Fundraising Detective

Fish with the bait you know the fish love

I'm currently doing some work on fundraising propositions and offers and received a timely reminder from the Wizard of Ads in his Monday Morning Memo about the importance of offering the public what you already know they want.

It is really tempting when your charity does lots of good work to try and fundraise off every service. Yet the likelihood is that only one or two of the things that you do are going to appeal to the general public.

It takes a lot of internal discipline to do this and the temptation is always there to try and promote your latest new service.

However, your job as a fundraiser is to maximise funds for the cause, not 'educate' the general public.

It's for this reason that many WWF recruitment ads feature tigers. Why Marie Curie always talk about their nurses and the reason child sponsorship is so important - these are the things that most donors want to give to.

Once the bait has been taken you can then (when the time is right) talk about the other great things that donors can help you achieve.

This is what Roy had to say about the subject in his newsletter when talking about products. Much of his advice equally applies to fundraising:

    "Your copy, indeed, was fabulous. You employed an excellent angle of approach, held the     listeners' attention and made your point in a clever way. Well done! But your fundamental     strategy was flawed; your ad answered a question that no one was asking.

    "You walked into the trap when you failed to question why the client was overstocked on the item     he wanted you to advertise. The real problem is that no one wants the item. It's a loser, a dog, a     mistake. Your client assumed - and you assumed with him - that if people "only knew and     understood," then they'd rush in to buy the product. So you told the people, you made them     understand. And they still didn't want the product.

    "Advertising will only accelerate what was going to happen anyway.

    "Convince your client to let you offer the public what the public already wants. This is what     drives traffic into a store. And many of those people will find other things to buy from your     client. In other words, fish with bait that you know the fish love. Don't try to convince the fish to     swallow bait they don't really like."

Fundraising Reading Round-Up

Another fortnight has flown by and it is time for another summary of recent articles that have caught my eye. Enjoy.

Two excellent 101 Fundraising articles:

• A DIY workshop for lead conversion
• So you want to grow your income?

Karen with 15 ideas for testing in direct mail.

Pamela Burk shares some great comments from donors.

Agents of Good on jargon.

Stephen with the 21 habits of poor fundraisers.

Kevin on why charity branding is good for fundraising.

Beth with six steps to great graphs and charts.

John Baguley on zombie fundraising techniques.

Flat Earth Direct on value v values.

ifundraiser with 10 things to if you were to start again from scratch.

Good Works on creating a warm welcome for new donors.

The Fundraising Coach shares 21 social media tips from nonprofit experts.

Ian McQuillin explains why fundraisers are angry.

The Agitator: Generosity pays

Seth on typography.

Another new blog to share - Charity Winehouse. Check out this post which asks, "Who is your 'go to' guy?".

Fundraising Reading Round-Up

Time for another round-up of some of the articles I've been reading recently.

Katya hosts this month's non-profit blog carnival featuring 25 great pieces of advice.

The Agitator with two articles on direct mail: Stop Mailing! Don't stop mailing! and a look at the ACS decision to stop direct mail acquisition. 

Aline on editing and advice from David Oglivy. If you are interested in David Oglivy then Drayton Bird has a fascinating look at his life: Part 1 and part 2.

Simon George on fundraising and organisational culture.

Karen Zapp on the power of handwritten notes.

A new series from Agents of Good. It starts with three things you can do to love your donors more.

Wild Woman Fundraising shares how to write a story for an appeal letter.

Jeff's nine part series on the levels of fundraising hell ends with level 9: The treacherous.

Charlie asks if you are ok with ok?

Clarification with seven little-known secrets that will get you a visit with your donor.

Open Fundraising share a some fascinating research on attitudes to mobile giving.

The Far Edge of Promise share a story about ugly socks and major giving.

Seth asks about your manifesto and culture.

Out of office replies are normally pretty dull. Sean shares how he makes his stand out and be memorable!

Quality not quantity is fundraising's greatest problem

I was going to blog about the decision of KBH Media to limit the amount of charity advertising on trains in London and the south east. However, Paul at Open beat me to it and made many of the points I was going to make.

However, there is one main observation that I would still like to share, which backs the point Charlie Hulme made on 101 Fundraising earlier this week.

Quality over quantity

For me the problem is not one of over supply, it's one of quality. As this channel is increasingly popular, it means that charities will have to work harder to stand out and innovate. What worked six months ago, may not work now.

KBH say that some charities have asked for a limit to be imposed on the number of ads per carriage. I'd wager a fair amount it is charities that have seen disappointing results and not those who have made a big success of train ads.

I've seen this first hand. With our first two attempts at train ads we got some great results. On roll-out we had a part disaster/part qualified success. I don't blame too much competition for this; I blame us for not improving between campaigns.

When fundraising fails, people normally blame external factors rather looking at the quality of their work. High quality fundraising works regardless of the competition.

Unintended consequences

What will be the impact of limiting the supply?

Based on classic economic theory, whenever you limit supply price goes up. 

KBH insist that isn't their intention, but I do worry that many smaller and medium sized charities will be squeezed out of using this medium as the big charities hoover up the capacity.

We've seen this happen with face to face fundraising with many smaller charities unable to meet supplier minimums for recruiting donors as larger charities buy up much of the capacity.

This has led to an issue of quantity over quality (with a race to the bottom on cost), which is one of the reasons for face to face has had such a bad press. It's still a great way to recruit donors, but it's becoming increasingly important to stand out and engage donors in different ways - see how Oxfam have used a bucket to improve their street results.

I hope KBH’s offer of dialogue is genuine and fundraiser’s can work together to make the most of mobile and train advertising.

 

Weekend Reading Round-Up

It's been a manic few weeks with having a number of new team members starting, a couple of events to attend and (seemingly) a million and one other things to do -  this means the blogging has had to take a bit of a backseat. I'm hoping next week will bring a bit more time to get back into the swing of things, in the meantime, here is the latest reading round-up. Enjoy.

Clayton Burnett have released a fantastic report called 'Great Fundraising'. You can request a copy here or read some of the key points over at the Agitator.

Another report that is worth a look is this guide to visual storytelling from Visual Story Lab.

The Clarification blog with five things to do to sustain donor relationships.

Kev on the differences between leadership and management.

Kirsty shares some of her favourite thank-you's on UK Fundraising.

Kivi with the best nonprofit videos of the past year. I think the winner is fab and worth watching.

Agents of Good ask 'Are you really social?'

Return on (fundraising) talent on 101 Fundraising.

Nonprofit storytelling: what it is and what it isn't - from Karen Zapp's blog.

Sean looks at the myth of donor fatigue.

What are the 20 best films for fundraising inspiration? Stephen George proposes some of his favourites.

Seth on branding: The brand is a story. But it is a story about you, not about the brand.

Adrian Sargeant critiques the Money for Good UK report. Great reading for anyone interested in fundraising research and an important warning about believing everything you read.

Finally, I wanted to share a new blog that may be of interest to fundraiser's in small UK charities -  Lostandfoundfundraising. This post on learning to speak to your audience has some good practical advice.

Fundraising Reading Round-Up

I hope you had a good Easter. I've been away on my hols, but had time to put together some fundraising reading for you to enjoy.

The Agitator present the 10 dumbest words used by fundraising consultants.

Good Works asks if you're still acquiring new donors?

Bacon & chocolate & nonprofit storytelling by Pamela Grow.

101 Fundraising on community fundraising.

Branding + direct response fundraising = Love, actually (HT Jeff Brooks)

The Fundraising Collective give reasons not to ask Elton John for a fiver.

Ken Burnett on the 'less cost is best' fallacy.

Queer Ideas: Give donors what they want and they will reward you.

Agents of Good with a case study with 50 things (at least) not to do in your direct mail appeal.

Karen Zapp looks at how you can improve your online thank you page.

A two parter on the power of video from Jonathon Grapsas at 101 Fundraising. Part one here.

The Donor Dreams blog discuss multi-channel fundraising approaches.

Cause 4 Opinion ask if it is time to turn CSR on it's head?

The winner's daily dozen from Tom Peters.

Fundraising Reading Round-Up

 Thank you to everyone who sent me tips for the fundraising induction process. It's helped with my planning and will hopefully make for a great experience for my new team. Here is this week's fundraising reading round-up.

 Mark Astarita from the British Red Cross talks to SOFII about working with suppliers and building partnerships based on value for money.

How to set up a donor centred ask

The Good Agency look at some new charity ads and look at the power of differentiating your brand.

The new Money for Good UK report by NPC is worth a look at.

It is interesting to compare the views of philanthropist Gina Miller's on administration costs for charities and Dan Pallotta's recent TED talk. There are lots of interesting comments on the story at Third Sector and Cause 4 Opinion share their view.

Fundraising Success magazine share 15 mistakes that have already been made for you.

Advice for Good ask if it is right for charities to use neuromarketing?

And the Guardian examine the science of behavioural change and how it can help with sustainability.

Jeff starts a series on fundraising hell. Level 1 is virtuous unbelievers.

Good Works on writing at the appropriate grade level for your donors and a finding your hidden heros infograph.

Be relevant by ifundraiser.

Happy Donors with a neglected "thank you" opportunity.

"Donor fatigue" an excuse for poor fundraising practices.

In pursuit of happiness.

Through my letterbox say if it isn't broke, fix it anyway.

Fundraising...From fig leaf to friendship

Bluefrog Creative on delivering delight.

Avoid lapsed donors from Karen Zapp.

Alliance give an update on the giving pledge.

The Data Monkey asks "what's in a face?"

 

10 things to include in a good fundraising induction

I've just recruited some new fundraisers and I am in the process of planning their induction. In my own career I've had some poor inductions at the start of a new job. When it's badly planned it can result in a slow start, low initial confidence and poor productivity as you struggle to get up to speed.

That's why I'm spending a fair amount of time in planning the first month of activity. By doing this I hope to give the team the best possible start and give them the tools and information to be a success.

Here's what I've got in mind. Do let me know if I'm missing anything or if you have any good or bad examples of organisational inductions.

1. Meetings with key people in the organisation, such as the Chief Executive.
2. Introductions to colleagues - both formal and informal. A colleague recommended 'buddying' new team members with existing ones to help them feel welcome and part of the team.
3. Overview of services, including personal tours and hands on experience.
4. HR issues - expenses, policies etc.
5. Budgets, operational plans and strategy.
6. Database training.
7. One to one planning to cover short term targets and objectives.
8. Team planning for the short and medium term.
9. Job specific training and background information on the role.
10. Feedback and review to check everything is ok.

I think it's important to spread the induction out over a reasonable period of time otherwise it can result in information overload and be quite daunting!

The other important thing is keep it relaxed and fun. Being stuck in a room as a succession of people come and do their ten minute presentation (that they don't really want to do) can be fairly disheartening!

 

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Fundraising Reading Round Up

The focus on donor retention that has dominated fundraising blogging since the start of 2013 continues with a number of interesting articles on the subject.

I've put those articles towards the bottom and begin some of the other posts that have caught my eye recently.

Kevin looks at three alternative fundraising and awareness campaigns.

Nancy on changing the people that matter.

Usha with a fundraising analogy from the Sanskrit scriptures and other storytelling tips.

The Good Agency share some of their Christmas fundraising results and tips for this year.

What, exactly, is your "product"?

Rosie takes a look at what has come through her letterbox this month.

Donor Dreams on using SWOT for more than just strategic planning.

Kivi with 12 things you are not taught about creative thinking.

Lessons on loyalty from Tesco via Bluefrog Creative.

Cause 4 Opinion ask about the small givers.

101 Fundraising share a great fundraising case study for a community zoo.

Are you listening? ifundraiser wants to know.

Marc Pitman hosts this month's nonprofit blog carnival on how to keep your donors wanting to come back.

Clarification consider where you're going wrong with donor retention.

The Agitator on why donors drop out.

Donor retention: a tale of two cold mailings

This post is my submission for February 's non-profit blog carnival. This month it is being hosted by Marc Pitman at Fundraising Coach. Marc wants to know "How do you keep your donors wanting to come back?"

There has been a huge number of blog posts and articles on retention at the start of 2013 from a variety of respected authors. It's a crucial topic and fundamental to our profession, but what I haven't seen is too many real life examples and results. That's why I wanted to share some of my own recent findings.

A tale of two cold mailings

A couple of months before starting my current role my charity undertook a cold mailing. It did ok, but the donors were put straight into our established mailing programme.

Ten months later we used the same list for another cold mailing. This time we put in place a simple and structured donor journey for the first few communications. 

The aim of this was to:

• Identify the best prospects to become long term supporters
• Secure regular gifts
• Decrease the number of donors only giving once
• Identify donors who will only ever give once  - an important but often overlooked part of fundraising as it reduces your costs going forward

The results show the importance of having a welcome process and donor journey planned for any recruitment you do.

Cold Mailing - no welcome process - 15 months later

• 64% of donors have given once
• Average income per month, per donor is £1.12
• Average income per month, per active donor is £3.08
• No donors have a regular gift.

Cold Mailing - welcome process - 5 months later

• 73% of donors have given once - I predict after 15 months this will be close to 50%
• Average income per month, per donor is £1.20 (6% higher)
• Average income per month, per active donor is £4.49 (46% higher)
• Eight per cent of donors have a regular gift - so far we have had no attrition

There is a caveat that these results are based on a small numbers of donors and are not statistically significant. However, they show that big improvements are possible by implementing a simple process. 

Our simple welcome process

Room for improvement

The above is by no means perfect.

We can, and should, make better use of the phone and e-mail and we left it longer than I would like between some of the steps. We can also think about what else we can do for the non-responders to boost response.

The long term impact

As we did it in-house then this process is quite labour intensive and it does increase costs in the short term. However,  by my calculations the donors who have had the welcome process will have donated double the amount of the other donors by the end of year two. A huge difference that more than justifies the initial effort.