How to raise $65,000 in a day without spending a penny. Like a boss
Reddit.com is a social news website where users (called redditors) submit content. Other redditors then give each post an upvote or a downvote depending whether they like it or not. A post with plenty of upvotes will find itself on the front page where thousands…
Why giving to charity can be like buying a Polaris submarine
My dad was a printer. When he worked night shifts on the national newspapers I always went to bed very excited. That's because I knew he'd come home with a gift for me. As soon as I woke up, I'd rush downstairs to find a…
Online donors have letter boxes too
Here's another couple of charts that Damian O'Broin from Ask Direct and I shared at IOF London on our international mystery shopping exercise. It gives a few more insights in to how charities are integrating email and postal communications. One of our most surprising findings…
Who sends your emails?
Along with Damian O'Broin of the rather good Irish fundraising agency, Ask Direct, I presented some findings taken from a massive international mystery shopping exercise (270 charities in six countries) at IOF London yesterday. I'm going to post the full presentation online, but I thought…
The case against the case for support
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…
How to win donors and influence them
How to win friends and influence people was one of the first self-help books ever published. Written by Dale Carnegie in 1936, it has been constantly in print and sold millions of copies world-wide. I don't know if Dale ever turned his hand to fundraising,…
Five things we learned at the IFC
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…
The anatomy of a failed campaign
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…
If you think stewarding donors is expensive, try ignoring their needs instead
Rapidata has released their August direct debit cancelation figures and they don't look particularly good. At 4.58% they are the highest seen for August since the monitoring of regular giving trends started back in 2003. In a worrying commentary, Rapidata's Managing Director, Scott Gray, says…
600 thank you letters
Charities spend a huge amount of money and time on creating appeal packs but the most important part of the relationship building process – the acknowledgement – is often little more than an afterthought. If you think your own set of thank you letters might…
