I’ve often thought that the best fundraising practices that inconveniently clash with that sparkly new product or ad campaign can get unnecessarily sidelined – sometimes completely forgotten – in the drive to ‘innovate’.

With that in mind, I put together a list of my favourite fundraising ‘heresies’ on LinkedIn as I thought they might rebalance the conversation a little. Happily, they were received quite well so I thought you might be interested in taking a look:

  1. Fundraising from people with money to spare is generally more effective than fundraising from people who have no money.
  2. Not having a coupon on a press ad is likely to recruit less donors and raise less money.
  3. Showing thanks and demonstrating specific impact is usually the best way to retain donors.
  4. Learning the basics of fundraising is better than not learning the basics of fundraising.
  5. The opinion of your donors is normally better than the opinions of your mates.
  6. People with experience of fundraising might occasionally have more to offer than people with no experience.
  7. On balance, it is probably better to read books about fundraising rather than Twitter threads about fundraising.
  8. The best ways to raise money is to simply show the people who care about your cause what needs to be done and ask them to support it.
  9. Changing the name of your charity will confuse your donors.
  10. Asking middle-aged people for a legacy isn’t likely to generate many bequests.

If you have any of your own that you might want to add, pop over to Linkedin to share.

And of course, can I please emphasise that there’s nothing wrong with innovation. In fact, I love it. But there’s nothing wrong with great ideas that already work either.

This list was inspired by a tweet from Ryan Wallman (also known as @Dr_draper)