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November 2010

8 things I discovered at the #NFPtweetup this week

I attended my second NFPTweetUp on Wednesday (read more about it on Paul's blog) and it was lovely to meet so many people who I follow on Twitter in the flesh. 

You can find the presentations from the evening online, but here are some of the things I picked up from the event:

The only way you achieve anything is by getting on and doing things. At some point you’ve got to put your talk into action.

Don’t schedule a holiday during your biggest campaign.

It is ok to abandon your initial objectives when you don’t achieve them and come up with new ones that fit your results. Tongue slightly in cheek here, but the campaigns featured seemed to achieve different outcomes from those which were initially set, but everyone seemed happy with that. The positive was that the act of doing something new meant that people learned as they went along and adapted their campaigns to those bits that worked best.

The simpler/easier the ask, the more likely you are to get some engagement (however passive).

The Stephen Fry twitter effect is still massive.

Don’t listen to creative agencies who try to stop you capturing data and encouraging donations for reasons of ‘artistic integrity’.

Location based social media is really cool and has some potentially good fundraising potential. I particularly liked the idea of Four Square super swarms!

The caveat is that it is still quite niche in the UK, but that could change and could be any opportunity for early adopters.

Social Media Bonus

I've been meaning to flag up this presentationon by Joanne Jacobs from the Technology for Good conference.

It's called: "Which Audience? Matching digital media strategies with non-profit audiences".

Joanne is a no bs, straight talking lady and really knows her social media.  In this presentation she talks through a number of nonprofit campaigns and gives feedback on how they could be improved.

 

 


Help! Can you put my theory into action? Ideas for events needed...

My last post on events attracted a lot of interest (thanks for all the re-tweets and comments) and got me thinking.

What if I could harness the collective brainpower, genius and creativity of the readers of the blog to help come up with ideas to trial in my day job?

I’ve been really struggling to come up with inspiration, so thought I’d ask for your help to see if you have any suggestions for creating a new mass participation event or campaign for 2011.

Please feel free to submit an idea through the blog, via e mail /phone or I’d be delighted to hold some sort of meet-up (virtually or in person) to take forward any suggestions.

I’ve committed some of my fundraising budget for next year to developing an event and promise to keep an open mind on all suggestions. 

I’ll even throw in a prize for the people who come up with the best ideas!

The only rules (based on my original post) are as follows:

• Any suggestion needs to be cheap to trial.
• The event must be low cost and be easy for the participant to take part in.
• It must be easily replicated if the trial is successful.
• It needs to have a social element and encourage people to talk about what they are doing and to share their experience with their networks.
• It needs to be based in London and have some connection to blindness, even if it’s quite tenuous.

Apart from that it’s over to you and I really hope you’ll be able to help….

p.s. I’ve done this on a bit of a whim - the idea came to me on the train on the way to work this morning - and it’s a bit scary as I’ve never asked for help in this way before. 

I really hope it’s something that appeals to you (let me know if you need any more information) and I would be genuinely thrilled if you got in touch and were able to make some suggestions!


Five things that make a fundraising event go viral...

If you're living in the UK then I'll put good money on the fact that you know someone or have spotted someone who is taking part in Movember this month.

I've lost count of the number of dodgy tasches I've seen on the tube and have got three good friends taking part as well.  I declined on the basis of my lack of facial hair growing ability...

Anyway, coming up with the 'next big thing' is a challenge many fundraisers face, so what makes Movember and other popular events such as the Macmillan Coffee Morning, the MoonwalkJeans for Genes Day, Santa Runs etc take off?

Here are five things that all these have in common:

1: They don't start as huge events

"Actually, I'm an overnight success. But it took twenty years."  Monty Hall

One of the first things to say is that these events tend to start small. 

Movember started in 1999 in Australia, after a group of friends decided to grow moustaches to raise money for the RSPCA (aptly named 'Growing Whiskers for Whiskers') and it was only in 2004 that the Movember Foundation was set up to raise money for men's health issues.  From there it has gone global with events starting in the UK, USA, Canada and Spain in 2007 and ireland joining the party in 2008.

Key lesson: Don't give up on an idea or event after it's first year.  If you're convinced it's got potential then give it at least three years to grow and develop (though bear in mind point two). 

Even better, get into the habit of trialling two or three low cost events per year and then invest in the ones with the greatest potential.

2: The event is easily replicated and has low start up costs

Growing a moustache, walking in your bra's after midnight, wearing a pair of jeans, having a cup of coffee etc are all pretty easy to do and don't require a lot of cost or effort.

Once you've got the formula right then it's very easy to roll out the event and to replicate it's initial success.

If your mass participation event involves something expensive or complicated then it's unlikely to gain traction. Similarly, if it takes too long to explain what your event is about, then it's probably not going to succeed.

Key lesson: Keep it simple and remove any barriers that people might object to.  Don't be too prescriptive if you can help it. Aim to produce oceans rather than puddles!

3: They create social experiences and give people a story to tell

All the events listed above create talking points and bring like minded people together.  It's about sharing an experience and emphasises the point that we are social animals. 

The events are successful as they create word of mouth and use the participants to spread the story and invite new people to take part.

Key lesson:  Make it easy for people to share their experiences at the event and to involve their networks in participating or donating.  Give them an interesting story to tell about the event and why it is important.

4: The cause is important, but not always the main reason for taking part

You need to be pragmatic about these type of events and accept that the majority of people are taking part for the social aspect of it first and the cause second.  This can be both a blessing and a curse. 

If you get the event right, then any charity can create a successful event, but on the other hand people's loyalty is likely to be with the event and not the cause.  This means you need to have a clear communications plan in place to nurture these donors. 

Don't just stick them straight into your direct marketing programme after the event and expect them to behave like your other supporters.

Key lesson: Focus on making your event as memorable as possible and get the participants to have a great time and to raise as much money as possible.  Once you've done this you can develop strategies for nurturing and developing the donor.

5: Accept that events have a natural product cycle and won't last forever

You need to constantly evaluate your event and look for ways to extend it's lifespan.  Slavishly following the same formula year after year will result in your event dying a slow death.

Look for new angles, partnerships and gimmicks to keep your event relevant and fresh.

Key lesson:  Don't become over-reliant on one event or campaign.  Tastes change and it won't be long before the next big thing comes along.  Look for ways to diversify and add extensions to the event, such as cause marketing and sponsorship.

One final point - Don't forget about the money!

I alluded to this in point four, but ultimately your fundraising event has to raise a significant sum of money.

Make sure you have robust systems in place to collect sponsorship and chase non-payers. Also think about how you can encourage participants to raise as much as they can and how to get people to increase their donations from a fiver to a tenner.

This is easily forgotten in the excitement of organising the event, but increasing your sponsorship returns and average donations by even a few percentage points can result in big increase in overall ROI.


Reading Round-Up

It's time for another reading round-up and links to some great fundraisng and business articles.  Happy reading!

Jeff with a reminder that it's not your opinion that counts... and to use black type (I've had many arguments about this with designers)

Aline with a post on avoiding dustbins and a book about Russia - those are the punchlines to the jokes at the beginning and end of the post, sandwiched inbetween is an article worth reading.

The Donor Power Blog asks if too many charities are chasing too few donors?

Good Experience on the importance of old and new ideas.

Are you Luke or Yoda? Mark brings out the Star Wars geek in us all and reminds us on the point of branding.

Marc with a good post on QR codes.

Alison explains why she is proud to support a charity with high overhead expenses.

The Agitator reminds us to fish where the fish are.

Leah Eustace with some tips for sensual storytelling.

Kevin with some good tips on charity schmoozing/networking.

Allison Fine on transitioning direct mail donors to social media.

Kivi with seven tips for e-mail subject lines.

Steve Yastrow on the importance of shared beliefs.

Four common issues with website landing pages. HT Good Experience.

How many HEROes work for your charity?


How the Secret Millionaire could raise millions from us all

Despite my love of Secret Millionaire, I still think it could do more to encourage fundraising.

So far it has encouraged two initiatives to help small charities: a Big Lottery Secret Millionaire Fund and the establishment of the Foundation of Social Improvement. 

However, not much has been done to encourage people to support the projects featured on the programme, so here are a few suggestions on how they could do this:

The easiest thing would be for a phone or text number and/or web-address to be featured throughout the show for people to be able to donate to the projects in that episode.

Taking that one step further, then people could donate to a general fund that is then distributed at the end of each series and that could also take regular gifts.

My ultimate idea would be along the following lines:

The establishment of a Secret Millionaire fund that anyone can donate to. 

Link this to a website featuring the work of small local charities - coincidentally LocalGiving.com would be ideal for this and was set up by a Secret Millionaire.

Get previous participants on the show to set up a matched giving pledge to double the impact of gifts (or encourage the Big Give to allocate a sum for small charities)

Give donors choice of what projects they want to fund e.g. projects in a particular area (I might give to projects on Teesside as it’s where I was born) or a specific area of work e.g. mental health, drugs, children etc.

Recruit volunteers to visit projects, take photos/videos and report back on the programmes.

Establish a high quality, engaging, and emotional communication programme to donors based on this feedback.

Repeat.

I could really see something along these lines being incredibly popular and with the potential to raise millions of pounds for small charities that would otherwise struggle for funding.

The best thing about Secret Millionaire from a fundraising perspective is that it shows off the joy of giving and how philanthropy can make a meaningful impact on people and communities.

Giving people the chance to experience some of that joy and satisfaction for themselves would be a powerful incentive for people to donate and give us all a chance to be a Secret Millionaire in our own way...


Why I love Secret Millionaire

I’m a big fan of Secret Millionaire and although it seems to be a little more contrived these days, hardly an episode goes by that I don’t cry.

It is surprising, moving, inspiring and shows people at their best.

If you’ve not seen the show then the premise is fairly simple. 

A millionaire is sent into a deprived community and volunteers for local good causes.  They are followed round by a camera crew who usually give some tenuous reason for filming the person.  At the end of their time in the community the millionaire surprises the projects they’ve helped by making a significant donation.

It is obvious from watching the programme that the people taking part in the show get as much from the experience as the projects they help.  It can often be a life-affirming and cathartic experience.

This was demonstrated in a recent episode featuring Richard North

Richard still had a number of issues around the death of his brother years earlier from a neurological condition.  By helping someone with a similar condition he was able to overcome some of the guilt and pain he had felt for years.  It was very touching.

The true heroes of the show are often the volunteers and workers who run the projects that are visited.  I find the self-sacrifice, sense of duty and determination to improve their communities truly humbling and inspiring.

Secret Millionaire demonstrates the best of people and shows anyone who doubts the joy of giving, what a moving, inspirational and worthwhile experience it can be.

However, I believe the show can do even more to promote donating and volunteering and I want to talk about some of the ideas I have in my next post.


The Guardian and Katine: How to feedback to donors

Over the last three years the Guardian newspaper and Amref have been supporting a development project in a village called Katine in Uganda.

The Guardian's coverage of the project finished this week and to mark the occasion they published a lovely supplement detailing where the readers' money went.

Not every charity can rely on a national newspaper to promote their cause, but there are number of lessons that we can all learn from the project:

  1. Never underestimate the power of a good story.  The supplement is packed full of emotional, moving and inspirational stories of the difference the readers' money had made.
  2. Stunning photography adds to the powerful storytelling.
  3. Good use of facts and figures.  Often statistics can be boring and dull, but here they are well presented and back up the overall story.
  4. Use of testimonials. The publication is littered with quotes from beneficaries, donors and development workers.
  5. Hyperlinks to videos and further in-depth information for those who want to find out more.

Overall, if I'd have donated to the project and received the pull-out I'd have been feeling pretty pleased with myself on Saturday morning!

Katine Photos 
Katine - How your money was spent