I need to start today with a confession and apology. In my last post I quoted some results from a recent campaign and, somewhat embarrassingly, they were wrong. I've now updated the post with the correct (and not quite as good) results.

I'm very sorry about this. As penance, here is my latest round-up of fundraising articles worth reading:

The annual IFC was held last week in Amsterdam and there's a slew of good posts and articles about some of the sessions:

• Reuben asks 'What would Martin Luther King have done with a smartphone?'
• 101 Fundraising with a number of session summaries.
• Fundraising Collective with 10 things about IFC.
• UK Fundraising on big data.
• Paul also reflects on the opening plenary from Bill Toliver.
• Charlie with some thoughts on loyalty and asking.

The Agitator has been taking a close look at donor acquisition and has run a series of posts that all fundraisers should read. Part one and part two.

Queer Ideas on designing for readability.

Jackie on using our brains and empathy.

Kevin with some thoughts on the St John Ambulance ad I flagged recently.

Jeff on the secret weapon that can supercharge your fundraising.

The latest Passionate Giving series is on assessing your own performance as a fundraiser.

Karen Zapp on integrated fundraising.

Katya with five technology shifts changing our world.

Tom at Bluefrog looks at some mobile fundraising ads.

I liked this story about lowcostholidays.com Facebookjacking Thomas Cook - via Web Ink Now. Very clever, and in the off chance that lowcostholidays.com are reading, then I really need a star prize for our Winter Ball at the minute...

As I blogged about a few weeks ago, the last couple months at work have been taken up with running the Little Heroes Nursery Appeal to raise £100,000 in 100 days. The great news is we did it and announced a final total of £103,000 on Tuesday.

The appeal was a huge learning curve with as much going wrong as being a success, but one area that I wanted to share a bit more info about was our text to give campaign.

It's the first time in a decade I've used text giving, but from talking to people I trust* it seemed like a good fit for the campaign.

Here's how the campaign worked and some headline results for you to consider:

We ran a train campaign over a two week period and a poster campaign throughout the appeal.

In total we received 725 texts donating £3. This equates to a cost of around £13 per text.

We followed the texts up with a phone call within two/three weeks of texting asking if people would help spread the word about the appeal by telling their friends/family.

Towards the end of the campaign we asked people to make a direct debit via telephone.

After removing duplicates and 'do not contacts' we had a penetration rate of around 60% and a take up rate of over 10%. The average gift (including gift aid) was around £100 per year.

In total the cost per new direct debit donor will be around £125, which means we should break even within 18 months (attrition permitting).

The people who agreed to advocate responded at about the same rate as people we were unable to contact. If attrition rates aren't better, then I would miss this stage in the future and try to contact people straight away to ask them to make a regular gift.

I'm really pleased with the results and I'm a convert to text giving.

It's relatively cheap, accessible for most charities and offers lots of opportunities for testing. It has performed far better than other recruitment methods I've tested this year and I'm hoping to roll it out further later in the year.

I'm particularly excited at the thought of recruiting donors direct to a monthly gift via their phone.

If you've had any experiences with similar campaigns and would be interested in sharing your results, then I'd love to hear from you.

p.s. If you want to test monthly giving by mobile, then you can give £3 per month to the Little Heroes Nursery Fund by texting NURSERY to 70007.

A big thank you to Paul de Gregorio, Mark Phillips, Cymba and Pell & Bales for letting me pick their brains and teaching me all about making mobile giving a success

It's time for the first reading round-up of the month. I hope you find some of the below articles of interest. Thanks.

Katya with seven ways to improve your storytelling.

Sean looks at Christian language for non-Christians.

Amanda with a story about an alternative elevator pitch.

Margaux with some thoughts on donor experience.

Open Fundraising share an impossible to read fundraising ad. I've seen this in London and have got to agree it is almost illegible.

Advice for Good on what big data means for charities.

Aline with an Elizabethan view of branding.

Penelope Burk with some thoughts on the perils of fundraising events.

Howard Lake shares a great idea for 404 pages on websites.

The value of random acts of stewardship.

Nancy recommends you use specifics to strengthen the your message.

The Fundraising Collective on being stiff, lying spellcheckers and dullness.

The Agitator on acquisition (with input from Tom Ahern).

The latest Passionate Giving series is on building a culture of philanthropy.

Tom Peters with some thought blocks.

Scott Berkun on self awareness.