If Santa was a brand
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…
Online donors are old-fashioned too
A particularly interesting report has just been published by Network for Good andTruesense Marketing. It looks at online giving in the US. It’s a massive study that covers $381 million in online giving through Network for Good’s platform including 3.6 million gifts to 66,470 different…
Taking protesting from the streets to Facebook
There are many ways to protest and with things like Facebook around, you don't neceassrily have to pick up a placard or loud-hailer and march the streets. PETA proved this when they staged an anti-fur protest on DKNY's Facebook page last Monday. Sixteen different users…
More great ideas from before any of us were born
I picked up a copy of My Life in Advertising & Scientific Advertising a short while ago. It was written in the 1920s by Claude Hopkins. Claude was an ad man who wasn’t too shabby at his craft. Back in 1907 he was earning $185,000…
How to get a £1 million donation
The Coutts Million Pound Donors Report 2010 has just been published. It takes a look at the condition of British philanthropy at the very top of the giving scale – which, as you might guess, covers gifts of £1,000,000 and more. There were just 201…
What makes a good banner ad?
I can't think of any areas of fundraising where simple and engaging propositions don't work – and that includes online display ads. And here's an example to prove it. You've probably seen the recent fundraising campaign on Wikipedia, where they have tested a number of…
Fundraising isn’t a matter of life and death. It’s much more important than that
When fundraisers get together and start dreaming of which organisations they'd like their charities to emulate, it's not long before football clubs are mentioned. The passion, the adoration, the following, the commitment, the income! Wouldn't it be great? It might well be, but considering the…
What do high value donors actually value?
The 2010 Bank of America / Merill Lynch Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy has just been published. Though this blog takes the UK fundraising perspective, we can learn a great deal from what’s happening in other markets and this series of US studies deserves…
Are you Luke or Yoda?
Donors need motivating, and great storytelling is a rather effective technique to cut through jargon, bringing visions and missions to life. Through using great stories, we get people giving and doing. And if you’d like to improve your storytelling skills, I’d recommend you addResonate by…
You cannot not communicate
“You cannot not communicate. Every behaviour is a kind of communication. Because communication does not have a counterpart (there is no anti-behaviour), it is not possible not to communicate.” Paul Watzalwick’s First Axiom of Communications. Everything you do to a donor communicates something: If you…
The Essentials
‘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?
How do donors manage their philanthropic budgets?