Individual giving

Last week I was one of the seventy million people who apparently viewed the Kony 2012 video. Probably as good an example of viral marketing as it is possible to get.

Following last week's blog around how charities could benefit by building closer relationships with their online donors, I've received comments from various charity folks I thought I would share which add to the debate. The Deputy Chief Executive of a volunteering services charity emailed me to ask;

...do charities in receipt of such donations (lucky so-and-so’s) really care about who is sending the money? I suppose giving by text etc is likely to involve relatively small amounts – not insignificant when you add them all up I grant – but only the really big charities with large staff teams have the luxury of relationship-forging with all their smaller donors I would have thought.

And I wondered if charities do think about the donors or just see the events and participants as their 'points of contact'?  If your charity has runners in the London marathon, I'll wager you look after them with T-shirts, training help, cheering and support along the course and maybe even a drink and somewhere to sit down after the event.  But do you know who actually donated all that money?

I've written a guest blog for the Guardian's Voluntary Sector network this week on the question of why charities should build more of their branding into their online fundraising platforms.  It's not about logos and identities, it's about creating more of a relationship between the donor and the charity as well as the one that exists between the donor and the fundraiser.

I believe organisations like Just Giving, Everyday Hero, Bmycharity and Virgin Money Giving (to name just a few) have done incredible work in helping a huge number of people raise money for important causes and so I'm certainly not being critical.  It just seems obvious to me that if donors have more of a relationship with the casue as well as the fundraiser they're sponsoring, then future donations will be easier to attract / develop...

Why is this important?  Because this is how successful charities turn one-off donations into ongoing giving ie; grater financial sustainability.  Here's the article in full, please do share your online fundraising thoughts...

http://bit.ly/zzRxBg

Whilst social media is still perceived as a cool set of communications tools, the debate continues to rage regarding hard facts-based ROI for fundraisers. This new article and infographic from the Care2 network shows a picture from the USA which suggests these channels are valued but that direct mail is still the daddy when it comes to fundraising success.

I've seen better results from UK charities (the now infamous NSPCC Facebook campaign and Comic Relief to name just two) so what do UK fundraisers think of this experience from the USA? Does it mirror what we're seeing here or are we ahead of the curve in terms of using social media for fundraising as opposed to building awareness?

Sometimes it pays to chase up a fake email. A journalist today forwarded me an email purportedly from the Santander Foundation, which had apparently been received by some charities.

Vasileios Kospanos explains, using digital curation tool Storify, how he was engaged and moved to make a donation.

There are hundreds if not thousands of people online offering technical and content advice on email marketing for business as well as for fundraising or campaigning. I'm not a technical expert so can't pretend to understand detailed coding or firewall issues but I do know a thing or two about content and about engaging readers.

Why do we want to engage readers? Because engaged readers are much more likely to do what you're asking them to do! Note the implication in that last sentence... you have to have a clear and compelling 'ASK' in every email whether it's for funds, to buy something, to sign-up to a campaign, to share with a friend or just to get further information - include an action.

I received a well-intentioned and polite email earlier this week from someone telling me about a schools reading project in Wales. Here's how it broke down:

For those feeling daunted by 2012, a word of encouragement. It’s not all bad news. Yes, things will be tough, but we’re all getting used to that. Nevertheless, you will still need something to carry you through the year and help you raise the funds your organisation depends on.

What a week of message contradictions we've noted at Bottom Line Ideas...

First there was research from Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) which showed Britain to be the fifth most charitable country in the world (up from eighth last year apparently). The same research also reported that nearly 80% of us give regularly to charity, second only to the Thais. Then we saw the British Government veto any further support to the IMF in support of specific Euro-zone bailouts - our European cousins perhaps not feeling our generosity quite so much.

Any regular readers will know how I often lament the lack of great marketing and fundraising ideas making it to fruition.  All too often, decisions are made to bin new ideas because there is no proven track record of success or because it’s simply ‘different to the way things are always done around here...’

This week, I’ve had my faith restored by two approaches to fundraising that in one case is working and in the other, I hope works.  But both are trying something different to stand out from the plethora of charity messages we all receive at this time of the year.