Fundraising Detective

Direct Mail takes another round of kicking

Direct mail is in the news again this week, with Third Sector reporting that a fundraiser has quit the profession after being reduced to tears by the number of complaints that a cold mailing produced.

Now, my first instinct was that this was a bit of an over reaction and the person in question might be over sensitive and in the wrong job to begin with. However, I've thought of some of the distressed calls and letters I've received in response to direct mail over the years and wondered whether the money direct mail raises justifies the upset that it does cause to some people.

My conclusion is yes it does, but we need to continue to evolve our fundraising methods to reduce this to a minimum, whilst increasing the overall joy of giving.

Cancer Research UK seem to be having similar issues and I was surprised to read the first page of their latest door drop.  It talks candidly about how fewer people are responding to their appeals and explains why they send the letter. Here is the first page of the letter (let me know if you'd like a copy of the full appeal):

 

Then, over at Fundraising magazine (registration required) there is a debate about the use of enclosures in direct mail, with Stephen Pidgeon (Chair of the Institute of Fundraising standards  committee) giving the following warning:

"Last year, Fundraising Standards Board received 26,349 complaints from the general public about fundraising. 19,068 of them (practically 75%) were about direct mail. That's a staggering figure, and probably the tip of the iceberg. It frightens me rigid and it should frighten you. If charities lose the right to mail widely and without constraints, the loss in income will be catastrophic.

"And don't kid yourself it's not on the cards. A few months ago, I sat in the office of the then minister, Kevin Brennan, a bright and well briefed guy. He simply said he was being plagued by complaints about junk mail from charities. He had called us in to hear what was being done about it. This kind of action from government is new."

Stephen goes on to warn that constraints on the use of direct mail are a distinct possibility if we don't regulate ourself.

The final piece of bad news came from the U.S. where the Agitator reported on a 'slump' in direct mail use.

So should we all be worried and be abandoning direct mail?

Not quite yet...

As the Agitator goes on to say in a follow up article:

"Sadly, at a time when many nonprofits are clearly hurting and facing still further declines, I’m seeing many of the same, old, tired appeals, messages and techniques in my mailbox, clearly driven by plans that might as well be dated 1991 instead of 2010."

They then give some excellent thoughts and ideas on what needs to change and how you can do it.

I'll leave the final word to Jeff Brooks, who concludes in his article "Yet again is direct mail dead?", that:

"Fundraising is about connecting with people. You find the medium that connects you to the right people. If it works, it's not dead. Asking if direct mail is dead without first knowing a lot of other information is getting it backwards."

Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun

Public speaking is often listed as one of people's worst fears, but Scott Berkun's new book is packed full of advice that would help even the most nervous of public speakers overcome their anxiety.

Quite simply this is the best book on public speaking I have ever read.

Written in a friendly, confident and funny way the book combines practical advice, anecdotes and photographs that cover every aspect of speaking in public. From preparation and planning to setting up the room and dealing with hecklers the book covers everything you need to know on planning and delivering presentations.

Whenever I read a book I mark interesting pages/passages and by the time I'd finished this book the book was full of turned pages that I will go back to!

One of my favourite chapters goes through preparing a fictional talk on cheese. It is great to follow Scott's thinking of how he approaches a talk, plans what he is going to say and how to come up with a winning title.

I think the key lesson is one that I've learnt the hard way (I'll save the story of my first ever public talk for another time) - the only way you'll give an interesting and well received talk is to prepare, plan and practice, practice, practice. That may not sound like rocket science, but it is amazing how many presenters don't do this. 

The book also contains a great section on research and recommended further reading and I've already downloaded a number of articles from Scott's blog.

I appreciate that this seems a bit of a gushing review. I usually like to include some constructive criticism, but the only thing I can think of is that it would have been good for them to include colour photos rather than black and white.

Whether you are seasoned presenter or have to do a presentation for the first time then I'm confident that this book contains something for everyone.

Book Review: We - The Ideal Customer Relationship by Steve Yastrow

In the latest Mal Warwick newsletter, Adrian Sargeant writes an in-depth article called 'Building Donor Loyalty', which emphasises the problem fundraisers have in retaining donors and offers some reasons why we aren't better at it.

Steve Yastrow's book offers ideas and tactics to help overcome this problem.  It makes an articulate and powerful case to treat customers (in our case donors) better and, in turn, improve business.

Through a series of case studies, anecdotes and research Yastrow provides a framework for moving from transaction based interactions with customers to creating memorable encounters that help build sustainable relationships.

The 'We' in the title is a plea to see your relationship with your donors in a different light:

"A We relationship is substantially different from an Us & Them relationship. A We customer sees the relationship as collaborative and mutual; he thinks "We" when thinking about himself and your company. This customer sees your company as unique and, therefore, not interchangeable with the competition.  And you see the needs of each We customer as distinct from the needs of all customers. You go beyond using each other to accomplish things and actually see your relationship as one in which you do things together."

I particularly like Yastrow's emphasis on creating memorable encounters.  It is a theme I have taken up in my own organisation.  Every time you have an interaction with a donor then you need to ensure that interaction enhances the relationship (or at worst doesn't make it worse).  This simple but powerful statement is a good starting point for all your donor care and marketing efforts.

Some of the case studies and examples in the books are a little cheesy and lack the detail I would like to see, but overall I'd recommend the book for anyone who is in a customer facing role and looking for a framework to build their retention round.

Book Review: Superfreakonomics by Levitt & Dubner

At first glance you might ask what a book on economics has to do with fundraising.

However, as well as being a fascinating and sometimes controversial read, there are a number of useful lessons for fundraisers in Superfreaknomics.

Like the first book, the authors use economic and data analysis to challenge conventional thinking on a wide range of subjects.

Of particular interest will be the chapter on altruism, which looks at lab and real world studies on altruism.  Sadly (for charities) they conclude that people may not be quite as altruistic as we are led to believe.

The other key lesson is not to rely too much on hunches and to try and back up your thinking and reasoning with clear data analysis.  Don't make the mistake many people do and manipulate your data to fit your theories.

I see and hear this often when people undertake new plans without any clear plan on how they are going to measure results and collect data, which often gives people an easy out if things don't go as well as they hope.

The book will help you understand the importance of data and it's interpretation and help avoid these traps.

It is an insanely addictive and thoroughly entertaining book.  It really makes a dry subject like economics interesting.  It deliberately takes a controversial view on topics like global warming, prostitution and suicide bombers and has attracted criticism for over simplifying arguments and ignoring alternative views. 

However, although the authors may occasionally go for the cheap laugh and make slightly tenuous/tongue in cheek conclusions I don't think the book is any the worse for it.

Overall I'd highly recommend Superfreakonomics.  If only my economics classes at uni had been half as interesting, then I might not have dropped it after a year!

Book Review Week

This week as I catch up on some reading after my holiday and start writing up some posts, I thought I'd share a few book reviews of books I've read recently that may be of interest.

I'd love to hear if you've read anything recently that would be useful for fundraising.

I'm going to stick to business/marketing/fundraising books, but don't worry, I do read the occasional fiction book as well!

Seth Godin's latest book: Linchpin: Are you indispensable?

Seth Godin's latest book Linchpin is out at the end of the month and in return for a donation to the Acumen Fund (great idea Seth) I've got hold of a 60 page summary of it.

I'm a huge fan of Seth and books like Permission Marketing and Tribes have completely changed my thoughts on how good fundraising should be done. I strongly believe any fundraiser would be inspired to do their job better after reading these books.

However, Linchpin appears to be a different sort of book. 

It is more personal and raw.

It is a call to arms and a plea to the individual to rage war on mediocrity.

As Seth says:

"Stop settling for what’s good enough and start creating art that matters. Stop asking what’s in it for you and start giving gifts that change people."

Therefore from a fundraising point of view it might not offer as much in the way of new ideas or insight as his other books. There doesn't appear to be much talk about what's wrong with marketing and ideas for fixing it, rather it is a manifesto and a passionate call for people to be remarkable in themselves.

To begin with the book talks about why individuals need to take more responsibility for their work and how the current economic climate is:

"An opportunity to actually enjoy what you do, to make a difference to your colleagues and your customers, and to unlock the genius you’ve been hiding all these years."

Seth talks about the importance of emotional labor and making connections both at work and in your personal life.

He then goes on to talk about becoming a linchpin and being indispensable.  His argument is as follows:

"You have no right to that job or that career. After years of being taught that you have to be an average worker for an average organization, that society would support you for sticking it out, you discover that the rules have changed.

The only way to succeed is to be remarkable, to be talked about. But when it comes to a person, what do we talk about? People are not products with features, benefits, and viral marketing campaigns; they are individuals. If we’re going to talk about them, we’re going to discuss what they do, not who they are.

You don’t become indispensable merely because you are different. But the only way to be indispensable is to be different. That’s because if you’re the same, so are plenty of other people.

The only way to get what you’re worth is to stand out, to exert emotional labor, to be seen as indispensable, and to produce interactions that organizations and people care deeply about."

The rest of the book talks about how to achieve this.

I think the book will be particularly useful if you are frustrated at work, want to get more done or need inspiring to achieve great things in 2010. It will challenge your thinking on what it means to be an employee and how you can create 'art' in any form.

It doesn't appear to be a 'how to' book, but I'm looking forward to reading the full version and have got it on pre-order.

Finally, you can read what other people think about the book at Seth's Squidoo lens.

Happy New Year: I'll be back in a few weeks...

Just a quick note to say happy New Year.

I hope 2010 is a great year for you both personally and professionally.

I'm away on holiday for a couple of weeks now (hopefully I'll be on a beach somewhere in Cuba when you read this!), so the blog will go a bit quiet for a while, but don't worry, I'll be back in the middle of January.

I was hoping to write a few posts and schedule them for whilst I was away, but over-indulging on food and drink over Christmas has gotten in the way... :)