Happy New Year from FundraisingForce
FundraisingForce wishes you and everyone in your organisation a very Happy New Year!
May 2015 be filled with all good fundraising success!
Stephen Mally
About Stephen Mally
Posts by Stephen Mally:
FundraisingForce – A Year in Review
For FundraisingForce’s year-end blog, we thought it was appropriate to take a look back at our blog posts over this past year and to do a bit of a year in review. We launched the Website for FundraisingForce in early June and what a year (6 months, actually) it has been! This last year, FundraisingForce…
- …challenged you to think about the last time you sent something handwritten to someone, including thank you notes.
- …suggested preparations for the end of the financial year on 30 June 2014.
- …suggested each charity needed to be prepared to respond to customer service issues via Twitter, just as airlines, hotels, retail stores and others have to be prepared.
- …offered an overview of how some organisations handle opt-outs.
- …highlighted the fact most organisations in Australia do not offer BPay and PostPay as an option for giving for their donors.
- …questioned why charities do not appear to utilise QR Codes in appeals and in other marketing.
- …asked whether you have an elevator pitch to describe your charity and what you do for the charity.
- …discussed collaborative goal setting.
- …suggested customer service is the most import deliverable.
- …spotlighted the good donor care provided by Zoos Victoria Foundation.
- …discussed the importance of good data hygiene.
- …highlighted the importance of matching gifts and how rare they are in Australia.
- …offered four steps to donor care.
- …gave ideas for professional development.
- …asked whether donor welcome packs are a thing of the past.
- …offered the opinion that cause related marketing is also rare in Australia.
- …applauded the Ice Bucket Challenge.
- …also applauded an August telemarketing call.
- …suggested your charity test an ask in your donor acknowledgement/thank you letters.
- …gave training options for your team.
- …highlighted why gifts in honour or memory of someone are really sensitive gifts.
- …introduced the DipJar to potentially replace donation tins.
- …showed you how to find hot prospects for spring.
- …offered advice to prepare for a disaster.
- …gave additional suggestions and advice on staff training.
- …offered advice to set passwords and not store them on Post-it Notes!
- …suggested challenge gifts to motivate your donors to give.
- …introduced the concept of personal brand.
- …highlighted charities offering holiday cards.
- …promoted GivingTuesday and its success a multitude of times.
- …and, we highlighted selfless acts on behalf of charities, including those of MaryRose Mazzola of Massachusetts.
FundraisingForce sincerely hopes the various topics we have blogged have been of interest and benefit to you and others in your organisation.
Special thanks to RamtinWorld for designing a terrific Website and a platform for FundraisingForce to be able to communicate with all of you worldwide.
FundraisingForce wishes you all best wishes for 2015. Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas from FundraisingForce
Merry Christmas! Thank you for your support of FundraisingForce in our inaugural year! May you have the happiest of holidays. All best wishes for the New Year!
Selfless acts for Christmas, birthdays or other milestones
A birthday reminder? Indeed, my birthday is just around the corner. It’s 5 January. On 5 December I received an email reminder about my own birthday and a terrific suggestion by Crowdrise, an online fundraising Website.
In this email reminder, Crowdrise suggested I set up a page for charity and ask friends to give in my honour to the charity. I thought this was a terrific idea and one many may implement.
The email reminded me of someone from Boston. A young woman named MaryRose Mazzola with whom I became acquainted with when she was just a young girl. MaryRose asked family and friends to give a donation to Lahey Clinic in lieu of gifts for herself on her 12th birthday. When Lahey Clinic was notified, I remember being amazed that someone so young would act in such a way. Motivated by an illness her beloved Grandmother (Nana) had, she wanted to make a difference as a 12 year old. I am not sure most adults would act in such a way, but MaryRose set a good example for all of us.
This last week, I was at a client site and learned about a 9 year old boy who is giving the money which would have been spent on his Christmas gifts to this particular charity. This story reminded me of MaryRose and the others who take such selfless acts to make a difference. Not only are people like MaryRose and this boy raising needed funds, but they are also attracting new donors to these charities who may otherwise have not donated to their charity of choice (or donated at all).
MaryRose, now attending Harvard University Law School, recently reported she has raised $100,000 to date in donations in tribute to her Nana. This is truly remarkable.
This holiday season, I hope you will think about what you can do. And, perhaps, you will set up a giving page in lieu of your birthday, anniversary, or some other milestone event. Organisations like GoFundraise, Everyday Hero, JustGiving and others are set up specifically to aid you in such efforts. As individuals we can do what GoFundraise call Do It Yourself (DIY) fundraise and get started now. As charities, we can promote such activity as party of our gifts in honour/gifts in memory program.
MaryRose Mazzola set a good example for each of us to follow and now it’s our turn.
It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas for #GivingTuesday Participants
According to the latest news, charities really benefited from #GivingTuesday. The latest total being reported is close to $50 million raised on this important day for philanthropy worldwide.
Non-Profit Times reports close to $47 million as of last Tuesday, this is up from $32 million Non-Profit Times reported one year ago. This number is a tally from various companies including Blackbaud, DonorPerfect, Network for Good, Razoo, and Click & Pledge. Imagine the total if every supplier accepting online donations participated and numbers were reported for all suppliers worldwide! The report suggests the number also does not include any number from PayPal, which reported some $4 million last year on #GivingTuesday.
Why is this important to those of us in Australia? While there are no totals reported for #GivingTuesday Australia, it proves collective movements work. When we work together we all gain. Some people suggest there is a lot of competition for the charitable dollar. While I do not doubt that fact, there also is much to be learned about movements like #GivingTuesday, which show when we approach philanthropic giving through a mass marketing effort and encourage people to give everyone wins.
Learn how you can become involved through the Australian GivingTuesday website. Sign up today and start to plan for 2015.
How was your day? Your #GivingTuesday, that is.
Just one week ago today, our sector experienced #GivingTuesday. It appeared some Australian charities took advantage of this vast worldwide marketing campaign while others are still unaware of the campaign or have not yet jumped in.
Organisations like Blackbaud report worldwide giving on this #GivingTuesday was up 36% compared to #GivingTuesday 2013. Here are some other statistics reported:
- Since the inaugural #GivingTuesday in 2012, overall online giving is up 159%.
- Blackbaud processed more than $26.1 million in online donations on #GivingTuesday 2014, up from the $19.2 million processed on #GivingTuesday in 2013.
- Online transaction volume grew 50% compared to 2013.
- The average online donation on #GivingTuesday 2014 was $128.30, slightly down on last year.
- 17% of online donation form views came from a mobile device.
Royal Institute of Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) is the only Australian charity to have solicited me directly and mentioned #GivingTuesday in the solicitation. In fact, RIDBC sent me an SMS and asked me to give by responding with the word “Joy”. I complied and I was sent to a giving page where I was offered the chance to make a gift. After I made the donation, I received a thank you via SMS and I was offered the chance to give again. I gave it a “test” and retyped the word “Joy”, which automatically converted to an additional $5 contribution because my credit details had been tokenised when I made the original contribution.
After tweeting about this terrific experience, I learned RIDBC is using GiveEasy SMS as a new channel to offer supporters a fast, innovative, and effective way to give a donation.
If your charity did not participate in #GivingTuesday this year, why not start planning for next year’s #GivingTuesday and determine a means to wrap it in your organisation’s Christmas Appeal? Also, I suggest organisations give GiveEasy a review and see if SMS giving should be in your future. Perhaps you might implement SMS giving in the New Year!
Happy Thanksgiving
It is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. On behalf of FundraisingForce, I want to wish everyone stateside and around the world a very Happy Thanksgiving!
FundraisingForce has much to be thankful for – especially our customers. To those of you celebrating, have a safe and wonderful holiday. To all of you – thank you!
Tuesday is the best Tuesday of the year – it’s GivingTuesday!
Several weeks ago, I wrote about an important day of the year – #GivingTuesday. In fact, I would say it is my favourite day of the year because this campaign brings a boost in charitable giving worldwide. We see a boost in giving of volunteer time and of donor financial support all across the nation.
This weekend, in the United States, is a weekend of indulgence. Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the US, a day when people indulge in amazing food prepared by love ones. Thanksgiving is followed by the biggest retail-shopping weekend of the year. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Next Tuesday, better known as #GivingTuesday, is a terrific campaign to promote the opportunity for people to give back to their communities and support the charities they love.
Mark your calendars for 2 December – #GivingTuesday. Give your time next Tuesday to a charity of your choice. Give a little extra gift to a few of your top charities. Make a major gift to charity you have been pondering for a while. I plan to act on my own suggestion and give a financial contribution to each customer @FundraisingForce has worked with in 2014. I challenge every supplier in the non-profit space to do the same. Additionally, I am planning to donate hundreds of toiletries to a Brisbane homeless organisation in hopes those toiletries will help a lot of homeless people in need.
There are dozens of ways in which you and your organisation may be involved in #GivingTuesday. It is not too late to get involved in this campaign and movement. Together, let’s make 2 December the biggest #GivingTuesday ever.
Charities leaving money on the table
I received a newsletter in the mail from a Melbourne charity this last week. The newsletter is a beautiful full colour piece; full of images and stories about the good work the charity is doing around the world. The stories are motivating and might even influence someone to get involved. The charity included a blank envelope in the mail piece. There is no call to action. The blank envelope does not offer recipients a clue about the course of action the charity wants the recipient to take. Is the assumption the recipient will send a cheque in the mail? In fact, the blank envelope only confuses the recipient.
Make an ask in every treatment you mail or email your supporters. You do not have to make a hard ask in the piece. The Melbourne charity should have, at the least, included a giving envelope in the piece I received.
I might suggest this charity create a test – test a letter with a direct ask against a giving envelope to see which performs best. The letter/direct ask might contain an ask ladder tailored to the segment.
I am putting my money on the fact both of the approaches in the test will outperform a blank envelope hands down!
Giving Tuesday – 2 December – a day for FundraisingForce to give back
Giving Tuesday – a single day where each of us in Australia come together, along with the rest of the world, to give back to charities deserving of our support.
This year, on 2 December, Australian businesses, not-for-profits, charities, community groups, families and individuals are being encouraged to join a global movement and celebrate a day of giving to kick off the giving season. It’s called #GivingTuesday.
#GivingTuesday was started in 2012 by New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation. The concept was, and still is, simple. The US has a day for giving thanks – it is the fourth Thursday of every November and one of the biggest public holidays of the year – Thanksgiving Day. The following day (and often times late night on Thanksgiving evening, is the largest retails tore shopping day of the year – called Black Friday. The following Monday is the largest shopping day of the year on the internet – Cyber Monday. So, the concept was born to create Giving Tuesday as a means to drive giving back to charity! Together, different sectors were rallied together to ‘give back’ and support local not-for-profits, causes and communities. The inaugural #GivingTuesday saw over 2500 not-for-profit and business partners participate in different ways that not only resulted in awareness being raised of key issues but also a significant increase in giving on that day.
How can you get involved? #Giving Tuesday already offers you the basis for a marketing campaign and encourages your organisation (charity or supplier) to do the following:
Activate your community of supporters for #GivingTuesday and give them a fresh way to give. Or maybe you’d like to give back to them and find a way to say thanks or highlight the work that your volunteers do.
To get involved:
- Sign up as a #GivingTuesday Australia partner
- Register your initiative
- Spread the word and get your community involved
- If you’re partnering with a corporate partner, ask them to register as well!
FundraisingForce is a #Giving Tuesday partner. How is our company involved? We have been promoting #Giving Tuesday throughout the year on Twitter, Facebook and our blog and we will continue to promote #Giving Tuesday up to and including the day of this important event. Additionally, on #Giving Tuesday we will give a donation to each and every customer we have worked with this year since our company launched. It’s our way of saying “thanks” this holiday season and our way of ensuring we give back to organisations who have entrusted us as a leading fundraising consulting firm in Australia.
Whether you represent a charity, community organisation, or a supplier to the NFP sector, get involved in #Giving Tuesday now!