How I learned to stop worrying and love financial overheads
The debate about the relaxation of rules controlling comparative charity advertising continues (the Fundraising Detective has the best links on his site). Much of the discussion seems to be about the impact of charities putting the public boot into each other regarding things like…
So donors are rational are they?
A study by academics from East Carolina University, the University of Chicago, the University of Maryland and the University of Nevada-Reno came up with some interesting results that showed that it’s not always what a charity says or does that influences a gift. The research…
The Twelve Tweets of March
The tradition continues with a round up of my favourite things found via Twitter over the last month. The rules stay the same. Everything has something to do with fundraising and everything is credited to the tweeter who found it. Here we go… Every big…
Giving is a game
This one's very left field. It's the weekend, so forgive me. It's a thirty minute presentation by Jesse Schell, at DICE 2010, on the future of games. Maybe you should stop now. You're a fundraiser for a charity. There's nothing you can learn about fundraising…
Think of a number
I’ve just been looking through nfpSynergy’s March 2010 Charity Awareness Monitor survey. It has a fairly large chunk of information on people’s attitudes to fundraising. In short, they tend to find it annoying. They single out telephone and door-to-door techniques as being particularly offensive but…
Engaging entrepreneurial donors with creative thinking
Many years ago, whilst working for the YMCA, we created a very successful donor recruitment and development campaign. The only trouble was that we didn’t have enough cash to realise it’s full potential. Rather than just sighing and waiting for the next financial year, my boss…
What direct mail fundraisers can learn from charity box collections
So much fundraising research concentrates on the relationship donors have with charities via direct mail that we tend to forget that cash is still the most common way to give. The latest data from NCVO / CAF shows that 48% of donors gave cash gifts…
If it’s hard to read, it’s hard to do
Bluefrog's Creative Director, Aline Reed, has been running a competition on her blog. It's taken the form of a fundraising quiz, and last week she focused on the joy of fonts and reversed out copy. I've had a few 'conversations' over the years as I've…
What would make a donor give more to charity?
Back in 2006, a Bank of America / Indiana University study looking at the charitable motivations of high net-worth individuals identified a very simple fact. It’s a fact that at Bluefrog, we see time and time again in our research. …
The twelve tweets of February
The January round up seemed to go down very well, so the tradition continues with my twelve favourite things found on Twitter in February. The same rules apply as before. Everything has something to do with fundraising and everything is credited to the tweeter who…
