Very interesting research from Cass and Southampton on the aging profile of charity supporters, which confirms what I've been banging on about. IT'S THE BOOMERS STUPID! We're a large cohort, getting older and whether we start dying in 2012 or 2016 there are much larger numbers of people with both the capacity and propensity to give to our favourite causes if asked appropriately.
The "Giving" Green Paper (get your responses in by 8th March) is very long on rhetoric about giving and very short on facts about asking. To paraphrase Gill Moody (of Craigmyle) at the Institute yesterday - fundraisers are rather like midwifes to donors. We help them achieve a transformation and if we do it right they'll carry on for life (and beyond).
Which brings us on, of course, to the Banksters who just don't get it. So much more could be done by individuals and the corporations (free banking for instance) if they could only be helped to understand the big picture.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
More on the Banksters
So, the banks are going to contribute £200m to the "Big Society Bank" are they? (see www.civilsociety.co.uk) Well bully for them. Considering that first estimates of dormant funds are somewhere between £500m and £1.5bn and the fact that the money isn't theirs anyway do we see this as a piece of corporate philanthropy or rather more like self-interest. As Maple's spectrum of philanthropy suggests, this isn't even enlightened self interest, it's well beyond the visible spectrum!
There's a new party being formed by Dr Richard Hill to be called something like NHS Concern. I'm thinking we need Charity Concern because the Big Society sure ain't going to do it.
There's a new party being formed by Dr Richard Hill to be called something like NHS Concern. I'm thinking we need Charity Concern because the Big Society sure ain't going to do it.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
The Perils of Charity Trading
For some time I've been suggesting that there continue to be some really interesting opportunities for charities to trade profitably in areas long seen as problematic, high risk, low return and time consuming. After all the addition of Gift Aid to shop profits has revolutionised the return on investment for those charities with the will and drive to implement more advanced point of sale equipment to handle the transactions from initial gift through to ultimate sale (something incidentally that came out of a conversation at a charty tax lecture at LSBU)! I remain convinced that for those fundraisers able to motivate themselves and their boards much more remains, despite some fearsome barriers to entry, for the brave-hearted.
The scandal (if that's what it is) at the Salvation Army over their clothes recyling partners making £ millions is a fascinating demonstration of how much there is out there if only we're willing to get our hands dirty. Yorkshire folk have always known that "where there's muck there's brass" and it seems that, until the prices of recycled clothes trebled over the last few years, the Sally Ann was getting its share. However was due dilence done over the arms length contracts? Prices can go up or down so were there multipliers built in for the charity to be protected from falls but benefit from rises? Possibly not.
The FRSB have finally got something to get their teeth into and we all await with great interest their deliberations and the Charity Commission response. Meanwhile keep looking for the ways to turn other people's rubbish into good, solid, legitimate, cash.
The scandal (if that's what it is) at the Salvation Army over their clothes recyling partners making £ millions is a fascinating demonstration of how much there is out there if only we're willing to get our hands dirty. Yorkshire folk have always known that "where there's muck there's brass" and it seems that, until the prices of recycled clothes trebled over the last few years, the Sally Ann was getting its share. However was due dilence done over the arms length contracts? Prices can go up or down so were there multipliers built in for the charity to be protected from falls but benefit from rises? Possibly not.
The FRSB have finally got something to get their teeth into and we all await with great interest their deliberations and the Charity Commission response. Meanwhile keep looking for the ways to turn other people's rubbish into good, solid, legitimate, cash.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Free Banking for Charities - Join the campaign now!
At the launch yesterday when Paul Hunt (sic) minister for the DCMS announced their "new" Philanthropy Strategy yesterday which, rhetoric aside, is about an £80m matched funding programme for the arts. Whilst matched funding is very welcome and certainly worked for higher education Lord Myners had the temerity to point out that it's not new money and back end loaded over four years.
More interestly, I thought, he went on to ask,"what have the bankers ever done for us?" and suggested that free banking, for charities, would be a start! What a great idea. Corporates want to do gifts in kind and banksters want some good PR so what could be easier than free banking for charities? They charge us an arm and a leg for services that could be free. Charities don't usually run overdrafts and tend to have reserves simply on deposit with their main banks anyway. Join the campaign today, simply add a supporting comment and lets see what happens. Simples!
More interestly, I thought, he went on to ask,"what have the bankers ever done for us?" and suggested that free banking, for charities, would be a start! What a great idea. Corporates want to do gifts in kind and banksters want some good PR so what could be easier than free banking for charities? They charge us an arm and a leg for services that could be free. Charities don't usually run overdrafts and tend to have reserves simply on deposit with their main banks anyway. Join the campaign today, simply add a supporting comment and lets see what happens. Simples!
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
The 50 best fundraising blogs
Grumpily but unsurprisingly the agofwks blog didn't rank in the top 50 according to the america guide to schools reported by Howard Lake. There again this is less about how to do it and much more about why to do it better.
Have you caught the report of the Funding Commission yet?(Do read the whole report or at least the summary on the NCVO site). Great launch last night with Stuart Etherington, Richard Gutch, Fiona Ellis and many of the sector's luminaries. Here's the digested read for 12 really doable recommendations that we in the sector can begin to address!
1. Civil Society Organisations have got to step up to the mark. With £100m for transition and possible £3bn loss in April, partnerships, mergers and better value are top of the agenda.
2. Funders have got to make better use of existing resources. Doing less things better and doing smart things smarter is the name of the game.
3. Launch the better asking campaign. Music to my tired old ears. Let's JFDI!
4. Government has got to stop the rhetoric and fund some real long term change. That way avoids the current cognative dissonance.
Let us know what you make of the report and whether you intend to join in.
Have you caught the report of the Funding Commission yet?(Do read the whole report or at least the summary on the NCVO site). Great launch last night with Stuart Etherington, Richard Gutch, Fiona Ellis and many of the sector's luminaries. Here's the digested read for 12 really doable recommendations that we in the sector can begin to address!
1. Civil Society Organisations have got to step up to the mark. With £100m for transition and possible £3bn loss in April, partnerships, mergers and better value are top of the agenda.
2. Funders have got to make better use of existing resources. Doing less things better and doing smart things smarter is the name of the game.
3. Launch the better asking campaign. Music to my tired old ears. Let's JFDI!
4. Government has got to stop the rhetoric and fund some real long term change. That way avoids the current cognative dissonance.
Let us know what you make of the report and whether you intend to join in.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Accessing little know trusts
We had a most interesting character, Robert Pike, give a session for the fundraising students last week about the "invisible grantmakers".
Many people assume that if a trust isn't in the DSC directory they're hardly worth bothering about. However Robert, who runs a small agency called "Social Partnership Marketing" has been researching those who remain below the radar but still make significant grants. He's been doing this for 12 years and, it seems to me, that his directory published each year deserves to be seen by others with the tenacity to look beyond the usual sources. Check it out you might just find it more valuable than Prospecting for Gold (sorry Andrew).
Meanwhile, like all good fundraising, it starts and ends with RESEARCH, RESEARCH and more RESEARCH.
Many people assume that if a trust isn't in the DSC directory they're hardly worth bothering about. However Robert, who runs a small agency called "Social Partnership Marketing" has been researching those who remain below the radar but still make significant grants. He's been doing this for 12 years and, it seems to me, that his directory published each year deserves to be seen by others with the tenacity to look beyond the usual sources. Check it out you might just find it more valuable than Prospecting for Gold (sorry Andrew).
Meanwhile, like all good fundraising, it starts and ends with RESEARCH, RESEARCH and more RESEARCH.
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
21st Century Philanthropy
There is some really interesting research begining to emerge about how and why people are giving (or not). My pal Beth Breeze has just published the 2010 Million Pound Donors report which follows hard on the heels of Cathy Pharoah's Family Foundation Report. The latter comments that the top 100 family trusts account for £1.4bn of donations whilst the former talks of £1.5bn of £1m+ gifts in last year alone. Some hefty numbers indeed and an indication that giving, at high levels, is remaining buoyant even if the seriously well off feel poor when their portfolios have fallen from £100m to £80m.
What does seem to have slipped below the radar is a Report from CAF about British Indian Donors. At 1m of the UK population with the top 200 accounting for £7bn (and growing 5% a year) this is a section of the population largely ignored by UK charities large and small.
Me thinks that we could be doing a whole lot more about our multi-cultural society.
What does seem to have slipped below the radar is a Report from CAF about British Indian Donors. At 1m of the UK population with the top 200 accounting for £7bn (and growing 5% a year) this is a section of the population largely ignored by UK charities large and small.
Me thinks that we could be doing a whole lot more about our multi-cultural society.
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