Giving / Philanthropy

For our fundraising teams 2013 has already been a year of tremendous learning.  But the biggest, conclusive, insight so far is this:

We cannot fundraise alone.

When I was 18 my employer sent me on an Outward Bound course to Aberdovey, in Wales, in winter. It sorted me out; made a man of me. I loved every minute of it.

Put together by Craig Linton, the Fundraising Detective, here are the next few tips in our 12 Tips of christmas feature (you can read the first three tips here, in case you missed them):

 4. Review your processes to make sure they are donor focussed

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.

Tempted though I am to lambast the current generation of slacker fundraisers for failing to raise as much income as their predecessors, I feel that CAF's survey was seriously flawed if it really inten

How would you define philanthropy? My suggestion would be supporting others by donating to good causes. Now think how you would pitch that concept to a teenager or young adult?

Sounds counter-intuitive doesn't it?  Surely our selfless motivations, if  we really believe that "we are all in it together" should prompt us to ask "where can I help?".

But we're not all altruistic to the point of self-sacrifice because increasingly we can't afford to be.  Perhaps the most realistic expectation is to ask "what's in it for us?" where "us" means our nearest and dearest as well as our broader community and associations.

Why am I talking about this philosophical stuff, you may ask...? Because if we as organisations want anything from other individuals or organisations, I believe we need to understand the distinction between the above positions very clearly.  There is a tried and tested marketing concept called the value equation which suggests that in order to elicit the action we want from target audiences, we have to offer something commensurateand meaningful to them in order for them to perceive value in doing it.

On holiday in Devon recently, I visited the famous Donkey Sanctuary (yes really!). Two things struck me. Firstly, entry was free – a great way to attract new donors from around the country. Secondly, on the walls around the site were huge boards naming their legacy donors, year by year - and I mean huge! They were unmissable and listed the many hundreds of people who have remembered this charity in their wills. So what can we learn from this?

Do you want to know how to easily write the ideal case study?  So would I. 

Unfortunately, in my experience there are too many variables for it to be ‘quick and easy’.

I’m not going to name names here but in the last fortnight, in the process of helping charity clients to write case studies I’ve come across many articles, e-books and blogs that all suggest a magic formula to what should be included in a good case study.  To be fair, lots of what I found makes sense in that they should be succinct wherever possible, outcomes-focused and in today’s multi-media world should contain images and even video links to show your work or outcomes in action. 

I found some particularly sound advice over at ngo media - if you appreciate an experienced view overlaid with common sense, this is a good place to start.

But here’s why I disagree with those who purport to having THE formula for a great case study – and it’s really obvious if you think about it...

Not all audiences want to see, hear or know the same things about us or our work.

There is plenty of free advice on fundraising on the web, but not much from donors. And here is a very good example from the latter type.