Aggregated External News

Blogger Kivi Leroux Miller wants to be recognized when she’s a donor.

I don’t mean ‘recognized’ as in ‘applauded’.

I mean she expects, at least upon reaching some giving level, that a nonprofit to which she donates actually knows that she is a ‘she’ and, making the point that the 2010s are not the 1950s, that she’s not a mere appendage of her husband.

As Roger and I keep harping away, nonprofits need to get serious about customer service. which for nonprofits starts with knowing your donors. Remember this chart from Bloomerang?

Correct name spellings, correct addresses, correct salutations, etc. Can it be more basic?!

Tom

 

 

I just presented a plenary at the FINZ conference in New Zealand, because Terry Axelrod couldn't make it.

I promised to post my presentation and some useful links...

Here is my presentation, and there are more links below.


To see how charity data is available in New Zealand (and how it should be everywhere - with a few tweaks) check out:
http://www.register.charities.govt.nz/CharitiesRegister/OpenData.aspx

Watch Dan Pallotta's awesome TED talk...


Sign up for Benchmarking for 2014 by emailing Clarke.vincent at paretofundraising dot com.

Check out that great article looking at data that shows that HIGHER admin costs are better for charity outcomes http://giving-evidence.com/,

Even if you didn't make it along, I hope those links are useful.

Sean


Thanks for subscribing, I really appreciate it and do hope that you find this blog useful. Take care.

  Over the past five years Wood for Trees has improved the fundraising efficiency and value of some of the UK’s best-known not-for-profit organisations, working with clients’ data and database ...

Better scrutiny will ensure religious organisations with links to homophobia are not awarded public funds

Across most of the world today gay rights are something between an absurdity and an abomination. This makes a difficulty in an age of religious globalisation. When the government, which believes in equality, tries to reach minority communities through their faith organisations, how far should it engage with them if they hold repulsive views?

Not all of the cultural homophobia in the world is religiously based or tinged. Some forms of Jamaican music and rap are violently homophobic without being in the least bit religious. But the problem does not arise with them in the same form, since they are not applying for government grants to do anything. Churches with an African background, or strong African links, are quite another matter.

The sometimes literal demonisation of homosexuality is an important part of much African Christianity. Pressure from the former colonial powers simply entrenches this attitude. In countries such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Uganda, demonstrative attacks on gay people and gay marriage are proven crowd-pleasers and in the context of the Anglican communion have been used as ways to stick two fingers up at the Archbishop of Canterbury and his woolly, liberal, colonial church. The same dynamic works almost as strongly with independent evangelical or charismatic churches.

Yet the government's supporters say that the same arguments should apply as are used when dealing with Muslim organisations. Some of them are likely to be just as homophobic but with them the problem may be jihadism and, to some extent, the oppression of women. The question is whether it is better to shun them or to bring some of them into the ordinary mechanisms of local life.

Helping some with public funds is a way to promote integration and deliver services to populations that are otherwise hard to reach. That way the social changes at work in wider British society can spread within the target groups as well.

There are precedents for the success of this approach. One of the most important British leaders of an independent charismatic group of churches, Steve Chalke of the Oasis Trust, recently announced his conversion to equality.

But whatever the principles involved, the practice will be messy. Some people will get funds who shouldn't. Some groups who should be funded won't be. Scrutiny is an essential part of cleaning it up.

• Gay rights
• Sexuality
• Religion
• National Lottery
• Charitable giving
• Consumer affairs

Andrew Brown
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Save the Children's president and CEO, Carolyn Miles, delivered the keynote address yesterday at the first annual Mom+Social conference, where she presented the findings of the agency’s 2013 State of the World’s Mothers report.

Leading bloggers, celebrities and activists gathered at the 92YTribeca in New York City for this all-day event focused on motherhood and the role of social media, technology and philanthropy to improve the health of moms and children everywhere.

“Digital media and technology are becoming increasingly powerful tools to improve the health of moms and their babies,” Miles said. “I’m thrilled that Mom+Social gives us all a platform to do just that.”

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10157-save-the-children-ceo-speaks-at-mom-social-conference

Magisto has teamed up with multi-platinum selling recording artist and seven-time Grammy nominee Joan Osborne to celebrate Mother’s Day with a new form of music discovery that brings together powerful user-generated video production technology and musical artistry.

Joan’s new song “Born To See You Through”, which celebrates her role as a mother, will be featured as a musical selection in the Mother’s Day challenge when participants create their movies that tell “Why I love being a Mom” or “Why I love my Mom.” While the challenge is open to everyone, Osborne’s loyal community of fans will be specifically invited to use the magic of Magisto to make a Mother’s Day music video featuring her new song. With a new Mother’s Day themed-template, easy-to-use, automatic core video production features and recently added smart photo editing and Draw a Video creativity tools, Magisto is making honoring mom a collaborative artistic celebration.

From now until May 17, 2013, all Magisto-created movies that include the hashtag #magistomoms or #joanosborne in their title will be entered to win special prizes including handwritten lyrics signed by Osborne, CD bundles from the artist and a Samsung Galaxy Note Tablet. Videos will be shared and available for viewing on a Mother’s Day-themed social scrapbook that will be hosted on the Magisto website. Osborne will be making her own video using Magisto’s video editing app to create and share her special Mother’s Day salute.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10156-joan-osborne-combines-the-creative-forces-of-technology-and-music-to-honor-mothers

Alex’s “Original” Lemonade Stand, where the dream began and continues as a promise of hope for all children and families affected by childhood cancer, will return on Saturday, June 8, 2013 from 10am – 3pm, at Penn Wynne Elementary School, 250 East Haverford Road, in Wynnewood, PA.

The 2013 Alex’s “Original” Event is sponsored by GEICO, Lehigh Valley Dairy Farms, Liberty Me, Northwestern Mutual, Sila Heating & Air Conditioning, The King Family and Volvo Cars of North America.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10155-bailee-madison-to-visit-alexs-original-lemonade-stand

Here’s the chance of a lifetime for Bruce Springsteen fans in Ireland.

A new online charity auction is giving you and a friend the amazing opportunity to attend all 3 SOLD OUT Bruce Springsteen shows in County Limerick on July 16, County Cork on July 18 and Belfast, Northern Ireland, on July 20, with your choice of first tier seats or front “Pit” section tickets and E Street Lounge passes.

You’ll also have a once in a lifetime chance to meet Bruce Springsteen after the July 18th show in County Cork!

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10154-meet-bruce-springsteen-in-ireland-and-support-charity

North Shore Animal League America, in partnership with Purina ONE brand pet food, will make the final stop of its annual national cooperative life-saving adoption event, Tour For Life, with a Grand Finale celebration at Times Square Pedestrian Plaza (West 46th & 47th St. & Broadway) on Friday, May 10, 2013 beginning at 11 a.m. with dozens of adoptable animals.

Working with more than 100 shelter and rescue groups in 51 cities in 26 states, these “shelters on wheels” covered over 17,000 miles and helped save the lives of over 2,000 animals across the country through humane education and mobile adoption events.

Since its inception in 2001, and as the world’s largest mobile pet adoption event, Tour For Life’s mission is not only to save as many lives as possible but also to reinforce the importance of adoption and familiarize communities with their local shelters.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10153-tour-for-life-to-end-at-times-square

In some cases, if the public knew where the money was going, there would be a revolt

A lot of the money invested in the voluntary sector is spent perpetuating the very issues the sector is meant to be resolving, delegates at the Charity Finance Group annual conference heard yesterday.

Speaking during a panel debate on the importance of financial leadership Peter Holbrook, chief executive of Social Enterprise UK, said in some cases, if the public knew where the money was going, there would be a revolt.

"A lot of charitable money ... is invested in perpetuating the issues we're meant to be tackling," he said. He added that he would like to see finance directors being bold in their investment portfolios. "I think too much time is spent doing things right and some of us have lost the appetite for social justice that brought us into the sector in the first place," he said.

He said he wanted his finance director to suggest new investment opportunities to him. "I will only make that decision if I'm informed these opportunities exist," he said.

Debra Allcock Tyler, chief executive of Directory of Social Change, who was also speaking on the panel said: "Finance directors should be pushing us to be more adventurous."

She said finance directors often thought their job was about managing money, but in fact it should be about mission delivery. "The money is just a resource," she said. "Your job is to help us deliver the mission." Finance directors should work closely with managers, and the fundraising team should be their best friends, she said.

She added that the vast majority of systems and procedures finance managers introduced to charities "get in the way".

Sam Younger, chief executive of the Charity Commission, said the 'co-pilot' role of a finance director was particularly important. "It's crucial that a finance director works closely with a chief executive," he said. He added that he had never felt more isolated than when he worked with a finance director who was only interested in the numbers, but felt best served when working with one who was engaged with him and challenged him.

Su Sayer, chief executive of United Response, said the top things she wanted from a finance director were realism and not reckless optimism about things like budgets; timely information with a focus on clearly showing what the trends were; and some slack and "cushioning" in budgets. "Chief executives need to be able to concentrate on changing things for the better without worrying about resources," she said.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the voluntary sector network, click here.

• Finance
• Voluntary sector network blog
• Voluntary sector
• Charities

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Lupus LA's largest annual fundraiser, the Orange Ball is a special evening devoted to honoring individuals who work to improve the lives of those living with lupus through medical research, advocacy, and increasing awareness.

This year’s event will take place at Beverly Wilshire Hotel tonight, May 9.

Lupus LA will honor Jason Alexander with the prestigious Loop Award, Dr. Jay Schapira with the Daniel J. Wallace Founder’s Award and Dr. Stanley J. Naides of the Quest Diagnostics with the Medical Visionary Award.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10152-lupus-la-to-hold-star-studded-orange-ball-tonight

Go shwopping – and no, that’s not a spelling mistake – and fight poverty with Oxfam and M&S.

Video: Shwopping - The One Day Wardrobe Clearout

Oxfam and M&S launched shwopping in April 2012, a new idea that makes it even easier to give your unwanted clothes a second life.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10151-go-shwopping-with-m-and-s-and-oxfam

There will be real opportunities for the voluntary sector in public service delivery

Charities need to influence public service delivery processes if they want to avoid letting opportunities pass them by, delegates at the Charity Finance Group's annual conference heard yesterday.

Speaking during a session on the challenges of delivering public services, John Tizard, an independent strategic advisor and commentator on public policy and affairs, said there would be real opportunities for the voluntary sector in public service delivery.

"But if we're not careful it won't be on the terms we want, and if not it may pass us by, so we need to get in there and influence it," he said.

He said it was important for charities to think about how they were going to sustain their organisations for the sake of their beneficiaries. "We don't know how long the economy is going to flatline," he said. "The likelihood is that we're not going to see growth for the foreseeable future."

He said government had indicated there were very few parts of public services that could not be delivered by other sectors.

However he said that some of the trends in contracts for the delivery of these services, such as a focus on price rather than quality, and payment by results, were not always sympathetic to the voluntary sector. "We're going to have to think about how we're going to become harder to the harshness of the commissioners and the procurers," he said.

Although there were opportunities in this area for collaboration with the private sector to deliver services, Tizard said this should be treated as a joint venture. "We may not have capital but we need to understand the value we have for our private sector partner," he said. "There are services we can provide in a way that the private sector partner cannot."

He said it was important for charities to remain mission and value driven, but that it would also be increasingly important to have a commercial mindset. "We've got to be much more skilled at risk management and having the commercial acumen," he said.

Speaking in an earlier session at the conference on working innovatively with the private sector, Fran Pollard, executive director of business and growth at Catch22, which has been working in partnership with Serco and Turning Point for a number of years to deliver public services, said it had learnt a lot about contracting and negotiation skills through the alliance.

"It's given us an opportunity to learn a lot of things," she said. But she said it was important for the charity to remember it had a lot to offer too. "We need to keep that in mind and value what we are putting on the table," she said.

Responding to a question from the audience, she said the charity would not be against direct contracting in the future. "If there were opportunities we would have conversations with our partners," she said. "There's room for both."

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the voluntary sector network, click here.

• Finance
• Voluntary sector network blog
• Voluntary sector
• Charities

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Smile Train is the world’s leading cleft charity with thousands of partners and programs in over 80 of the world’s poorest countries. Their mission is to help the millions of children in developing countries who are suffering with unrepaired clefts.

They provide free cleft surgery to children from desperately poor families, giving them not just a new smile, but a new life. Now in its tenth year, Smile Train has helped over 800,000 children.

Read more about Smile Train's work and celebrity supporters.

A new Donor Experience guide is out from Crown Philanthropic Solutions.  While it is written for community foundations and others providing giving platforms, the useful tips apply to all fundraisers.  Here are some of the recommendations. 

Online giving should be:

1. Social: Personal connections are essential, so donors must be able to easily share their cause with friends and family.  Giving is often a way to bring people together.  Says the guide, “Many families rally around charitable giving as the touch point to stay connected as generations grow up. This, in turn, provides a philanthropic home base as family members become separated geographically.”

2. Emotional: The giving experience should make donors feel closely connected to the cause.  Says the guide: “The act of giving is an expression of gratitude and a search for meaning, which in turn leads to happiness. In a series of studies at the University of California, people categorized as “grateful” reported feeling 25 percent more happiness and energy—and 20 percent less envy and resentment—than ungrateful people. Americans want to be happy. And they expect their experiences with philanthropy to help get them there.”

3. Easy: Online giving must be intuitive, easy, fun and personally satisfying. “Online technology is evolving from a purely transactional medium to a powerful tool for delivering an enhanced donor experience,” notes the guide.  “The winning tools in online philanthropy will be those that create a positive experience for donors—a trusted home for their giving—in a format that is intuitive, visual and as simple to navigate and use as Amazon.com, from a desktop or a mobile device.”

4. Reliable: “Transparency and transactional accuracy are essential, because in the end, charity is about trust.” Donors must trust the system and know their charitable investment dollars are being handled responsibly.

For more tips, you can get the full guide online here.

Researchers at the Centre for Charitable Giving are investigating the reasons why prominent entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, become philanthropic

"How do you become philanthropic?," is a question that has never really been studied in depth. What does the journey from entrepreneur to philanthropist look like, and how can we chart these experiences to help the cause of more and increasingly effective giving?

Our research team, based at the universities of Newcastle, Exeter and Strathclyde, has conducted a major initiative to understand the experiences of entrepreneurs turned philanthropists: the 'big-givers' of all backgrounds, whether they are local or international players, who have become committed to sharing their wealth. The group will present its findings on "Understanding the philanthropic journey" at a CGAP Conference in London on Thursday where they will co-present with two leading entrepreneur-philanthropists: Sir Tom Hunter of West Coast Capital and Hunter Foundation, and Rakesh Bharti Mittal of Bharti Enterprises and Bharti Foundation.

We want this research to show there is a logical process at play which many struggle to understand. Entrepreneurs apply the same rigour and disciplines from the world of commerce to the charitable sector, which suggests there is in fact a science to giving at this level that can be replicated and learned from.

Entrepreneurs bring business methods and disciplines to philanthropy – they don't like wasting money and like to be focussed and planned and their charitable partners to be vetted. Andrew Carnegie, a man famed for the mass manufacture of steel in America, is perhaps the best example of this.

His pervasive influence within the field of philanthropy stems more than anything from his treatise on 'wealth', known as 'The Gospel of Wealth', where he concludes: "the problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and the poor in harmonious relationship." Through his charitable projects Andrew Carnegie gave away almost everything he had earned to a wide range of projects, from arts to education. Entrepreneurs tend to be gifted in recognising and consciously applying the principles of capital accumulation. This is critical to making philanthropy more effective at a time when there is increasing inequality of wealth and income. What are the hallmarks of entrepreneurial philanthropy? Our research shows the following:

• It is the pursuit by entrepreneurs on a not-for-profit basis of big social objectives through active involvement of their economic, cultural, social and symbolic resources.

• They apply business-like methods when making social investments: key performance indicators and rates of return.

• Entrepreneurs invest more than simply money to their causes: time, connections, the 'know-how', branding.

• They like to leverage investments and frequently partner with others, including governments.

• Businessmen and women don't believe in giving handouts. They want to help others to help themselves.

Our studies have also shown that philanthropy is not a one way street. Entrepreneurs benefit from forms of capital, like honorary titles, degrees and recognition. Their world becomes a lot richer, they meet interesting people and come to mix in very interesting circles. What they learn can be turned to economic advantage. The possession of this status and level of connections within the world helps build philanthropy further over time. Therefore, giving encourages these greater returns and helps facilitate more philanthropic enterprises.

A large aspect of the research has been interviewing businessmen and women confronted by the burdensome issue of what to do with more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime. We have asked why they decided to become philanthropic and what they got out of it.

Their motivation is often revealed in their personal experiences and personal values. What makes them get involved in the voluntary sector is commonly understood to be a landmark event within their life that triggers a transition. One entrepreneur said the death of his mother from cancer in 2008 had prompted the change:

"Suddenly life felt a bit meaningless. We were sitting there in a big house in Berkshire, with a house in the south of France, and two beautiful little girls and everything seems perfect ... It [the death of his mother] made me feel more emotional ... It probably made me start thinking about giving ... I think another thing is when I sold the business I didn't know, I felt like I wanted to start giving but I didn't know how to or who to give to or what way to do it, I hadn't a clue, no one teaches you how to be philanthropic."

While entrepreneurs have all the intellectual capacity to make giving more effective, they frequently search for the guidance to become philanthropic. What we need are more stories to be told by philanthropists because they are its best advocates.

We also need access to fellow philanthropists to share their experiences. The level of giving relative to wealth and also need is nowhere near as high as it could or should be. What we witness are some very generous individuals among a lot of people who do little or nothing. A lot can be learned from these practised entrepreneurs and philanthropic groups, such as The Philanthropy Fellowship led by UK Community Foundations and funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, to inspire more and better philanthropy.

The voluntary redistribution of wealth, however, cannot serve as a substitute for welfare in times of austerity. IMF figures (2012) show there is a clear relationship between income inequality and the dynamics of the global economy. The gap between the top 5% and the rest of us has risen very sharply since the early 1980s in the UK & US and other countries of the developed world. As profits and top pay rise it becomes more obvious that this is unsustainable. The power of entrepreneurial philanthropy lies in helping others to help themselves and seize opportunities for betterment.

Professor Charles Harvey is pro-vice-chancellor for humanities and social sciences at Newcastle University

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the Guardian Voluntary Sector Network, click here.

• Voluntary sector network blog
• Impact and effectiveness
• Philanthropy
• Voluntary sector
• Bill Gates
• Warren Buffett
• Charitable giving
• Consumer affairs
• Charities
• Newcastle University

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Researchers at the Centre for Charitable Giving are investigating the reasons why prominent entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, become philanthropic

"How do you become philanthropic?," is a question that has never really been studied in depth. What does the journey from entrepreneur to philanthropist look like, and how can we chart these experiences to help the cause of more and increasingly effective giving?

Our research team, based at the universities of Newcastle, Exeter and Strathclyde, has conducted a major initiative to understand the experiences of entrepreneurs turned philanthropists: the 'big-givers' of all backgrounds, whether they are local or international players, who have become committed to sharing their wealth. The group will present its findings on "Understanding the philanthropic journey" at a CGAP Conference in London on Thursday where they will co-present with two leading entrepreneur-philanthropists: Sir Tom Hunter of West Coast Capital and Hunter Foundation, and Rakesh Bharti Mittal of Bharti Enterprises and Bharti Foundation.

We want this research to show there is a logical process at play which many struggle to understand. Entrepreneurs apply the same rigour and disciplines from the world of commerce to the charitable sector, which suggests there is in fact a science to giving at this level that can be replicated and learned from.

Entrepreneurs bring business methods and disciplines to philanthropy – they don't like wasting money and like to be focussed and planned and their charitable partners to be vetted. Andrew Carnegie, a man famed for the mass manufacture of steel in America, is perhaps the best example of this.

His pervasive influence within the field of philanthropy stems more than anything from his treatise on 'wealth', known as 'The Gospel of Wealth', where he concludes: "the problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and the poor in harmonious relationship." Through his charitable projects Andrew Carnegie gave away almost everything he had earned to a wide range of projects, from arts to education. Entrepreneurs tend to be gifted in recognising and consciously applying the principles of capital accumulation. This is critical to making philanthropy more effective at a time when there is increasing inequality of wealth and income. What are the hallmarks of entrepreneurial philanthropy? Our research shows the following:

• It is the pursuit by entrepreneurs on a not-for-profit basis of big social objectives through active involvement of their economic, cultural, social and symbolic resources.

• They apply business-like methods when making social investments: key performance indicators and rates of return.

• Entrepreneurs invest more than simply money to their causes: time, connections, the 'know-how', branding.

• They like to leverage investments and frequently partner with others, including governments.

• Businessmen and women don't believe in giving handouts. They want to help others to help themselves.

Our studies have also shown that philanthropy is not a one way street. Entrepreneurs benefit from forms of capital, like honorary titles, degrees and recognition. Their world becomes a lot richer, they meet interesting people and come to mix in very interesting circles. What they learn can be turned to economic advantage. The possession of this status and level of connections within the world helps build philanthropy further over time. Therefore, giving encourages these greater returns and helps facilitate more philanthropic enterprises.

A large aspect of the research has been interviewing businessmen and women confronted by the burdensome issue of what to do with more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime. We have asked why they decided to become philanthropic and what they got out of it.

Their motivation is often revealed in their personal experiences and personal values. What makes them get involved in the voluntary sector is commonly understood to be a landmark event within their life that triggers a transition. One entrepreneur said the death of his mother from cancer in 2008 had prompted the change:

"Suddenly life felt a bit meaningless. We were sitting there in a big house in Berkshire, with a house in the south of France, and two beautiful little girls and everything seems perfect ... It [the death of his mother] made me feel more emotional ... It probably made me start thinking about giving ... I think another thing is when I sold the business I didn't know, I felt like I wanted to start giving but I didn't know how to or who to give to or what way to do it, I hadn't a clue, no one teaches you how to be philanthropic."

While entrepreneurs have all the intellectual capacity to make giving more effective, they frequently search for the guidance to become philanthropic. What we need are more stories to be told by philanthropists because they are its best advocates.

We also need access to fellow philanthropists to share their experiences. The level of giving relative to wealth and also need is nowhere near as high as it could or should be. What we witness are some very generous individuals among a lot of people who do little or nothing. A lot can be learned from these practised entrepreneurs and philanthropic groups, such as The Philanthropy Fellowship led by UK Community Foundations and funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, to inspire more and better philanthropy.

The voluntary redistribution of wealth, however, cannot serve as a substitute for welfare in times of austerity. IMF figures (2012) show there is a clear relationship between income inequality and the dynamics of the global economy. The gap between the top 5% and the rest of us has risen very sharply since the early 1980s in the UK & US and other countries of the developed world. As profits and top pay rise it becomes more obvious that this is unsustainable. The power of entrepreneurial philanthropy lies in helping others to help themselves and seize opportunities for betterment.

Professor Charles Harvey is pro-vice-chancellor for humanities and social sciences at Newcastle University

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the Guardian Voluntary Sector Network, click here.

• Voluntary sector network blog
• Impact and effectiveness
• Philanthropy
• Voluntary sector
• Bill Gates
• Warren Buffett
• Charitable giving
• Consumer affairs
• Charities
• Newcastle University

guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Researchers at the Centre for Charitable Giving are investigating the reasons why prominent entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, become philanthropic

"How do you become philanthropic?," is a question that has never really been studied in depth. What does the journey from entrepreneur to philanthropist look like, and how can we chart these experiences to help the cause of more and increasingly effective giving?

Our research team, based at the universities of Newcastle, Exeter and Strathclyde, has conducted a major initiative to understand the experiences of entrepreneurs turned philanthropists: the 'big-givers' of all backgrounds, whether they are local or international players, who have become committed to sharing their wealth. The group will present its findings on "Understanding the philanthropic journey" at a CGAP Conference in London on Thursday where they will co-present with two leading entrepreneur-philanthropists: Sir Tom Hunter of West Coast Capital and Hunter Foundation, and Rakesh Bharti Mittal of Bharti Enterprises and Bharti Foundation.

We want this research to show there is a logical process at play which many struggle to understand. Entrepreneurs apply the same rigour and disciplines from the world of commerce to the charitable sector, which suggests there is in fact a science to giving at this level that can be replicated and learned from.

Entrepreneurs bring business methods and disciplines to philanthropy – they don't like wasting money and like to be focussed and planned and their charitable partners to be vetted. Andrew Carnegie, a man famed for the mass manufacture of steel in America, is perhaps the best example of this.

His pervasive influence within the field of philanthropy stems more than anything from his treatise on 'wealth', known as 'The Gospel of Wealth', where he concludes: "the problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and the poor in harmonious relationship." Through his charitable projects Andrew Carnegie gave away almost everything he had earned to a wide range of projects, from arts to education. Entrepreneurs tend to be gifted in recognising and consciously applying the principles of capital accumulation. This is critical to making philanthropy more effective at a time when there is increasing inequality of wealth and income. What are the hallmarks of entrepreneurial philanthropy? Our research shows the following:

• It is the pursuit by entrepreneurs on a not-for-profit basis of big social objectives through active involvement of their economic, cultural, social and symbolic resources.

• They apply business-like methods when making social investments: key performance indicators and rates of return.

• Entrepreneurs invest more than simply money to their causes: time, connections, the 'know-how', branding.

• They like to leverage investments and frequently partner with others, including governments.

• Businessmen and women don't believe in giving handouts. They want to help others to help themselves.

Our studies have also shown that philanthropy is not a one way street. Entrepreneurs benefit from forms of capital, like honorary titles, degrees and recognition. Their world becomes a lot richer, they meet interesting people and come to mix in very interesting circles. What they learn can be turned to economic advantage. The possession of this status and level of connections within the world helps build philanthropy further over time. Therefore, giving encourages these greater returns and helps facilitate more philanthropic enterprises.

A large aspect of the research has been interviewing businessmen and women confronted by the burdensome issue of what to do with more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime. We have asked why they decided to become philanthropic and what they got out of it.

Their motivation is often revealed in their personal experiences and personal values. What makes them get involved in the voluntary sector is commonly understood to be a landmark event within their life that triggers a transition. One entrepreneur said the death of his mother from cancer in 2008 had prompted the change:

"Suddenly life felt a bit meaningless. We were sitting there in a big house in Berkshire, with a house in the south of France, and two beautiful little girls and everything seems perfect ... It [the death of his mother] made me feel more emotional ... It probably made me start thinking about giving ... I think another thing is when I sold the business I didn't know, I felt like I wanted to start giving but I didn't know how to or who to give to or what way to do it, I hadn't a clue, no one teaches you how to be philanthropic."

While entrepreneurs have all the intellectual capacity to make giving more effective, they frequently search for the guidance to become philanthropic. What we need are more stories to be told by philanthropists because they are its best advocates.

We also need access to fellow philanthropists to share their experiences. The level of giving relative to wealth and also need is nowhere near as high as it could or should be. What we witness are some very generous individuals among a lot of people who do little or nothing. A lot can be learned from these practised entrepreneurs and philanthropic groups, such as The Philanthropy Fellowship led by UK Community Foundations and funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, to inspire more and better philanthropy.

The voluntary redistribution of wealth, however, cannot serve as a substitute for welfare in times of austerity. IMF figures (2012) show there is a clear relationship between income inequality and the dynamics of the global economy. The gap between the top 5% and the rest of us has risen very sharply since the early 1980s in the UK & US and other countries of the developed world. As profits and top pay rise it becomes more obvious that this is unsustainable. The power of entrepreneurial philanthropy lies in helping others to help themselves and seize opportunities for betterment.

Professor Charles Harvey is pro-vice-chancellor for humanities and social sciences at Newcastle University

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I subscribe to “Which Test Won” — a feed that proselytizes for A/B testing — both for the fun of testing my own instincts (and often disagreeing with their analysis) and just to remind myself that tweaks of copy, design and imagery, based upon testing, indeed matter.

Here’s a recent test (actually a replay from 2009) that caught my eye, literally, because it was a test of two images.

The email feed subject line said: Happy Baby vs Sleepy Newborn Image Test. How could I/you resist?

When this test was first presented in 2009, 88% of readers got it wrong … they picked the loser. In the current test, 75% have gotten it wrong so far!

The winning image produced 12.6% more responses. Not insignificant lift.

And this time I definitely agree with their analysis.

Go ahead … be brave … take the test.

This test involves an online offer … no excuse for not testing in an instance like this. Especially when the ‘gut’ choice’ of professional marketers can prove so wrong.

Apart from encouraging you to test, I have another point … do not be casual about choosing images to support your fundraising. Don’t get lost in the copy and design, then throw in some stock photos as an afterthought. Think it through.

If you put yourself in the heart of the person reading the promotion tested above, you can’t go wrong. Even a guy can get this one right!

Tom

P.S. I’ll place a hopeful bet that our savvy fundraising readers will do much better on this one. But still no reason to not test.

 

Good session, as always, for the travelling fundraising academic.

Some really interesting tips on legacies from him, all backed up with research of course...

In 2011, 4200 charities in the UK received legacy income
Top ten of them charities accounted for 32% of the legacies
And the top 50 legacy charities (just over 1%) account for 55%

Grand kids are more negatively influential on will writing than all the good indicators such as volunteering donating etc. make sure you acknowledge this. Childlessness is increasing in USA - Adrian asked if it was in New Zealand, and the answer is yes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10773770

'A gift in your will' is a better phrase than 'legacy' or 'bequest' because it is more inclusive, more acceptable no people who think their estate is going to be too small.

Telling people why they should tell you that they have put your cause in their will - 'so we can plan for the future' is not a motivator. NSPCC spells out that you don't need to tell us, but if you do we would love to thank you.

Probably best approach is that which spells put how you will thank.

He also reckons drop the puns - will to help, where there's a will there's a way etc.

Focus on looking after the future - people (generally) are not expecting to die soon.

A good campaign should not look at the same sort of motivations as a gift now. For example, no need to say what exactly you would use the money for ($20 to make a blind man see) - concrete examples are good for donations now, but for legacies be more value based.

Present-
concrete (examples)
subordinate (the building blocks)
contextual (the work that is going on now, the number of families helped)
unstructured

Future-
abstract (values)
superodinate (I missed what this meant whilst I was typing)
decontextualised (more big picture, social change etc)
Structured (like show what you did in 1960s, 70s, 80s, etc and what you are going to do in 20 years time, 30 years etc) though better to say in 20 years time, not 'in the 2020s'

Check out Human Rights Watch 'a lasting contribution to your beliefs in human dignity'

Emotion is fine to use in legacy solicitation but the time between call to action and actual action is longer than other fundraising so does need more logical stuff because 'emotions discount faster than logic'

In 'immediate' fundraising you use negative consequences of not giving, (give us the money or..x won't happen), which is right. But for legacies, talk more about the positive impacts and benefits. This is because people are more optimistic about the future...

Adrian then presented lots of good (and bad) examples of good legacy packs.

Great stuff, thanks as always Adrian.








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