.

Secondly, unlike some celebrities who give a five minute endorsement to a cause Stiller is spending some of his time regularly to shoot mini-videos asking people to give to the cause and giving out his stillerstrong bands. This idea of headbands is a play off from his movie Zoolander.... and works rather well in this particular context.

Thirdly, every now and then Stiller reveals the comical side of celebrity involvement in charity work - see the episode when he speaks to Bill Clinton who asks him about the capital of Haiti and Stiller is honest that he doesn't know. Or the episode when Stiller tries to convince Owen Wilson to donate to the cause and Owen pretends to show interest... ah, and the episode when he hires and fires the fundraising consultants...

In short, Stiller doesn't pretend to be the perfect charity champion and he doesn't expect donors or fellow celebrities to be perfect either...

Fourthly, the website is full of interesting and entertaining ideas and more importantly easy and quick ways to give. It also offers the visitor many opportunities to stay connected to the cause and give feedback on what they have seen ....

On the whole, I really enjoyed the experience of surfing on stillerstrong and am feeling quite tempted to buy one of those headbands.

Interview with Larry Johnston of McConkey-Johnston International | UK Fundraising

2009-09-21T11:51:00.001+01:00

Interview with Larry Johnston of McConkey-Johnston International | UK Fundraising

Shared via AddThis

What are people tweeting about? Hmmm.... pointless babble apparently

2009-08-21T12:11:00.001+01:00

The general wisdom that Tweeter is great for conversations and self-promotions has been apparently overturned by a recent survey from Pear Analytics' study of Tweeter's timeline.

According to a recent news item in e-marketer daily Pear Analytics placed each tweet in six categories and found that:

40.55% of tweets were pointless babble like 'I am sitting in the sunshine' or 'I am eating sandwiches now'

37.59% of tweets were conversational

8.70% were pass along values - re-tweets spreading the news about something or another

5.85% was self promotion

and less than 4% was news

Interesting stuff indeed... I wonder which charities messages made it to the news or pass along values percentages?

People tend to pass along values and share news on Mondays and Wednesdays apparently - according to this research these are the days when the tweets in the above mentioned categories make up 10% of the tweets for those days...

And happy tweeting - but if you want to find out what I am up to you will have to use that old fashion object called a phone....

Bible weeks, exhibitions and Christian agencies: what is missing?

2009-08-13T20:25:00.004+01:00

The summer season is upon us and many mission angencies and Christian charities are pitching their exhibition stands at New Vine, Detling, Soul Survivor, Grapevine... you name a Bible week and some agency's eager volunteers will be there armed with brochures, name acquistion postcards, newsletters, standing order forms... the whole lot.

The question is: how can Christian charities get their message across the different audiences at these events?

Let's start with what's not working - in my opinion at least.

Having spent a day at the Detling Conference in Kent here are some observations about Christian charities at Bible weeks...

1. Stands and literature everywhere but not one idea or campaign that stood out - well maybe one that stood out, that is Compassion's stand. My point is if you are going to do an exhibition at a Bible week you have an opportunity to connect with hundreds, even thousands of people. So, your stand and volunteers serving there should have something memorable, compelling and inspiring to say or give away that will make your charity stand out from the crowd.

What I saw hoever where bog standards stands with bog standard messages of 'we take the gospel to the nations... we feed hungry children... we do social justice...' - well good for you - but so do hundreds of other charities out there so why should I give to you?

2. Mountains of literature but not one decent involvement tool - I am not talking here about the direct debit or standing order form as an involvement tool. I am talking about some object, some activity, something you can give away to people who stop at the stand and let them experience what your charity is about...

People are not coming to a stand to get all your brochures or newsletters - but when they come by a simple involvement tool might be to ask them to pray. bring some prayer cards about the ministry ... distribute them around... tell people that there i a special 5 mins prayer time for a country or a project at your stand every hour... get them to do something rather than listen to someone saying: have you heard about us? Do you want a free book?

3. Volunteers galore and not a staff person in sight - I love volunteers. They are wonderful dedicated people who have a great passion for the charities they support and represent. But, are they the right person to be standing at a charity's stand all the time? Where are the charity's fundraisers or communication's staff? - Too busy in the office writing the next appeal or newsletter... well, if you are a charity fundraiser or communication officer you are missing out on all the action... which is not at the office ... but at these events.

If you went to one of these exhibitions even for one day you can meet all sorts of Christians, listen to how they talk about things they are passionate about, gauge their views and opinions on your charity and its work... wondering around a site and striking conversations with people at the coffee queue, around a dinner table or after one of the sessions is a good away of keeping a finger in the pulse in what's happening in the Christian community... The point I am making you are not at the exhibition simply to sell your cause but to buy as well... to listen, to learn, to be inspired by real Christians - the ones you are so desperately trying to reach with your communications...

Word of mouth vs word of blog?

2009-06-29T13:22:00.005+01:00

If you are seeking to increase the number of your charity's supporters then stop blogging or tweetering for a minute and pay attention to this useful nugget of information:

Market research on consumer behaviour conducted by Mintel, reveals that 34% of Internet users in the US who bought a product or service based on a recommendation got that tip from a friend or relative, while 25% of purchasers based their decision on advice from a spouse or partner. And only, 5% of them made a purchase as a result of reading a blog.

In other words, for today's consumers the word of mouth recommendation by a friend or relative (59%) remains much highly rated than recommendations by strangers through blogs or chat rooms (10%).

Isn't it interesting to see that despite of spending a great deal of time online people still prefer recommendations by those we know and trust.

What is the relevance of this information for your charity and your work?

Well, if as consumers people like to recommend products to their friends and relatives then as donors they are probably willing to recommend your charity to them as a great cause to support.

So, what can you do to get your present donors enthusiastic about your cause and turn them into your ambassadors in their local community, church, home group or work place...?

Here are three key questions:

1. What do you think are the best things that donors love about your charity or your cause?
2. How does involvement in your work make them feel?
3. How can you help your most delighted donors to recommend your work to their friends and relatives and enlist support for your cause?

Any suggestions.... I for a start will begin to think how I can spread the word about my favourite causes to my friends and see what happens.. I promise to let you know.

As social media fundraising steals the attention of fundraisers does this mean that printed communications are a dying breed?

2009-06-05T00:19:00.003+01:00

These days one of the questions I am often asked by clients and participants at our McConkey Johnston’s fundraising workshops is: Is now the time to do more online communications and less printed mailings?

My honest answer is: ‘No not yet. Not in the foreseeable future’

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying here that if donors are asking you to send them e-mail newsletters and updates instead of printed ones you should ignore their request. Neither am I saying that charities should not use online communications to strengthen their relationships with supporters.

What I am saying here is that direct mail fundraising and other printed communications are not dead! As a matter of fact, newsletters, donor renewal packages and fundraising appeals when crafted carefully with the right dose of creativity and inspiration can produce great results. Results generated by several of our clients can testify to this even in the middle of the recession.
What’s more, I constantly find that new donors acquired through direct mail are more likely to make second and third contributions to a cause compared to new donors acquired through social media fundraising tools. The bottom line is that some fundraisers and many CEO’s get so excited about online communications which potentially can be easier, faster and cheaper in the long run. But, they seem to overlook the fact that if they not getting good returns from their printed communications they are not going to get great results from online ones either.

In such cases the problem is not with the communication channel but with the lack of a proper fundraising plan, ineffective donor segmentations, boring copy, lack of compelling ask … and the list can go on.

So before cutting your printed publications budget and investing heavily in a new website and other online communications tools and initiatives take time to review your overall strategy, map out your donor cultivation cycles, get useful insights from your database, examine your cause concepts, revitalise your brand and refresh your copy. Having done all this you would be ready to integrate online and offline communications channels for profitable fundraising.

A satisfied vistor to a charity website is.... ?

2009-05-14T23:08:00.004+01:00

65 percent more likely to recommend the site to others;
57 percent more likely to have a favorable overall impression of the organisation;
55 percent more likely to return to the site;

49 percent more likely to donate; and,

38 percent more likely to volunteer.

These are some of the fascinating conclusions from a survey by Ann Arbor, Michigan based ForeSee Results agency which gauged visitor satisfaction to a variety of charity websites across the US. (see The Nonprofit Times article, 4th May 2009)

Apparently, the top two reasons people gave for visiting nonprofit sites are news and events (40 percent) and to stay informed about the organisation’s cause (40 percent), while almost one in five (18 percent) specifically go to make a financial contribution.

What's all the more interesting though is that the above mentioned research and the article in The Nonprofit Times strongly argue that a charity's website presents colossal opportunities for engaging with present and potential donors.

So, the question is: Where are you focusing on right now?

Let me guess... the social media. After all why should you spend your time on your charity's boring website when you can really engage with people on facebook or Twitter?

And that’s just the problem — most charity websites are boring, look and feel the same, some of them have not been updated for ages and are generally un-engaging!

But think about it... while you are adding up all those Twitter followers and facebook groupies ... what you are actually doing is driving more traffic back to your charity's website.

Oooops - yes, that's right - your exciting social media tactics are sending people to your boring and un-engaging website. So what are you going to do about it?

If you are seeking to engage with people for more than a few fleeting moments then having an inspiring and engaging website - where they can visit again and again is worth the effort.

The Twitter effect: good news and bad news!

2009-05-12T21:09:00.004+01:00

How do you feel about Twittering? What is your view on the explosion of this microblogging tool? Is it overhyped? Underused by charities? Is Twittering a good thing or a nuisance?

According to a recent article in the e-Marketer Daily over 12 million Americans will be Twittering in the US in 2009. Apparently this figure will be nearly twice the number of Twitter users in the US in 2008 and probably the UK is showing similar signs of growth in Twitter usage.

So, one thing is for sure that Twittering is a big thing right now. Where is the good news in this for charities that want to use social media to engage with new constituencies?

Well, the good news according to comScore Media Metrix is that the Twitter usage growth is being driven by the 25- 54 year olds. Yes, you heard it right... it is apparently the grown ups who are comfortable with techology who are Twittering away to their friends. Especially, the 45 - 54 year olds who are more likely to use Twitter than other age groups.

Interestingly enough, this is also one of those demographic segments who are likely to support charitable work and volunteer their time and expertise. So if you are looking to engage with more people of this age group - you need to start thinking about Twittering away on behalf of your charity.

The bad news - well according to recent data from Nielsen Online the bad news is that Twitter's retention rate is only 40%. In other words, more than 60% of Twitter users fail to return to the blog in the next month.

The Twitter site can not tell you when your blogs followers have signed off or how many of them have walked away so when you have their attention you must do all you can to direct traffic to your charity's website or find a creative way to hold their interest for a longer time.

Will Twitter fade away when the next hot thing comes along or will it continue to be a powerful marketing tool for relating to unique audiences? -

Who knows, only time will tell.... but for now, why not make the most of this free social media tool for getting the message about your charity out and for raising awareness and financial support

Healthy habits for charities in recession

2009-04-21T09:49:00.004+01:00

Watching one of my friends training for running the London Marathon got me thinking about the kind of stamina and determination that charities need to run the marathon triggered by the current recession.

My friend has spent the last few months making time to run several times a week. He is very focused despite the fact that he has many family and work responsibilities. He is determined to run well and to finish the marathon in good time. In a similar way, if your charity is to survive in the current climate - determination, focus, careful planning and strong commitment are a must!

If you are feeling right now that such words make you want to run for the nearest armchair then stop and think again. Although my friend is enduring some hardship and pain - the healthy habits he is developing are likely to improve his health, boost his energy levels and well-being for many months to come. That is true also of charities who, being forced to tighten their belts now, are likely to develop healthy organisational habits that can benefit them whatever the economic climate.

So, what healthy habits can be triggered by the current recession?

1. Losing weight - Evaluating the effectiveness of your programmes and operations and making some tough decisions. How about seeing recession as a time of opportunity for making your charity's programmes and operations more efficient?

For example, should you merge programmes for greater effectiveness? Could you combine operations with another charity doing similar work to lower costs, create economies of scale, or leverage best practices across these operations?

2. Becoming focused - Less time in meetings and in 'the land of indecision' - these tough times can be a great catalyst for taking advantage of low cost opportunities to improve internal operations and make it easier for people to work smarter.

For example, mapping out your charity's critical decision making processes and being crystal clear about the lines of responsibility and decision making can dramatically reduce the amount of time spent on long meetings and discussions. The less time you spend in the 'land of indecision' the more likely you are to stay ahead of the crowd and succeed.

Now might be the time to consider establishing cross-functional teams that make it easier for staff members in different departments to coordinate their efforts, make decisions and share knowledge and expertise. Making time to clarify and refine essential work processes can allow everyone to take advantage of best practices and avoid reinventing the wheel.

3. Going for gold - Finally, if you are thinking strategically about the future now is the time to bring into your leadership team someone with specialist skills that you might have not been able to access in the past. Many people leaving the financial and other sectors are re-evaluating what their lives are about and some of them are looking to engage with the non-profit sector. The challenge is to be clear about the skills mix you are looking for and to make sure that you find the right person for the job.

Please feel free to share some ideas and practices your charity is undertaking to stay focused and committed to success at these difficult times.

Triangular pizza anyone? – Outside the box thinking in the new reality

2009-04-02T20:51:00.000+01:00

Have you ever tasted an oven baked, piping hot triangular pizza? They are yummy – and not at all different to the good ol’ fashioned round pizza. Only the shape is different – but we have become so familiar to the round pizza we don’t think they can come in any other ways.

The same analogy applies to how we see the purpose of direct mail in fundraising – in the last decade we have done direct mail fundraising in certain ways, going for expanding our charity’s share in the donor marketplace and many of us have been reasonably successful and some even excelled at the task.

But the marketplace is changing, a new reality is emerging and if we are to reduce the attrition rates of direct debit givers and one off donors we should be prepared to move into unchartered territories with a new paradigm for direct mail fundraising.

So, here are a few things to think about as you prepare your charity’s response to the new reality:

If the future of direct mail fundraising is not so much about recruiting as many donors as you can, as it is encouraging donors to stay involved with your cause over a long period of time – what would you do?

What strategies would you put in place to encourage long term donor participation and involvement in your work?

In my opinion, in the next three to five years:

• For most charities, retention strategies will become more critical than prospecting strategies as competition becomes even more intense.

• Donor dialogue and feedback are going to have to become the indispensable marketing tools you use to assist your direct mail efforts.

As a consequence, we will need to ask donors for collaboration with what we are doing through panels and focus groups so that shared interests are developed. In the current climate we can’t afford to mail in the dark and hope for response.

• A new factor that is likely to impact the performance of direct mail is the quality of your relationships with donors in addition to extraordinary donor care services. What kind of relationships do you have with your charity’s donors right now? – If you were in their shoes, trying to balance your household budget– would you continue to give to your charity? – Why?

The best way to find out is to pick up the phone and call a random sample of donors and ask them: what makes them support your work? – Jot down their responses and make sure you incorporate them in your next appeal.

Please feel free to comment on what you are doing to respond to the new reality?

What will your donors do next and what can your charity do about it?

2009-01-28T14:43:00.001Z

Hard economic times have been dominating the news and the fundraising blogs for some time now. So what will donors do next and what can your charity do about it?

Here are some thoughts from our McConkey Johnston consulting team from both sides of the Atlantic – and since we are holding our annual brainstorm meeting in a few days there will be plenty more insights and reflections to come… so stay tuned.

1. Aim to be in the top three charities in your donor’s mind

In troubled economic times, many donors will narrow their focus of giving to fewer charities rather than spread their giving to many. And they will be less likely to support new charities. This will undoubtedly affect some charities.

But, donors will keep giving to the charities where they have a meaningful connection. Therefore your charity’s relationship with every donor is vital. Barry McLeish, our seasoned marketing and fundraising guru advises “Aim to be in the top three favorite charities on your donor’s list of giving options. There is nothing wrong with asking them if you are in the top three and if not, what it would take for you to get there.”

Another piece of advice to our charity clients is: “Get in line, stay in line, get to the front of the line in your donors minds and hearts.”

Economic crisis or not, you always get to the “front of the line” through cultivating strong relationships with your donors. So use phone calls, personal visits to major donors and even regional events to solidify personal connection.

Work hard to make sure your charity is one your donors feel positively connected to. These relationships will set you apart from the others and build donor loyalty.

2. Shed off extra programmes and focus on essentials

In a time of hyper competition for funds, today’s sophisticated donors are going to look at various charities and spot those they feel are best managed and able to make a real difference. So, the days when charities would be doing OK without putting forth compelling arguments about how distinctive and valuable they are have long gone.

Hence, if you want your charity to weather the economic storm successfully then you need to tighten your mission statement and put forth a more compelling case for support.

If support for your charity in recent months has dwindled and is requiring you to cut programmes and costs, our advice would be to stick with the fundamentals of what you are about and shed off secondary initiatives or activities.

Donors will support charities that can explain to them clearly why what they do is unique and essential for the beneficiaries and their communities.

3. Strengthen your fundraising team

Your donors are linked to relationships with your CEO, fundraising staff and volunteers - they and you are one big network or family or partnership whatever you want to call it. If raising funds depends on the quality of your donor relationships, then encourage those who
manage them.

Although encouraging fundraisers seems such a obvious thing to do - some charities are cutting down their fundraising budgets, making staff redundant and taking other actions that generally lower the morale of their fundraising teams.

But as Barry McLeish observes, “smart charity leaders should invest more in fundraising when economic times get tough, not less.”

While your fundraising programme may need to be “fine tuned” through better training or management, it makes no sense to cut it at the time when your fundraising success most depends on it. Instead, reduce your charity’s programmes in areas that are not absolutely central to your mission.

4. Recognise your donor’s need to give

Some charity leaders believe that asking for a charitable gift is like taking food off the donors table. This “We win, you lose” mentality ignores the deep seated emotional need of the donor to give, even during tough times.

When funds are slow in coming in, it is easy to fall into a mental trap that says “we need the donor’s money.” Instead, fundraisers should remember the words of Jesus who said ‘it is more blessed to give, than to receive.’

The donor’s need to give is greater than our need to receive it.” And when they give sacrificially to support your cause, they can bond even more with your charity.

In the long run, keeping donor relationships alive will depend on their belief that your charity really makes a difference, and their personal relationship with you. Do all you can to strengthen both!

And in the words of Mr Jones from Dad's Army... 'Don't Panic'... stay focused and passionate about your job.

Redina Kolaneci
Senior Fundraising Consultant
McConkey-Johnston International UK
www.mcconkey-johnston.co.uk

What will be your 'business as unusual' strategy for 2009?

2009-01-08T22:39:00.002Z

Every winter break I pick a good book from my shelves, dust it off and spend a day or two re-reading it. As it happens this year I picked up Anita Roddick's autobigoraphy 'Business as Unusual.' And I truly got inspired and challenged by the story of this amazing 'gutsy' woman who changed the way we think about ethically responsible business and the role women can play in it.

But, that is not what I want to focus on today. Anita's insights and comments about The Body Shop's sucess got me thinking about: What does 'business as unusual' means for charities in 2009? What does it mean for your charity?

Does 'business as unusual' mean simply cutting down on fundraising staff, your charity programmes and initiatives or your promotional budgets? The accountants would certainly approve of such decisions but what about the rest of us?

One of my McConkey Johnston colleagues in the US said something recently that has stayed with me - the charities that are going to weather these financial storms, he said, are those who will do all they can to keep their cause in front of their supporters... those who will think creatively and act decisively to stay on the top three list of charities people would like to give to in 2009?

Now, as you embark on implementing your fundraising plan for this year - what is it that you are going to do differently? What is it that you are going to invest in wisely and promote passionately? What will make your charity stand out from the crowd and be your unique trademark of 'business as unusual'?

Will you inspire your charity's donors to live generously in 2009?

2008-12-11T21:18:00.007Z

If you have had enough of all the doom and gloom stories about falling income trends, lapsed major donors and cancelled direct debits I have just the thing for you to lift your spirits and make you smile.

So, make yourself a nice cup of tea or coffee and have a look at the websites below -they are created by people who understand what generosity is about and know how to inspire and motivate the young and old to get involved in changing the world through volunteering, giving or changing their lifestyles.

We Are What We Do - (www.wearewhatwedo.org) is a relatively new and growing movement inspiring people to change the world for better by one small action at a time. The small actions range from being kind to people around you, spending time with people from a different generation, volunteering, and lots more. Thousands of people, especiall young people, have joined and are already changing the world around them in small ways.

Generous - (www.generous.org.uk) The idea of the Generous Community was born in a conversation between a few individuals who felt that they wanted to do a little bit more and a little bit more often to make shared life on our planet more sustainable. The beauty of this approach is that it is about creating community - helping participants to feel that they are not alone in changing their lifestyles and that their actions count.

Living Generously - (www.livinggenerously.com) This website also promotes a sense of community and encourages people to look beyond themselves and use personal or family celebrations (birthdays, christmas, weddings, anniversaries, eco holidays, and much more) as opportunities for helping poor people around the world.

Check out these websites, read some of the blogs and the stories. I can guarantee that you will find plenty of ideas and insights that will inspire and uplift your spirits in these difficult days. And who knows some of these stories might even restore your faith in what ordinary people can do, even during recession, to make a difference in the world.

Then, think about your charity's activities and your donors - take a look at your charity's website and other communications. What opportuntities are you creating for your donors to feel that they are not alone in changing the world? What can you do to encourage them to live generously in 2009?

Are your charity's communications speaking to your readers personalities?

2008-11-23T21:48:00.003Z

At a recent workshop I spoke about four different types of our personality and the way they interact with a charity's newsletters, appeals, emails and other communications.

Think about it for a moment -

There is the Amiable you who seeks to connect with others through stories and images.

Then there is the Expressive you who is looking for what is new and exciting for interesting opportunities to get hold of in changing the world.

The Sceptical part of you who is looking for statstical evidence and background information on how the charity is making a difference

Finally, there is the Bottom Liner you who wants to find out quickly what to do next?

Do your charity's communications offer something that speaks to different aspects of your readers personalities:

the human interest stories of transformation that capture the heart of the Amiable

the exciting new opportunities for service or for giving that keep the Expressive interested and engaged

the testimonies from beneficiaries of your work and statistical data that help the Sceptical see how your charity is making a difference and the money is well spent

the clear and compelling calls to action that encourage the Bottom Liner to take action at their convenience

In the next 20 minutes take your charity's latest newsletter or appeal and put it through the four personalities test - does it pass with flying colours or fail?

Creating compelling donor experiences ...

2008-11-04T14:40:00.000Z

When was the last time that you as a fundraiser or marketing director took some time to listen to your charity's donors, to their views of how your charity is doing and their discriptions of how your charity goes about its business of changing the world?

The simple truth is that if you are not listening to what your donors are saying and belive me, they are saying something, then you will not be able to build relationships with them.

Think about it - endless surveys from different quarters of our sector indicate that the typical donor today is likely to have a University degree and a healthy distrust in institutions be it political or charitable. He or she are likely to be individuals who are looking to bond with - not simply support, organisations or people groups (causes) that exhibit similar values to their own.

If this typical donor is your charity's donor or, if these kind of donor is the one you are trying to attract what kind of compelling donor experience does your charity offer to them?

More to the point what kind of marketing strategy provide such experience and what would that look like?

Here are a couple of examples:

Bonding with new donors
When you become a new donor to Evergreen Family Friendship Services - a charity promoting family values in China in addition to the standard welcome/ thank you letter you receive a beautifully crafted card with a personalised message of gratitude for the new donor's partnership with Evergreen. Just a simple personal touch that makes the donor feel valued rather than another number in the database.

Welcoming donors and enquirers to the hub of the charity
Self-guided tours are now possible at the headquarters of a large international development charity. State of the art displays and kiosks mark different stages of this charity's development and enable the visitor to get a clear picture of the charity's achievements in the last 30 years. Add to this a lovely cafe and an interesting challenge issued by various charity staff members or volunteers inviting the visitor to get involved in different aspects of this charity's work and you have a wonderful experience of the heart of the charity that can satisfy even the most curious of donors or enquirers.

What about your charity?

If you too have created some compelling experiences for your donors and volunteers please feel free to share in the space below.

Credit crunch or something else? - What is really impacting your fundraising

2008-10-29T22:29:00.000Z

How is the credit crunch impacting your charity's fundraising? - The response from the Christian charity sector, according to a recent survey conducted by FICO (Fundraisers in Christian Organisations), showed that:

12% of those surveyed have experienced increase in their giving
32% have experienced no change
12% of those surveyed have experienced a decrease of 5% in their giving
18% have experienced a decrease of 10%
26% have experienced a decrease of 15%

What do you make of this data? Where is your charity's giving in this spectrum?

The majority of those surveyed (56%) stated that their giving has decreased but the question is how much of the decline can be explained by the credit crunch and how much can be attributed to other factors?

For example, in direct mail fundraising how much of the decline can be explained by factors like the popularity of the cause/programme with your supporters, weakness of the cause concept or poorly presented ask, etc?

The credit crunch is real but we shouldn't use it as an excuse for ineffective fundraising.

So, next time you want to say that the credit crunch is impacting your charity's giving - take a look at other factors too, examine the data and take the right steps to strengthen your fundraising.

In the words of the Book of Proverbs - continue to prepare the horse for battle and leave the victory to God. He is bigger than the economic recession.

Get your donors to fundraise for your charity!

2008-10-19T23:20:00.000+01:00

Today my lovely friend Mary invited me to lunch at her home and made me pay £10.00 for it!

Yes, you heard it right! I and six other guests were made to pay for our sunday lunch and the proceeds - a 'hefty' cheque for £75.00 is going to Age Concern UK. We enjoyed a fabulous roast and had a lovely time chatting to each other. And in -between the courses Mary told us about Age Concern UK and their Great Sunday Lunch initiative that encourages supporters to host a Sunday lunch for their friends and charge the guests a fee - be donated to Age Concern. Apparently, Auntie Betsy ( the yorkshire pudding food company) have joined in to promote this venture.

If successful Age Concern is hoping to give this event a regular spot in their fundraising calendar. So, we will have to wait and see...

But you have to admit that this is a good idea and an innovative way of encouraging donors to
make a generous contribution to the charity and even get new supporters to sign up for the cause.

Now, when was the last time your charity did something to involve donors in a particular way apart from asking them to give money and (or to pray)?

Maybe a sunday lunch might not be right thing for your charity but what kind of activities would you propose to your donors to encourage them to raise additional funds work and introduce your cause to their friends?

Think about it... wouldn't it be great to multiply the impact of your fundraising efforts by having hundreds of enthusiastic fundraisers out there making your job easier for a change.

What's missing from charity websites?

2008-09-17T01:35:00.000+01:00

Ask any charity fundraiser about whether their charity offers online giving and most of them will proudly tell you that they have a 'Donate Now' facility on their website and that they are using email campaigns, google adwords, adverts, etc to engage with potential donors online. So, how do online giving tools and activities compare to offline ones?

Well, having recently reviewed several charity websites I have come to the conclusion that online giving fundraisers have a great deal to learn from their direct 'snail' mail colleagues.

Here are some of the common weaknesses of charity websites when it comes to online giving that if addressed can help a charity build stronger relationships with online donors:

No personalised invitations to give - in direct mail fundraising the invitation to give is issued from one person (e.g. the CEO, the fundraiser or the particular project leader) to another (e.g, the donor). In most websites, with very few exceptions, there is no personalised invitation to give. In other words, online fundraising asks are like 'unsigned' letters issued to a whole crowd. Crazy or what?

The online visitor is often invited to relate to info@charity.com Try asking a question to a charity, make an enquiry about their work, or donate and sure enough you will be directed to that infamous online 'person' called 'info' who may or may not reply to your email. Why is that? - I still haven't found a satisfactory answer to this question. But if you are a charity fundraiser reading this blog then go and have a look at your charity's website - pretending for a moment you are an outsider how would you feel if the only contact point with the charity is that dreaded 'info@charity.com' ?

Generic invitations to give that don't relate to compelling stories. You know what I am talking about - take a look at a charity's homepage and you will find one or two compelling stories of how the charity is making a difference. Then press the 'Donate Now' button and hey presto a page will open up with a donation form and no reasons to give that relate to the story you have just read. Even the most inexperienced fundraiser would not dream of mailing out just a response form to potential donors without connecting the 'ask' to a project or a cause - so why set ourselves up for failing by doing this online?

Giving no reasons to motivate donors to become regular givers. Sure, most charities now have a regular giving facility online but, once again when you click on that 'regular giving' button what comes up is a standard form without any inspiring copy to encourage donors to become regular givers. Ah, I almost forgot - some fundraisers hasten to add in the regular giving page a sentence about 'regular giving helps us keep our costs down'. Well good for you - but I don't think that is the number one reason that motivates donors to give. Do you?

Too many calls to action - a couple of weeks ago I reviewed a charity website with six calls to action that included donating now, regular giving, sponsorships, prayer, campaigning, carbon footprint reduction tips, volunteering, - you name it they had it. A labyrinth of opportunities that paralysed me completely - so I took a look got confused and well, left! Please understand me that different calls to action are not necessary a bad thing but, next time you add another one please prioritise ... and stay focused otherwise you are likely to overwhelm your potential givers and confuse them too. Once again, you would not ask the donor to do three or four things in one appeal when you send a fundraising letter so why do that online?

The list can go on I suppose but I will stop here and would be very interested to hear your views and opinions on this matter.... so please feel free to comment.