Fundraising Detective

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.

 

Fundraising Weekly Round-Up

The obvious place to start this week is the furore surrounding comments made by Giles Pegram (a man I have huge respect and admiration for) around the Summit - an event organised to talk about some of the problems facing fundraising.

You can read the full story here, plus follow up pieces by Charity Chicks and the Agitator.

Perhaps the definitive piece, and hopefully the line in the sand, comes from Ken Burnett. Right, now get back to the serious matter of fundraising!

Katya on thanking donors.

Frogloop consider strategies to increase nonprofit retention rates.

More insight on retention from the Agitator.

Agents of Good ask where is the vision?

Start talking to donors about the why and the where says the Donor Dreams blog.

John Baguley on fundraising and zombies.

What works should trump what looks nice.

Amanda gives a quick lesson on how to get someone's attention in the right way.

Advice for Good: Donor loyalty - crucial but neglected.

Building donor relationships one step at a time.

Three from 101 Fundraising:

• Margaux with seven things to make you a better fundraiser
• Rachel challenges us to be different, be brave and make it happen
• Francesco with more on emotion

The Far Edge of Promise: Why our definition of "donor research" must change.

Queer Ideas look at mobile giving.

Bright+3 asks you to pretend to be your donor (HT Jeff Brooks at Future Fundraising Now).

Clarification with some thoughts on Dan Pink's new book on selling. I'm currently reading this and finding it has lots of ideas/implementation for fundraising.

Fundraising mistakes and promoting giving: lessons from City Philanthropy

This is the second part of my interview with Cheryl Chapman of City Philanthropy. You can read part 1 here. The interview was to mark the launch of City Philanthropy - A Wealth of Giving.

Thanks to funding from the City of London Corporation’s charity City Bridge Trust the venture will run for three years and promote London as a centre for global philanthropy, part of the Lord Mayor of the City of London Roger Gifford’s aim too, it also aims to embed a culture of effective philanthropy in the City among young professionals.

What mistakes do you see fundraisers making?

Unfortunately I still hear horror stories from donors and their advisors about their experiences with fundraisers and charities.

Giving should be a joy, but sadly this isn’t always the case.

I recently spoke to an advisor whose client was interested in making a £500,000 donation to a particular charity. She wrote to the CEO of the charity to say this but didn’t hear back. Four weeks later she finally got a response by which time the donation was lost forever. This is not an isolated case.

The inability for fundraisers or charities to thank donors is also surprisingly common.  Some don’t even bother and only re-contact a donor when they make another appeal for funds. It’s quite astounding that such a basic thing as ‘thanks’ is executed so poorly.

Many philanthropists describe the “joy of giving” to projects. Yet, the inability of fundraisers to thank donors genuinely and authentically can mean the abrupt end of what could have been a beautiful relationship.

Fundraisers often don’t talk in the same language as philanthropists and that can be a missed opportunity. For example, people from the City live in a world of risk and return,  and are more likely to see giving as an investment than someone who is making a grant from a long standing, traditional, family trust perhaps. Fundraisers need to tailor their approach accordingly.

In my experience, many donors don’t give big first time round. They take baby steps. See how it goes with a charity and then if they like what they see they give more next time round. So fundraisers need to look beyond the size of a first gift to the potential of the long-term donor relationship. They should take more of an investment rather than a sales approach to fundraising.

What more do we need to do to promote giving?

A lot is being done and we are in fact already one of the most generous nations in the world. However we lag behind the US in giving and how we talk and celebrate our philanthropy. Of course culturally and historically we are very different from the US in terms of what the State is expected to provide, and what should be funded privately. However, I still think there are lessons to be learned.

Thomas Hughes-Hallet, who has just won a Beacon Award as a Philanthropy Advocate is one of the few UK philanthropists who will openly stand up and say how much he gives. We could do with more people talking about their giving so it becomes more mainstream.

Philanthropy really should come out of the closet and we should be proud of our tradition of philanthropy.

Campaigns such as Trevor Pears’ Give More  and our own City Philanthropy – A Wealth of Opportunity is helping that happen by giving people the chance to talk about their giving online. I am particularly optimistic that this will change as young philanthropists, who give together and at a lower level, are happy to be vocal about giving.

And initiatives like the Beacon Awards  are about celebrating philanthropy and recognising the people who are helping to change the world. Hopefully in the coming years we will see more and more people talking openly about their giving.

Catching them young: how to engage and nurture young philanthropists

I recently had the pleasure of chatting to Cheryl Chapman of City Philanthropy  about this new venture to promote philanthropy in the City of London. Thanks to funding from the City of London Corporation’s charity City Bridge Trust the venture will run for three years and promote London as a centre for global philanthropy, part of the Lord Mayor of the City of London Roger Gifford’s aim too, it also aims to embed a culture of effective philanthropy in the City among young professionals.

Over the next two posts I’ll share some of the Cheryl’s insights on fundraising and philanthropy, starting with a closer look at young philanthropists.

How do today’s City philanthropists differ from earlier generations?

Over the last few years we’ve seen a big shift in how the younger generation of City workers approach philanthropy. Increasingly people want to start giving whilst they are still working and not once they have retired.

This wish to embed philanthropy into their working lives is very exciting, but also poses a challenge, as charities need to adapt to fit into this new approach. People no longer want to just write a cheque and forget about it. 

So how should charities respond?

They need to understand how this new breed of donor operates and adjust their fundraising accordingly.

In my experience this wave of new philanthropists are looking for several things from their giving:

• High touch – they want to be involved and engaged in the projects they give to. They want to give time and skills, as well as money. In some cases they want to be involved in the actual creation of the charitable project that they will then fund.
• High impact – they want to know that the projects they are funding will have an impact and that they can track the results , They are used to seeing the results of investments and expect a similar investment relationship with their giving;
• High leverage – they are looking to make the most of every pound they give through tax effective giving and matched funding.
• Social networking – we are seeing a growing number of giving circles where young people socialise around giving. It is hard to meet people in the City with the pressure of work, and the constantly changing and commuting community. Philanthropy is proving an excellent reason for people to meet, socialise, work with each other and access new networks.

Overall, charities and fundraisers need to think afresh on how they pitch to these philanthropists. They need to commoditise differently, packaging up the charitable need into niche offers that they can really buy into. These young philanthropists are not spending megabucks but meaningful amounts of money so fundraisers should think about access points. They also want to give time and skills along with money which is quite a different proposition.

 In achieving a better and more fruitful understanding between donors and fundraisers there needs to be communication and  better listening. Major donor fundraising is a bespoke market and every major donor is different. A philanthropist’s choice of charities reflects very personal aspects of their personality, values, beliefs and individualism.

The best fundraisers help make giving a pleasure and create with philanthropists and not to or for them.

 Can you give me some examples of this in practice?

Certainly. We are seeing a trend for philanthropists working together and clubbing together to fund projects that they are interested in.

For example, the Funding Network  brings together donors aand invites charities to pitch for funds dragons den style. It is tailored specifically for a young City audience with events in exclusive settings around London. The Network makes giving social and members have a shared experience of donating. It also makes charities work hard for the money through the competitive pitching process

Another example is the recently formed Young Philanthropy Syndicate.  This is for people taking their first steps in giving. An individual identifies a cause that motivates them and gathers friends and colleagues to join the syndicate. They are then mentored by an experienced philanthropist, who matches the syndicate’s donation

Next time we will be discussing common mistakes fundraiser’s make and how we can do more to promote giving.

Fundraising Reading Round-Up

Here the latest round-up of fundraising articles for you to enjoy.

If you'd like updates of the best posts on fundraising on a more regular basis, then I'm helping Reinier from 101 Fundraising with his new Fundraising Fever Facebook page.

We'll be listing our favourite posts throughout the week, so it's a great place to check if you want a quick read and have a few minutes spare. We're looking for some in the US or Canada to help us out as well, so get in touch if you're interested.

Plug over, here is this week's round-up. Enjoy.

If you're interested in innovation then check out the "Innovation (still) Rules" report from NFP Synergy and Lucy Gower.

An interesting interview with a donor on how they decided which direct debits to cancel.

Ifundraiser on the art of saying thank you.

The Agitator discusses retention - includes a useful infograph.

Charlie asks "whose side are you on?"

Jeff with the seven sins and seven virtues of fundraising.

Agents of Good on good writing and good design.

Passionate Giving share the first of three things that bother them about fundraising.

Aline celebrates the craft of fundraising.

January's non-profit blog carnival on dreams and aspirations for 2013 is now up.

I enjoyed this three part series from the Donor Dreams blog on lessons from the Chicago Cubs Convention.

My aspirations for 2013: Putting relationship fundraising into action and measuring emotions

This post is my submission for the January 2013 Non-profit blog carnival. The theme is vision and bringing it to life in 2013 and is hosted by Nancy Schwartz.

I've been spending a lot of time recently thinking and reading about customer experience, relationship fundraising and lifetime value. Part of this has been a fascinating discussion on the IoF  group on Linked In (well worth a read if you have the time - sadly I can't link directly) about the faults of relationship fundraising.

One of the outcomes of this is that I'm rethinking how we should structure fundraising departments and categorise donors if we are to reduce the appalling attrition rates in the sector. This is particularly important at a small/medium sized charity, where it is increasingly hard to ape big charity techniques and get acceptable short and long term results.

I'm coming to the conclusion that we need to move beyond traditional recency, value and frequency measures and reorganise our fundraising around donor needs, taking into account how we measure their commitment, loyalty and life time value.

What does this mean in practice?

Well, in 2013 I want to continue to experiment with a new,  (for RLSB) more personal approach to communications to our top donors and see if it pays off. The early indications are positive.

Ultimately, I see a two tier approach to fundraising:

A fully engaged top tier, with personal account managers who cross sell and promote other forms of engagement and fundraising. These donors will receive tailored communication based on their past giving and preferences (based on their actual behaviour). In simple terms, every donor receives major donor treatment.

A second tier of more transactional and transient donors, who give one off donations to specific appeals and types of fundraising (such as raffles) and who don't want a 'relationship' as such.

In between will be a sort of fundraising purgatory, whilst we try and figure out which donors will be in tier one and those in tier two!

Underpinning this is a determination to try and measure the emotional impact of fundraising messages before sending them out.  I'm looking beyond focus groups to facial coding and recognition, which records the actual emotional impact of a video, direct mail pack etc.

The cost of this technology is coming down and should soon be accessible to most charities - see the video below for a very crude example of how it works. I think it could revolutionise fundraising and especially donor recruitment.

 

Fundraising Reading Round Up

It's been over a month since my last round up, so I've decided to only include articles from 2013 and even then it's a bumper list! Unsurprisingly there's a number on New Year's resolutions and aspirations for the coming year, as well as an eclectic mix of other articles.

Thanks for reading.

Ken Burnett on making rice and revisiting fundraising fundamentals at the start of the year.

The Agitator on why fundraising is in desperation and chaos in 2013.

Passionate Giving share five resolutions to make 2013 a great fundraising year.

Pamela Grow gets the opinion of various experts on their 2013 resolutions.

Andy shares the best word of mouth campaigns from 2012.

Kent Philanthropy on the secrets of fundraising success.

Wild Woman Fundraisinsg wants to know if you want to master fundraising?

Kivi on donor retention versus acquisition in 2013.

5 ways to validate giving decisions and drive retention.

5 inexpensive (and better) ways to thank you donors.

Turning lame letters into donor delight.

Agents of Good share the spirit of philanthropy.

Using gaming to promote charitable causes.

Donor Dreams blog on woman and philanthropy.

Katya on being a salesmen.

Lucy asks how do you get ideas?

The Fundraising Collective on making the ask.

Some really interesting articles on Africa and giving:

Could giving direct alleviate poverty?

Bluefrog Creative on rebranding Africa.

http://lucyinnovation.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/how-do-you-get-ideas/

Do you consider yourself a fundraising artist?

Is great fundraising art? If it is, then are the best fundraisers artists?

Your first instinct is probably to say "of course not", but before you jump to conclusions, I'd like you to take a second to think again.

According to Seth Godin's new book The Icarus Deception, we're all (potentially) artists and it's up to us to embrace the opportunities this mindset presents to us. According to Godin,

"Art is not a gene or a specific talent. Art is an attitude, culturally driven and available to anyone who chooses to adopt it. Art isn't something sold in a gallery or performed on a stage. Art is the unique work of a human being, work that touches another. Most painters, it turns out, aren't artists at all - they are safety-seeking copycats.

"Seizing new ground, making connections between people or ideas, working without a map - these are works of art, and if you do them, you are an artist, regardless of whether you wear a smock, use a computer, or work with others all day long.

"Speaking up when there's no obvious right answer, making yourself vulnerable when it's possible to put up shields, and caring about both the process and the outcome - these are works of art that our society embraces and the economy demands."

When I think about the best fundraisers I've met, about the most inspiring leaders I've worked with and the amazing campaigns that I've seen, then there is no doubt in my mind that great fundraising is art.

The challenge for us all is to embrace the idea that we're artists. To take risks, to push boundaries, to challenge the status quo and make things happening. Sure, we'll make mistakes along the way, but if we don't embrace the idea of great fundraising as art then we risk disappearing into a vacuum of mediocrity. Our donors and beneficiaries deserve better than this.

I'd love to know your opinion on this. Is fundraising art? If the ideas I've talked about chime with you, then I've got five copies of The Icarus Deception to give away.

Simply leave a comment, e-mail or tweet me and I'll randomly pick five people to send the book to. At the same time, do let me know you're opinion and I'll collate them into a follow-up post.