Attention Canadian based readers: Surviving and thriving in challenging times...

For those Canadian based readers, here is a quick plug to the upcoming event I am proud to be involved in with my good friends at Canadian Fundraiser.

The event Surviving and Thriving in Challenging times, sponsored by Pareto Fundraising to be held in Toronto on the 17th of February will bring together people from all parts of the sector to discuss what is happening out there in the trenches, and how we can best manage these turbulent times.

This is a Canadian first, with nothing else of this magnitude been run here to date. It's aimed at Executive Directors, trustees and senior fundraising professionals.

It's an interesting bunch of talented people presenting on the panel and presenting. Oh, and I managed to score a gig as well.

We've got representatives from large and small charities, we've got researchers, consultants, leading Canadian philanthropists and social entrepreneurs.

The day promises to be full of meaty and useful information, lots of interesting discussion, some data to show what's really happening as well as some practical advice on what to do moving forward from some of the best in the industry.

Check it out.

Jonathon

Don't mention the economy...

You may recall some debate as to whether you should mention the economy in your appeal letters... I asked if anyone tests it to tell me the results.

Mark from bluefrog did - the idea was that maybe average donation would increase if they talked about the economic woes.

Mentioning the economy in a carefully controlled test they found that it harmed average gift considerably. I don't know the response rate but presum no significant difference or he would have said.

See the whole article here.

So, be careful about mentioning it!

Sean

Financial Times reckons corporate giving may be up

At 4,000 words you need to put the kettle on before diving into this brilliant article but it is worth it.

A thorough report, starting with the Quakers in the 19th century it takes on a journey of corporate giving right up to now.

Please take time out to read this one, and keep it handy for when the boss is asking why you are not getting tons of money from big business.

If you haven't time to read it here is the bottom line:

Corporates (in the UK, and the USA) give so little cash to charity that the economic woes won't make much difference. What about the £1.1bn companies are meant to give in the UK per annum? A quarter of that is in-kind donations of drugs from one company, and much of the rest is 'in kind' too.

The article explains the history of corporate giving (in the UK) and also explains why they give so little.

Check it out here.

Christmas / Holiday Appeal Results

Here in Australia, Christmas time is a big charity time and this was an unusual Christmas with people worrying about what may happen with the economic downturn and giving.

In February, I am going to have a look at as many Christmas house mailing* results as I can and give some feedback on this blog. I will be looking for:

1. Any information that shows whether Christmas 2008 bucked the trends


2. Any tactics / ideas people implemented - that worked or didn't


3. Clues to what may happen next.

Why? Not just for academic interest. The information can hopefully join your other inputs and research to help with your budget planning and also there may be some specific tactics you can implement next time.

Please help. Email me your results, or if you are an agency then any results you can get hold of- but only if you can give me a context. I will credit those who want it but won't be using the information in a way that can identify which charity / agency it came from - unless you explicitly invite me to use yours as a named case study.

*By house mailing, I mean mailings to people who had donated to you previously. I don't mind how long ago provided similar selections were made in previous years.

Let me know, for Christmas mailings of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008

1) How many (warm) people were mailed

2) How many sent a donation

3) The total income - just immediate donations, if you asked for regular or monthly gifts, please add that in comments

4) Comments (eg '2006 was really high because we had a capital appeal...', or '...in 2008 we tried an entire new approach by...' 'also 55 new monthly gifts @ av $32.22 per month'.)

Please, please send it in Excel format, with the five years (2004,2005,2006,2007,2008) down the side and the four fields (mailed, responded, income, across the top. This will make it easier for me to copy and paste and do my comparisons. You can have a look at a sample below or here.

Thanks a lot,

Sean

2009 - a great new year for charities!?

Happy new year. And I mean it, no doom and gloom here.

I am excited and looking forward to it. A decent break over Christmas and New Year was not tempered by my return to work and reading lots of bad news - I think it is going to force change that is needed and can only be good for the communities we serve.

Surely 2009 is going to be a revolutionary year for the charity sector? The whole economic disaster will force better practice, smart strategy and clear, measurable tactics.

There is simply not enough room for complacency or whim. Charities will need to be tough, hold their staff accountable - even 'rich' and 'safe' organisations with big endowments are having to take a good look at themselves.

And the sector must prevail - tough economic times mean we are needed more than ever, so let us make this a turning point for the sector.

I will keep this blog going since even whilst I was away there were a few posts up and hundreds of visits. Thanks for reading, and please send me information and details about how you are changing your charity (unless you were perfect of course!).

Thanks

Sean

All the best for 2009.

Data suggests that corporations continue giving in the US

Some interesting data that recently came out of the US.

According to a recent report produced by LGB Research, over 70 major US corporations and corporate foundations that participated in their email survey expect to see no change in their charitable giving in 2009.

It also reports that 80 percent of corporations will be more strategic in their giving; with many of those surveyed indicating their corporation will support organisations that can show greater impact and who are more aligned with their corporate goals.

The research also suggests that the anticipated 12.1 percent drop in charitable donations predicted in the Giving US 2002 report will most likely to be as little as 3 to 5 percent.

To read a summary of the research click here.

Is it too late to start really looking after your donors?

Matt Parkes from bluefrog just posted an interesting piece about relationship marketing/fundraising in light of the current economic climate and the credit crunch.

In his posting, Matt indicates that he feels that it's probably a little late for serious investment in this area, given that what we are really doing is reacting to the turbulent times we are currently faced with.

I'm not so sure. Let's face it, most of the ingredients that bake the 'relationship fundraising' cake are fairly straightforward and easy to put in place. Being really nice to people, feeding back where their money has gone, keeping them updated, showing real impact and so on..

In theory easy things to do. In practice, maybe not so easy, as our mystery shopping studies over the past few years have illustrated.

But the point is: investing in CRM, supporter relationship management, relationship fundraising - call it what you will, doesn't necessarily mean enormous investments in sophisticated technology. It's actually about getting back to basics.

Matt says that "differentiation by customer service is increasingly important". I couldn't agree more.

I say this with a facetious tone in my voice: differentiating yourself from someone else could be as simple as thanking and thanking appropriately within two days, rather than four weeks...

He also goes on to suggest that "fundraisers must start to engage with donors, for example by regularly spending time with Supporter Services, opening post and seeing what they're saying about their appeals." Simple, but so true.

As I recently posted, let's not allow tradition to become destructive and inhibit growth. I often see silly things happening purely and simply because that's the way they have been done for the last 1, 2, 10 years...

Doing the things that we know are right, that enhance the relationship we have with our donors and ultimately translates to more value, don't have to be extortionately expensive in both time and dollars. Even if doing the 'right things' require a shift from the way you have 'traditionally' done something - if it makes sense then just do it.

Remember, let's get back to basics.

Jonathon