On the face of it, the case for support should be the key organisational tool for fundraisers, but having seen a fair number over my working life, I'd question how many are actually fit for purpose. Tim Seiler, Director of the Fund Raising School at...

Following a very enjoyable few days at the International Fundraising Congress in Amsterdam, I've put together my key take aways from the event. 1. There's loads more to data than just numbers. Chuck Longfield, Blackbaud's chief scientist, has a job where he can crunch millions...

A few weeks ago, I questioned the decision of the D&AD to award a coveted Yellow Pencil to a student team for an idea that they developed for Oxfam. The D&AD asked me to write a follow up piece that you can read here. Or...

A presentation from David Ogilvy on the importance of direct marketing. As I watched it, I couldn't help but be reminded of the relationship between advertising people and fundraising people today. Well worth a few minutes of your time. Thanks to the Jewish Donor Blog.

The poll for the most influential person in fundraising has just opened at the Civil Society website. It's a rather weird accolade as it's obvious that votes aren't always cast in recognition of influence. Some voters will support friends and colleagues and others may well...

Jeff Brooks has recently written about the impact of re-branding on fundraising and included some hard facts based on his first-hand observations. He covered the four areas that are usually included in any new comms director's re-brand strategy and shared the following: Changing the logo...

Very, very few charities train their fundraising staff in how to work with an agency. One that does is Barnardo's. And I count myself very lucky to have them as a client. Gill McLellan, who put the training sessions together, has experience working both sides...

I was asked to write a few paragraphs for The Guardian Voluntary Sector Network on my hopes and fears for 2011. I've been meaning to write something on this for the last few weeks and as I've been a little busy, I thought it worth...

Santa Claus has been around for a fair few years now and there can't be many of us who don't understand what he's all about. But what would happen if Santa turned up at an advertising agency looking for some advice on how he could...

One thing that fundraising isn't short of are rules and regulations (OK, I know that's two, but I'm sure you get the picture). There are taxation regulations that define what fundraising materials must contain in order to be exempt from VAT. There are the industry...