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Dementia is no laughing matter

My Aunt was recently diagnosed with dementia.

Why is it OK for people to make jokes about Alzheimer’s disease or dementia?

Dementia is no laughing matter. So, why do people feel they have permission to joke about dementia/Alzheimer’s disease when it is discussed publicly? I recently attended a fundraising conference where a well-known presenter joked about Alzheimer’s. He was talking about people who leave money to charity in their estate and he wove a terrible comment about the disease. He was trying to be funny – Jimmy Fallon he was not. People make statements like “I bet she does not remember”, “Don’t worry, she can’t remember it anyway” and other such inappropriate and insensitive comments.

If my Aunt had been diagnosed with breast cancer, would these same people joke about her breasts? Or, if this had been an uncle or male family member who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, would these same people joke about the prostate? It seems people feel Alzheimer’s is an opportunity to attempt humour. Why is any diagnosis an opportunity for someone to try to make light of the situation? If the tables were turned, would these same people like inappropriate comments made about their family member or friend? I think not.

Snip20151109_2The fact is dementia impacts about 46 million people worldwide (that is larger than the size of the country of Spain). Someone is diagnosed every three seconds. According to the Alzheimer’s Disease International World Alzheimer Report 2015, Alzheimer’s will become a trillion dollar disease by 2018 and it will impact 131.5 million people by the year 2050. Everyone reading this blog will know someone in his or her lifetime that will be impacted by dementia. Will it be your parent? An Aunt? A sibling? A close friend? If it does not currently impact you personally, these statistics suggest Alzheimer’s disease will impact each one of us, as well as our global economy, and our society as a whole.

Want to take action today and do something about Alzheimer’s disease to fund research or help family members dealing with the issue? Contact the Alzheimer’s Association in your country to make a donation.

Dementia robs the person’s ability to remember things like what they ate for lunch, who visited them today, or where they placed a book they were just reading or the remote control they were just using.

Eventually my Aunt will not remember me, my sister, and even our mother (her sister). Sure, there will be funny things she will say and the pain of making light of the situation will go away. But, I suggest we all know our audience when talking about diseases or responding to conversation. Sometimes a simple “I am sorry to hear that” is far better than joking about a disease. Perhaps saying nothing at all is an even better approach.

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BPay is another option on the giving menu

Of all the charities I give to throughout the year, within the FundraisingForce mystery shopping study and independent of, I am surprised how few charities offer BPay as an option on the giving menu.

Donors prefer choice. BPay should be added to the menu of giving options for your charitable organisation.

BPay is very popular in Australia for you and I to use to pay our monthly bills. We use it for rent, mortgage, credit card, and other payments. Electronic bill pay is far more popular in Australia than it is in my home country, the United States. In fact, in the US, cheques are still the preferred method. This is particularly true amongst the over 65 age group. In Australia, the direct marketing target audience is largely over 65 and this group is already conditioned to prefer BPay for day-to-day business. Why not offer them BPay on your charity’s direct mail response devices?

FormQIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (QIMR) is one such organisation offering BPay. QIMR have offered BPay for the last 7 or so years.

QIMR use functionality in The Raiser’s Edge, which produces a BPay number based on the algorithm required by their bank. The Raiser’s Edge automatically creates a BPAY number for all new constituents added to the CRM, and it creates one for anyone in the database who may have been missed through a batch functionality. This smart technology means QIMR are able to offer choice to donors above and beyond their counterparts in the sector.

Does your non-profit’s CRM offer BPay creation for your donor records?

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Emirates Airlines and Emirates Foundation – capturing traveller’s attention

Snip20151103_1I wrote a blog post recently about travel audiences being captive audiences and I asked why more travel companies do not promote charities and charitable activity to this audience. With more than 23 hours of flight time on recent flights on Emirates Airlines from Amsterdam to Dubai and Dubai to Sydney, I felt that captivity!

EmiratesEmirates Airlines did a tremendous job promoting the Emirates Foundation on its aircraft, in the airline’s magazine, on the television monitors, and throughout the airport. The Airline, in fact, asked people to give online to the Foundation, donate onboard, donate airline miles, and to purchase Foundation merchandise via duty free onboard. Additionally, in the Emirates business class lounge there were coin collection stations encouraging people to give their foreign currency. Dubai is the homebase for Emirates and the traffic through the airport amounts to some 75 million passengers travelling annually. Dubai is the third busiest airport in the world. Clearly Emirates is playing to the audience and encouraging us to give with a menu of options.

Emirates also published a bit of a mini annual report or a project update to educate us about projects funded by the Foundation around the world.

Congratulations to Emirates and to the Emirates Foundation for a stellar job promoting the Foundation’s good work. You caught this passenger’s attention and kept it throughout the journey.

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Win or place at today’s Melbourne Cup

Today is the Melbourne Cup in Australia. Many people will either have the day of (it is, after all, a public holiday in Victoria) and others will simply pause to watch the race with their office mates who may be dressed for the occasion or who may have brought some bubbly or food to share to mark the occasion. As they say, the race does stop the nation.

The fact is, many offices will have pools or some people may stop at the TAB on their way into the office to place a bet in hopes of a big winning. I know nothing about horse racing and the past several years I have worked through the short race (a very un-Australian thing to do).

Nonetheless, I do know a thing or two about taking chances. I have been taking several chances lately in various fundraising lotteries/art unions.

One charity hired a telemarketing firm to call me recently to purchase tickets for various items. I bought. I just purchased 100 tickets/chances to win a luxury home in Queensland. Additionally, I am auto buyer for another charity to win a luxury car.Lottery

What is it about these charity lotteries? Is it the chance to win an outstanding prize? Or is it the fact I may win a prize for so little investment? For example, one charity is selling 30 tickets for $100. Finally, is it the fact I am giving money to charity (although not tax deductible)?

I think it is a combination of all of the above. Some of us like to buy the occasional lottery ticket and dream of winning big. The fact I may purchase a chance to win a Mercedes for $100, and there are limited tickets sold, is very attractive. Others want to support a charity in this fashion.

While I do not advocate gambling, I do like to take the occasional chance to win something big. Who doesn’t? The fact the money goes to wonderful organisations means this is just one more way I support charity in Australia.

Enjoy the Melbourne Cup. Good luck today – may the best horse win the race! And, may I win the house and/or the car!

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University of Queensland understands good stewardship

Good stewardship – made simple. That’s what University of Queensland understands. On Tuesday of this week, I received a hand written note from a third year pharmacy student thanking me for my recent contribution to the University of Queensland.

When was the last time you received a hand written note? Maybe a birthday or Christmas card, but rarely anything more. When you receive a hand written piece in Post, it stands out in your letterbox amongst the mountain of machine-processed mail. The added personalisation matters. Not every piece of mail could be produced in this manner due to volume and time constraints. However, pieces like this one, received from University of Queensland, make a difference when hand written.

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What also matters about this piece is the fact it is not just hand written, but it comes from a student receiving financial support from many donors across the university.

I wrote a FundraisingForce blog post about the gift giving experience with University of Queensland and the dynamic call received from a student. This hand written note is just one more step University of Queensland take to engage people like me, giving small amounts of money on a routine basis. Want to improve your organisation’s stewardship? Look to University of Queensland as a model.

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Moving closing plenary at International Fundraising Congress

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I’ve written a lot about the importance of professional development – whether about attending a local seminar with the Fundraising Institute Australia NSW, the @FundInstituteAU conference, Fundraising & Philanthropy Forum, or another of the many terrific webinars, seminars, or conferences available. The fact is, we have an abundance of opportunities to continue our growth in the fundraising profession.

This last week, I had the good fortune to attend The Resource Alliance International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands. I have heard, for years, about IFC. I am glad I finally took the advice of many to attend.

The IFC is a rich and unique experience. There are participants from dozens and dozens of countries, from a variety of types and sizes of organisations, and staff of all levels of experience. It truly is a melting pot of fundraisers!

You do not attend a conference and expect to walk out with a “masters degree”. I always believe I get value from any conference by picking up two or three nuggets of information and meeting several new people. At IFC, an overwhelming majority of sessions were rich with information. Speakers were of the highest calibre. And, the diverse attendees shared experiences, techniques, and challenges.

One speaker really stands out for me. He is a man named Mark Horvath, founder of a transformative storytelling platform “Invisible People”. Mark was the last presenter at the closing plenary at #IFC2015. Mark has gone through many challenges in life, including being homeless. While homeless, Mark applied his skills to create change for himself and others. He has become a crusader for the homeless and, as he put it, all he had was “a bag of socks, a phone, and a camera”. Mark used his mobile phone camera to record the experiences of other homeless individuals to tell their stories and create awareness and opportunity. Mark has done such a fantastic job telling the stories of the homeless that he has attracted over 23,ooo followers across social media, including Twitter, YouTube and other channels. Mark learned the power of social media and, again, using the only tools he had in his possession.

No one can tell the IFC story better than The Resource Alliance itself. Learn more about The Resource Alliance and the IFC here. Likewise, no one can tell Mark’s story better than Mark himself. Learn more about Mark and Invisible People and the good work Mark is doing to create awareness and change here.

Check out what Mark and Invisible People have done with social media. “People are being fed because I am Twittering”, Mark says. Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Resource Alliance and #IFC2015, for sharing Mark with us!

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Charity plans for #GivingTuesday

Snip20141108_1What is your non-profit organisation planning for #GivingTuesday?

#GivingTuesday occurs in just 39 days – on 1 December 2015.

If you have not already jumped on board, it is not too late. And, if you have decided to participate in Giving Tuesday, it is time to create a concise plan of activities for that date.

#GivingTuesday is one day when Australian businesses, non-profit organisation, community groups, families and individuals come to together to celebrate a day of giving and to kick off the Christmas season.

This effort harnesses the collective power of a unique blend of partners to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season. #GivingTuesday will inspire people to take collaborative action to improve their local communities, give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they celebrate and help create a better world. #GivingTuesday will harness the power of social media to create a global moment that is dedicated to giving around the world.

Are you a supplier to the Australian charitable sector or do you work for an Australian charity and want to know how to get involved in #GivingTuesday? Do not let another day go by – sign up today and become part of this global campaign to encourage philanthropy across the sector.

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How does your charity compare with Virgin Australia’s shining customer service?

The Customer Service Target Market Support Assistance Concept
The Customer Service Target Market Support Assistance Concept

Already a fan and a frequent traveller of the Australian carrier Virgin Australia, I became an even bigger fan last week. Why?

We had a sudden death in our family, which resulted in a massive change in travel plans.

I am sure this situation will sound familiar to many of you. You had things well planned – perhaps a family vacation, a business trip, or some other journey. Your trip was interrupted in some way, shape or form. Perhaps the interruption was an untimely death, as ours, or perhaps you got called back to work due to some sort of emergency. If you have ever made last minute travel plans, you will know the airlines are not very forgiving. In fact, the airlines make a lot of money off of situations of the sort, resulting in hundreds of dollars in change fees per ticket and millions in revenue per year.Snip20151014_3

In our situation, we called Virgin Australia who changed my attitude about airline travel many years ago and who continue on a journey of customer service each time I encounter the carrier.

The Virgin Australia agent expressed her sympathy to us for our loss. Next, she suggested there would be a change fee, as well as the cost between the airfare paid and the new fare available. I explained the situation, asked her to consider the circumstances, and I requested she find the best options during a series of flexible dates.

The Virgin Australia agent returned to the call by stating she was going to waive the change fee due to the circumstances. She also said she found the same fare on two different dates and this would result in no cost to the traveller.

Moments later we called the American air carrier United Airlines. The agent stated there would be a $300 change fee plus the difference between the purchased airfare and the price of new fare. She said we were welcome to contest the fees and send in a death certificate for proof.

The end result is the United Airlines ticket in hand is virtually useless and in fact it is now likely less expensive to purchase an entirely new air ticket.

The customer service provided by Virgin Australia was a stark contrast to the service provided by United Airlines. I am quite sure United Airlines could have matched the same level of service as Virgin Australia, especially given the loss of life we described and were willing to prove to the agent and to the airline. In the end, the superior experience offered by the Virgin Australia agent gives me an opportunity to applaud the carrier. It also gives me an opportunity to offer United a chance to learn from my Virgin Australia customer experience.

How does your charity’s customer service differ from your non-profit counterparts? What can you learn from the Virgin Australia and United Airlines differences? What will your charity do to be more like Virgin Australia in this instance? Act today. Empower your staff.

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Donating is like dating – no one gets married after the first date

Donating is like dating. No one gets married after the first date. Do they? I get irritated when charities and their staffs treat my donation as a one-time transaction or, worse, like a one night stand.

It typically goes something like this:

  • I make a gift.
  • I receive a receipt.
  • I never hear back from the charity until they want an additional gift, usually double or triple the size of my original gift. Or, they ask me for a regular gift or a major gift in this third interaction.

What’s wrong with this picture?

I liken the situation to dating. I think it should go something like this:

  • I make a gift (this is the first date).
  • I should receive a receipt. I should also receive a warm and fuzzy letter of appreciation and, perhaps, a welcome video or SMS (this is the charity dropping me off after the first date and suggesting we should go out again).
    • You can never thank someone enough or too much!
  • The charity courts me, informs me of ways in which my first gift and the countless others matter.
  • I get asked for a second gift.
    • Remember, do not call the person the next day, after a first day, for fear you will look desperate.
  • I make a second gift (this is the second date. Note: we did not go out again right away and nor did we have a one-night-stand!).
  • Eventually I may decide to make a larger gift or a regular gift (this means we are attracted to one another and are getting serious).
  • The major gift and/or a legacy gift are really about a commitment (this means we are fully committed to one another).

Why is it that a majority of our donor interactions are not about the relationship and instead are focused on the first transaction?

The above analogy may not be politically correct and may make some non-profit staff a bit uneasy. Take a few minutes and think about it. If we spent less time focused solely on the first transaction and more on retention of the newly acquired donors perhaps we would have a lot less attrition.

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How current is your LinkedIn profile?

 

How current is your LinkedIn profile? Do you have more than one profile? Are you two employers behind in terms of your employment history? Is all your information up to date, but you do not post routine updates or maintain contact with others via LinkedIn?

Think all this does not matter? It does.

As a small business owner, I can report that approximately 50% of my business comes via LinkedIn. The other half comes from word of mouth, the FundraisingForce Website, Google searches, and other sources.

Do not discount the importance of LinkedIn even as an employee of a non-profit organisation. Think of the ways LinkedIn is important to your charity and to you as a leading fundraiser:

  • Donors investigate leadership of organisations via LinkedIn. Whether donors are researching staff or board leadership, donors want to know who is involved and what experience those parties bring to your charity.
  • Prospective employers and executive recruiters are using LinkedIn as one of their top means to find new talent.
  • Professional and service organisations research committee members and leaders in order to surface leaders.

SEO Diagram Showing Use Of Keywords Links Titles And TagsEncourage your staff and colleagues to maintain a healthy LinkedIn profile. Ask staff to routinely update the profile in order to maintain a high ranking amongst the massive numbers of LinkedIn profiles. Link other social media accounts to update your LinkedIn profile, as well.
Above all, remember LinkedIn is not a casual social media website such as Facebook. Keep your posts processional and ensure your profile mirrors your professional brand. Adopt a social media policy for your employees and ensure staff adhere to the social media policy.

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