NFP

11 Nov 2014

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

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!

6 Nov 2014

Stephen Mally Charities, Charity, FIA Conference, Fundraising, fundraising conferences, Fundraising Institute Australia, NFP, Non-profit, Professional development, Training

Why do you care about your personal brand?

Some of us spend a considerable amount of time each day focused on building our personal brand. Others go about it quite naturally and do not seem to realise the things they are doing are dramatically impacting their personal brand. And, there may be others who may not care about their personal brand.

Personal brand is the most important thing you own. If you are not branding yourself, others may be branding you!

What is a personal brand?

Simply put, personal brand is investing in yourself and your career to create a brand. People who believe in personal branding believe in creating a self-package. Personal branding is “owning” the space you exist in, controlling your career development, and how you are perceived. Personal branding gives you the power to create your unique value in the marketplace.

Why do we care?

Personal brand expert, Julie Lamberg-Burnet, tells audiences they have three to five seconds to make a first impression. Three to five seconds? I’ve barely said hello. The fact of the matter is, Julie tells us we do not even need to say hello to make the first impression. People walk into a networking event, immediately “size” one another up, and make decisions about one’s value without even greeting the person. Others arrive at a meeting and sit nearest to the person with whom they want to associate or emulate.

Everyone should care about his or her personal brand!

Take back the control. Learn more about your personal brand at a one-day masterclass at the Fundraising Institute Australia Conference on 18 February 2015. This masterclass offers a unique panel of marquis speakers, including:

Julie Lamberg-Burnet, Brand Service Consulting, Modern Etiquette and International Protocol – Sydney School of Protocol
Korrin Barrett, Motivational Speaker – Life Unlimbited
Mary Macuga, Director of Resource Development – Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane
Eva E. Aldrich CFRE, Chief Executive Officer – CFRE International

To give you a sampling of what you will experience the day of the masterclass, consider Korrin Barret’s story. Learn more about Korrin here.

Investing 8 hours in this masterclass may simply change your value in the marketplace or workplace. Sign up for the masterclass today!

4 Nov 2014

Daniel Bernstein Data cleansing, Donor care, Donor retention, Donor stewardship, Fundraising, NFP, Non-profit, Stewardship

Get that Fundraising Trifecta – 3 ideas to help you win, place and show

It’s called “the race that stops the nation”. In Australia, today is the Melbourne Cup. And many of us will pause this afternoon to watch this horse race with friends and colleagues. For some, it’s a public holiday; for others, we simply might not return to working in the afternoon.

If our role is fundraising for a charity, we are also in a race today – one to hit our goal or target by 31 December. So, the first Tuesday in November is when we are coming down the stretch to the end of our calendar year – and, for most of us, halfway through our financial year. Whether we are in the back stretch or home stretch, we want to come in first and take home the cup!

Since many of us will put a wager on the race today, I thought I’d play ‘punter’ and give some tips for being the winning jockey in your race to raise dollars for your non-profit.

Perform data hygiene on your data set before you drop the year-end appeal to acquire changes of addresses prior to dropping the mail out; ensuring less return to sender (RTS) mail
As part of your stewardship, call donors who give over $100 to your appeal and thank him or her for their gift. Gain new information from these donors on the call and record this information in your database
Add a seasonal message to your acknowledgement letter/receipt, such as “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year”.

Bonus tip: don’t forget a special message and effort to your LYBUNT and SYBUNT groups.

Doing any of these things today may ensure you a win, place, or show. But I’m hopeful you will go for the trifecta and do all three. Only by taking some chances and being aggressive down the stretch will you get over that line ahead of the others. And within your organisation – everybody wins – you and your charity!

3 Nov 2014

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

It’s Christmastime – at least for QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (QIMR)

The stores are already filled with Christmas items. I walked by a large office building in Melbourne last week and it was decked out for the holiday season complete with very large Christmas trees, lights, and the works. Each year I wonder which charity will be first to send their Christmas appeal. It is highly probable the charity to win this “contest”, to be first in my letterbox, will be The Salvation Army (the winner the last several years). But, hold on. Not this year. This year’s winner is QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (QIMR).

The pack, which was received on 30 October 2014, contains a message on the carrier to ensure everyone knows this is their Christmas appeal. The packet also contains: A two-page letter, a note from a woman named Stacey Edwards about her mother’s journey with breast cancer, a fact sheet about breast cancer, and a terrific response device. The response asks me to update my contact details and offers me a host of ways to give a gift including BPay, phone, URL, and FAX. Note the photo of Stacey and her children with Santa on the response device.

Congratulations to QIMR. The winner of this year’s first of the lot!

30 Oct 2014

Daniel Bernstein Charities, Charity, Charity data, CRM, Customer Service, Donor care, Donor retention, Donor stewardship, Fundraising, NFP, Non-profit, Online giving

A Halloween “trick” or “treat” for our donors is up to you

With tomorrow being Halloween, it’s likely a few parents will be helping their children dress up in costume, be it Star Wars, a superhero, or a princess, and taking them around the neighbourhood knocking on doors for the annual tradition of “trick or treat”.

In a way, every day is Halloween for charities. Where potential donors walk up to our doors, ring the bell, and when we answer the door instead of us handing out a “treat”, they hand us a donation. But it’s not as easy as sitting and waiting for that knock on the door. We have to work to get the donors to walk up, ring our bell and give their philanthropic support. Are we doing enough to get them to knock on our door or are they just walking by and going to the next place?

One year I was at home in my unit with a huge bowl of lollies waiting for the bell to ring. About 3 children came just as the sun was setting, but that was it. Not one more knock the entire night. When I investigated by going outside, I realised my neighbour was not home and had all their lights turned off, including up the walkway to both our units. It looked like no one was home at either place. A dark house is not too inviting to children on Halloween. And I was left with masses of leftover candy. It was very disappointing.

The following year, I did all I could to get as many children as I could to walk up and knock on the door. I made sure all the lights were on, I included coloured light bulbs, I played spooky music out the window and used a flashing strand of lights in an upper window. And sure enough, the number of families and children who stopped at my house went way up. But I also had great chocolates and candy to give away because I wanted the people who stopped at my house to tell other people “go there, it looks spooky and he’s giving away the best stuff.”

What can we do to make our charities look inviting to potential donors and not look like dark houses? We have great “goodies” to give them – stories of our great work and success!

First, what if a potential donor does physically walk through the door of our organisation? What do they see? Can they tell it’s our non-profit? Do we have appropriate signage? Is our logo visible? Is it neat and clean?

Are we ready to give them a tour of our organisation? Also, do we have printed material to give to them?

And are we ready to accept a donation from them if they want to give us a “treat”? Do you have a donation form ready to hand them?

Second, what if a potential donor walks through a ‘virtual’ door, by calling or clicking on our website? Does the person answering the phone know where to direct a potential donor? Does our organisation have a mission or purpose statement that is easy for all staff to repeat to potential donors? Or know examples of those success stories?

On our website, is it easy to make a donation? Is there only one ‘door’ for them? Imagine if children were “trick or treating” and they had to keep knocking on door after door to get their candy? They would leave and go to the next house with only the one door.

Third, we can make sure we have a coordinated effort with our direct mail and our electronic direct mail. Do we have all the elements we need to get that donor to walk up and ring the bell? I had inviting walkway lights, spooking house lighting, and eerie music together as a package. Not just one or the other.

Do we have the right content and message; layout and design; reply device with all the information we need to collect?

When we think about it, it’s scary how unprepared some of us may be for potential donors or how many donors just walk by our organisation because it’s too ‘dark’ and not inviting. Or we don’t have all the elements working together to make them want to stop and donate. Or the ‘treats’ are not good, so they tell others “skip that place”.

This year, let’s have “treats” for our potential donors and they have “treats” for us, too.

28 Oct 2014

Stephen Mally Affinity credit cards, Breast cancer charity, Charities, Charity, Donor care, Donor stewardship, Fundraising, NFP, Non-profit, Stewardship

Affinity credit cards – a nice way to support charity and rare in Australia

I visited McGrath Fou McGrath CC ndation last week and saw an application for an affinity credit card – a McGrath Foundation branded card – in the lobby of the Foundation. I was very surprised to see this application.

Perhaps I should not have been so surprised to see the McGrath Foundation card – McGrath, like countless other breast cancer organisations, are the best at branding merchandise and, particularly, within the “Pink” cause. Likewise, McGrath Foundation is creative in their fundraising, has a strong brand and loyal supporters, and has great potential as an organisation. But, I was surprised because it is not a common occurrence to see any affinity cards in Australia.

Non-profit Affinity credit cards are very big in the US and the UK. One will typically receive such offers in the letterbox, as well as find the card offers across university campuses, hospitals, cultural institutions, and charities alike. Often the cards give a portion of the annual fee back to charity, as well as a percentage of the cards use and other perks.

McGrath CC Back The McGrath Foundation credit card offers those who sign up an opportunity for a low interest rate, coupled with the fact the card issuer donates half the annual fee each year one holds the card to McGrath Foundation. The even more attractive value proposition is the pride you will have by carrying something branded McGrath Foundation in your wallet and each time you use the card you are promoting your affinity to the McGrath Foundation!

Does your non-profit organisation have an affinity credit card? Does it make sense for your organisation to investigate whether to develop such a relationship with a bank in order to offer one? What terms would your organisation expect should you negotiate a deal with a bank for an affinity card? What might we learn from our non-profit counterparts in the US and UK who have already embarked on such ventures? Better yet, perhaps we can use the McGrath Foundation as an Australian model?

23 Oct 2014

Stephen Mally Charities, Fundraising Institute Australia, NFP, Non-profit, Staff retention, Training

Professional development – an investment in your team and your organisation

Some non-profit organisations I work with invest heavily in their staff’s professional development, while others only invest in senior level staff (if they invest at all). Turnover is extremely high among charitable organisations and for a variety of reasons – compensation, stress levels, lack of appreciation and, yes, lack of growth opportunities. Lack of growth opportunities includes a lack of investment on the part of the organisation in professional development courses, conferences, webinars and similar activity. Simply put, staff become frustrated with the lack of investment and move on to more promising opportunities as a result.

How much does your organisation invest in the professional development of each staff member (not just senior level staff) on average across the financial year? Consider these areas:

Membership in organisations, such as Fundraising Institute Australia;
Conference attendance, such as the Fundraising Institute Australia 2015 Conference, Fundraising & Philanthropy Australasia Fundraising Forum, and others;
Fundraising education courses, such as Fundraising Essentials, the Certificate in Fundraising, Executive Fundraising Leadership, and others offered in the market;
Training on workplace tools, such as training on your organisation supporter relationship management (SRM) software; and
The ability for staff to participate in special interest groups, local committees and other sector volunteer involvement activities, which will expose them to other organisations and their counterparts in those organisations. This area has no direct cost with the exception of, perhaps, some staff time for committee work.

Managers who only invest in their own professional development, or who limit it to those who surround them at the management table, are doing a gross disservice to their organisation.

If you do invest in staff to attend a professional development activity, how does their experience get translated back to the workplace and how, if at all, do they communicate about the course with their team members? Some managers expect their staff to present at the next all staff meeting and to share knowledge gained. This does two things – passes knowledge gained onto others and also promotes the fact you, as a leader, have invested in your team members. In the end, it shows to your team, and your counterparts in the sector, you are a good manager and a solid leader.

I spoke with the CEO of a hospital foundation a few months back about the dollar figure his organisation invests per staff person across a financial year. He told me $1,000 per staff person per year is invested. He reminded me not every staff person uses the allocation and some use more than others (if they attend the FIA Conference, for example, and one or two FIA breakfast sessions).

I would venture to guess this particular organisation reaps the benefits of the investment made in staff professional development through areas such as staff retention, staff recruiting and, above all, fundraising revenue. This particular organisation has grown significantly over the last five years due to the leadership of the organisation and, it’s safe to assume, the investment made in colleagues who work at the foundation.

Many people do not realise the FIA awards scholarships to members to attend courses. Likewise, not all professional development courses cost money to attend or to participate.

The next time a staff person resigns or you have difficulty recruiting, take a look at what you have allocated for professional development and what you, yourself, have done in terms of professional development over the last year. Perhaps the lack of investment in professional development is causing you impact beyond some simple budget savings?

21 Oct 2014

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

Six degrees of separation – making it difficult for your supporters to opt out

Like you, I receive heaps of Email daily. I get a lot of Email. I find myself repeatedly deleting Emails each week from the same companies and non-profit organisations without reading the Emails. I needed to get the volume of unwanted, or unread, Email under control.

I thought, if I am deleting these emails each day, why don’t I simply opt out of the lists so I do not have to deal with the volume in my inbox?

I spent quite a bit of time trying to opt out of the Emails and found for some organisations, it is actually quite difficult, and time-consuming, to get to the end point. Many ask me reasons I want to opt out and others try to convince me to better state my communication preferences while trying to maintain me in the end.

I cannot blame these companies because they should be trying to keep me!

Take MSPCA Angell Memorial Hospital for example. Angell Memorial is a place where I used to take my pets in Boston and my animals were well taken care by this wonderful organisation. However, I do not live in Boston any longer. If I did, I likely would maintain contact with Angell. I went to opt out of receiving multiple emails from Angell and they first tried to get me to change my mind by offering me a multitude of options. Thereafter I was allowed to finally opt out and I was sent to a final screen where they suggested a way to get back on their list should my needs change in the future.

Take Travelzoo, a travel website in the US. I probably used Travelzoo once or twice in my life. Yet, this site too, sends me a multitude of emails throughout a given month.. I went to opt out of Travelzoo and faced a similar exercise as Angell Memorial.

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I have often times told non-profit organisations they should work hard to turn a negative into a positive and this is exactly what these two organisations, and countless others, have done as I have been opting out of (or trying to!) their electronic communications over the last week.

When I work with organisations, I suggest they work hard when someone rings their office to opt out of direct mail to turn those calls around by offering the caller a chance to receive just one appeal a year. I further suggest these organisations offer supporters who wish to opt out the chance to select which appeal to receive, as well as the channel. It is exactly what these organisations above did with me online?

What do you feel is best practice in regard to opt out procedures? What process does your organisation put supporters through? Are your online processes similar to offline processes?

16 Oct 2014

Daniel Bernstein Charities, Charity, Data Management, Donor care, Donor stewardship, NFP, Non-profit, Stewardship

What’s in a Name? – A Response!

I would probably never wear a tuxedo to a BBQ or pool party. Nor would I wear a singlet and board shorts to a gala dinner. I am hopeful most of us know the appropriate attire for the different events and occasions we attend. In a similar fashion, we use different language and words in different settings and with different people. Do we speak the same in front of close friends and family versus someone we have never met? The setting and sometimes the communication method dictate our words. We might use different language in a written card or letter than we would in an email. And a text message or tweet would probably use even different words.

When we communicate with our prospects and donors do we change the way we salute and address them depending on the occasion for communicating with them?

If we’re sending them an invite to our awards dinner, does their name appear the same as on their donation thank you? Is it the same as our invite to our summer sausage sizzle?

The name you use for your prospects and donors is important for relationship building. Using the correct Addressee and Salutation could affect whether you get a response from them. For example, I have a friend named Patricia. She only goes by Patricia. She is never called Pat or Patty. If any organisation approaches her using either of the latter, she will not respond.

Your organisation should record the preferred, standard way a constituent wishes to be addressed and saluted. However, your organisation should also consider recording additional addressees and salutations for each of the ways in which you may communicate with them.

The following should be recorded for each person on your database:

Formal – Used for invitations or communication from your Board or head of organisation. It would likely include the person’s title
Informal – Used for more informal event invitations and other communications. It would likely not include any titles and be only a first and surname

But beyond these obvious ones, this is a great place to record other ways you will use your donor and prospect names. Here are a few:

Known by director/president/CEO – Used for correspondence sent with the signature of your organisation’s leader who might personally know some of the people who are receiving the communication
Family/Household – Used to address additional members of the person’s family such as their partner/spouse and their children. It can include the names of each person or simply be something like “The <Surname> Family”. This option is great to invite the entire family to school functions or for a holiday card.
Receipt Name – Used to indicate a different name for a tax receipt than you might use for regular communications
Recognition Name – Used for when you post or publish a list of donors or other type of recognition. For example, in your annual report an individual donor might want their partner/spouse also listed with them even though the donation came only from him/her.

Once you have recorded these Addressees and Salutations, you will be able to communicate with a majority of your constituents in way that builds a connection and relationship with them. Again, think of my friend, Patricia, and your own communications with people.

So please salute me as Mr. Bernstein, Daniel or Dan depending on the occasion and method of communication. However, one final tip, please don’t mix addressees and salutations on the same piece or I might show up to your event in a tuxedo with board shorts and thongs.

14 Oct 2014

Stephen Mally Charities, Charity, Charity survey, Customer Service, Donor care, Donor stewardship, NFP, Non-profit, Non-profit suppliers

Is your charity seeking feedback from supporters?

Some charities never seek feedback from supporters. Other charities seek feedback from supporters once a year and that medium, typically supporter surveys, is used to update supporter contact details, gather information about the supporter, and determine information which will assist you to “speak” to the donor in a more direct fashion. Charities ask donors about their current address, mobile, and other contact details; charities ask supporters what interests they have philanthropically; and, they also ask the supporters whether they have included the charity in their estate planning.

Most charities do not ask the supporters what they can do to improve services, improve the way communications occur, or offer a supporter a chance to applaud a charity, vent about a situation, or offer constructive feedback.

This is an area where I think we can learn a lot from our corporate counterparts. Corporations typically ask for feedback to do one of two things:

To sincerely listen to the customer and to change the way a good or service is offered.
To offer a direct mechanism to give such feedback, so the consumer does not channel anger or frustration in a more public forum.

Why is it charities do not spend more time listening to their consumer (the supporter), gathering feedback, and acting on the feedback?

Hilton Hotels, for example, leave a small card at the front desk of some hotels with a QR Code directing the customer to TripAdvisor where feedback might be left.

Harvey Norman gives a similar sized card at cash registers with contact details to submit compliment or complaint. Many phone centres ask you to hold the line for a quick survey of your experience.

Yet, it is rare for a charity to seek feedback using any sort of creative examples. Additionally, the suppliers in the non-profit sector do not appear to seek feedback from those charities they call their customers.

What does all this mean? Do we believe we as a sector have it down to a science and we do not need to ask our supporters what they think? Do suppliers in the sector believe they, too, are serving customers well and there is no room for improvement?

In the end, charities and suppliers are dependant on supporters and non-profits to send comments rather than submit their views in response to a survey, a comment card, or some sort of response mechanism. Charities and their suppliers are leaving it up to a small percentage of people to serve as the voice for everyone. This means the comments received by charities and suppliers are typically from those upset rather than a balance of those providing constructive feedback and of those who believe the organisation is doing a great job. The end result may be business or fundraising decisions based on this very limited information.

Does your charity gain feedback from supporters? If so, how? Do your suppliers ask for your input? How do you provide feedback to suppliers?

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