Some months ago someone asked me why I spend so much time preparing the right set of questions for an interview panel. I told him that we only have one chance of doing this right. We can cross our fingers and hope to choose the right fundraiser, but if we don’t take this seriously enough it’s more likely that we hire the wrong candidate.
Read MoreOn 15 November 2014, neo-Nazis walked through the streets of Wunsiedel. It was impossible to stop them - but Exit-Deutschland could make them walk for something meaningful: and that is how for the first time a right-wing memorial march became a charity walk - without knowing of the participants. For every meter they walked, €10 went to EXIT-Deutschland - a Nazi opt-out programme. The result: €10.000 and lots of surprised right-wing extremists...
Read MoreAcross the charity sector we literally spend days on the creation of boardroom presentations, we meet for hours in cross-functional working groups, and the other half of the day we're either in one-on-one or team meetings... We're all taking selfies. It's all Me, Myself and I. But we're looking the wrong way... we should be taking pictures of our donors. All those snapshots will tell us a story about who they are and what they want.
Read MoreOops, I did it again. Like previous years I sliced and diced the Central Bureau of Fundraising (CBF) annual figures into some sort of growth analysis for the Dutch market.
Perhaps I should not repeat the methodology and disclaimer, because you’re probably not gonna read it anyway. Most of you scroll straight down to the tables below to see where your organisation is ranked. But let me just mention the main points before we dive into the figures.
Read MoreIn the closing plenary of this year's International Fundraising Congress Kumi Naidoo, International Executive Director of Greenpeace, shared an inspiring story I'd like to pass on to you (slightly paraphrased). Kumi is a life long activist from South-Africa, where he was involved in the anti-apartheid movement.
Kumi Naidoo: 'My best friend growing up was Lenny Naidu, and we fled around the same time into exile in 1987. He asked me a question the last time I would see him before we fled.'
Read MoreAlmost 10 years ago Roger Craver gave me the book Moneyball from Michael Lewis. I was excited, because I have played ball since I was a kid. I love baseball. The book is about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane.
Roger told me it could widen my horizon, that I would look at things differently and think outside the (batter’s) box. He wasn’t talking about baseball, but fundraising…
Read MoreYou might love it. You might hate it. But if you respect your donors and your work as a fundraiser you are likely to spend a few hours per week looking at reports. Those reports will tell you all sorts of things about the behavior of your donors, a.k.a. your fundraising results. But, in general, what are the most important fundraising performance metrics you should monitor? Keep reading and get your free download at the end of this post.
Read MoreWhat I'm about to share seems somewhat simple perhaps. This is in fact not simple; these are the basics! Unfortunately too many fundraisers out there still don’t respect the basics.
Often we hear great quotes capturing the essence of the message. They are inspiring! They remind us of the important reasons why we work for charity and how we should do it, or how best practice would describe it…
In December I attended The Annual Lectures, where an awesome line-up of speakers was challenged to deliver their message in 30 minutes. This forced them to be to the point. And I heard some great quotes.
Read MoreNext year I wish you to be the blue fish. Charities need to break free from the uniformity. If you want your charity's story to not only reach (potential) donors, but actually be remembered a day after donors have read/saw/listened to them, something needs to change.
If you pick up a stack of direct mail appeals, or newsletters, or see 10 nonprofit e-mail bulletins next to each other, they are pretty much the same. Admit it. The logo might be different, but otherwise it's more or less the same. You see the differences, but your audience can't tell.
Read MoreToday I'll zoom in on legacy income. First we'll look at the available figures from the CBF from the last 10 years.
To give you an idea of the growth trend of the market I've selected 121 organisations that reported their legacy income both in 2003 and 2012.
This group reported a legacy income in 2003 of nearly EUR 178 million. The same group reported a legacy income in 2012 of almost EUR 235 million. Almost the same as the year before.
Read MoreToday I want to share what I think is the single most important ingredient for fundraising success. This ingredient can make it, or break it. It’s the multiplier effect. It’s the most powerful element in your fundraising program. Every fundraising program has at least one, some have more, but nobody seems to have enough. Some are good. Some are considered good, but are in fact not.
You’ve guessed it. I’m talking about The Fundraiser. Yes, you.
Read MoreThere are a lot of fundraisers out there who are in their comfort zone. They don’t like change; they might be afraid of change.
If you are doing everything right, the need for change is obviously less urgent. However, most of us are not doing everything right. So there is a big chance you can improve your fundraising.
And the only one stopping you is… well, eh… YOU!
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