individual giving

What's wrong with advertising these days? Roy Williams has an idea, in his MondayMorningMemo, at The New Language of Effective Ads:

Although we're rarely drawn to people who begin all their sentences with "I," "Me," and "My," this first-person perspective remains central to mainstream advertising. And it's why most Americans detest mainstream advertising.

Sadly, a lot of fundraising shares this character flaw with advertising. The message is: Look at me! See how effective I am! Notice how long I've been at work! Me! I! My!

That's not how you motivate people to join you. As Williams says, you have to use the language of courtship to win donors. (And don't miss Williams' R-rated description of courtship marketing!)

(I have an additional theory for Why advertising is so bad.)

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing

What's wrong with advertising these days? Roy Williams has an idea, in his MondayMorningMemo, at The New Language of Effective Ads: Although we're rarely drawn to people who begin all their sentences with "I," "Me," and "My," this first-person perspective... Jeff Brooks

I don't know whether to be pleased or not, but my last blog with a video of me making a fool of myself doing stand up comedy (lots of swearing be wary before watching) is my record viewed blog. So let's bring you back to earth with some fundraising tips.

Just recently I was asked about 'what next' with lottery donors (based on a telephone operation selling lottery tickets over the phone. Here are my top tips.

My top tips on phone-based lotteries: Things are different in different places, but please don’t reject any of these or assume they are your magic pill – just TEST them. One of the best things about lotteries is that they are really easy to test on.

1. Double dip. Call your best lottery donors first, then right at the end of the lottery period, shortly before the draw ring them again to offer the extra special chance of another go.
2. Automatic entry. Get people on a monthly debit that gets them x number of entries PLUS gets them into an exclusive free annual lottery eligible only to such donors (in most countries you can’t discount ticket prices, but can have another draw). This is effectively Regular Giving for lottery donors.
3. Ask for tips. During the lottery, put more emphasis than normal on your mission with your best prospects – and ask for a donation tip. The 3-10% that do become better prospects for RG calls
4. Ring to get cash donations. Shortly after a lottery, you can use the phone to ask specifically for a donation. It won’t do as well as a pure lottery call but
   a. Creates a donor pool – sorts out ‘donors’ from ‘gamblers’
   b. Doesn’t harm subsequent lottery calls (if done well)
   c. Another filter for regular giving calls
5. Ring to get regular gifts – better long term than cash donations
   a. Expect 3-10%; better than cold calling
   b. Will INCREASE people’s chance of taking part in a lottery if done well – even on ‘failed sales’

Hope that was useful, if not as funny.

Sean

When it comes to speaking in public, so many nonprofits seem drawn helplessly to acting stupid. Two examples today:
If this one, from Goodwill, had only included the "Palin" side of the ad, I would rated it merely "odd," but not "stupid."

After all, the topic of Ms. Palin's upcoming clothing donation is well known. So the unstated message is, I guess, Goodwill is a great place to donate stuff you don't want. Okay, not exactly a clear and direct call to action. But at least it makes some sense.

It's the lame attempt to be "balanced" by bringing up Obama's $1,500-suits that lands this ad squarely in the "stupid" category: Whenever did Mr. Obama's suits ever become part of the conversation? It didn't, because there's nothing noteworthy about a public figure having decent suits -- and you can spend a lot more than $1,500 on a suit. And it's pretty safe to assume he's going to need his suits in the next four to eight years.

So rather than seem partisan by picking on Sarah Palin, they chose to be incoherent and a little bit mean-spirited.

Some nonprofits just shouldn't be allowed to have ad budgets.

Speaking of mean-spirited, this ad, appearing on city buses in London thanks to the British Humanist Association (and reported by the BBC: 'No God' slogans for city's buses)

Saying "There's probably no God" is to some people like saying "Your family is an illusion." What's the point? The goofball assertion that it'll "make people think" is baldly false. This is more like an adolescent attempt to be shocking and cynical and offending old ladies.

Predictably, these ads provoke an equally stupid reaction from a Christian "pressure group," whose spokesperson blustered, "Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large."

I'm pretty sure God can take care of Himself on this issue. But the British Humanist Association should find better ways to spend its money.

Discover many more Stupid Nonprofit Ads.

Thanks to Adrants and Church Marketing Sucks for the tips.

Technorati Tags: fundraising, advertising, stupid ads

Here's a trend that bodes well for fundraisers, uncovered by Harvard Business School Working Knowledge: The Next Marketing Challenge: Selling to 'Simplifiers.'

Simplifiers are people, mainly in middle age, who've come to see that they have more "stuff" than they need. They've even grown burdened and embarrassed by all their stuff. Which leads them to seek something other than more stuff:

They want to collect experiences, not possessions. And they give experiences rather than goods as gifts to friends and relatives.

This is good news, because charitable giving is, more than anything else, an experience. A good one.

Giving is a positive, enjoyable experience for your donors even if you do nothing but receive their gifts. But there's a lot you can do a lot to increase the power of that experience:

• Create more connection and specificity between the giver and the cause they're supporting.
• Be prompt, sincere, detailed, and interesting in your receipting.
• Report back to donors regularly on the impact of their giving. Really make your reporting back worth reading -- and sharing.
• Have unique and exciting fundraising offers -- things nobody else is doing. (The really hard part, unless this is already built into your organization.)

Technorati Tags: fundraising, trends

Here's a trend that bodes well for fundraisers, uncovered by Harvard Business School Working Knowledge: The Next Marketing Challenge: Selling to 'Simplifiers.' Simplifiers are people, mainly in middle age, who've come to see that they have more "stuff" than they... Jeff Brooks

How many times have you been in a bar busting for the loo or running home from the bus stop to get there in time?

I'm sure it's something we've all experienced: but when you put it into perspective, waiting for 2 or 3 people before you or having to run up the stairs and turn on the light, really isn't that bad.

Sadly, there are 2.5 billion people in the world don't have access to any loo – bet you didn't know that.
That's why our client WaterAid is raising awareness of this devastating fact and want people who do have loos (I'd say that's all of us) to take action and help WaterAid tackle and combat sanitation in some of the world's poorest countries.

World Toilet Day is today - Wednesday 19th November - download your posters and spread the word.

Lisa Munden

There's a good article at MarketingSherpa on doing email right: 12 Top Email Copywriting Tips to Raise Funds.

Among the 12 excellent tips, one especially caught my eye: Create a Word Picture. Rather than label your email with facts about its contents, say something that people can imagine. It gives these examples for word-picture subject lines.

• Use "Turtle Toxins" instead of "We need your help to protect turtles from pollution."
• Say "Manatee Mayday" instead of "Manatees in Trouble: Help Needed Now."
• Write "Click to Save Cows" instead of "Please help save cows from the abuses of factory farming."

Good advice for online marketing. In fact, good advice for any medium. Spend some extra time moving your discussion from the theoretical and abstract to concrete and visual.

Technorati Tags: fundraising, copywriting, subject lines

List led by billionaire steel magnate Swraj Paul and Mike Jatania, a beauty products entrepreneur

Law-watchers say "hard cases make bad law." We could probably ad a nonprofit corollary to that: Crazy donors make bad fundraising.

The For Impact Daily Nuggets Blog looks at this issue at The Irrational Investor, making the observation that around 1 out of 40 prospects are "completely irrational." They ask weird questions. They have eccentric agendas. They just throw you for a loop. But ...

... you cannot and should not be focusing on 1 out of 40. You need to focus on the other 39 -- RATIONAL investors -- the prospects ... that want to save lives, change lives and impact lives ... the prospects that want to have real conversations ... with YOU.

(A 1-in-40 irrational rate seems high to me; that's 2.5% crazy. Yow.)

It's always best to focus on the normal part of any audience you engage. Nearly all of your donors are reasonable, like-minded, clear-headed, and rational. Aim your efforts at these people.

The effort you put into dealing with your irrational donors is time you aren't spending with the normal ones who give you all the money. And no amount of prep is going to help you turn a crazy person sane.

Technorati Tag: marketing

There's a good article at MarketingSherpa on doing email right: 12 Top Email Copywriting Tips to Raise Funds. Among the 12 excellent tips, one especially caught my eye: Create a Word Picture. Rather than label your email with facts about... Jeff Brooks

Finders' fee: £2,000

Following strong growth from existing clients and a string of new business wins, Whitewater is looking to recruit four new heads.

We're interested in talking to highly motivated and top calibre direct marketers with agency or charity backgrounds.

We can promise a working environment that is passionate, creative, fun and free of politics. We also offer competitive and imaginative remuneration packages. But most of all, we can promise that you'll be part of a dynamic team that is changing the face of charity direct marketing.

We urgently need to find:
One Account Director
One Group Account Director (10-12 months maternity cover contract)
One Senior Planner
One Digital Specialist - client facing

If you know the person we're looking for, put them in touch. We'll pay you a £2,000 finders' fee for helping us out. You just need to let us know, before any interviews take place, that they are your lead.

If you think it's you we need, we'll pay you the fee for finding yourself!

Either way, this could be the easiest £2,000 you ever make. A nice little earner to spend on your summer holiday, perhaps?

This offer, which is ongoing, is open to absolutely anyone. Our staff, suppliers, clients, friends, employees of competitors (!), mums and dads, our bank manager, the window cleaner… you name it. If you're reading this, it applies to you!

Paula Ryan

I do a lot or presenting at conferences and the like. Of course much of this is about ego, being centre of attention, narcissism etc but I really genuinely want to give away my secrets. However, I do know that telling people stuff is not the right way to train or coach them - you need to engage them too.

In recent years, I have been trying to improve Pareto masterclasses and presentations by introducing 'Made to Stick' techniques into training. Lots of exercises, getting people to write stuff down etc.

However, in Washington this (northern) summer I did a presentation called 'Mythbusters' about fundraising myths with a new spin, I deliberately tried to make it funny. It seemed to work; got great 'marks'*, but also people I spoke to seemed to really take on some of the key points.

The highlight for me was seeing guru and friend Mal Warwick bent over double from laughing.

It got me thinking though, so I went on a stand up comedy course to try and improve engagement and learning. Graduation from the course, was a short stand up show at a comedy club, which you can watch if you want.

I can tell you though, if you do do any public speaking this course will help you. Not just for how to contruct funny stories or jokes but also the whole nerves / preparation / bright lights thing. Go on, give it a go.

So, the comedy course graduation was at a comedy club. I was one of five students and there were three 'real' comedians along, and my colleague Justine recorded a video of it. Her camera arm shakes a bit, by the reason for this shaking flatters me!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video. But, please DO NOT DOWNLOAD if you don't like swearwords, or you are my mum or dad, or if you used to think I was a grown up.

Also, it has nothing to do with fundraising, charities or social justice.

Hope you enjoy!

(TIP: Press play, then pause and wait two or three minutes for the whole video to 'buffer' before pressing play again).



* For some thoughts about conference scoring, check out this blog.

(c) Pareto Fundraising 2008, All Rights Reserved

Quincy Jones and Audemars Piguet’s Francois-Henry Bennahmias hosted an evening celebrating the presentation of the Q Prize. Named in honor of music impresario Quincy Jones, the Q Prize celebrates extraordinary advocacy on behalf of children. In addition to the award presentation, plans will were announced for a national Music Summit of music industry and nonprofit leaders to catalyze the movement to provide music education as a public health intervention for at-risk youth. The Summit, convened by Quincy Jones and the Harvard School of Public Health’s Center for Health Communication, will be held in NYC on April 29, 2009 at Time Warner’s corporate headquarters.

Receiving this year’s honor were Dr. José Antonio Abreu and Maestro Gustavo Dudamel for their leadership of Venezuela’s El Sistema program that uses classical music to promote the health and well-being of children.

Michael McDonald, Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, and pianist;
Grammy Award winning songwriter Siedah Garrett, 14-year old singing sensation Bianca Ryan (America’s Got Talent winner) and Wyclef Jean; musician, producer & philanthropist provided the evening’s musical tribute. The audience was also treated to a special performance by El Sistema graduates Everhard Paredes & Aristides Rivas.

Other special guests included: Goldie Hawn & Kurt Russell, Pras Michel, Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson, Claude Nobs (Montreux Jazz Festival, Founder) Wynton Marsalis, O’Neil McKnight, Tiki Barber, Jennie Finch (2004 Olympic gold /2008 silver medalist, softball), Howard Eisley (NJ Nets), Jay Winsten (Harvard School of Public Health, Dean), Tony Woodcock (President, New England Conservatory) and Roger Brown (President, Berklee College of Music) and more.

Named in honor of music impresario Quincy Jones, the Q Prize celebrates extraordinary advocacy on behalf of children. In addition to the award presentation, plans will also be announced for a national Music Summit of music industry and nonprofit leaders to catalyze the movement to provide music education as a public health intervention for at-risk youth. The Summit, convened by Quincy Jones and the Harvard School of Public Health’s Center for Health Communication, will be held in NYC on April 29, 2009 at Time Warner’s corporate headquarters.

The November 13th gala was underwritten by Audemars Piguet. $100,000 was raised from a live auction of an Audemars Piguet Millenary Pianoforte timepiece as well as autographed Quincy Jones memorabilia. Proceeds from the event benefited Project Q at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Quincy Jones Foundation. Special thanks to the following for their generous support: Time Warner & DJ Cassidy.

BACKGROUND

Audemars Piguet is the oldest Haute Horlogerie watchmaker still in the hands of its founding families. Perpetuating a legacy based on three fundamental values: tradition, excellence and creative daring, particularly in the field of complex watch mechanisms, Audemars Piguet holds a record number of world firsts. Please visit www.audemarspiguet.com

El Sistema has been hailed as a social movement of massive dimensions. Over 300,000 Venezuelan youth, mostly from impoverished backgrounds, receive intensive instruction in classical music through the program's network of youth orchestras, music centers and workshops, with profound, life-changing results. El Sistema’s premier orchestra, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, has toured the world under the baton of its acclaimed conductor Gustavo Dudamel, recently named music director-designate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Quincy Jones has a longstanding relationship with Harvard. In 1997, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music and delivered the Senior Class Day Address during Commencement; in 2000, Harvard established the Quincy Jones Professorship of African-American Music. Since 1994, Quincy Jones has collaborated with the Harvard School of Public Health’s Center for Health Communication, directed by Jay Winsten, on national media campaigns to prevent youth violence and recruit volunteer mentors for at-risk youth. In 2007, Quincy Jones was named the School’s Mentor of the Year.



www.audemarspiguet.com

Law-watchers say "hard cases make bad law." We could probably ad a nonprofit corollary to that: Crazy donors make bad fundraising. The For Impact Daily Nuggets Blog looks at this issue at The Irrational Investor, making the observation that around... Jeff Brooks

Here's my column in this month's FundRaising Success magazine, 6 Freakish Facts About Fundraising.

Teaser: Many organizations do themselves terrible harm by going silent on donors for a set amount of time after a gift. The theory is that donors need to "rest" between gifts. (Resting, for some reason, is defined as "not hearing squat from an organization they've shown they care about.")

One of the great things about SOFII is the fact that the whole packages are often exhibited, sometimes - as with th LM38, 'Children’s Cancer Institute Australia bequest conversion pack'.

It is a great 'bequest conversion pack' for CCIA. It shows why SOFII is so great for you too; you can download and see the whole pack - plenty of ideas to rip off into your piece to help your donors put your charity in your will.

Yes, kids with cancer is a a great proposition, but the same tactics and ideas have worked for other charities just as effectively so don't be afraid of trying.

And the agency that did this piece is truly amazing - they get consistently fantasic results for many Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and Hong Kong charities - check out Pareto Fundraising's website for more information!

To see the whole exhibit, sign up for SOFII and search for CCIA.

Sean Triner (um, director at Pareto Fundraising in case you didn't spot the bias).

Busy, busy, busy. As with everyone involved in fundraising, November can be a crazy month. We’re flat out here getting Christmas campaigns done and dusted. Just this month, we have nearly a million door drops, half a million newspaper inserts and tens of thousands of cold mailing packs. And not to forget the most important donor mailings of the year for each of our clients.

No doubt you’re busy with your own stuff as well.

Sometimes it can feel a bit like a non-stop production line.

So it’s really important to take a step back every now and then, catch your breath, and remember what’s behind all this manic activity.

We’re trying to change the world here folks.

I know you know this, but it’s worth repeating: the money that you’re working so hard to raise right now will go to make this imperfect world of ours a better place. You’re one of the good guys. You are part of the solution.

Now, give yourself a quick slap on the back and get down to work again. There’s lots to do.

Technorati Tags: fundraising, christmas, direct marketing

Here's my column in this month's FundRaising Success magazine, 6 Freakish Facts About Fundraising. Teaser: Many organizations do themselves terrible harm by going silent on donors for a set amount of time after a gift. The theory is that donors... Jeff Brooks

When it comes to speaking in public, so many nonprofits seem drawn helplessly to acting stupid. Two examples today: If this one, from Goodwill, had only included the "Palin" side of the ad, I would rated it merely "odd," but... Jeff Brooks