What should you do with newly recruited Haiti emergency donors?
There have been a number of posts in the blogosphere offering advice about what charities should do with donors recruited in response to Haitian earthquake appeals. Traditionally, emergency donors are very hard to retain, often only surfacing during the next high-profile disaster. So any advice...
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...
Social networks don't seem to be driving extra traffic to help Haiti
Bill Tancer of Hitwise has reported on some fascinating data on his blog. The earthquake in Haiti caused a huge jump in visits to US charity websites. They were up five fold from an average of 0.02% before the earthquake hit to over 0.1% on...
The DEC tells donors what their gift will do
Featuring huge numbers of people in need in fundraising materials serves to make the reader feel helpless. Research shows that people who feel helpless give less money. The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) didn't follow the standard route of focusing on the magnitude of the recent...
Do you suffer from fundraising myopia?
Kimberley of Kimberley's Comments put up a post last week that got me thinking. She recounts a story of traveling in India. Hot and thirsty, she stopped for a drink of pomegranate juice. Fast forward to a freezing cold day in Canada and the thoughts...
Why people don't give
There have been a number of recent posts on various blogs looking at the reasons why people don't give to charity. Last week I added to the debate when I wrote about nine techniques that donors use to avoid giving to appeals. Reading them, you'll...
How you say you spend it is important
I've just seen a piece of research undertaken by nfpSynergy that looks at the impact of using different ways to describe charitable expenditure. The study compared spending on fundraising and service provision, asking donors how impressive they found a range of descriptive options... Our charity...
Focus on the single minded proposition
One of the most difficult parts of creating a good brief is writing the proposition. This is the single most important thing that your advertisement or pack should convey to the reader – the very essence of what you want to say. It most definitely...
Do you want extra foam with your charity?
The Docklands Light Railway is under construction, it's freezing cold in London so the bike isn't getting out as much as it should and, as a result, I'm doing loads more walking. I pass a number of Starbucks on the way to work. I don't...
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...
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?