UK’s 1st Radiothon – Radio Forth’s Cash for Kids Radiothon

The first Radiothon to take place in the UK kicks off tomorrow on Radio Forth One & Forth Two in Edinburgh.

Children’s Miracle Network who have been opearting these events in the US and Canada for the past 10 years brought the concept to Ireland in 2007 and since then have raised 1.3 million euro for Children’s Hospitals in Dublin and Cork.

This event marks the charities first foray into the UK market and will benefit the Sick Kids Friends Foundation in Edinburgh. The event is being run in conjunction with the stations own charity Cash for Kids and will be called the Cash for Kids Radiothon.

Like the Cork Radiothon I do have an interest in this event but I can say with confidence that this is going to make great radio and will make a huge difference to the children who attend Sick Kids

You can listen in here from 6am Thursday until midday Saturday.

2008 Gold Award Winners

When planning a new DM appeal how do you decide what you are going to do? Well one of the things I like to try do is see what others are doing and where better to start than with some award winning DM pieces.

Fundraising Successhas a great article listing and talking about the 2008 Gold Winners for Fundraising Success in seven categories: Direct-Mail Acquisition (50,000 or more mailed, and fewer than 50,000 mailed); Direct-Mail Renewal (50,000 or more mailed, and fewer than 50,000 mailed); Direct-Mail Special Appeal; E-philanthropy (for campaigns centered around e-mail and Web, with no direct-mail components); and Multichannel (for campaigns that combine any number of strategies, including direct mail).

Worth a read or if you just want to check out the winners list check it out here

Off for a bit

Im heading away for about a week so you won’t be hearing from me until the 24h. Hope to find some sun on my travels!

Did you miss Seth Godin Session

Did you miss the session with Seth Godin on Network for Good?

Well these guys are really good, because the audio is online already as well as a transcript. Its worth a listen. Go Here to download it

Don’t Name It

We are all aware of colleges and facilities that offer major donors naming rights for their gift, so we see Halls and Lecture theatres, wards and entire hospitals named after benefactors. And really there is nothing wrong with it.

How about this for turning that idea on its head.

The Wisconsin School of Business has asked donors to support their mission of keeping the colleges name in tact in return for gifts!

Here is the report by Freakonomics writer Steven D.Levitt in the New York Times:

Michael Knettermay just go down in history as one of the greatest fundraisers of all time. Knetter is the dean of the Wisconsin Business School. Other universities have managed to raise substantial amounts of money by naming their business schools after generous donors (think Carlson, Tuck, Goizueta, Sloan, etc.). But Knetter did something far more impressive. He managed to raise $85 million in return for promising not to name the school for the next 20 years. A bunch of boosters liked the fact that the school is simply called the “University of Wisconsin Business School,” and they were willing to pay to keep it that way, at least for 20 years.

As one of my colleagues pointed out, it probably would have been a lot cheaper for the boosters just to bribe the Wisconsin legislature to pass a bill preventing the naming of the business school, although that strategy would not have gotten them many positive headlines.

Apparently, Knetter is now offering a full slate of objects not to name at the business school. For $50,000, you can have a classroom not named after you. For $5,000, you can not have your name on a plaque in the entryway to the building. For those of you with a little less to give, $50 will guarantee that the urinal of your choice will go unnamed. But only for the next 20 years.

What a GREAT idea. I came across this originally on Fundraising Breakthroughs

Seth Godin on Network for Good

This is late notice I know but if you can sign up to this call tomorrow (tuesday) with Seth Godin

Create “Raving Fans”

I was reading a book today that referenced Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles book Raving Fans. The book is service industry specific but it occurred to me that in non-profits we need to create Raving Fans. Blanchard & Bowles say that:

A Raving Fan isnt just a customer (donor) who is satisifed and content with how they have been treated. 

No they are so excited about the way you treat them that they want to tell stories about you, become a part of your sales force

I love this idea and think every day we need to think about how we can create Raving Fans for our organisations.

Finding a Charity Ball

I was online this morning trying to find charity balls that are taking place in Dublin between now and the end of the year. Wow talk about hard work!

Charity Balls, in their very nature, are hard work. I have worked on enough of them to know the effort that goes in and depending on the target audience, they sometimes dont have a great return. But its one of those things we all seem to do.

I am not sure why then we seem to be making it even harder work by not making them easy to find out about.

I have often thought that there should be a central place where charities send information to about dates of events. I know we all tend not to like to tell people what we are doing or when, just that we have something really exciting coming up soon. And its the fear that someone will steal your idea. But how often have any of us gone to do a press launch or set a date for an event only to find it is clashing with your major competitor?

Would it not be an idea for a central roster to be held something. It doesnt have to be too detailed…just information like: Date, Time, Location and what is happening, ie a press launch or gala or …..? Could this be something the Wheel or Fundraising Ireland could help with?

Is there anyone in other parts of the world that have seen similar models work? Would love to hear about them.

Anyway, here are the Fundraising Galas I was able to find out about:

1.      Crumlin:                  Midlands Charity Ball, Oct 25^th, Radisson Athlone

2.      Tallaght:                  Ladies Guild Lunch, Early Dec (no date on website), 4 Seasons

3.      Temple St:              Gala Ball, February

4.      Barretstown:           Gala Ball October 17^th, Leopardstown

5.      ISPCC:                  Dove Ball, Oct 11^th, 4 Seasons

6.      Spinal Injuries:        Q Ball, Oct 4^th

7.      Marie Keating:        Pink Ribbon Ball, November

8.      Cancer Society:      Nightengale Ball, Nov 7^th

9.      Unicef:                   Corporate Lunch,  27^th Nov

10.  Irish Heart Foundation: Gala Fashion Lunch, Sept 12

Give an amount when you ask

There are lots of debates around whether you should give an indication of the level of donation people should make. I have often been surprised at people (who I really thought would be in one school of thought) who have said….no you should leave it up to the donor to decide.

I am probably more on the side of give an indication. It of course has to be at the right level (and thats probably the trick). So often we just guess that level and we should probably be more scientific about it. But still if you suggest to someone that $5 is a good amount, well then they may give 5 or they may think, you know what I can afford 10, or maybe (even better) 5 a month!

I believe if you leave it open people start to debate the level they should give. And once they start having that debate you are in danger of losing them because they can easily talk themself out of the donation.

Linked to this is my belief that we should try and steer away from totals and goals too much. I think if you tell someone your organisation needs to raise X million a year or X hundred thousand for your campaign…you are in danger of alienating them and they will say well how is my small (not small to them) donation going to make an impact. Also if you start to announce a total, we have raised X, then people start to think…well they have done so well now, I dont think they need my help.

These are of course my thoughts! Not based on science or research, but Paul Dervan posted today about this and it backs up, scientifically, the start of my post. here is what he said:

Did you know that when fundraising, you can increase donations raised if you let people know that even a tiny amount would help?

Robert B. Cialdini, an author and researcher, had an interesting theory. He believed that many people would genuinely like to help charitable causes. But they can’t afford to give much. And they don’t believe the few cents they could afford would be that beneficial.

To test this theory, Robert and some other researchers went door-to-door, fundraising for the American Cancer Society. They asked half the residents “Would you be willing to help by giving a donation?” To the other half, they added an extra comment – “Even a penny will help“.

The results? Those told that “even a penny will help” were almost twice as likely to donate (50% v 28.6%).

Makes sense that more people donated – but did this increase the total funds donated?

Yes. The researchers found that for every 100 people asked, they raised $72 from the “even a penny will help” group, while only raising $44 from the other group.

Interesting stuff. Robert has a book worth a read with other good case studies. It is light and easy reading. ‘Yes!:50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive‘. I noticed that 58 people have reviewed it on Amazon.com, with an impressive 5 star average rating.

Raising Vital Funds

I think these are three of the most redundant words in fundraising. I was watching TV last night and an ad came on for a Fundraising Appeal, asking people to sign up to take part etc…And listening to the copy of the ad I just felt that these were three words that were lost in the aid. What do they mean?

Don’t all charities raise vital funds? Is that not the point!

When you have a 20 or 30 second ad to get across your message, dont get hung up on phrases like that. We tend to slip into the habit of using those words, thinking they mean something to the donor or potential supporter but really they dont. I think the time used on saying those words would have been better spent calling out the website or phone number a second time.

In every communication we have with the public we need to think carefully about what we are saying and ask, not does this make sense to me or does this sound good to the CEO or Director of Services. What we need to do is ask…Will this engage the donor.

Please dont raise vital funds anymore. Tell me something else.

Great Amnesty Ad

Apparently this isnt new, I came across it on Paul’s Blog, like him its new to me. I think it’s really effective

Charities not investing ethically risk losing support of the public, survey finds

News Release from Ethical Investment Research (sent from Fundraising Ireland):

 

The majority (83%) of the general public would be less likely or unwilling to

give to a charity if they found out it was not investing ethically, according to

new research released today by the EIRIS Foundation.

 

The GFK NOP poll of 2,000 UK adults found that 52% of the general public would be unwilling to give to charities that are investing in a way that is against their objectives, and a further 31% would be less likely to give.

 

Almost all (91%) of those surveyed agreed that charities should be investing their

money in an ethically or socially responsible way. This highlights a mis-match between public expectations and the number of charities actually investing ethically – a 2006study by ACCA found that just 55% of large UK charities had an ethical investment policy.

 

The survey illustrates the growing public interest in the finances of charities, and the risks to both reputation and income that charities face by not investing in line with their mission. As the credit crunch bites, many charities are worried about the potential drop in their income from donations. It is therefore crucial that charities maintain the trust of the public and don’t alienate donors through their investment policies.

 

Of those surveyed, 81% said that if they discovered a charity was not investing in this way it would negatively affect their view of the charity and 83% indicated that it would make them less likely or unwilling to give to the charity.

 

The survey also reveals that the public wish to know what charities do with their

money. When asked how important it is to know where and how a charity invests its money, 41% of adults rated this as very important on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 equals very important). Just 11% rated this as 4 or below.

 

Public support for ethical investment has increased significantly since a NOP survey for the Charities Aid Foundation. In 2001 over 40% of the public said that they would prefer to support charities which invest ethically and a further 14% said that they were only prepared to support charities investing in this way.

 

Peter Webster, Executive Director of EIRIS, said “Ethical investment is something which each of the UK’s 25,000 charities that have investments should be taking very seriously. It provides charities with real opportunities to further rather than counter their aims. If all the £56billion of UK charity investments was invested ethically this would send a powerful message to companies in terms of social, environmental and ethical corporate behaviour.”

 

Sam Collin, EIRIS Charity Project Co-ordinator said “These findings come at a time when charities are coming under additional scrutiny from their supporters and face increased pressure from the Charity Commission to be more accountable and transparent. Charities should be responding to the concerns of supporters by demonstrating that they are using their finances in an ethical way.”

 

Clear Calls to Action Online

I came across this on the Non Profit Blog Exchange (originally posted on happy donors blog) and thought it was really useful:

* Use consistent wording. “Contact us” and “Contact us via e-mail” are two different calls to action.

* Begin each call to action with an active verb: learn, place, add, submit, get, modify, edit, etc.

* Place the call to action where your eye path ends up as you look at the page.

* Make a call-to-action button instantly recognizable as a call to action.  And place it to be visible at first glance. It should be obvious even if you move far enough away from the screen so you cannot even read the body text of the site (the “5 foot rule”).

* Make buttons “jump.” Done well, graphic calls to action employ 3D effects which make the buttons visually jump off the page and stand out.

* Do not ignore text hyperlink calls to action. Worded clearly and in the right place, they can be as effective as graphic calls to action.  

* Use clear, easy-to-read fonts. For example, use Arial, not Times New Roman or Courier. Don’t use unusual fonts which stand out solely by their inappropriate look.

* Use mouseover effects to increase awareness. However, if site visitors have moved the cursor to your call to action, you have already gained their attention.

Read the original post here

What nonprofits do that REALLY annoys donors

Marc Pitman of the Extreme Fundraising Blog has set up a question on Linkedin asking this question and has had over 50 answers. It certainly has been a forum for some ranting about what charities do wrong..but in there are some great examples of what to do and what not to do. Check out the answers here.

Here are some highlights:

From Gary K:

let me tell you about the perfect charity, in my view.

1.) It operates in my greater metropolitan area and restricts its grants to three areas of focus that are important to me: hunger, the welfare of at-risk women and their children and mental health.

2.) All administrative costs are borne by the organizing company’s foundation, so 100% of what I give goes to programs.

3.) When I donate I get a prompt written thank you, and then I don’t hear from them again for a year.

4.) After a year they send me a recap of all the grants made in the past 12 months – to whom, for what and how much – along with a polite request for another donation.

They’ve been getting the lion’s share of my charitable contributions for quite a long time now.

Hildy G:

My biggest pet peeve is probably the lack of engagement for anything other than asking me for money.

Andrea S:

One of my pet peeves is that there are too many nonprofits doing the same work. I don’t like being asked for money to support a new organization if there is already an effective, credible and established organization with the same mission

Larry H

My pet peeve is receiving bi-monthly envelopes stuffed with glossy 4-color brochures and assorted literature/promos asking for my continued support when I already give a significant amount every month. I am rather concerned about what fraction of my donation actually makes it to my intended recipient, and I see these mailings simply as a waste of my money.

One of the BIG concerns people have are when non-profits share the donors information, it seems to really get on peoples nerves.

Philanthropizza

The California Pizza Kitchen have a great way of supporting local organisations and at the same time driving business their way. They allow schools or local organizations raise money through a CPKids FUNdraising event. All they have to do is eat at CPK and 20% of the purchase will be donated to the cause.

Local fundraisers can be organised at each CPK, its a great way for the company to support the community and Im sure there is a feel good in the community about the company which cant be a bad thing!

I came across this on Philanthropy 2173 Blog