Enlighted Self Interest - Part of the Spectrum of Philanthropy

As I've mentioned before I'm finalising the draft for a second edition of "Marketing Strategy for Effective Fundraising" and am looking for some choice quotations/words about the use of marketing to enhance fundraising so this is your opportunity to be immortalized in print!

I've got some lovely inspirational one liners like: "You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give." (Winston Churchill) and "No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave." (Calvin Coolidge) but this is your opportunity as a fundraising practitioner, pundit, guru or student to have your say about what you think is profoundly important.

Incidentally, talking about important stuff, have you seen the latest offering in Fundraising Research? Whilst "UK Giving" continues to be a free download from CAF/NCVO "Giving Trends" is a brand new kid on the block from Third Sector Research (part of the publication) which has interviewed 3,000 givers in the UK (as opposed to 1000 adults by NCVO). It looks like there is some cracking stuff there, but for £450 I'm not sure they'll get too many takers. Or am I just being Scrooge (like my kids believe). Let me know if you're going to buy a copy.

And do, please, give me your orginal quotes/ideas by leaving a comment below. No money I'm afraid, just the glory!

They do know the price of fish!

Spoke at a very interesting round table session last night for Major Gift fundraisers. Slagged off Cass and the Centre for Philanthropic Giving for not producing useful fundraising research (See Third Sector 8th December) and proceeded to give them the results of some fascinating research into how UK charities look after (or don't) their major givers.

I challenged them to go back to basics and adopt a conceptual model to help understand their donors. All bar two thought this a sound bit of advice even though it was from a self obsessed baby boomer.

We also talked about generational differences and how the next wealthy generation - "Jonesers" might also be researched to find out if and how they think differently. But that of course needs some research funding. Back to the Office of the Third Sector and the lack of practical useful fundraising research. Eat your heart out CASS!

Reasons to be cheerful, one, two three (with apologies to Ian Dury)

So things are going to get much worse (Third Sector 3rd November)! Joe Saxton rightly points to probable deep cuts in government funding in three years time. Stephen Bubb thinks it'll be sooner (After the election feels like a safe bet).

So that's the doom, gloom and Cassandra predictions and they are probably right in as far as they go. But it's not the whole picture is it? And fundraisers, more than most, are able to buck trends, be creative and tap new sources of income.

Hurrah! The Boomers are coming. From 2012 (post the Olympics just a 1000 days)the baby boomers are going to start dying in big numbers. In fact people are going to be dying who have never died before. As a boomer I'm entitled to be bloody grumpy. As a fundraising I have to keep telling charities to invest in legacy development (sorry thats "a gift in your will" The whole bit - and some of these are Joe's own numbers, about the boomers holding 85% of the UKs wealth is mind boggling. Events, investments, social enterprise, tribute funds, the list actually is endless.

So stop winging and start doing some strategic planning - a four year window looks good.

Have I finally lost the plot?

That's it I thought. Haven't seen Third Sector for three weeks, it must be casualty of the recession and Stephen Cook's looking for work. But it seems not. On phoning the Institute of Fundraising I find they have thoughtfully, helpfully checked my "opt out" box. Why would I do that I say? Answer was there none and we agreed that a database error had occured. I'm promised back copies by next week - Royal Mail permitting.

However it underlines the conversion I had with the inimitable Messrs Rodd and Florey - the doyens of the database world and champions of proper CRM for the not for profit sector. They and I agree that we need to produce a course for fundraisers explaining the intricasies of getting it right and the cost of getting it wrong. So watch the LSBU site for news of a potentially hugely important course development. JR and PF tell me that after 20 years of helping people put right bad decisions about fundraising databases that they find themselves doing the same thing over again for the same organisations! That's deeply scarey and rather depressing that organisations are not good at corporate memory. So, I suppose, at least I'm not totally alone out there.

I'm not alone

Sorry for the delay between blogs. Been in the Highlands where it rained for three days on the West coast and was sunny for three days on the East coast. No wonder the Scots moan about the English, we did little but complain about the weather. Apart, that is, from some heroic eating and drinking.

Well, as soon as a grumpy old fundraiser moans so the Institute reacts! Third Sector are publicising the Institute of Fundraising's new campaign to blow the whistle on the crap, unethical and downright dangerous DM campaigns that some charities continue to inflict upon an, increasingly, cynical public. No grumps today, just an A+ to Lindsay Boswell and Louise Richards. Watch this space however because I am shortly to have a major grump about the Institute's lack of focus regarding the convention.

What a shamble

Has anyone seen Matthew Little's article in Third Sector on research? He's done a good job at unravelling it, but the whole thing is tortuous in the extreme.

If the Office of the Third Sector had set out to design an inpenitrable process to obfuscate potential areas of really interesting research they couldn't have come close.

Is it really too much to expect that a clear research brief be prepared, with regard to NEEDS and then placed with a single provide to maximise the impact and cost effectiveness? Sadly it seems so.