When should you use suggested donation levels?
A short while ago, Google shared details of a test they undertook on “one of the disaster relief donation drives on Google.com”. The goal was to discover the ideal suggested donation level at times of an emergency – $20, $50, $100 or no prompt at…
The nine ways donors filter your appeals
A few years ago my uncle set up a direct debit to an animal protection charity. He has repeatedly been upgraded and now gives them £60 a month. He doesn’t want to be upgraded any more. He values the work of the charity so has…
Integrate your media channels
Jennie Yorke and Richard Turner from ActionAid have a great presentation on Slideshare. It shows how the charity’s approach to recruiting child sponsors has changed over time. In the three years up to 2005, 70% of all child sponsors were recruited through three channels. Today…
Simplify
Hey Whipple, Squeeze this! is one of my favourite books on advertising. Whether you work for an agency or employ one you should read it. It will point out what you are doing wrong and show you how you can do things better. It was…
Next time someone in your charity says you need a re-brand…
…please show them this. (I know it’s just the logo, but I think it makes my point.) As Jon Edge and Andy Milligan point out in Don’t Mess With The Logo, there are only three times (essentially) when you need to change your brand… “When…
Guest post: Adam Rothwell on Face to Face fundraising
London councils are apparently waging a concerted, “malicious” campaign against F2F – or so says the PFRA, who seem to believe that the councils would like nothing more than to clear the streets of chuggers, and – as a result – are happy to see…
Why does it always have to be un-earmarked?
Which of the following statements are true? The earth is flat. Global warming isn’t happening. Lemmings commit mass suicide. Wearing a warm coat will stop you catching flu. Warts are caused by handling toads. Appeals have to be for unrestricted funds. Yep. You got it….
When should you try and reactivate lapsed donors?
There's the old story of the man driving around lost in the countryside. He eventually sees someone up ahead and pulls over and asks for directions to his destination. The local looks at him, scratches his head and says, "Well, if I were you, I…
My seven stages of Twitter
You must have heard about Twitter. If you are already a user, you’ll probably be able to relate to much of my experience. If you haven’t yet joined, hopefully this will help you find out what lies in store for you. First a few notes…
Forget toxic assets. It’s toxic donors that we need to worry about
How can some donors be toxic? Aren't they all the same? Sadly, the answer is no. Just look at attrition rates of regular givers. Some of the most recently adopted recruitment techniques have very high levels of attrition – face to face, TV and telephone recruited…
