I have some things coming up that may make it a little quiet around here for a while. I have some exams to do so all my spare time is going to be spent studying and then after that I will be out of action for 4 weeks as I am going on my (delayed) honeymoon…if you would like to see what I will be looking at you can check this out . Normal service will resume in mid Feb (sorry!).
This is a pretty interesting move by the PFRA in the UK. Their annual survey, now in its 3rd year, is for the first time being opened to charities across the world. They want to hear from you so they can measure attrition and retention of donors across the globe. This is the only survey of its type, as far as they are aware, anywhere in the world. So this is an excellent opportunity to create what we hope will become a global benchmark for F2F fundraising. Well done PFRA. Here is some more information
The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association – the self-regulatory organisation for face-to-face direct debit fundraising in the United Kingdom – is expanding its annual survey into donor attrition levels to include charities around the world.
The F2F Donor Attrition and Retention Survey (DARS) has run in UK in 2008 and 2009, analysing the cancellation – or ‘attrition’ – rates of more than a quarter of a million F2F-recruited donors going back to 2004. The surveys have shown that, in the UK, around 50 per cent of donors will cancel their donations within 12 months and have provided pointers for charities on how best to steward their donors to improve retention.
After two successful years surveying UK charities, the PFRA has decided to make this a global exercise.
Mick Aldridge, ceo of the PFRA says: “I attended the International Fundraising Congress in Holland last October and from talking to delegates it was clear that there was a real appetite to share knowledge and best practice about F2F fundraising, including our attrition survey.
“What was clear to me is that F2F is a global fundraising movement and charities in every country where F2F is practiced can learn something from every other country where it is also carried out. Extending DARS into a fully international survey is a first step in that direction.”
DARS was co-devised and is researched by Rupert Tappin, managing director of London-based fundraising organisation Future Fundraising, and Morag Fleming, head of fundraising at Scottish social care charity Quarriers.
Tappin and Fleming have been in touch with international F2F expert Daryl Upsall (of Madrid-based Daryl Upsall Consulting International) about securing the input of his international charity clients, while PFRA secretariat has already received interest from charities in the USA, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand.
Rupert Tappin says: “DARS is already the most robust and complete picture of donor attrition and retention across any fundraising method in the UK. In fact, we don’t think there’s anything like this anywhere else in the world so this is a wonderful opportunity to create an unparalleled global benchmark.
“We have benchmarks stretching back five years in the UK and it will be fascinating to discover whether attrition patterns for F2F donors are universal or vary from country to country and between cultures.”
Any non-UK charity requiring more information about DARS should contact Rupert Tappin at rupertt@futurefundraising.co.uk. Data collection according to DARS criteria will take place during March and will need to be planned by charities’ database teams in advance.
The DARS results for the UK will be announced at a special seminar following the PFRA’s annual general meeting in London in July, with the exact date and venue yet to be announced. PFRA is still considering suitable scenarios to announce the results of the international component.
Pepsi have ditched their 33 million dollar super bowl advertising campaign in favour of a this new philanthropic effort, costing 20 million. A cycnic may say its a cost cutting measure but I think its a clever and more impactful move for Pepsi.
Starting February 1, people can vote to give grants to a number of health, environment, culture, and education-related organizations. Pepsi plans to give away multiple grants each month, including two $250,000 grants, 10 $50,000 grants, and 10 $25,000 grants. Before Feb 1st visitors are encouraged to submit their own organizations and grant ideas.
This reminds me a bit of the Guinness 250 year celebration idea, or the Chase Facebook campaign. Pepsi’s initiative is certainly another step towards the mainstreaming of crowdsourced philanthropy.
We fundraisers need to be ready to move in this direction. Pepsi are, like guinness, looking for big/great ideas that will make a difference. Does your organisation have a great idea?
A new charity set up by Ben Stiller called Stillerstrong…selling headbands! Brilliant….and the tag line for the charity is
“STILLERSTRONG, STEALING GREAT IDEAS FROM OTHER CHARITIES TO BUILD A SCHOOL IN HAITI”
But its not for a charity. I think these ads for the CWDC Be the Difference campaign are fantastic. I think they make a really strong case. When I saw them first I thought they may have been for someone like Age UK or Barnardos.
Where does the time go…its incredible to think we are into a New Year, a new decade. I know for many of us we will be glad to see the back of 2009. So before I get back into blogging for the New Year I just want to wish everyone all the best in your fundraising for this year. This is a time of year that we all make resolutions, but its probably not a bad time to step back and realise that the work you do is pretty amazing…so well done you (Pat on the back time!)
Looking forward to your company in 2010 (are you calling it two thousand and ten or twenty ten…Im not sure yet!)
Hope its a great one, thanks for reading in 2009
I have been involved in developing this campaign for the past few months and am pretty excited about it. We were inspired by a similarly successful campaign which I posted about on this blog before, at the time I said I thought it would be a great campaign for someone else to adapt for their local market, and so I practiced what I preached!
Drop the Drink, is simple – give up drinking for the month, then you ask your friends and family to sponsor you! Now, we aren’t anti-drink. But consider this – after the holiday party season, it’s a great way to clear your head, take advantage of some great health benefits, and – most importantly – help raise funds for sick children across the UK and Ireland and later in the year hopefully we will launch this in the US and Canada.
We have created a supporting blog www.dropthedrink.org where people can sign up. We are also hoping to get some people who are signed up to post about their experience and also tweet for us @DropTheDrink
This is great. On Totenham Court Road in London Barnardos have launched an interactive poster, which uses the face of their TV campaign. The poster has a collection tin connected to it and through the make of technology when you make a donation the girl turns and smiles at you. Nice work
Check out more about it and watch a video on Campaign lives site
I have talked recently about Charity Water. I am a big fan of not just what they do but more how they do it. They really stand for something, use the new tools available to them online and they have become a real force in the sector. It is probably no wonder that Charity Water, a favorite cause of the dot-com set.
On Monday night, at the annual benefit gala for the nonprofit Charity Water, Bebo founder Michael Birch, one of the event’s co-hosts along with the likes of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and entrepreneur Sean Parker, made a surprise announcement. Shortly before the event’s live auction to solicit donations for new wells, Birch declared that he would personally match all donations up to $1 million.
Michael Birch is starting to emerge as an active figure in philanthropy: Charity Water founder Scott Harrison explained to the 1,200 attendees on Monday night that a crucial donation from Birch had kept the organization afloat last year. (It operates on a “100 percent” policy, meaning that all donations, many of which are very small-scale, go directly to building wells, whereas separate benefactors fund the staffing and operations of the nonprofit itself.) Birch also helped with a redesign of the site that lets interested members set up their own fundraising campaigns, encouraging donations in lieu of birthday gifts or as pledges for a goal (i.e. “If you help me raise $10,000 for Charity Water, I will legally change my name to ‘McLovin.’”)
The goal was met: the $1 million was raised via auction in a matter of 30 minutes.
If you had 30 seconds and could fill this survey out it would be great, thanks (feel free to pass it on too) http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MBJDLSY
Ok so some things I have learnt from this idea of mine….Next year I am going to ask readers of this Blog to Vote! It was so hard to make my mind up, but I have.
I thought this campaign was a really creative way to piggy back on something people do already (always great for grassroots fundraising). The support being offered on the website was great (down to a link to a list of Christmas Songs). They focussed people on doing it over this weekend, which again I like (I believe if you say whenever you like people tend not to know when to do it). I don’t know what their communication plan was around it or how many groups have signed up, but I think the simplicity of the campaign is great. Carol Singing for Charity isnt new, but trying to own it is a great move by Christain Aid. I really enjoyed this video too. So well done Christain Aid and the Big Christmas Sing.
I can’t go without recommedning some of the other nominees that I really liked:
Oh yeh…I think next year I should turn this into an awards thing!
So is it funny? The Foundation is a TV show in Canada, kind of looks a bit like the office, and it follows the “crooked and corrupt” director of a philanthropic organisation. I have only seen some clips on line and it looks ok. Is it a good thing to have this kind of thing? I dont know…part of me thinks why not, but Im just not sure. I wonder what the reaction has been like in Canada or elsewhere?
For all fundraisers in Ireland, Fundraising Ireland is looking for your opinion on what you want from its Membership Programme. he survey takes just two minutes to fill out. Just click here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WBFCMZX
This is our organisation so help those who are volunteering their time to set it up make it work for us.
Charity:Water do great stuff. Not just in terms of their mission but their fundraising also is fantastic (check out this genuine Twestival video).
The great Scribbly Bark blog brought their wonderful fundraising email to my attention. It really is fantastic. It comes from their CEO, opens with a message from him, underneath the picture above, and then goes into a story from Becky their water programme director.
Becky’s story is great, so well written and engaging, but genuine (ie it doesnt feel like Becky spoke to someone in an office in New York who then wrote the copy, maybe she did but it doesnt feel like that!)
This opening line “Driving down a bumpy road in the middle of Northern Uganda we were kicking up dust as we headed into the rural countryside.” brings me right to the place Becky is.
Becky loves her job “I have a pretty incredible job” nice to hear that isnt it.
Then some facts “I’m in awe of how they manage. But of course, they have no choice. The average woman in Africa walks three miles every day for water. Often, it’s water from putrid rivers or disease-infested swamps. Worldwide, women are more than twice as likely as men to collect drinking water”
Then the reality of the Impact Charity:Water is having “once you visit a few communities in the neighborhood, rumors of your presence spread like wildfire. We jump out of the truck and walk into a party. The women meet us with exuberant cheering and dancing. Pure and loud joy rocks the village.”
What I found really interesting was that there was no ask in the entire email. You had to get right to the end of the mail before you got an ask. Brave move. But the donate button is big and bright and the subsequent donate page on their site is really great
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