Fundraising Reading Round Up
Friday, May 29, 2015
It's been a hectic month, so apologies for the delay between round-ups. I'm hoping normal service will resume and it will be back to fortnightly from now on.
Last week I had the pleasure of spending four days with fundraising colleagues from around the world at Amnesty International's internal Skillshare. I learned a lot about fundraising from around the world. One of the most interesting talks was from the UK and their use of virtual reality on the streets of London. You can read all about it in this press release. I was impressed at the quality of the experience and how affordable/easy it is to set up.
Sadly, the last month has seen fundraising being under intense scrutiny from the UK media in the wake of the death of Olive Cooke. There has been a lot of talk and knee-jerk reaction, but I thought this article by Angela Cluff of the Management Centre gave some sensible and practical advice for fundraisers.
I also want to give an advanced plug for an article that will be published on the Rogare blog next week. Ian MacQuillin has put together a compelling response on the whole case and it's potential impact on fundraising regulation and ethics.
The case was also made me more convinced than ever that we need to consider how we fundraise. If you've not read Ken Burnett's five part series on the future of fundraising, then I'd urge you to do it soon.
Elsewhere on the web...
101 Fundraising has been in great form, with some top content over the last month. Here's just a small selection:
- Charlie Hulme on how to be relevant to your donors.
- Giles Pegram says if you want to raise more money, stop asking for it. Includes a challenging discussion in the comments section.
- Meredith Niles uses a 'Sex and the City' analogy to describe our donor relationships.
- Usha Menson on optimism as a trait in successful fundraisers.
The Donor Dreams blog hosts May's Non-profit Blog Carnival. The topic? 'You are the future of philanthropy'.
Sean Triner shares some fascinating research on emergency appeal donors and the best way to inspire them to give again.
Tobin Aldrich on the joy of failure.
Richard Turner describes what it is to be a holistic fundraiser.
Michael Rosen explains his view on the five latest trends affecting your fundraising.
Lucy Innovation gives us 10 top tips to succeed at innovation.
The Veritus blog's latest series is on influence in fundraising and is well worth a read.
The Clairification blog reveal six secrets to getting your acknowledgments out in in 48 hours.
Bright Spot Fundraising share four tactics that shape an outstanding culture in your organisation.
Fearless Fundraising on major donor cultivation.
As a self-confessed data geek, I enjoyed this look at predictive modelling for fundraising at the CoolData blog.
Simplify. Specify. Multiply. A simple approach to fundraising from Jim Shapiro.