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…
How did giving to Haiti compare to previous emergencies?
CAF have recently updated their disaster monitor research which looks at long-term patterns of giving to emergency appeals. All figures are for the UK. The key findings are: Just under half of people surveyed gave to Haiti (in comparison to 81% of people who gave…
New research on text giving
I picked up on an interesting stream of tweets from @seanpowell last night. He was attending a US benchmarking presentation from M&R Strategic Services and MobileActive on text messaging. Following the American Red Cross's Haiti text campaign – which resulted in more than one million…
Are your donors simply paying spectators?
There’s a great video on Social Hallucinations produced by David Gauntlet from Making is Connecting. David looks at everyday creativity and writes about seeing a cultural shift – from a sit back and be told one to a making and doing one. So what’s this…
How do donors choose which charity to give to?
I’ve just read a very interesting piece from Beth Breeze in Civil Societylooking at how donors decide which charities to support. As we’ve seen in other pieces of research, donors continue to struggle to distinguish one organisation from another. They feel restricted by the lack…
Fundraising is child’s play
Few of us (in the UK) will have not picked up on Charlie Simpson, the 7 year-old boy who raised over £200,000 to help people in Haiti by doing a sponsored cycle round his local park. But Charlie isn't the only child from whom fundraisers…
The Essentials
‘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?
How do donors manage their philanthropic budgets?