June 2015

30 Jun 2015

Stephen Mally Charities, Charity, end of financial year, Fundraising, NFP, Non-profit

It’s New Year’s Eve

What are your plans for New Year’s Eve?

Don’t you hate that question? You always feel obligated to do something and some of us might want to stay home on the craziest night of the year!

Asking you what you are doing on New Year’s Eve may seem as premature as asking what you got your partner for Christmas or their birthday. However, today is New Year’s Eve. Well, at least for the financial year in Australia.

So, what do you plan to do? I plan to make some year-end charitable donations to my favourite charities. And, you should too. There is a tax benefit to giving an additional gift or a first-time gift to a charity on this day. Non-profit organisations depend on our support to wrap up a strong financial year and to continue their terrific programs. It’s up to you and I to not let those charities down and to do our part at fiscal year end. Log onto the charitable Websites or call the charities now! Midnight 30 June is fast approaching!

29 Jun 2015

Stephen Mally Best Practice, Charities, Charity, Fundraising, NetCommunity, NFP, Non-profit, Raiser's Edge, Training

End of Financial Year – Raiser’s Edge and NetCommunity Training Sale

Looking to train your staff in The Raiser’s Edge and/or Blackbaud NetCommunity? Do you have some leftover budget you’d like to invest, but you are unsure of training dates? Looking for a great discount, but you don’t want to sacrifice on product or service?

We hear you! FundraisingForce has a solution for you.

Book your training with FundraisingForce by 30 June and receive 40% off! Even better, we have a combined 50 years of non-profit experience and over 25 years combined experience on The Raiser’s Edge and NetCommunity! With FundraisingForce, you work with consultants who know your business, know the product, and understand your pain points and how to solve them.

25 Jun 2015

Stephen Mally Charities, Charity, Fundraising, GivingTuesday, NFP, NGO, Non-profit

GivingTuesday – a growing success

FundraisingForce has written about #GivingTuesday prior and promoted #Giving Tuesday within Australia over the last couple of years. We see #GivingTuesday as an opportunity for Asia-Pacific organisations to jump on the bandwagon of an already successful marketing campaign. For us, it’s a no brainer.

It seems the campaign is growing in terms of success each year. This was recently highlighted in a Huffington Post article written by Steve MacLaughlin of Blackbaud.

According to the article, Blackbaud released a #GivingTuesday Trends report and it is the most in-depth analysis of online giving trends since the event first began. The report covers #GivingTuesday data from more than 4,300 nonprofit organisations representing $55.6 million in online fundraising since 2012.

Here are some key findings from the Blackbaud #GivingTuesday Trends report.

#GivingTuesday has had double-digit year-over-year growth in online donations since 2012.
Large nonprofits have received the most donations on #GivingTuesday but this trend is shifting.
Faith-based nonprofits now receive the largest percentage of #GivingTuesday online donations.
Online average gift amounts exceed100 for most nonprofits on #GivingTuesday.
- About 17 percent of online donation form views on #GivingTuesday 2014 were on a mobile device.

What’s stopping your organisation from joining #GivingTuesday and becoming part of the successful movement? You ought to action the following before 15 July:

Sign up to participate in #GivingTuesday this December.
Create a business plan full of action items detailing your organisation’s goals and objectives in participating in #GivingTuesday.
Work toward accomplishing the action plan over the next four months to ensure a successful first year as part of #GivingTuesday.

#GivingTuesday is 1 December. Why delay the above action items? There’s no time better than right now to start.

24 Jun 2015

Stephen Mally Charities, Charity, Charity data, Confirm, Data cleansing, Donor retention, NFP, Non-profit

Confirm, edit and enhance – MS Queensland follows best practice

I’ve written before about the need for Nonprofit organisation staff to confirm, edit, and enhance (CEE) whenever in possession of any supporter’s data record. I’ve suggested staff out to confirm contact details, edit anything erroneous, and enhance anything that is missing.

In a mail out received from MS Queensland last week, I received a piece offering me the chance to win two Apple watches if I take the time to update my contact record. This is a creative way for people to see the importance MS Queensland place on its data and, also, a nice way to incentivise me to participate in their effort to CEE.

Congrats to MS Queensland!

18 Jun 2015

Stephen Mally

FIA webinar series commences

Members and non-members have asked the Fundraising Institute Australia (FIA) to develop a webinar series and the FIA listened. The series launched on 17 June with a fantastic hour-long session from Troy Townsend, Co-Founder and Chief Client Officer of Tiger Pistol.

FIA has offered the webinars as a complimentary member benefit for FIA members. There is a charge to attend if you are not an FIA member. Likewise, FIA members will receive a copy of the recording of each webinar in the members only area of the FIA website. Two great reasons to join or renew your FIA membership today.

The next webinar in the series is 22 July and the topic is Brand Power presented by Fran Connelley, Director, FC Marketing. Sign up today!

The webinars are sponsored by GoFundraise.

16 Jun 2015

Stephen Mally Charities, Charity, Donor care, Donor retention, Donor stewardship, Fundraising, Stewardship, University Advancement

Congratulations, RMIT

Congratulations, RMIT! I was dancing at my dinner table on Monday, 15 June. No, I was not out on the town. Instead, I was opening the day’s mail and RMIT’s direct mail piece caught my eye for all the right reasons.

RMIT makes an ask. Seem basic to you? Many charities in my direct marketing study do not make an ask or, if they do, it is such a soft ask it is missed.
RMIT asks for enhanced data – phone and email.
RMIT asks how I wish to be recognised in donor publications or if I wish to remain anonymous.
RMIT lists other giving options, including:
- Creation of a scholarship in my name.
- Consideration of a gift in my will.
RMIT references the Information Privacy Act 2000 (VIC).
RMIT offers matching my donation dollar for dollar.

As RMIT says in the letter, giving to education is powerful. I’m convinced. And, RMIT does a great job enticing me to give. The RMIT scholarship solicitation is a model appeal.

RMIT 2

11 Jun 2015

Stephen Mally Charities, Charity, Fundraising, NFP, Non-profit

St Patrick’s Cathedral offers donation capability in-house

When I visited Washington DC recently, I wrote about the lack of donation solicitation throughout the various Smithsonian Institutions. My experience in New York City was quite the opposite.

The 9/11 Memorial sought memberships and donations throughout the museum. St Patrick’s Cathedral sought donations throughout the church. St Patrick’s solicited donations upon entry to the church, as well as at various stations. I was most impressed with my ability to give a donation online right in the cathedral.

9 Jun 2015

Stephen Mally Charities, Charity, Donor care, Donor stewardship, Fundraising, NFP, Non-profit, Stewardship

Anniversary idea

Is your organisation celebrating an anniversary?

Check out this email I received from Uber (perhaps you received one, too?).

The email connects me to Uber’s 5 year anniversary by pointing out the months since I joined Uber, the number of times I have ridden Uber, and the city I have most frequently used Uber. It also offers me an opportunity to share this information with friends!

Clever idea. Perhaps your organisation might adapt it to mark a milestone anniversary? You could simply tie the date the donor first supported your organisation, how many times they have supported your organisation, and how much their lifetime giving.

It is ideas like these, whether from the non-profit or for-profit sectors we can adapt to suit our own needs. This is one I thought worthy of sharing!

4 Jun 2015

Stephen Mally GiveEasy, Mobile Giving

Mobile phones standing in the way of giving?

Travelling from New York City’s JFK Airport to Sydney, I read a 30 May article in the New York Times called Moved to Give, But Slowed by Phone. The article highlights difficulty charities face with mobile giving despite the fact that donors want to give through the convenience of their phone.

As the Times article points out, we can quickly order a bottle of wine via our phone, yet it is difficult to give to those charities and non-profit organisations who most need it by phone or tablet. As I read the Times article, I realised this is an issue not only for those of us in Australia, but also for Americans. I would have thought the Americans had it figured out by now.

We are not just talking about text-to-give campaigns here. We are talking about the ability for donors to give seamlessly through an app or platform where the contact and credit card details are stored making it easy to draw those donors back to support your charity or other charities time and time again. According to the Times article, Apple has a long-standing ban on in-app donations – a ban, which the Times says is not explained in detail. The Times reports Apple says if your charity wants to collect money, do it by Safari browser or via simple text message. Any app that is used must bounce the donor out to a separate site, using Safari. This, as we know, often causes the NFP to lose the donor because of the fact the donor has to re-key contact details, etc. because he/she is not already registered on the site.

The Times points out a host of issues with in-app giving that need to be dealt with, including who owns the contact details of the donors who give? Additional considerations include:

What percentage of the donations to give to charity and what fee will be kept?
Which organisations are legitimate and should be allowed to participate?
How to make the apps consistent between Apple and Android, etc.?

In Australia, we seem to be ahead of the curve on this one with GiveEasy. GiveEasy brands itself as a unique giving platform that allows charities, causes, and appeals to connect to a new world of mobile and digital giving. After downloading the app, users add account details and this information is securely stored. According to Jeremy Tobias, CEO of GiveEasy, this “allows giving to be almost instantaneous”.

I have given a few donations via GiveEasy on my iPhone and I like the fact that my details are stored from previous donations and, after a few clicks of buttons, I have given to a participating charity of my choice.

GiveEasy also has an SMS donations solution, which is also incredibly user friendly and quick to use both for first time and second time donations. I can testify this to be true as I used the functionality during GivingTuesday last December!

Whatever the solution is, we know people want to respond to the crisis in Nepal, support a charity promoted through a news story, or give to their local place of worship with ease. The Times article offers some very valid points and I am hopeful the likes of Apple and others will see not only a financial benefit, but a human benefit in moving this area light years forward.

2 Jun 2015

Stephen Mally Fundraising, Gifts in wills, Membership, philanthropy, Smithsonian Institution

Lack of focus on philanthropy in DC-area museums

I have just spent about a fabulous week in Washington DC celebrating my nephew Matt’s 13th birthday. This is a milestone birthday for any young man or woman and this trip is something I promised Matt years ago. As you know, 13 year olds do not forget such promises and neither did this uncle.

The file cabinet from the Watergate break-in

During the trip, we visited as many sites as possible, including many of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution. We saw original aircraft, a space suit used by an astronaut on a walk on the moon, the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, the Hope Diamond, a flag which inspired the writing of the US National Anthem, the original US constitution, Bill or Rights, and Declaration of Independence, and the impressive list goes on and on. The Smithsonian Institution is rich with treasures, especially for Americans who love history. As one taxi driver told us, “Washington DC is the Jerusalem of America for Americans”.

Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum and research complex, consisting of 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park, and nine research facilities.

It always amazes me the Smithsonian Institution museums, with its vast and diverse collections, are free of charge. Some might say that our taxes pay for these institutions and, thus, Americans have paid for these institutions and they should be free to enter.

The Smithsonian relies on philanthropy and membership to survive. In fact, according to its website, the Smithsonian Institution was founded because of philanthropy. The Smithsonian Institution was established with funds from James Smithson (1765-1829), a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” The collections in each museum are donated by individuals and organisations world-wide.

Ask 2 — Sign on a collection canister at the American Museum of Natural History

As you enter the museums of the Smithsonian Institution and enter various exhibits, you will notice donor walls and plaques recognising the generosity of individuals, corporations, and trusts and foundations. Additionally, there are opportunities to leave donations in various donation canisters. Because the gift shops and cafes are the only places where money is exchanged, there is no ask for a donation. Additionally, I was asked only once if I wanted to become a member of the Smithsonian Institution. The ask was on the final day of the trip as I purchased something in the last museum (at the exit!). I joined.

Perhaps the mission or policies of the Smithsonian Institution discourage the ask for a donation. Perhaps the leadership simply want people to absorb the history documented in these amazing museums. I was more than surprised at the lack of attention drawn to the need for philanthropy.

It is my sincere hope that people see the value of institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and take the time to support these types of institutions philanthropically and through membership. Places like the Smithsonian do not operate on government support alone and, in fact, would not even exist if it were not for the generosity of people like James Smithsonian and the countless others who take the time to give.