What's a Red Truck fundraising strategy and why haven't you got one?
The festive branding trick most fundraisers ignore – and the one thing your donors already wish you’d repeat. Christmas is starting ever earlier every year (which is another thing down to Covid). So this year I’m going full Father Christmas with some festive treats for...
Why Sara Cox Running 135 Miles for Children in Need Is A Masterclass In Genius Fundraising
Just as the annual wave of self-congratulatory Christmas charity ads begins – those glossy, John-Lewis-inspired mini-dramas that lean heavily on sentimentality – something far more powerful has been unfolding across the airwaves, and across the roads of Northumberland, County Durham and Yorkshire. A genuine masterclass...
What happens when silence tells the story in fundraising?
In my presentations I often reflect on why systems break down and how the collapse of norms, logic, and accountability comes about. Why do checks and balances unravel? Why is testing a lost art? Why do people act on assumptions rather than evidence? And why...
The quiet disappearance of results-based fundraising
A well-respected consultant got in touch after I announced that I was planning to close Bluefrog and said something that struck a chord: the “pure” results-based agencies – like Bluefrog – are now few and far between. It was a strange thing to hear. Surely...
Forecasting Fundraising: What the Intergenerational Wealth Transfer Could Mean for fundraising
I recently produced this chart and thought it worth sharing… I’m currently wrapping up my presentation for the CIOF Fundraising Convention on the impact of the Intergenerational Wealth Transfer – projected to reach around £5.5 trillion in the UK over the next two decades, driven by rising...
Points to consider when raising funds during the attack on Ukraine
Few of us will have been unaffected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget the harrowing images I’ve seen and the horrific stories I’ve heard. No doubt you, like many others, will have happily lent your support...
Heretical fundraising ideas for 2022
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...
What do donors think about giving now we are 7 months into the pandemic?
As the number of infections increase across the UK and restrictions on our movements are re-imposed, I hope these findings from the fourth round of Bluefrog's research into giving in the time of Coronavirus will help you plan your fundraising for the weeks and months...
Do your donors give to focus on a problem or to forget it?
One of the findings that's been pretty consistent in our research into attitudes to giving in the time of Coronavirus has been how it has focused people's minds about the charity work that they want to support. As we've pointed out in our reports (links...
The time for leadership – giving in the time of Coronavirus.
With more than a 100 days passing since the lockdown began in the UK, I'm happy to be able to release the third stage of Bluefrog's research findings into donor attitudes to giving during the pandemic. The changes we have seen are significant and I...
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?