Social Network Fundraising: The Beginners Guide

Peer-to-peer Fundraising, or as I like to call it Social Network Fundraising, works because of two reasons: (1) you are asking your own network, and (2) the fundraising is being done publicly. This combined provides a healthy and effective social peer pressure.

When you were young you probably had to do a sponsor run at school. You had to get pledges from your neighbours and family for a certain amount per lap. Remember that your neighbour always said: “So, what is the rest giving?” This is the best way to describe social network fundraising, she didn’t even hesitated. Straight away she went into the “how much” discussion…

donor acquisitionReinier SpruitMay 24, 2012peer2peer, social network, ATMA Challenge, example, tips

The 5 fastest growers and their recipe for success

By looking at long-term growth, the idea is that we’re looking at organizations who are doing something special in fundraising. So what is it that these organizations are doing so well? We decided to organize a ‘diner pensant’ and invited the five fastest growing organizations over the period 2006-2010.

Jolanda Omvlee (director Compassion), Frits Hirschstein (director KiKa), Ruud Tombrock (director WSPA Benelux), Ellen Kooij (head of marketing, communications and fundraising War Child) and Wimco Ester (head of communications and marketing Open Doors) accepted our invitation and shared the recipes of their success in fundraising.

Climate change needed for donor centric fundraising!

Recently I had dinner with the 5 fastest growing fundraising organizations in The Netherlands. We were going to look beyond the market figures and get into the qualitative side of these organizations.

Why is it, that these organizations are so good in fundraising? At our dinner we had decades of experience around the table. In this post I want to focus on one particular part of the discussion that I’m sure resonates with many of you.

donor loyaltyReinier SpruitFebruary 6, 2012Frits Hirschstein, KiKa, charity sector, donor centricity, change

Crystal ball fundraising: Lifetime Value

Some time ago on the KISSmetrics blog a case study was shown on how to calculate the Lifetime Value of your customer (let’s say donors in our case). You might have seen below infographic already, but it’s such a great and clear example I want to make sure as much fundraisers as possible have seen it.

data analysisReinier SpruitSeptember 26, 2011lifetime value, acquisition, data analysis, data

The 90-degree shift 800 years ago

It's been some years ago since I’ve read Ken Burnett’s 89 great ideas in The Zen of Fundraising. Many, if not all of them, keep coming back to me from time to time. Lately it’s this one: make the 90-degree shift.

Ken explains: “The 90-degree shift is nothing more complex than seeing things from your donor’s point of view rather than from your own or your organization’s point of view.”

He illustrates this with three good old marketing sayings:
- When a customer buys a quarter-inch drill, what he really wants is a quarter-inch hole.

Testing is not for the faint-hearted

It’s not fun being a fundraiser nowadays: depressing trends like declining responses, high-cost-acquisition in combination with through-the-roof-attrition, rock-bottom-retention and charity-bashing-media… pfff, mission impossible?!

Or, is there still a bright light in the fundraising sky? Sure there is, plenty!

FREE: 10 years of fundraising experience!

Exactly 10 years ago, I started my first job as a fundraiser! And from the beginning I was hooked. I love fundraising, because it enables change. Vision and passion combined with great fundraising enables important change. And as a fundraiser you play an important part in that change.

So, looking back over those 10 years, what did I learn? I’ve listed the most important strategic ingredients for a successful fundraising program.

The importance of annual plans

Annual plans are great. As a fundraiser you can't live without them, because it's your blueprint for fundraising success. Below a few reasons why I think you have to spend at least 10% of your whole year working on next year's plans.

What do I mean with an annual plan in fundraising? In short, I would say a narrative document which explains all of your fundraising activities, and answers all why, when, how, who and how much questions.

opinionReinier SpruitMarch 22, 2011planning, tips, targets

One-night stands ruin your fundraising

“Originally, a one-night stand was a single theatre performance, usually by a guest performer(s) on tour, as opposed to an ongoing engagement. Today, however, the term is more commonly applied to a single sexual encounter, an example of casual sex, in which neither participant has any intention or expectation of a long-term sexual or romantic relationship.” (source: Wikipedia)

Hope I caught your attention. Sex usually does, so I guess you’re still reading.

donor loyalty, opinionReinier SpruitMarch 9, 2011one-night stand, acquisition, ROI, example, long term

Essentials of donor loyalty

There are a trillion fundraising topics to choose from, but today I’ve chosen one I consider the most important: donor loyalty.

When I started to use Twitter I decided to tweet only about fundraising. To boost my followers I thought I'd summarize the best Tiny book in the series: Essentials of Donor Loyalty from professor Adrian Sargeant. In the end I tweeted the tiniest summary of the book ever done... in 71 tweets.