Benchmarking the success of your email campaigns
If you are looking to compare the performance of your email campaigns in terms of open, click through and delivery rates, Marketing Online has a regularly updated set of benchmarking studies. As well as global and US surveys, it also includes reports on UK campaigns…
Fundraising and the Batman effect
When I was a child, I wanted to be Batman. And by that I mean the Adam West variety, not the johnny-come-lately versions played by Val Kilmer, Michael Keaton and others. I begged my mum and dad for the T-shirt, cape and mask and even…
Tone of voice
Having written and overseen the writing of hundreds of charity communications, I’ve come to the conclusion that the instructional approach that so many brand guidelines take to defining ‘tone of voice’ simply doesn’t work when it comes to specifying how non-profits must use language. Most…
The importance of donor experience in the creation of your brand
Anyone who has followed this blog over the last year will know that I re-engaged (and re-started my direct debit) with Amnesty International UK through reading the tweets of @SusanneUre from Amnesty Canada. Yesterday I received the following in the post. One poly bag contained:…
Next time someone in your charity says you need a re-brand…
…please show them this. (I know it’s just the logo, but I think it makes my point.) As Jon Edge and Andy Milligan point out in Don’t Mess With The Logo, there are only three times (essentially) when you need to change your brand… “When…
The impact of ‘Social Information’ on giving behaviour
First off, let's define what we mean by Social Information. Put simply, it's just a name for knowing what other people are up to. But I don't mean gossiping about Katie and Peter. It's more about the economic impact of knowing what's going on. I…
Guest post: Adam Rothwell on Face to Face fundraising
London councils are apparently waging a concerted, “malicious” campaign against F2F – or so says the PFRA, who seem to believe that the councils would like nothing more than to clear the streets of chuggers, and – as a result – are happy to see…
What’s the impact of a matched giving offer on a direct mail appeal?
At Bluefrog we run a number of very successful matched giving appeals for a variety of clients. An organisation with a great deal of cash (usually a corporate partner or statutory donor) offers to fund a project but only on the proviso that you raise…
What can organisations like Inepd do for you?
I was alerted to the International Network for Enabling Poverty Development by a message on twitter from one of their UK staff, @InepdMercedes. A field worker, Shane Thomson had been locked up in a jail somewhere in Africa for a crime that, as far as…
Should we give to Face to Face recruiters?
The Observer asked an interesting Question of the week on Sunday – Should we give to street chuggers? Caroline Howe, policy and codes of practice manager at the Institute of Fundraising was the supplying the yes answer, the basis of her argument being you can…
