What interests your donors?
Do you know what really interests your donors? How about this list? Do your donors care about any of these issues? How efficient you are. How green you are. How thrifty you are. How you monitor the effect of appeals and campaigns, whether TV ads…
Donors have needs too
There's a polyhedron that is almost as important to fundraisers as the pyramids were to the ancient Egyptians. You'll see it time and time again in books on fundraising and projected on giant screens at conferences. It was proposed by Abraham Maslow in 1943 in…
Build it where they already are
There are some interesting statistics available from Robin Goad on Hitwise regarding a recent RSPCA viral campaign. Simon's Cat creator Simon Tofield, released a new episode of his cartoon series on YouTube on December the 8th. But rather than being about Simon's cat, it was…
Even if you build it, they might not come
If your head has been turned by the success of Kiva and you are thinking about how your charity might set up a similar direct giving product you need to know about FORGE. FORGE was set up by Kjerstin Erickson, a Stanford University student, who…
Less is more
This is an incredibly strong video from Oxfam about the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But, to my mind, it would have been better had it ended at 1 minute with a call to action. The opening scenes are so moving that it doesn't…
Make your donors feel comfortable
I’ve always made time to visit Leland Maschmeyer‘s blogs and was interested in a recent posting that referred to a comment made by Pierre Martineau, director of marketing for The Chicago Tribune in the 1950’s. He believed “the most important function of advertising isn’t to…
Face to face and email – where might they fit together?
books have been part of my office furniture since I first discovered his work on persuasion and compliance on a trip to the US. Much of his thinking went into developing the strategy behind the prospecting campaigns that Bluefrog implemented through Gift for organisations like…
Obama does a 360
The interweb is packed full of congratulations and celebrations over Barack Obama’s victory and it seems a pretty good time to have a look at some of the tools he used to win and see what lessons there are to learn for fundraising in the UK. There are…
Thinking big
For all the talk about great targeting and brilliant creative, to my mind, the single most important element that influences how much income we generate is the central idea around which the appeal is built. The Art Fund appeal for the Blue Rigi which won the best use of DM at the…
Don’t take the P. Give it instead
The Yougov research into giving to charity during the credit crunch that was undertaken in June and published in August provides a couple of intriguing insights into what people may or may not do in the upcoming recession. They may well be less likely to…
The Essentials
Crack the Code to Regular Giving: Insights, Strategies, and a Special Giveaway!
‘Tis Halloween. Keep to the light and beware the Four Fundraisers of the Apocalypse!
Why do people give? The Donor Participation Project with Louis Diez.
A guide to fundraising on the back of a postcard
What does the latest research tell us about the state of fundraising?