How to raise more money?

That's the holy grail or the question to the answer 42 (sorry Douglas Adams) yes?

Well, perhaps not. I did an interview with John Bingham at the Daily Telegraph about the latest OECD report discussing the question of whether, "are we in the UK becoming more generous?" There is some evidence, but my take based on the research and personal observations is that the jury is still out. Consequently any increase in generosity is much more likely to be a legacy of the recession. After all, how many of you really feel better off now than 12 months ago?

So maybe we need to be thinking more about those crucial questions of capacity to give and propensity to give before we try to home our fundraising techniques. Just because somebody appears in the Sunday Times Rich List and so is worth at least £85m (used to be around £10m)does not mean that they are interested in, or will ever be interested in your case for support no matter how potent or powerful your ask. That said, recent experiences of Crowd Fundraising (Claire Squires and Steven Sutton) show that asks can go viral if everything fits. Though how do you make it fit?

I think therefore that my session at the DSC fair next Friday "Marketing Strategy for Effective Fundraising" is going to pose some particularly jucy, pertinant questions and what's more I'm going to have a go at winkling out some of the answers! So I do hope to see some of you there. Meanwhile what are your thoughts on the question of whether we are indeed becoming more generous? After all, if it is true, it's sure going to make fundraising even more effective.

To the regulars, I'm sorry that I've been away for some time with family problems but hope to be updating regularly from now on.

Hot Town, summer in the city.....?

Anybody remember the Loving Spoonful?

Seems rather appropriate as St Swithins day has come and gone and ne'er a drop of rain, so pretty good for the next 40 days. Maybe it's why some are getting sloppy with their spell checkers. I received a subscription reminder from the august Chartered Institute of Marketing with a typo howler in the very first line. Ouch, or should I say "Grwoing"? Checking around I find that those under 30 are not so bothered whilst those over 50 think it is an outrage. More demographic indicators of attitude.

The direct cost was that of a grovelling letter of apology to all members from Chris Daly the (believe it or not)Director of Customer Experience. The indirect cost, certainily amongst baby boomers,is rather higher.So is there ever an excuse for sloppiness? It's hot and the deadline has come and gone so do you just hit the send button and hope? Remember what Douglas Adams said about deadlines. As someone who never made a deadline in his life he reflected that he loved the sound they make as they go "whooshing" passed.

Maybe when times are tight, both literally and metaphorically, we need to be even more careful. When budgets are being cut, we need to be more creative and make even stronger cases for investment. That means accurate data.

Just a thought on another sunny day.