Fundraising and funding insights

New Source of Fundraising Research

Thu, 10 May 2012 08:32:00 GMT

You may know the old adage “plan the work, then work the plan”? But a great many charities engage in fundraising without planning. Why? All sorts of reasons.

They’re allowed to: trustees haven’t insisted on a plan.
They’re not sure how to go about developing a fundraising strategy.
And my personal favourite - the charity as a whole has no plan! Or its plan is not fit for purpose. So it’s practically impossible to develop a plan for fundraising because you have no idea what you’re raising funds for.

Developing a fundraising strategy is not easy and often throws fundraising managers into complete panic, generating questions such as ‘How do other organisations plan and structure their fundraising?’ ‘How do they cope with the changing fundraising environment?’ ‘What kind of approach to planning and to fundraising is appropriate for our charity?’

Perhaps one of the biggest barriers to effective planning for fundraising is a lack of knowledge, something the new fundraising research portal from the IoF seeks to address. Created with support from the Office for Civil Society, it is a gateway to research that answers questions such as ‘Are Single-Gift Committed Donors Different from their Multiple-Gift Counterparts?’ and even ‘Is a donor in the hand better than two in the bush?’!

It includes material from fundraising research papers, reports and studies generated by universities, sector research agencies, consultancies and umbrella bodies, and is divided into easy to navigate categories (see graphic).

However there is a downside to this new tool: it is not always free to view the research and prices can typically range from £10 to £40 to buy the published work. But overall it seems to be a very useful tool and well worth exploring.

If you need help with fundraising planning, why not get in touch?

Giving decisions not ours to make?

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:13:00 GMT

We all like to think we are in control of our lives - of what we feel and what we think. But scientists are now discovering this is often simply an illusion. Surprising experiments are revealing that what you think you do and what you actually do can be very different.

That is a synopsis of "Out of Control?", a BBC Horizon episode about how the unconscious mind often calls the shots. It's available on iPlayer for a few weeks, so get it while you can and think about how this affects your fundraising.

Among the valuable insights on offer we're reminded that 'the wisdom of the crowd prevails' in decision making. Research into giving would support this, showing that knowing that other people like you or living near you have given is likely to increase both your propensity to give and the amount you give.

Whilst I hope that fundraisers will use advances in neuroscience more ethically than some corporations do, it could be only a matter of time before some or other large charity is caught crossing a line when it comes to manipulating people to give.

Affordable Case for Support Training for Small Charities

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:20:00 GMT

In 2011 the Institute of Fundraising secured funding from the Office for Civil Society to support small charities to fundraise more effectively. The three year project supports small and localised organisations at grassroots level with an annual income of £1 million or less.

As part of this the IoF is offering a short training course to enable delegates to develop a case for support for their organisation. £20 only if your income is less than £1million. Bargain!

Christmas giving infographic from JustGiving

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:16:00 GMT

'Tis the season to be sharing! So we were pleased to see that JustGiving are sharing their insights. How could/should this affect your planning for Christmas 2012?

Facebook pages that work

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:04:00 GMT

Mashable.com reported this week on a study by Eyetrackshop showing which part of big brands' Facebook pages get most attention. The results were overlaid on the web pages as in the example here.

The results are surprising, but good news for us ordinary folk that don't have huge budgets. For example, participants in the study almost always looked at pages’ walls first — usually for at least four times longer than any other element on the page. Walls don't cost the earth!

On average, the smaller pictures above the wall were noticed 85% of the time, and the “likes” column was noticed just 58% of the time. Other learning:

Content matters!
Profile photos can be the difference between seeing and not seeing a brand
Generally, profile photos with faces in them got the most attention
Photos on the wall get attention - bear in mind when posting

The Mashable article is well worth a read - lots of food for thought.

Neuroscience and fundraising

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:25:00 GMT

To be a fundraiser these days you have to be an expert in everything apparently. So you may want to watch this ten minute animation that explodes some myths as to the way brains work (the left/right thing for instance) and may well provoke some hard thinking as to what recent findings by neuroscientists mean for us fundraisers.

SMS donations record for Disasters Emergency Committee

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:01:00 GMT

The Disasters Emergency Committee's East Africa Appeal has set a new record for the charity for donations by SMS. The previous highest total raised by text for a DEC appeal was £230,000 for the 2010 Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

SMS is a great medium for mass response to a campaign like this with high visibility, lots of free publicity (and rightly so!), and a high level of brand awareness and respect such as DEC's. But it can also work for smaller causes. The key - as with any form of fundraising is to:

spend the optimum amount getting the ask out and get maximum free awareness - via your own supporters, the press/media, blogs etc. etc.(you get the idea!).
Test and measure! If you have no track record, don't make assumptions, and don't put all your eggs in one basket - spend enough to make the test statistically significant if you can, but expect to make a loss.
Integrate: you don't want only one way to make the appeal known, so why have only one way to respond? And how does this appeal fit into your overall communications plan?

Go to the DEC site for their press release on this.

Fundraising Standards Board Celebrating the Best of Supporter Care

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:25:00 GMT

Today, at the start of Customer Service Week, an initiative of the Institute of Customer Services, the FRSB is launching a week-long celebration of supporter care and the charity fundraising staff who deliver it.

They are calling you to join in by sharing with them your stories of success as they celebrate the hugely important work that supporter care staff do in building relationships with supporters and generating sustainable income streams for charity.

Each day this week, the FRSB will unveil a case study of best practice in supporter care which will set out one charity’s approach to supporter care. The first case study has been provided by Breast Cancer Campaign.

Do you have a story to tell about good supporter care? Have you managed to turn a complainant around to a committed, high value supporter? How do you define ‘good supporter care’? And how do you measure the results?

Share your success:
Tweet #donorservice or
Join the FRSB Supporter Care Forum on Linkedin

And don't forget to let us have your stories too. We'll feature the best ones here.

Big Competition for the Big Lottery Fund

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:36:00 GMT

With statutory cuts, a competitive fundraising environment, and a stagnant economy, how to get Lottery money seems to be the question every fundraiser is asking. A great question!

I was speaking to someone from the BLF recently who told me competition for Lottery funding is fiercer than ever. Last year the BLF received 60% more applications for funding than in the previous year.

Two fundraisers recently told me that they had their first stage proposal rejected by the BLF. When they called for feedback they were told that the project and the proposal were strong. One of the fundraisers was told by BLF that his failed application was very strong bar a couple of minor errors and would have easily passed the first round had he submitted it six months ago.

So should you still include lottery funding bids in your mix? Well I believe you should. But you will need to make sure that the project and your application are first class.

Reaching Communities
I'm currently working on a Reaching Communities application for a client. I spoke to BLF this week to talk through the project. They confirmed what we’d heard previously that if you apply for a smaller grant (£40,000 or less), you may well have a higher chance of being successful than if you apply for a major grant. The process is also simpler and the turnaround time quicker.

My advice if you want Lottery funding? Get professional help from an experienced fundraising professional. And if that's not an option, at least get someone external to critique your application before submitting it.

Sarah Squire MInstF(Cert), Director and Senior Consultant

New school rules

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:48:00 GMT

Sometimes we seem to be caught between two worlds. One the one hand we have the old school organisation made up of individuals in teams and teams in departments - or worse, divisions. One the other, we have nimble, agile loosely connected groupings of fire-starters full of energy, and sometimes, direction.

The advantage of the latter is that more gets done. The danger, the message is confused or just plain misleading! The advantage of the former is that the message is well, 'on message'. But that it takes forever to get anything out.

Know the feeling?

I was inspired at this year's Institute of Fundraising Convention by a session called unfundraising. The general idea being that you allow others to get excited and spread the word without wanting to control everything - facilitate, but don't seek to control. There were some convincing arguments that it's getting ever harder to fundraise for core costs and that projects are increasingly where it's at. And if you can find a prolific blogger with a large following or a celeb or two to join the cause, you're away.

But so many charities are still stuck in a rigid way of working and too focused on what's happening within the charity - and not even within the service delivery part of the cause - often the attention is heavily focused on fundraising and communications at the expense of the cause. These are the charities that are spending a small fortune on direct marketing, often with ever diminishing returns. The irony is it has never been easier to communicate - and as long as you really are doing something worth talking about, people will talk.

Unleash the power people!

Remember a Charity

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:39:00 GMT

Remember A Charity is the biggest single-issue campaign in the voluntary sector. It has more than 140 member charities, working together to encourage more people to consider leaving a gift to charities in their will, after they’ve looked after their family and friends.

The UK legacy market is currently worth more than 20 times the amount Comic Relief raises each year. A 4% change in behaviour would raise a further £1 billion for good causes every year.

The problem is, that despite the collective efforts of charities, agencies and advocates over the years, that the number of people leaving a bequest to charity has not increased one iota in the last 100 years (thanks 'Statto' aka Prof Adrian Sargeant for that one!).

It seems that a combination of factors make it just too much like hard work for people to organise a last will and testament - unless they experience something of the devastation and anxiety that can be caused by someone dying intestate (without a will).

Begs the question, how can we tap into the factors that motivate people to leave a bequest? Whilst there are some similarities with other forms of fundraising - for example legators cite wanting to make a difference as a reason for leaving a bequest - there are significant differences such as the need to avoid talk of specific dates.

If you'd like to find out more about how to approach legacy marketing in your cause, contact fundraising consultants today.

Self-evaluation and funding from grant-makers

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:16:00 GMT

If you want to raise more money from trusts and foundations, why not take some time out to do a bit of good old-fashioned self- evaluation? It will probably help with other forms of fundraising too.

Investing time to work with colleagues to review the difference your charity is making is well worth it. Not least because being able to demonstrate the impact and outcomes of your work will make you infinitely more attractive to donors - especially to charitable trusts, foundations and some individual major donors.

How are you doing?

A client recently asked us to produce a funding bid to submit BBC Children in Need. Children in Need have produced a downloadable guide - ‘How are you doing?’ - that explains what self-evaluation is, why it’s important, and how to do it. It gets you thinking about how to collect and use information that will help you evaluate how well you are doing at meeting the needs of the beneficiaries your charity was set up to help.

So for a newly appointed trust fundraiser or CEO of a small charity, Pudsey is a great place to start - with first-hand insights into some of the things funders are looking for.

Thanks Pudsey!

Small charities 'have difficulty filling vacancies', not least in fundraising.

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:06:00 GMT

40% of small charities 'have difficulty filling vacancies' according to research published this week by the The Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI), Third Sector reports.

The biggest single reason was salary (47%), followed by lack of funds to advertise the role widely enough (43%).

Fundraisers were hardest to find, followed by marketing and communications roles. This comes as no surprise to anybody at a small charity! The odds are stacked against you and you know it. Can't afford to pay to advertise a vacancy properly, let alone pay the fundraiser once they're on board. Hopeless? No. Why not?

ONE: Social media, online listings and your personal and organisational email address lists provide ways to promote vacancies free of charge - use them! Tell everyone you meet. Join LinkedIn.

TWO: Under certain circumstances you might just find funding to pay a fundraiser's salary, for a year at least, after which they'll need to have raised enough to keep their job! We recently helped a client structure a funding bid to do just that.

THREE: If you have the passion, drive and clear thinking to grow your cause, you will. As long as it's not so obscure a cause as to appeal to nobody except you!

FOUR: Think laterally. Forget the usual rules of engagement in recruitment - you're up against it! And don't pigeon hole and stereotype people and the places you expect to find you're star fundraiser.

Five keys to trust fundraising success

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:46:00 GMT

One of our clients, a medical research charity, recently received a grant of £180,000 from a trust. What are the keys that unlock substantial trust funding? Here are our top five:

ONE: a good match. Many funders are still saying that they receive a great many applications that fall outside of their criteria. The result? Your application goes straight into the bin. You've wasted your time and theirs. Once you've ensured you are eligible to apply, finding the right project to approach the trust with is crucial to your chances of being successful.

TWO: clearly articulated outcomes. Telling funders that your project will "help young people reach their potential" isn’t specific enough. It can seem difficult for charities with ‘intangible’ activities to provide clear outcomes. Advocacy is one such example. We recently did some trust fundraising work with a charity that struggled with this, giving them the tools to evaluate their work effectively and so improve their funding bid success rate.

THREE: focus on beneficiaries. Take a minute to read through one of your charity’s trust applications. How many references are there to your beneficiaries and their needs? And how many references are there to your organisational needs? Self-centred applications can be a big turn-off. Remember why you exist – for your beneficiaries. It’s important that your trust applications reflect this.

FOUR: simple and clear. When reviewing bids clients have produced, some of the most common writing skills issues are:

Keep sentences short. A good guideline is to keep sentences less than 17 words long.
Use simple language: ‘use’ instead of ‘utilise’ - ‘start’ instead of ‘commence’. Be simple, but not simplistic.
Use the active voice, not the passive. “We provide a soup kitchen for the homeless” is stronger than “a soup kitchen is provided ....”
Avoid long sections of text; if you can't, break it up into sections with subheadings.
Use bullet points!

FIVE: keep it real. Unsubstantiated claims can undermine a good application and create cynicism. Always evidence any claims you make about your organisation or work. And don’t be afraid to talk about the risks involved with the project. Things don’t always go to plan and funders know this. If you can be honest about the potential risks or challenges, funders will see that you have thought things through. And replacing the hype with a little realism and honesty might be a refreshing change for a potential funder!

IoF Academy

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:02:00 GMT

The Institute of Fundraising (IoF) training offering was rethought and restructured last year. The new IoF Academy aims to “provide a one stop shop for fundraisers to support them in meeting their personal and professional development needs and to help leaders to identify learning opportunities for their teams.”

The IoF Academy provides professionally recognised fundraising qualifications that can be mapped to academic, NVQ and QCF levels.

As well as a Certificate in Fundraising, Diploma in Fundraising and soon an Advanced Diploma in Fundraising (available 2012), there is also an Introductory Certificate in Fundraising for those new to the profession.

If you’re recruiting a fundraiser or looking for a fundraising consultant, then you really ought to insist that they are Full Members of the Institute of Fundraising with one of the above qualifications at least. It’s no absolute guarantee of quality, but it is one of the best ways to assess it.

Institute of Fundraising (IoF) National Convention 2011

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:18:00 GMT

This year's convention from 4-6 July features 'tracks' for those interested in:

Community, Events and Volunteers
Corporate Fundraising
Digital Fundraising
Direct Marketing
Legacies
Major Donor Fundraising
Personal Effectiveness
Bigger Picture
Trusts and Statutory Fundraising

Looks like reasonable value given the learning on offer, so if you've never been or it's been a while, take a look at this year's programme. Speakers include arguably one of the UK's most successful social entrepreneurs, Steve Chalke MBE - UN Special Advisor, author, speaker, presenter, businessman and 'Founder' of the global charity Oasis.

Steve's fundraising exploits have seen him raise over 5.4 million by running just 3 marathons. This year he broke the Guinness World Record for the most funds raised by an individual marathon runner, for the second time.

Institute of Fundraising Consultants Special Interest Group

Wed, 25 May 2011 09:58:00 GMT

Another productive meeting of the Fundraising Consultants SIG yesterday. Interesting to hear how similar other consultants' experience of charities' main issues are. High quality keynote speakers were Richard Gutch (NCVO Funding Commission and ex-CEO Futurebuilders) and Martin Brookes, Chief Executive of New Philanthropy Capital (NPC).

Martin caused some debate when his words were taken slightly out of context recently. Interestingly the majority of fundraising consultants present yesterday concurred with his view that fundraising needs to up its game in the UK, especially if we are to see more big gifts.

Consultants focused on fundraisers' softer, interpersonal skills, business acumen, and charities' planning, financial and project capabilities. How does this affect your training, coaching and consultancy budget for the coming year?

Online giving study results spark debate

Wed, 18 May 2011 07:23:00 GMT

A study by Network for Good and TrueSense Marketing into patterns of online giving compares giving in different online venues: social networks, giving portals, and charity websites.

It presents a glimpse into what donors are doing as giving opportunities become increasingly dispersed all over the Internet. Makes for interesting and thought-provoking reading. We recommend you digest and debate as you plan fundraising.

Website going live tomorrow

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:39:00 GMT

With a bit of luck and some wind behind us we may be able to launch the website tomorrow, at least in its initial form. If you're wondering why it's late, take a look at a plumber's waterworks or speak to a decorator's other half.

Who dares wins?

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:59:00 GMT

We were struck by this Guardian article on the charity sector and social media and thought we'd share :-)

What's your experience of how charities make the most of social media - or not? Either from a fundraiser's perspective or perhaps you're a donor. Or both!

Our experience is that charities - broadly speaking - don't provide fundraising and other staff with adequate time/capacity to engage actively enough with these tools. It's usually part of someone's job - someone who is already stretched - or the responsibility, and therefore focus, is spread across a team or teams.

If social media is not front of mind for your cause in the planning and budgeting process, why not? If you want to "punch above your weight" as the article author suggests, it ought to be.

Come back fundraising training - all is forgiven

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:26:00 GMT

20 miles in road training this morning for a sponsored event I've entered - to raise funds for one of our clients.

All I can say is, desk jobs are ideally suited for people who want their leg muscles to waste away to practically nothing.

Fundraising Consultants website and blog goes live this weekend

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:40:00 GMT

This Easter weekend will see the launch of the new Fundraising Consultants Ltd. website and blog. Unless the draw of the sunshine and long weekend are just too much for us :-)

We're designing/developing the site in house. All feedback very welcome.

blog

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:27:00 GMT

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latest client work

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:16:00 GMT

February looks set to be a busy month. Here's a selection of what we'll be up to!
www.febaonair.org.uk
www.alzheimers-research.org.uk
www.eikon.org.uk