Supporter Engagement and Experience Summer School and Summit: a series of webinars and workshops to help you
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Image from: www.gapingvoid.com
Over the last year I’ve talked to many charities and fundraisers who are ambitious about improving their supporter experience. They’ve got the desire and intent to move to a new fundraising model based on engagement, but it is proving hard to do. I hear the following problems coming up time and time again:
· How do I influence colleagues and show them the benefits of integrated journeys and working?
· Everyone in my charity is so busy – where can I start and include them in a way that doesn’t stop them doing the day job?
· We’re so siloed and I can’t get different teams to work together. This also leads to the issue of setting objectives, KPIs and budgets to match.
· We don’t have the data / insight / systems / processes* to make informed decisions and act on them (*delete as appropriate).
· A team complains that this segment are ‘their supporters’ and aren’t willing to share.
· My director/manager says they want to increase engagement, but I don’t have any budget!
Do any of these sound familiar? If yes, then the good news is that a: you’re not alone and b: they are solvable!
As I’ve been listening to fundraisers, I’ve also been asking questions like:
· who is doing this well?
· what lessons can we learn?
· what are the pitfalls?
· how can we work differently?
· what insight do I need?
I've made it my mission to help you answer these questions. Why? Because when we do answer them, it opens the door to new and better ways to deliver supporter journeys and experiences.
In recent weeks I've been taking the time to listen to some incredibly smart fundraisers who also have interesting, novel and effective ways to tackle some of these problems.
Most importantly, these aren’t just career consultants. They’ve been at the coalface and implemented the ideas they’ll talk about. They’ve also made some mistakes too. You can read a bit more about the Summer School squad below and what they’ll be talking about on their webinar.
They’ve also agreed to join me on Wednesday 11 September, at our first ever Supporter Engagement Summit. Here, we’ll go into more depth and give you a taster of some of the ways you can tackle the issues you face.
I look forward to you joining us on the webinars or seeing you in person at the summit.
Webinar 1: Creating positive purpose – introducing four key tools to help you manage cultural change (register here now)
Cultural change expert Emily Petty will talk through what she has learned about cultural change and share four key themes:
Re-boot – creating space to reflect, take breaks and be productive
Re-Connect – building trust and connection to help break down silos
Grow – being curious, how to expect and celebrate failure
Re-energise – how resilience can help you get unstuck and make progress
Emily brings a wealth of fundraising experience, most recently at The Children’s Society were she played a key role in developing and implementing a new supporter engagement strategy. Read her full bio on the webinar registration page.
When: Wednesday 24 July, 1.30pm UK time
Register now for Emily's webinar
Webinar 2: From idea to impact in fundraising appeals: how changing the way you do things changes results (register here now)
Fundraising is going through a rapid period of change. Charities need to use insight and agile working if they are to thrive in the engagement era.
In this webinar, Lianne Howard-Dace will explain why ideas aren’t the problem. She’ll also discuss why we need to focus on the ‘how’ and the value of coaching, as well as sharing case studies from her vast public fundraising knowledge.
Lianne has over a decade of front-line community and events fundraising experience with charities such as Christian Aid and Depaul UK. Find out more about Lianne’s experience on the webinar sign up page.
When: Wednesday 31 July, 1.30pm UK time
Register now for Lianne's webinar
Webinar 3: New challenges need new ways of working and problem solving (register here now)
Eleanor Gibson will share some of the tools and techniques she’s used at Plan UK and CRUK to improve supporter experience.
Eleanor believes in the power of cross-functional working groups and quick experimentation to get things done. Learn how you can harness some of the tools to engage your supporters.
Eleanor Gibson is an innovation influencer in the third sector who shows charities that innovation is for everyone, not solely the largest organisations. Find out she has helped many charities on the sign up page.
When: Wednesday 7 August, 1.30pm UK time
Register now for Eleanor's webinar.
Summer Summit - sharing tips and techniques to help you improve your supporter experience
Wednesday 11 September - 09.30-12.30 - The Book Club, Shoreditch
Come join us at this free event, where we will share some ideas and tips on how to put the theory in the webinars into action.
It will be a fun, interactive session and we'd be delighted to see you there.