Direct Mail Acquisition Presentation at FIA WA

For those attending the conference, as promised, here is the presentation.
Click here.Even if you didn't attend, you are welcome to check it out!
Sean

Major Donors: Next Week

I am presenting at the FIA State conference in Perth.
One of my two sessions is all about major donors next week.
The bottom line is that the biggest obstacle to getting money out of potential major donors is the fear of asking.  So how do you get over that?

The presentation, and more useful information is below.
The FIA Presentation, in Prezi.
An explanation of Hitch-Hikers Guide to Major Donors
Identifying major donors

The evil of communications departments

At the recent IFC Conference in the Netherlands, I did a session on story telling, and that all fundraising needs to revolve around stories.  Abstract and clever marketing, as well as stats and 'how clever are we' stuff just doesn't work.

Margaux Smith from UK agency bluefrog realised she was the devil.  (A devil with a good wit and prose though).

And another fundraiser's reaction on the masterclass to some of the tacky stuff that works...

Check out here what Margaux learned....

Sean

Raising capital for fundraising investment: A new future?

Good fundraising programs have excellent returns.  Despite the constant nonsense about high cost of fundraising, most charities achieve extraordinary results from little funds.

Investing in direct mail, phone or face to face / direct dialogue can achieve amazing results for charities - an investment of $1m could generate between $500k and $1m net 'profit' every year for five years or more - a great return and better than the stock market.

According to Givewell, the top 100 Australian charities* by investment portfolio have about $6.8bn in reserve.  These reserves will be invested in property and traditional investment markets.

I have argued before that charities should consider fundraising as part of their investment portfolio.  The chart below shows how a decent fundraising program would outperform investments in property or shares, assuming they achieve an average of 8.4% and 10% respectively - both excellent returns in this day and age.

Clearly fundraising can be a better option, but it needs to be good fundraising built on proven techniques to be invest-worthy.

But what if you have no money to invest?  Although these big charities have plenty of money, most charities are simply not rich.  So how do they take advantage of the excellent returns fundraising can offer?

I know of one charity in the UK that borrowed money from a bank to invest in fundraising.  Another decided to use all of it's income to reinvest in fundraising - not doing any charitable work until it had enough capital.

But Scope in the UK has taken this to another level. Their fundraising shops are doing well, and they want to increase the number of shops from 250 to 350.  This will cost more than they have spare, so they are launching a bond.  This is the first I have ever heard of at this scale.

They are asking investors for $30m.  Just like a company would raise capital.  They will repay investors just like a company would.

Brave and Brilliant, and hopefully the start of a new trend of social investment portfolios.

More info here.

* As declared in annual reports 2009/2010.  Some charities in Australia so not produce annual reports, including some very big ones with very large reserves.

PS - thanks Jan Chisholm for the info!

Adrian Sargeant is brilliant

I was lucky enough to attend two of Adrian's sessions at the IFC. I say lucky because the first was packed and they were turning people away.

Adrian looks at the psychology of giving, and it is great stuff for example using 'social information' to increase average donations. Social information helps make people decide to make larger donations. By asking a couple of questions right before the ask, HUGE increases in donations are realized.

For example, when they tested a prompt v no prompt based on others' giving they got over 30% increase in average domation.

The prompt (to people who had not donated before) would be something like 'thank you for agreeing to donate, I just took a donation from someone else... They gave x amount. How much would you like to give?'

The control group, with no prompt had an average of $86.
A prompt at $75 got just $1 more, but prompts of $180 and $300 got averages of $96 and $111. Brilliant.

Tons of information here, http://Www.studyfundraising.info/

Dan Pallotta

At the final hours of the IFC conference in the Netherlands. Nearly 1,000 Fundraisers here including 27 from New Zealand and Australia. Lots of great learning, and a very worthwhile conference to invest in.

The closing plenary was delivered by Dan Pallotta - and evangelist on cost of fundraising and fair compensation for charity employees. Great stuff, really great structured arguments and well worth listening to.

For you Australians, you don't need to leave the country to see him. He is presenting at FIA in February 2012 at the Gold Coast. As well as lots of other learning opportunities - with lots of great local trainers and Tony Elischer, Kay Sprinkel-Grace and Adrian Sargeant - the conference looks fantastic. I reckon this is one Fundraisers should drag their CEOs and CFOs along.

http://www.fiaconference.org.au/index.php for the conference.

http://www.danpallotta.com/ for information on Dan.

Sean

A fundraiser, fundraising

Please will you help me raise money for Amnesty International - and enjoy a good yarn too?

I am running a storytelling masterclass at the International Fundraising Congress and thought I would get it off to a good start with a story which has nothing to do with fundraising!

For just $3.99 (GBP2.49) you can buy my 'e-book' Haruki The Knife Maker and all the proceeds that I receive will go to Amnesty International.

Telling a good story is essential for making fundraising work. It doesn't matter what tactics you use, what good data selections or targeting you do or what staff you employ, you have to tell a good story.

For years now, I have been writing and directing stories to raise money for fantastic charities. So I thought I would write a special story that is not in my normal forte. I have decided to dedicate this story to Amnesty International and all the staff and volunteers there as well as the people who have survived human rights abuses - or are surviving right now. 

The story is just 4,500 words. It took my friend Tom Ahern about fifteen minutes to read in an airport lounge so it shouldn’t take you long.  This is what he said.

5.0 out of 5 stars

 Unforgettable tale, exquisitely illustrated

By 

Thomas Ahern (Foster, RI USA) 

This review is from: Haruki the Knife Maker (Kindle Edition)

I wasn't prepared for Haruki to take over my life ... but he did. Sean Triner is a soulful writer. His folkloristic tale is poetic, clear-eyed, and quick ... a brilliant evocation of how the simple, orderly world of a masterly village knifemaker is torn to pieces by modern economics ... and Haruki's heart-wrenching journey to recover his livelihood. The surprise ending ... well, I'll leave that for readers to savor. The matching illustrations are lovely and apt. And all proceeds go to Amnesty International, a cause Sean Triner has advanced for years. Read it. Share it. Gift it to your Kindle-loving friends.

Joan Clarke at the Bedford Foundation had a glimpse of the story on my iPhone. The illustrations got her interest at first but "I started reading the story and was gripped straight away, it was thought provoking and very poignant. Without noticing, I had ignored my red wine and the rest of the group. Fifteen minutes flew by and I had finished the story, disappointed it had ended.  Thoroughly recommend it."

The official reviews have been great so far too. I do hope that you can spare the time to read it, and the $3.99 that it costs to buy. All the proceeds will be donated to Amnesty International.

The story is published as an ebook. If you have an iPad or iPhone, you can buy it easily through iBooks. It is also available on Amazon Kindle and various other ereaders. If you haven't an ereader, then you can buy it at Smashwords, or else donate at least $5 on my fundraising page and send me your email address and I will send you a copy.

Still not convinced? A load of reviews are below...

Thank you, and I hope that you enjoy it.

Airdre Grant, 5 stars.

"I found this to be a very elegantly written tale. It works as a fable for me as it tells an egaging story and also invites us to think about the relationship between violence and beauty, and the collision between old words and new, greed and sacrifice. I recommend it." 

Review by: Sharon Dopson, 5 stars

"What a beautiful fable, a sad very realistic view of our greedy changing world. I will recommend to all my friends." 

Review by: Alexbecky: 4 stars "This modern fable is beautifully illustrated and is a fascinating read. It really makes you think about the beauty of simplicity, and what can happen when both greedy capitalism and monolithic communism combine to destroy an ancient way of life."

Review by: Christiana Stergiou, 5 stars
"This is a wonderful, meaningful and easy to read book. It's simple language conveys a deep story that is a fable for our times. It is beautifully illustrated, too. It's sad to think that there have been many Harukis whose simple and sustainable existence have been sacrificed for our modern, convenient and consumerist lifestyle. I would love a set of Haruki's knives!"