Individual giving

The clocks go back by one hour this weekend.

In the words of Ant watching Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent;

You didn't expect that did you, no?

I'm loving the St John's Ambulance First Aid campaign for exactly that reason.  Using shock tactics for the sake of it or being controversial just to get a reaction aren't the most successful ways to endear audiences to our cause but confounding expectations is something different altogether.

In my learning from the Blackbaud conference this week in Washington DC, I’ve been to a couple of interesting sessions on tribute fundraising.

I heard an interesting case study at the bbcon (Blackbaud Conference for Nonprofits) in Washington DC, from Boston Children’s Hospital (and their local US agency Charity Dynamics).

The International Fundraising Congress takes place in Holland next month.

Cord is an international peace building charity working in Africa and south East Asia for over 45 years.

One of the most common issues we see in organisations trying to fundraise or sell, is a failure to recognise the importance of differentiation.

A charity copywriter, editor and communicator that I respect and admire, Gideon Burrows, is starting a new adventure away from his business, ngo.media.  I think his ideas and approach will be missed and I wanted to share one of the things he shared about how to find inspiration for great copy, that has stuck with me for several years.

In that small special mini-sink in between the kitchen sink and the draining board in our kitchen lives a simple chrome cutlery drainer.  You know the sort, all silvery with partitions in it to help your knives and forks stay upright and drain properly.  Nothing flash, just functional and in-keeping with the rest of the sink furniture.

But it's getting rusty.

It wasn't expensive but nor was it bargain-basement, discount-shop cheap.  It's also less than 18 months old.  I don't suppose it has the world's greatest chrome plating but as a mid-price product I doubt it has the world's worst either.

But it's getting rusty.

A product that is intended from the outset to spend much of it's working life getting wet and holding implements that go into people's mouths and that should have therefore been made to be fit for purpose is getting rusty.

Yes this is a blog about Cancer Research UK’s re-brand... but it’s not a typical analysis.  Others have done this already and there’s not much I can add to what’s already been shared (a quick Google search will show you what I mean).

Instead I want to focus on the absence of outrage which I find hugely interesting.  Previous high profile charity rebranding exercises have come under criticism from the sector and donors alike as being at best a vanity exercise and at worst a waste of donors’ funds.