Australian Tax Time Appeal Analysis

For most Australian charities who mail DM appeals, our winter appeals (May-June) are often the most important, often more so than Christmas. These are known as 'tax appeals' because the end of the tax year is 30 June.

Fiona Paterson, data expert and senior consultant at Pareto Fundraising analysed a load of charities actual results - and it makes for good reading.

Has the recession hit Australian individual giving yet?

Check out the article here.

Sean

Charities and Recession on Radio National

Following a rather excellent 'Background Briefing' about charities in Australia, ABC Radio National hosted a pretty interesting show last night. I thought it was great, but am biased.

Some interesting thoughts from the public, and a host who started off pretty negative about face to face (direct dialogue) ended with a positive angle on it.

Check out the program here.

And last weeks Background Briefing here.

Fundraising wisdom from a beginner ski lesson

There’s no way to tell if it was that funky blue envelope that skewed your campaign results or the general collapse of global markets…

unless you also tested the white envelope.

I learned to ski a couple of weeks ago. After learning the fundamentals, but before heading up one of Canada’s mile-high mountains to really put myself in harm’s way, I asked my instructor, “If I suddenly find myself heading toward a cliff, a tree or an immobile human obstacle hunched in terror as I bear down upon it with flailing poles, what do I do? Is there a certain technique to minimize the damage or have the best chance of saving myself?”
The instructor said, “Yes, absolutely. Don’t look at whatever it is you’re trying to avoid. Stare at an object in a safer direction and make yourself go toward it. If you look at what you’re trying to avoid, you will crash right into it each and every time.”
I tested the instructor’s advice. I tested it both ways. First, by not following the advice, of course.

For fundraisers and aspiring skiers alike, it is unnatural, if not impossible at first, to follow the disaster avoidance technique my instructor shared with me. Essentially, “look away if you want to be OK.” There’s a certain satisfaction we get from being in control – from observing the catastrophe unfolding, documenting it and analyzing it with our senses – even as we head toward it at full speed. Following the instructor’s advice, on the other hand, requires temporarily abandoning some perceived control of the situation in order to ultimately regain it. I can distinctly remember the almost immediate effect I experienced when I decided to take my eyes off the snow covered spruce tree accelerating toward me. I shifted my gaze to the pretty horizon as far in the other direction as my neck would go and I immediately felt my efforts to avoid the tree take hold. My skis bit down in the snow as if I actually knew how to command them. I turned away in a satisfying arc, and the tree was no longer an obstacle.

This is not a random analogy but an uncanny match with the climate facing fundraisers and the tools we have to help our organisations succeed in spite of great external challenges. I feel compelled to put my beginner ski lesson experience together with some unfiltered observations on non-profit fundraising behavior in the recession. My work as a fundraising direct marketer connects me with dozens of non-profits in Canada and Europe. I am fortunate to have somewhat of a birds-eye view of several varying responses to economic hardship.

Here are some examples of cases where some of my clients are looking right into the eyes of the recession and are heading on the ideal path to become a casualty of it as a result. Others are actually prospering by embracing recession busting tips and long-term planning strategies that are strong strategies for any economy.

· A regional health organisation is cutting all premium-based control packages (address labels, notecards, etc.) from their fall fundraising direct mail plan. They project a noticeable decline in net revenue as a result. The charity is hoping to maintain a perception among donors that funds are being put to good use when times are tough. The charity acknowledges increases in short-term costs and risk by abandoning their control acquisition packages. And decreased long-term revenue resulting from fewer new donors that will hit the books in subsequent years.

· In response to economic conditions, two large charities eliminated all testing from their direct response fundraising strategies, citing “when times are tough, stick with what works.”

· A regional organization called attention to the declining results of a fundraising appeal by issuing a press release in a newspaper read by their donors and prospects. They publicly acknowledged the drop in results in 2008 compared with 2007 and asked for help making up the shortfall.

· Observed from decision makers in the past sixty days, in response to campaign revenues that were lower this year compared with the same period last year: “Maybe the control copy needs updating. Perhaps our minimum ask level is alienating donors whose financial circumstances have changed. Maybe we should change the package – it might look too expensive in the current economy. Etc.”

· “We can’t compete this year – we’re going to hold off on donor acquisition campaigns until things get better.” I have observed organisations with arts, education and international aid missions curtailing donor acquisition efforts because of apprehension over competitive market positioning. They have expressed an unsubstantiated fear that they cannot compete with other charities. We saw some of these attitudes expressed by fundraisers in the 2008 IFC poll regarding which types of charities would fare best in a declining economy. http://www.afpnet.org/content_documents/Survey%20global%20financial%20crisis.pdf.

Now, here's a rundown of recession busting fundraising solutions, all of which I’ve seen successfully deployed by my clients in response to some of the doom and gloom:

· Stress financial accountability, urgency and critical program information. A charity added a financial accountability insert to all of its donor fundraising appeals beginning in October. The accountability insert does not directly mention the global recession but highlights the specific needs that the non-profit is serving in the community around the time the appeal goes out. In many cases, their case for support has been strengthened by a weak economy because of increased demand for services.

· Avoid emotional “knee-jerk” decisions that will questionably have some kind of perceptual impact with donors but certainly create risk of overall income decline. You can know something about the preferences of a particular donor from what the donor tells you. But the only thing you know about your entire donor file is what the data tells you. Organisations that are already in touch with donor preferences through surveys and engagement techniques avoid making costly assumptions. However, some non-profits are showing a tendency to abandon data driven fundraising outlooks that have served the organization well year after year, in favor of new "insights" and theories on what donors are thinking. If you see this happening, ask "why?" It probably has more to do more with reading into consumer confidence and what's happening on the news than anything your donor data will tell you.

· Cutbacks that are conservation-based, e.g. energy savings and operations strategies, probably should have been in place before times got tough. Think twice about the immediate return on investment associated with implementing cutback decisions. These types of measures are a sound long-term strategy for any organisation but can’t be counted on to produce immediate returns. Focusing on them may distract from activities that have more promise to deliver incremental revenue. This is also not a donor-centric strategy. Don’t expect points from donors for “not wasting energy.” This kind of thing is now expected. Two of my clients recently used space in their newsletters and e-blasts to highlight new internal cost cutting strategies. The article came off as informative and reassuring but the info was not used in direct support of a financial gift.

· Don’t cry poverty. Certainly, don’t spend valuable ad space or dedicate portions of fundraising appeals to talking about how hard conditions are. Surely some donors some will empathize and respond but most will avoid this type of appeal angle altogether. Scarcity of resources creates additional scrutiny for the pool of resources we have left. Surely your core donors will want to hear about your latest accomplishments and funding needs instead of a recap of what’s going on around them.

· Don’t willingly roll over and surrender market share. Fight for it. Donors are individuals but they also react like any market. Individuals make decisions based on information, misinformation, fear, etc. These are the same forces driving the financial markets. Instead of being part of the fear engine, be part of the solution. Engage donors with vocabulary that they connect with in both good times and bad. Be their rock. When fuel prices and stock portfolio values are all over the place, it’s important to underscore the value your non-profit will continue to deliver for each invested donor dollar.

· Forge onward with somewhat of a blue sky attitude. Several of my clients say that they are doing nothing differently as a result of economic hardship. Surrendering market share willingly is perhaps the only absolutely certain way to create a serious long-term income decline and help others profit from your decision at the same time.

· There are certain short-term costs that are just too important to risk cutting. For example, keep investing in revenue-generating initiatives, such as direct response testing. Without testing, it's hard to justify decisions that otherwise carry risk. Don’t be shy about asking partners to help absorb such costs. Throughout the fall of 2008, a regional charity invested roughly $15,000 in tests of completely new direct mail packages. Results show the new innovations will yield roughly $250,000 in cost savings in 2009. ROI is still king.

· Coming up with new ways to analyze and label the problem won’t fix it! Don’t over measure. If you did not have clear and evolved campaign results measurement and testing processes in place before the economy started to slide, this may be a wake up call but it’s no time for drastic departures from what was working for your non-profit before. Reading into the nuances of campaign performance that you cannot isolate through testing is not a valuable investment of time. There’s no way to tell if it was that blue envelope that skewed results or the general collapse of global markets…unless you also tested the white envelope. Instead, consider opportunities to audit your testing and results benchmarking strategy, in search of general improvements.

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.

From a charity fundraisers point of view part IV

The final part of the letter from Kimberley Mackenzie from Lake Simcoe Conservation Foundation looks at her relationship with her major donors.

'Major Giving
In the next six weeks our board has agreed to conduct a “micro campaign" to get us to year end.

They have been assigned prospects and are tasked with setting up meetings to solicit major gifts.

Many of those meetings will happen in the next few weeks and if you like [of course!] I’ll report back the outcome. What I can tell you today is that people are booking appointments, donors and prospects are returning phone calls, making time and are willing to talk to us.

My calendar is quickly filling up. Perhaps what is most inspiring about this though is that my board wants to ask, they want to be optimistic, they want to keep momentum going and they are willing to work to do it.

It is true I am being a bit of a hard ass about it right now – but most of the board is mobilized and focused unlike ever before.

Sean, I think at times like this history has shown that true leadership emerges. I certainly don’t have all the answers, I am not published [well, you are now] nor am I a frequent presenter a conferences.

I’m just a fundraiser in a small shop and I hope the work we are doing will help meet targets and to do our bit to help our sick planet to heal.

My plan is a simple one. To stay honest, empathetic, positive, flexible, optimistic and work very hard to provide the tools and support to our fundraising volunteers to help them be as successful as they can be.

...I’ll let you know how it all goes – I know this note doesn’t have much data in it, but maybe it could help you in some small way write a book about it for us all! There’s an idea.

Sincerely, Kimberley'

Well that is the end of the letter, but hopefully a bit of inspiration for all you hard working fundraisers in large and small organisations.

Please, keep us informed and take care.

Sean Triner

From a charity fundraisers point of view part III

Following Part I and Part II of the letter from Kimberley Mackenzie, which looked at corporates, here we explore direct mail.

Here is what Kimberley, from Lake Simcoe Conservation Foundation has to say.

'Direct Mail.

The mailing is being stuffed as I write this. [early November].

I already mentioned that yes, we are mentioning the economy. Now more than ever their donation is important and I didn’t pull back from letting donors know that we understand how important their decisions about donations will be this year and when they think about what to do they should think of us.

Yes it is bold – we are fighting for market share. I’ll let you know how it does.'

Unfortunately, I don't think Kimberley had the numbers to do a controlled test - but if anyone is doing that out there, please let us know any results.

Australian recession busting charity forum

Over 60 people from 35 Australian charities met in Sydney this week, to discuss the economic downturn and how we should respond.

I presented information based on my Whitepaper (available here) but Chris from Greenpeace Australia and Sue-Anne Wallace from the Fundraising Insititute Australia also presented.

We were especially chuffed to hear that Greenpeace in Australia used the 'ten tips for fundraising in a recession' as a reference point to check against their strategy. Chris then sent the document to all the Greenpeace offices around the world. Please let me know how - or if - you have used any information on this blog by emailing me.

Here is the presentation, and I will blog the discussion points shortly...

Pareto Fundraising Recession Forum November 2008

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: recession forum)

Sean Triner
(c) Pareto Fundraising 2008 all rights reserved

Most donors will give the same or more

In another blog from Mark Philips of bluefrog, he draws our attention to a Mori poll telling us that most UK donors intend giving at similar or better rates.

Donors were asked to choose the statement that best described them. "In the current climate I would be..."

1 in 7 said they were more likely to donate, over half said they were neither more or less likely to donate to charity.

On the downside, 1 in 5 said they were slightly less likely to give, and 11% said they were much less likely to donate money.

The poll was of GB adults though, not donors - I would love to hear of similar polls of actual donors please!

Sean Triner



Research © Ipsos MORI 2008

Improve your Christmas Appeal

If you are just putting the final touches to a Christmas appeal, or equivalent - some useful tips for increasing the chance of a good one.

1. Send (test) a pre cursor to donors to let them know about your upcoming Christmas appeal

Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. And then tell them what you told them.

A great piece of advice I was once given during a training course. Think about how you could apply that to your program. A week or so before your Christmas appeal, tell your donors about the appeal they are about to receive.

This can be done by email, a postcard or even a phone call. But test this to see whether it has a positive impact on your overall campaign.

Oh, and don’t forget to tell them what you want to tell them in the main appeal and then tell them what you told them if you do a reminder mailing.

2. Keep it clear and give donors a compelling reason to give
Not that you need the holiday season to remind you of this point, but keep you message clear and ensure you ask donors to do one thing only.

Conflicting messages suppress response to any campaign.

3. Make it hard for donors to stop reading your appeal

I once read some great copy feedback from Ken Burnett which pointed out that what you want to do is get the reader mentally nodding in agreement as they read the letter. We might think we have developed brilliant and compelling copy but is it going to keep the donors attention for two, three or four pages?

Make it hard for them to put it down. Not by focusing on Christmas, but by establishing a need and helping the donor help you find a solution.

4. Donor recognition – make it more prominent than ever

Thank, thank and thank again.

A simple mantra to live and breathe. But go a step further. Recognize the donor’s type of support (monthly donor, confirmed bequestor etc) and refer to past support at this time of year.

Make sure it is apparent that you know who your donors are and how they have supported you in the past. Everyone likes to know they are remembered and valued.

5. Christmas ends in January

The perfect donor communications cycle asks people to support, thanks them for their generosity and cares for them along the way.

This last ingredient is often forgotten or not done well. Your Christmas appeal doesn’t end in December, it ends when you tell your donors (including those that didn’t donate at Christmas) where their money has gone and the impact it will have, or has had, on your beneficiaries.

OK, all those points above are good practice anyway, and not unique in this recession era, you probably know you should do them anyway. But now it is more important than ever.

Jonathon Grapsas
Pareto Fundraising North America
Based in Toronto

Ask strategy in a recession

Another question: Should we adjust our ask strategy in a recession?

Good one. And again, hard to know the answer without testing. By ask strategy, I mean the amount that ask donors for. It is a bit more complex than this, but basically we tend to ask people for about 1.25 - 1.5 x their lst gift in appeals. In other words a donor who gave $100 last appeal may be asked for $125 in our next mailing.

The amount would be personalised in the copy eg 'Please will you make a special donation of $125 this Christmas...' with the response coupon matching the amount. So should we ask the donor for $100 instead?

Well I think that if a recession hurts averages or response rates then tinkering with ask strategy is more likely to exasperate the harm than mitigate.

However, Pareto hasn’t been working since the last big recession, so my evidence is based on my experience (when I worked at Mind in the UK we took more bullish approaches during financial problems which certainly did no harm).

So, my advice is NOT change to ask strategy, but if you have the volumes - please test it! And if you do, please let me know the result.

Sean Triner

It's all about data. But what data? Part II - analytical data

In Part II, I am exploring data closer to home.

Internal data, also referred to as your analytical data, needs to be monitored carefully too.

How are your donors behaving? What is actually happening to your campaigns?

Of course – this data can tell you if donations are up or down compared to last year, but it is impossible to do a controlled test. (Unless you can find a way of mailing donors that don't know anything is happening to the economy!)

So, if income is down, it could be because your campaign is not as good just as much as it could be the recession.

Historical data provides useful guides, and whilst what happened last time is a useful reference point it is no guarantee about what will happen this time. There could be multiple variables at play, things could be very different to last time, so plan accordingly.

Your early decisions should all be about ensuring that you are doing everything you should be doing. E.g. You know you should be calling your top donors to thank them, but haven’t been because you were too busy, or you know you should be hyper-personalising your copy in your appeals but the return on investment (ROI) was lower. In times of crisis aversion it is even more important to concentrate on net – not ROI).

But keep on top of the data. You should measure these key indicators:

Cash appeal response rates: year on year comparisons for equivalent appeals (the same one last year) and equivalent segments not just overall response rate.

Cash appeal average gift: year on year comparison for equivalent appeals (the same one last year) and equivalent segments as above.

Look at those donors who respond to this year and last year equivalent appeals and see if there is any difference/movement in their average gift.

Also have a look at response compared to what you asked (are you asking for a fixed amount, the same each year? did you make an upgrade ask each time etc?).

It would be easy to declare 'My average donation is down!' but look at what most people were asked for. For example, last year, you may have asked for 1.5x previous gift, but this year - in fear of recession - you asked for just 1.0x previous gift.

Number/value of large gifts to appeals: although this is hard to compare if you are only getting a handful, say up to 20 $1000+ gifts per appeal.

Keep in mind high value givers tend to give less frequently than lower value givers so ensure that you are not directly comparing the performance of your top givers with your mid – low value multi givers as their behaviour is different anyway.

Regular/Monthly giver attrition: Ensure you are looking at Face-to-Face (Direct Dialogue) recruits separate to those recruited via other methods Mail, Phone, Online etc (which you can group together).

Look at the attrition by month since recruitment.

Cash donor lapsing rate (% change in comparison to last year): This is a useful top line measure but keep in mind its not going to be until well into next year when we are going to be able to see if there is an impact.

The majority of cash charity donors give either once or twice per year – higher for those organisations that make more than 6 appeal asks per year.

The response rates of Regular/Monthly givers who have never made a cash gift and Regular/Monthly givers who have made previous cash gifts to cash appeals (yes you should be asking all recruited via methods other than Face-to-Face for donations in some of your appeals). Compare to previous years.

We know they are still supporting but they may stop the “extra support”.

Recruitment response rate: should be monitored though variables such as audience (compare proven or unproven lists), creative (new or proven pack) and timings are all determining factors – you need to compare like with like.

If you are running ongoing and/or large scale acquisition via mail, phone or online try for evidence across several campaigns as opposed to looking at a campaign only level.

For Face-to-Face, attrition and recruitment volumes are your best measures.

Benchmarking
If you can’t get in a benchmarking type program, chat to those who are in them and find out what is going on with them, and also chat with agencies, experts and most importantly other charities – but always ask ‘What is the data saying?’

Make sure you understand the difference between opinion - eg “Charity Commission says 1 in 4 fundraising directors say that their income has been harmed by the economy slowdown” and fact “23 Australian charities compiled their data which shows no decline in individual (cash and regular) giving for 2008 compared to 2007”. Both convey valid information, you just need to know the evidence behind what you are reading before making a decision.

Fiona Paterson

Head of Global Data Services

Pareto Fundraising

It is all about data. But what data? Part I - environmental

Really, when it comes to fundraising there are only two types of data of great interest for the empirical approach to information. Environmental and internal (analytical) data. There are other data sets out there. For example market research, which is usually about opinion or intentions and personal data which is not really relevant for this discussion.

So what empirical data is crucial to your planning? Let’s concentrate on the financial data available within the environmental and internal data available.

Environmental data is the big picture stuff. What is happening beyond your charity. This can be broken into two, historical and contemporary. Both of those can be broken into three bits:

1) The economy. Beyond charities – how much do people have?

2) The fundraising business. How much are people giving? (And how much did they give last time something like this happened).

3) Product or activity data. Breaking down types of fundraising; eg how is corporate fundraising doing? What about regular (monthly) giving? (And again, what about last time?)

The key measures you should keep an eye on are below. How much attention you need to spend on them will depend on your fundraising mix.

Unemployment - influences corporate giving and individual giving
Surely increased unemployment will effect giving? People without jobs will have to re-prioritise.

Property prices - influences legacies
Look at your legacies (bequests) in detail and you will see that much of the value is realised from sale of property. So, if property values decrease so will your legacy values.

Share indexes - influences high net worth individuals (major donors), trusts, foundations, and legacies
Understanding where your big donors' wealth comes from will be handy when talking to them, but for many their money will be invested in stocks and shares. Most trusts and foundations' portfolios will also be hit. And of course, the second biggest contributor to deceased estates is usually stocks and shares.

Actual giving trends (not giving intentions but actual giving) – the best source is from compiling your data in a charity benchmarking program like Pareto Fundraising Benchmarking* or Blackbaud’s Donor Analytics. These programs provide direct comparisions, standardising data sets giving us like for like comparisions.

Looking at historical data here is useful, but not definitive. For example, a paper claims that during the 90s recession, giving declined - but how much of that decline was caused by 'recession suicide'? Looking at individual charities (such as real world case study, NSPCC) we see that

In Part II, to be published on this blog on the 28th November, I will be looking at internal - or analytical data.

Fiona Paterson

Head of Global Data Services, Pareto Fundraising


* For more information on Pareto Benchmarking in any country/region please email our insights team.

Tony Elischer reckons a good time to revisit strategy

In his excellent article "RECESSION: Watching Is Not An Option" Tony Elischer of ThinkCS seems to agree with most of what the other experts are saying, and his ideas about how different areas of fundraising will be effected coincides quite nicely with my white paper and what Mal Warwick has to say, in particular Mal's belief that "...as a recession drags on, donor acquisition efforts may become even more challenging than they already are."

A couple of differences or greater elaboration and emphasis on different areas makes his paper an essential read. Just some of those are highlighted below...

Tony reckons "Any switched on marketer or fundraiser knows that the current climate WILL impact on their fundraising and their portfolio of techniques." I believe he is right, and it already is (for example, with corporates), but as you read his paper (and most of the other opinion pieces out there) the measures he and others recommend will be good for your charity even if it turns out things aren't effected as bad as we expect.

Within his paper, Tony also brings attention to the fact that fundraisers "...must take account of the pressures on [our] own unique portfolio of funders..." very relevant, for example in the difference responses needed from those with diverse portfolios against those relying on one or two corporates and events.

Although there are tons of papers out there about what happened last time - most saying 'not a lot happened, but things were a bit worse', and one actually saying we will be fine, one thing I can assure you is that no one actually knows what will happen.

It is different; life is full of new things and unique circumstances. Tony says "...No charity can simply look at its numbers today or trust the previous macro trends and say that it is holding up against the recession." Great point - there are far too many unknown unknowns out there.

Don't be afraid to tell your boss or board you don't know what will happen (you wouldn't want to tell a lie) but make sure you tell them what you are doing in preparation for the known unknowns. Most of these preparations will, of course, be good practice.

Tony reckons "Customers learn to spend differently and, as a result, their values change with higher expectations of experience, service and value." So good customer care will help! Yaay! you know you should be doing that anyway.

Some other knowns include "Corporate fundraising: possibly the first area to show signs of moving to a static position and then decline. Already we have seen deals falling through
that have taken many months of planning and negotiations." (Dear reader, please send me any examples like this, I believe Tony, but some anecdotes would be good).

Our research of actual income data on 23 Australia charities shows that the Australian market is indeed experiencing this already, and although you can't prove it is because of the recession...it feels as though it must be a factor. (OK, I work in a data obsessed agency, but I still have feelings).

On individual donors, Tony claims "Already visible in markets such as the USA, UK, Netherlands, Ireland is the effect on the key area of recruitment of new donors." (Tony - or anyone else - please send me some references / evidence, anonymised if need be). he continues "This has been getting harder year on year over the last three years or more and the recession will really put further pressure on this area."

This contradicts Steve Thomas' view from Canada - he agrees acquisition and appeals income has been in decline for years, but tells me his data shows the decline has not got any worse this year.

But regardless of whether it is getting worse, Steve wouldn't disagree with tony that "Charities cannot give up on recruitment but we are going to have to work much harder and be much smarter in this area..."

Although Tony thinks "...my money would be on the next significant surge in digital recruitment for the charities that continue to invest in this area and effectively to integrate it with the rest of their marketing" I reckon people should be careful about switching budgets from tried and tested fundraising methods like face-to-face, which - according to the F2F agencies I spoke with - is not in decline. Yet.

Of course, another advantage with products like F2F (and to some extent phoning) is that you would quickly notice a decline and can afford to watch and see there. As Amanda Seller from WSPA says "We all know we should be tracking our data, staying on top of our data and analysing what is going on..."

Still on individuals, Tony points out that "UK charities are already seeing reductions of up to thirty percent in the value of estates, so reforecasting may be necessary." Along with other legacy experts telling us estates will take longer to be realised I think this essential advice - don't bank on your legacy income holding up. Better to plan for decline, and be pleasantly surprised if it does hold up than the other way around.

Tony finishes with some sound management advice "And finally here’s the practical advice some organisations will really struggle to face up to – recession is the perfect time to ensure that your staff, your board, and your organisational structure is right to meet your future needs and bring success.

"Whilst you may have to fight cuts in the donor recruitment budget and other vital fundraising areas, you can use the recession to tackle any unproductive staff and structures, ideas and programmes that didn’t work. Your donors won’t tolerate anything else, so think of it as starting a healthy diet to give your organisation the energy and resources to face the future."

Let's face it, whatever happens you should be doing that anyway.

Sean Triner

As well as this article, ThinkCS publish tons of useful stuff on their website.

Ken Burnett has this to say...

Ken wrote a book, Relationship Fundraising, many years ago. If you have implemented many of the ideas in the book, you are probably not worried at all about a recession. It is packed full of brilliant advice(except for the bit about asking donors how many communications they want).

Advice that would make sure yours is the last charity that donors leave.

Below is what he reckons...

Sean
--------------------------------------------------

... I feel most past financial downturns have not proved to be negative for fundraisers in Europe, in fact often they’ve been relatively positive.

Some areas though – major donors and corporate donors for example, will usually be hit. But individual giving has mainly stood up well – except for those organisations who cut back activity.

They fail. This crisis though is of a different order of magnitude. It hasn’t hit most organisations yet. But it will, soon.

The lessons learned from past crises are that it is time to be bold and to reaffirm the fundamentals. But this is a new situation now. Here’s what I would recommend.

1. Do not cut back investment in fundraising. This would be very foolish.
2. Focus on presenting your cause positively and optimistically.
3. There’s safety in focusing on individual giving. Concentrate on ‘the big three’ - regular donors, legacies and major donors. Cut all unprofitable/low return activities.
4. Define your products very well. Make sure your donors see your cause as the last thing they will cut.
5. Get to be very good at communication – particularly low-cost, electronic media.
6. Now is the time that your efficient friendly donor service will pay off. You’ll be glad that some years back you invested in donor care/relationship building.
7. Demonstrate value for money for your donors at every opportunity.
8. Be genuinely transparent, open and accountable.
9. Share your problems with donors. Ask them to stand by your cause through this crisis. (Don’t be negative).
10. Show and demonstrate your dedication and commitment to your cause. Don’t be afraid to ask your donors to be similarly committed.

Now is the time to get back to basics.

Ken Burnett

Fundraising in a recession - roundup

Rather than add hundreds of links on the right, I will blog useful new stuff. Make sure you subscribe to feeds to get updates when a new blog is posted.

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OPINION/ADVICE

Adrian Beney reckons we need to understand where wealth really comes from before we talk to donors in his Professional Fundraising blog.

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OPINION/DATA REFERENCES

Mainstream Kentucky press article 'Hard times require more give and take' shares some Giving USA data, and also concludes with a quote from Sarah Warner, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bluegrass.

'"The most important thing is to keep asking for money, even though the economy seems rough", Warner says. "People are afraid to ask because they assume donors have lost money. "You can't be afraid to ask

"The top reason people don't give is simple: ...because charities don't ask."'

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OPINION

Stephen Bubb, CEO of ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) in the UK calls for Government support of the UK charity sector in this Third Sector article.

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ACADEMIC

Jenny Harrow and Cathy Pharoah of the ESRC Research Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy (UK based, City University) reckon charities who invested in legacies are seeing legacy provide some degree of 'recession-proofing' in their short paper, 'Recession and charities; the paradox of charitable opportunity?'

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DATA

Not enough coming in. Please send me any data that you have.

And don't forget to get hold of our 'Ten Point plan to coping with a recession' white paper click here and register to receive it.

Sean Triner

Argentina's bad economy survival kit

I Will Survive

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Call for help

We have plenty of data in Australia, but things are different here. We need American, British, French, Canadian, Hong Kong, Indian, Latin American, German, Dutch - anywhere else data.

Any evidence of change, please email me links, data or information. sean@paretoworks.com.

Thanks

Pareto research shows corporate fundraising income hit

23 charities in Australia shared their data to see if there was any impact of an economic downturn in the first two quarters of 2008. They found:

* No impact on regular giving
* No impact on individual donations
* Corporate income down

We can't prove that the corporate decline is because of the fear of recession, but we do know the economy had not hit these charities' donations. Yet? These are mostly large charities, with diverse income sources.

Maybe those with less diverse fundraising portfolios will be hit. Any evidence, please email sean@paretoworks.com.

More detail in my whitepaper, available by emailing here.