Backing up the case for doing DM.

This time the case is more to do with sustained giving/regular giving. But two are linked (or should be). So just in case you needed more convincing after Mondays post from Damian,  Jonathon from Pareto posted something very similar on his blog last week. Combined the two make a compelling case.

I hope they are useful to you as you make your case…you are making a case for doing DM and regular giving arent you???

Cash is King.

…. let’s face it, when it comes to generating new charitable direct response donors, cash really doesn’t stack up anymore.

Consider this: when we look at the balance of cash versus monthly givers recruited through the benchmarking we undertake at Pareto Fundraising invariably we find the balance stacked heavily towards more cash donors recruited.

Often up to five times as many cash donors are recruited in a period than ongoing, monthly donors.

Yet when you compare the retention rates, even those channels delivering the lowest retention rates (typically street/door recruited donors, followed by DRTV) still retain around 75%-80% of monthly donors per year.

Contrast this with cash recruitment. When we recently looked at this the average 2nd gift rate (I.e. those donors who gave a cash gift and then gave a subsequent cash gift) it was as low as 30%. In other words, around 70% never gave again.

Of course the obvious rebuttal is that monthly donors are much harder to recruit and the cost per acquisition is higher, but the pay off long term is a no brainer.

In other words, you might pay more for a monthly donor upfront, and it may be bloody hard work finding them, but when you do, it’s difficult to find a case for recruiting onetime cash donors through your direct response program.

So cash might be king when balancing the books, but it ain’t when finding your next group of donors.

P.S. I hope Jonathon dosent mind me re-posting, I tried to comment on his blog asking if its ok, but couldnt submit the comment…sorry!

Astral Media’s Radiothons – Canada

Today is Astral Media’s Day of Caring for Kids. With one-day radiothons for children’s health in 28 cities and on 50 radio stations across Canada, in support of 15 children’s hospitals and health care facilities.

In the next few minutes the Radiothons will start broadcasting live from children’s hospitals. Its well worth tuning in. All this is being done as part of Children’s Miracle Network’s Radiothon programme (yes the, by now mandatory, declaration of a vested interest!)

Astralare hoping to make a difference in the health and lives of children and parents who need this care. I expect millions of dollars will be raised today.

Check it out here. Also Sick Kids in Toronto has a Blog today, check it out here

The Official Sponsor of Birthdays

This is genius….I saw it on Damian’s twitter page and just had to post about it. The American Cancer Society wants to be the Official Sponsor of your Birthday! Here is the idea behind it, from their site.

Creating a world with more birthdays

To most people, birthdays are just a reminder that they’re getting older. But at the American Cancer Society, “Happy Birthday” is a victory song, because a world with less cancer is a world with more birthdays. And that’s definitely something to celebrate.

More than 11 million Americans who have survived cancer-and countless others who have avoided it-will celebrate a birthday this year, thanks to the progress we’re making together to help people stay well and get well, to find cures, and fight back.

Join the movement for more birthdays-declare the American Cancer Society the official sponsor of your birthday-and together we can save lives and give people more candles to light.

Didnt I say it was Genius!! 

Great Ad too….

Free Wills Month

This is a good idea. I knew there was a Legacy Promotion group started in Ireland, although I havent seen much of them and Im not sure if this is part of the same?

Free Wills Month Ireland brings together seven Irish charities that provide vital services to the community to offer members of the public aged 55 and over the opportunity to have their Will written or updated free of charge by using the services of local solicitors in five towns and cities.

Between 1-30 April 2009 participating firms of solicitors in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Waterford and Wexford will be offering their specialist Will-writing services to members of the public, with the seven Free Wills Month charities paying for the work to be done.

Shame the solicitors arent waiving fees! Hope they are doing a good deal on fees. I wonder will they extend the scheme, its almost the end of April and its the 1st I have heard of it (thanks to Paul Artherton)

The 7 charities sponsoring Free Wills Month Ireland are Age Action Ireland, The Children’s Medical & Research Foundation, Irish Heart Foundation, Irish Hospice Foundation, MS Society Ireland and Oxfam Ireland and the RNLI.

A good case for doing more DM

Damian at Ask Direct did a great post a while back making the case for doing more DM. Ok its his business but what Damian is actually doing is reporting the results he has seen and its a really useful post.  Even more so becuase what he is saying is true!

If you are making the case for DM in your organisation take a read why Damian thinks now is the time to do more:

In short, because it will make you money. Today and into the future. In fact, it may be the most secure method of fundraising to invest in during a downturn.

But I would say that, wouldn’t I? I run a direct marketing agency.

Well let’s look at the data.

Of the five donor mailings we produced for clients last Christmas for which we have results and a valid comparator, four did better than in 2007 in terms of response rate and income. Average gifts varied – some steady, some up, some down. But overall income for the four in question was up on 2007.

OK, so donors are still giving. What about recruitment?

If anything, the picture is even better. Each of the four campaigns where we can benchmark against a previous campaign show better results for Christmas 2008 than 12 months previously.

Ah, you say, but the economy is deteriorating at such a pace that last Christmas isn’t relevant anymore. There’s another 100,000 people out of work. We’ve been battered, bludgeoned and budgeted by bad news. And anyway, Christmas was a last hurrah, the celtic tiger donors dispensing the last of their alms before battening down the hatches and canceling their foreign holidays, kitchen extensions and charity direct debits.

Actually, no. The sky hasn’t fallen in in 2009. It’s early days yet, but we’ve got initial results in from two campaigns so far and both are up – significantly – on 2008. And that’s for donor mailings and cold recruitment.

Donors are still giving. New donors are still signing up. While many of us are understandably trimming back it seems clear that, for ordinary people, the desire to help others is as strong – or stronger – than ever. Philanthropy is not the first thing go. Far from it.

Sunday Times Rich List 2009

You probably know that The Rich List was published in today’s Sunday Times. 

 

Everyone likes to look at the list. They like to read about people, whose names they recognise, and see what they are really worth and how others, who we may not have heard of, have made their millions. Im sure a lot of professions look at the list and wonder how they can engage these wealthy individals and families in their business. It is no different for the charity sector. I imagine nearly every fundraiser in the UK and Ireland has gone out today to buy the list and is thinking …..how can we get them engaged in our organisation! Its a good question to ask but bear in mind every other fundraiser in the country is asking it! Aside from being a good read it is a useful resource to have and worth having.

The list is going to be online on Tuesday, you can check it out here.

Once again it is great to see they have written about Philanthropy. And while the data in the report relates to financial year ending on April 5, 2008 , it makes for good reading. Here is some of what they had to say:

• the talk in the economy is on providing ‘fiscal stimulus’ those in the list seem to have taken a similar approach to their charitable activities
• the top 100 philanthropists have brought their charitable spend up 8% on 2008
• The top 30 givers have donated at least 4.5% of their wealth
• Dr. John Low of CAF says “Poeple value charity more in a severe downturn”
• Low also remarks that while income may fall in some areas but “mechanisms such as trust funds will keep the flow of cash going”
• Mark Evans, head of Philanthropy at Coutts & Co. makes an important point, he says “I have been bullish about the state of philanthropy through the recession. People might be worth less now than before, but they still want to give”
• Karin Jestin of Lombard Odier believes there will be a shift in focus away from the arts and culture and more towards causes that address human and social needs

My favourite quote in the whole article comes from Dr. John Low of CAF. I couldnt agree more with him so I am going to end with it:

“It is important that charities do not talk themselves into recession”

Original reporting from Sunday Times by Alastair McCall

Asking is Key

No matter what type of fundraising you are doing making an ask is key.

I was just in my local shop and there were people there collecting for a charity. They each had a big bucket with nice big stickers on them. But neither one of them actually asked me to donate!

I just reminded me of the importance of actually asking for donations

Leveraging the Power of Star Trek to raise funds

I have to admit,  I know nothing about Star Trek. I have never seen one of the films and for me William Shatner is not Capt. Kirk but a musical genius!!

 But Milind Shah does. He is a Star Trek Fan and has  set up a Star Trek Fundraiser

The idea is that if Star Trek sold a million seats during the opening weekend and everyone contributed just $1, there would be a tremendous amount of goodwill generated. Star Trek means so much to so many, why not tie in their passions to the donation amount and get people to do some great things with their excitement?

The donations will go to Doctors Without Borders

What I really like about this idea is that it is piggy-backing on something that is already happening. We are used to seeing film releases and charities linked to things like World or Local Premieres and if you have ever done one of those you know they are an awful lot of work and sometimes the returns aren’t there. This idea is based on a community that already exists and an event they are excited about.

Imagine how this could have worked for Lord of the Rings, are there any other films you can think of that could be tapped into in this way? I would be sitting down and thinking about it!

You can check out the fundraiser site here http://www.startrekfundraiser.org/

And an extended interview with Milind here

How to deal with the Media

nfpSynergy have great monthly newsletters and their site is a great resource. This month they have, together with a group of journalists they survey twice a year, come up with the top 10 tips for dealing with the media. Here are the tips, read more detail behind them here.

 

 

• Tip no 1: Case studies, case studies, case studies
• Tip 2: Don’t just target the newsdesk – dig deeper
• Tip 3: ‘No comment’ doesn’t mean ‘no story’
• Tip 4: Be available, prepared and professional
• Tip 5: Think globally, act locally – use local media
• Tip 6: Build relationships – meet people face to face
• Tip 7: Think carefully about your subject lines
• Tip 8: Email your press releases – but phone with your exclusives
• Tip 9: Know your targeted media inside out
• Tip 10: Find out the other side of the story: media training and more

Rules of Engagement

Donal Cronin of Carr Communications wrote a really nice piece in the Aer Lingus inflight magazine this month about effective speech making. And yes guess who he spoke about..President Obama. But he is right too, Obama is a phenomenal orator.

As I read the piece I thought that it would be good to share. A lot of us would make speeches so it would be useful, but I felt the points had broader relevance to what we do and could be applied in many aspects of our work. So here are the rules (with my editing):

1. When You’re on You’re on: Get straight into it…dont dance around the topic. Straight to topic, no preamble. Be instantly gripping
2. Talk to One Person: Talk to You singular not You the many
3. Use the Rule of Three: Things that come in threes have a satisfying rhythm.  So group your points in threes.
4. You are Allowed to be Human: Dont become a robot. Be human and you will connect (remember when Obama spoke to his daughters…every parent related to that)
5. Talk the way you normally talk: this is my pet peeve with non-profits. We talk in our language. Cronin says speak the way you would speak with friends. You don’t use words like infrastructure or paradigm shift! It’s known as 1st degree language.
6. Paint a Picture, Tell a Story: People relate easily and emotionally to stories, examples, anecdotes. More importantly people remember them. Our brains are hard wired for stories, we have passed stories on from genereation to generation.
7. Finally: PowerPoint (and ok yes this can only apply to presentations)….do you need it? Do you think President Obama’s speeches would have been more memorable if someone had given him some nice slides!

Fundraising Pulse…a screen shot

The Public Communications Centre attended the Fundraising Ireland Conference in Croke Park on Thursday the 26th of March and while there they conducted a quick poll to gauge the mood of fundraisers.

A total of 125 organisations were present and a sample of 49 questionnaires was returned.

I would urge caution though in reading this. The low numbers involved certainly don’t make the survey statistically valid and as such the results should be seen as anectodatal. It is also unclear who answered on behalf of the organisations, was it a CEO, Fundraising or Financial Director, or was it an entry level emplpyee, which begs the question how close to reality the results actually are.

And finally the cynic in me asks what PPC’s objective was in carrying out this research at the event?!

Still it is no harm to take a look, here is a summary of the findings. If you want the full report email john@pcc.ie

Change in income

Most organisations (86%) expect the overall income of their organisation to change in the coming year.

More expect a decrease (53%) than an increase (32%), and most expect a 5-10% increase (25%).

This expectation differs according to the size of the total fundraising income (excluding statutory) of the organisation: the smaller the fundraising budget, the greater the likelihood of expecting a change in the overall income, the greater the expectation for a decrease rather than an increase in income, and the greater the expected percentage drop in income.

Income streams hit hard

Nine in ten organisations (92%) identify income streams that are being hit especially hard.

‘Government’ (55%) tops the list, followed by ‘Corporates’ (33%), and ‘Events’ (16%). ‘Individuals’ (14%) and ‘High donors’ (12%) to a much lesser extent.

The smaller organisations are more likely to report their income streams being hit especially hard.

The larger the fundraising budget, the broader the spread of income streams that are being hit.The smaller organisations are being most significantly affected by ‘Government’.

Income streams increasing

On the other hand, two-thirds (66%) expect an increase in certain income streams; especially ‘Regular givers’ (25%), followed equally by ‘Individuals’ (19%) and ‘Events’ (19%) and then ‘Churches’ (17%).

The smaller organisations are more likely to claim that ‘no income streams are holding up or increasing’ (41%). Only 6% of organisations with a fundraising income of ’1m or more’ make the claim.

Furthermore, the smaller organisations list less income streams that are holding up or increasing compared to the larger organisations.

The smaller organisations also highlight different streams as commendable performers: ‘Regular givers’ (23%) and ‘Events’ (23%); compared to ‘Individuals’ (35%), ‘Regular givers’ (29%) and ‘Churches’ (24%) for the larger organisations.

Number of fundraising staff

Half of the organisations (53%) have not made changes, or are not planning to make changes, to the number of fundraising staff it employs. The main change is towards an increase (31%) rather than a decrease (2%).

Larger organisations are more likely than smaller organisations to report a change (41%) in the  number than smaller organisations (30%), but any change is only of a positive nature (41%).

Meanwhile, smaller organisations are less likely to report change, but they state a ‘decrease’ (4%) which does not happen with the larger organisations; however, the smaller organisations’ claiming an increase (26%) is greater than this decrease.

Reduction in fundraising programmes

Most organisations (74%) have not eliminated, or do not plan to eliminate or significantly reduce, involvement in any of its fundraising programmes.

There is a similar pattern of response among both the larger and the smaller organisations.

One fifth (9 organisations) have done so or are planning to do so; with two main types of fundraising programmes affected: ‘Events’ (6) and ‘Direct mail’ (5), followed by ‘DRTV’ (3).

‘Events’ is the main programme that is being reduced or considered for reduction regardless  of the size of the fundraising income of an organisation.

Increase in fundraising programmes

Most organisations (86%) have increased, or are planning to add or significantly increase, activity in fundraising programmes; only 6% has not or does not plan to do so.

There is a similar pattern of response among both the larger and the smaller organisations.

A broad spectrum of fundraising programmes was mentioned as attention for increased activity. The three most popular ones being ‘Corporate’ (51%), ‘Events’ (45%) and ‘Trusts & foundation grants’ (45%); followed by ‘Public appeals/token sales’ (31%), ‘Statutory grants’ (26%), ‘High donors’ (26%), ‘Donor acquisition’ (24%) and ‘Donor relations’ (21%).

There are similarities as well as differences depending upon the size of the fundraising income of the organisation.

Both sets mention three main fundraising programmes: ‘Corporate’, ‘Events’ and ‘Trusts & foundation grants’. In addition, the larger organisations expect to equally increase activity around ‘Legacies’.

Overall, the larger organisations are involved in a broader range of programmes, answering for all except ‘Facebook (website)’.

Thanks to Harvey at 2into3 for sending it on

Flutter – the new twitter?!

thanks Paul

Fundraising Health Check

The Institute of Fundraising and Think Consulting have launched a Fundraising Health Check which is a FREE, confidential diagnostic tool to help you understand the impact of the recession on your fundraising portfolio.

Armed with your net income and/or your investment budget, you can use Fundraising HealthCheck to generate customised reports that provide:

• A prognosis for each area of your fundraising, based on past experience and current trends
• Practical advice and guidance on how to survive and thrive during the economic downturn

You will need this financial data*:

For Investment – details of your spend to recruit and/or retain donors
For Net Income – bottom line figures from your budget/target, after costs

Hugh Jackman giving away 100k on Twitter

About 12 hours ago Hugh Jackman posted the following on his twitter profile

RealHughJackman: I will donate 100K to one individual’s favorite non profit organization.Of course,you must convince me why by using 140 characters or less

Start getting your 140 charachters together and tweet the man!

Corporates can support you in other ways

So maybe your corporate partners don’t have the funds to support you in the ways they did before. I have spoken before about us needing to find new ways to engage our corporates. Well here is one I came across on UK Fundraising.

MeccaBingo.com, the current sponsor of rugby league team Wigan Warriors, is donating the shirt sponsorship for the team’s match against the French team the Catalan Dragons to Whizz-Kidz, its official charity partner.

This sponsorship is actually helping MeccaBingo over come a stumbling block of sponsorship law in France, but Whizz Kidz are benefitting.

Do you have a corporate partner that would work with you in this way?