Training

With Third Sector’s announcement last week that it is to start charging for acc

There aren't too many fundraising books that deserve the accolade of 'classic' but I'd say Marion Allford's guide to one-off capital appeals "Charity Appeals: the Complete Guide to Success" qualifies.

I interviewed a lot of people during my two days at this year's Institute of Fundraising National Convention in July in London. Here are the videos all in one place.

There is a Little Britain TV sketch showing the funny side of what passes as customer/supporter service in modern Britain.  Basically, it parodies the fact that many front line staff appear to have been totally disempowered when it comes to dealing with the public. 'I can't do anything as it's a system-generated decision...' is heard from call -centres all too frequently. This provokes two questions:

1. Do organisations think that supporters and customers care in any way shape or form that THEIR system is the problem?
2. Do the same organisations think customers and supporters can be placated by hearing that it's the computer's fault?!?

Harvard Business Review's Management Tips of the day on 21st July included '3 Ways to Convince a Skeptic'.  Overall I agreed with two out of three but I honestly don't think that stroking egos works more than the first time you try it (unless your sceptic is unperceptive and stupid). That's because 'convincing' is about more than persuading. 

In the worlds of marketing, fundraising, communications, sales and lots of other organisational affairs, it's about engaging with the sceptics sufficiently so that they will act in the way you need them to.

Last week, I came across an interesting article written by Suzanne Lucas on the BNET site entitled "9 signs your HR manager is terrible". In a nutshell, it's about how a commercial HR function doesn't always help the business achieve it's goals.

If you take a look you will immediately notice that it's fairly commercial and yes, a little USA-centric but there's a lot here other sectors and cultures can learn from. I'm no HR expert but like many, I've led and managed plenty of people and worked in lots of teams across commercial and non-profit sectors.

Consequently, the article got me to thinking about how some of the organisations I've been exposed to over the last 20 years have maybe missed the 'people' point. Here's my top five tangible things we don't always seem to do to focus on our people as the best way of helping us to meet our bottom line objectives, whatever they are. (Incidentally, by "HR", I mean the people in your organisation who are responsible for HR-type tasks - I know we don't all have a dedicated HR department)

You and your colleagues write some good compelling material for your website and Facebook page.

Which fundraising guides are available on Kindle, Amazon's ebook device? Many more than you might expect. Here are just some of them.

Yesterday's third annual Fundraising Ireland conference in Dublin was attended by over 300 fundraisers, having sold out a couple of weeks before.

Dear Trustees and Executives

The Sunday Times this week published its list of the top 100 third sector places to work, 76 of which were charities. Whilst the authors wouldn't pretend that the findings are representative of every single charity in the UK, they might help us (I am a Trustee too) as a collective of leaders to think about the factors which make our organisations positive places to work. It seems that there are still significant differences between the commercial and not for profit sectors in terms of what motivates people to work there (no kidding) so I recommend we start focusing on these:

• Charity staff value highly the opportunity to give something back. Perhaps we can make the results of their contributions more specific and more obvious? I'm thinking internal communications, appraisals and reviews... simple and sincere thanks?
• The vast majority believe their organisation makes a positive difference to the world - surely something that we should reinforce with evidence and beneficiary stories wherever relevant to ensure staff stay engaged with the cause.