What do you do when your most valuable donors don’t read your appeals?
Bluefrog Fundraising has just completed a detailed qualitative study into attitudes to giving and – perhaps more importantly, fundraising – amongst mid-value donors in the USA. It’s the fifth country we’ve looked at in this specific programme of research (the others being the UK, Canada,...
Why we should be worried about where donors get their information from.
I've just had my first debrief on a significant qualitative study that Bluefrog Fundraising has undertaken looking at what UK donors think about the recent series of safeguarding stories. We've uncovered some things that you might expect, but a great deal of what we've found...
Not much has changed in the fundraising environment since 1971
Recently, I had the chance to read a 47 year-old review of the UK fundraising market, produced by a long-closed advertising agency, Rupert Chetwynd and Partners. As I turned the pages, I found myself thinking that much of the content could have been written a...
What do donors need from you?
As fundraisers we are in a very fortunate position. We have more advice available to us through books, blogs, videos and conferences that any other generation in history. But that presents a peculiar set of difficulties. How on earth do we differentiate between the good...
When culture doesn’t translate into giving
Fly to one of the international fundraising conferences and you’ll no doubt be presented with more great fundraising ideas than you can shake the proverbial stick at. You might well be planning your next big campaign before the wheels on your plane touch down on...
How to avoid the misuse of emotion in fundraising
Earlier this year I wrote one of my longest ever opinion pieces on fundraising. It's on the use and misuse of emotion and was written for the Commission on the Donor Experience. You can find the full-length version on SOFII by clicking here. But...
What's the point of copying if we all have different exam papers?
A few days ago, I shared this quote from the ad man, Bill Bernbach on Twitter (if you don’t know who he was, take a look at this). “Imitation can be commercial suicide”. I suggested copying was pretty normal for charities and I asked if...
Mobile fundraising is not a magic bullet
As quickly as mobile fundraising took off in the UK, so it soon fell into decline. But for a few years, every charity seemed keen to have their own mobile campaign. Open a newspaper, switch on the TV, walk down the street or climb aboard...
Heritage branding. A great opportunity for charities.
Here’s my prediction for charity brands over the next few years. They will go back to their roots. They will revert to their old logos and names. The ones they used in the 60s, 70s and 80s. They might be slightly tweaked, refreshed or produced...
Using donors as part of your case for support
One of the things that frustrates me about modern fundraising is the belief that some donors can actually be a bit of a problem. Last year, I was at the sharp end of a rant where someone was complaining about donors. It went a little...
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?