Management

As Seneca wrote, if you don’t know which harbour you are heading for, no wind is the right wind. He probably didn’t have fundraising in mind, but his quotation is strangely relevant to charity business planning today.

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. 

Social franchising is a buzz phrase at the moment, although it has nothing to do with social media. What is it and why might it be important for charities?

Are you a member of a fundraising consortium? How many are there and what models do they use?

It’s a simple enough premise. If your customers, supporters or volunteers ‘speak’ with you about their needs, wants or a complaint, pay attention! It’s about having good internal communications and this means putting in place both the means for your people to communicate as well as nurturing the will for your colleagues to communicate with each other for everyone’s benefit.

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.

I was reading the tweets from the very useful @marketingdonut team and was pleased to see them share  renowned marketing expert Drayton Bird’s “35 things I have found to be almost always true”.  I was pleased to see it again as I didn’t get the chance to add to the list from a not-for-profit perspective... something I aim to put right below for the most impactful of Mr Bird’s points:

1. Relevance matters more than originality – 100% agree but originality tends to get more cut-through than cliché
2. The most important element in any creative endeavour is the brief – ie; the robust thinking that went into it and how the organisation can articulate that to an outsider
3. The urgent takes precedence over the important – but a mixture of both is likely to be the right thing to do (if your plans are robust, that is)
4. The customer you want is like the customer you’ve got – so true... but as well as the new types of donor, volunteer or supporter, not instead of!
5. The internet is just accelerated direct marketing – I think it's more than DM these days.  Perhaps it’s just a hugely powerful means to achieving a whole raft of objectives (including traditional direct marketing)?
   

The articles I write for UK Fundraising are mainly about charity consumerism – how charities harness the power of consumers to diversify their revenue stream.

This week I’ve seen several blogs and tweets from people whose thinking I respect touching on the subject of putting your audience at the centre of your actions.  Some have suggested that the audience should always be the driving force and others have posited that true innovation might not be possible if you do.