When was the last time you found a good story?

“Charities exist to make the world a better place.”

The statement above is one that I base a great deal of my beliefs on.

To create “a better place” someone, somewhere has to imagine what the better place is. Imagination is what fuels the vision of most charities.

Next comes the task of problem solving.
Imagination coupled with the ability to create the right conditions for changing the world is what helps charities succeed.

When the general public is presented details of a solution that has captured the essence of an imaginative vision, and created real results… they are impressed.

As fundraisers we have a duty to try and tell those stories.

Does your organization do anything as imaginative, and smart as the “million program”?

New York students are being handed free mobile devices, which automatically disable call and text functions during school hours, but allow searches on specified sites such as National Geographic.

In turn teachers use the device to set homework assignments and provide reminders.

The real twist is that for attending school, arriving to lessons punctually, and completing homework, the kids get mobile credits to use for chatting to friends, and getting access to music and video downloads. The can even be exchanged for discounts at sports and clothing stores.

Get inspired by what your charity does once again. It is never too late to ask everyone who works there… what do you do?

Can everyday actions be turned into fundraising activities? (Part 2)

I’ve already ‘bigged-up’ one example here on opinionaid.

Of course there are more out there.

One such is ‘ripple’. Recently commended in BRW as one of Australia’s best web 2.0 sites, it takes an everyday action and tries to turn it into a fundraising activity.

Every search that is conducted via their site will generate funds for the selected charities using advertiser-sponsored links.

The site also generates funds from advertisements.

Simple ideas. The success of which will depend on increasing the volume of users, so give it a go.

But as a fundraiser what really impressed me was the “click-handles”. They have creatively pushed forward the concept of a dollar handle (which shows a donor what their dollar will “buy”). Good on the charities for providing the exact detail required. This will set the foundation for the site. Since the search engine is powered by Google, users will need to feel suitably reassured that it is worth them using this alternative.

Click-handles will go someway to providing that. Let’s hope they’ve got their eye on case studies of beneficiaries too!

How can I persuade people to give via my website?

With the growing awareness that average donations online are higher than those from other channels, more charities are focusing on driving traffic to their website.

Research conducted by Amnesty International in the states has focused on investigating what factors influence people who actually arrived at their site. So, instead of focusing on what they needed to change in terms of lead generation, they were examining what to do to improve the conversion rates of the leads generated.

What a brilliant strategy!

The study was conducted with amazing integrity and focus on how o measure the impact of small changes. And their finding was that small changes can make a big impact.

Using a politely worded “ask” compared with a more slogan driven approach had a significant impact on donations.

“Please make a tax-deductible gift today to stop the abhorrent practice of extraordinary rendition”

Yielded a better conversion than…

“Donate Now! Help us end extraordinary rendition!”

They also found that there was no need to be demanding. Using firmer language on the donation button (“Donate Now” instead of “Submit“) did not produce statistically higher
Conversions.

Take a look at the report and consider how you could use the insights to test what works for your supporters.
donordigital_donation_page_optimization_research

Can we turn everyday actions into fundraising activities?

Wary of the “me-too” tag, many marketers often look for a brand new big thing to help their cause raise money.

Be it mobile phone calls, yoghurt bars, or even music downloads, there are a lot of examples.

I am often concerned that the same charities that develop these approaches are neglecting a direct relationship with supporters. And that makes me wonder if they are caught in the fundraising trap of being afraid to just ask for money.

The often cited reason for these approaches, is that they reach new audiences. Which in itself opens up a lengthy debate as to whether charitable giving should be as universally appealing as say baked beans.

This often makes me wonder whether charities should therefore be helping schools and parents educate their children as to the merits of philanthropy, rather than marketing to cynical adult audiences. I know many parents who sponsor children for this very reason, and I certainly remember (proudly) the picture of a Bolivian school child that my mum had framed on our TV, as well as my own typically obsessive collection of WWF-information as a junior member.

I recently learnt of the Tap Project in the US, and realised that it was an example of how with a little thought, the right everyday action can be chosen as the basis for a fundraising activity.

For one week a year, when you visit participating restaurants you can opt to donate to UNICEF a payment for the free tap water that the restaurant would normally provide for free. The money goes towards providing free clean water to children around the world.

The idea is simple and I look forward to it launching here in Australia.

What attracted me to it firstly, was when I heard that this was developed by an ad agency who then approached UNICEF with the near completed idea. As the creator David Droga testifies, he has finally made his mother proud after years of working on beer commercials. Nice to learn that Australia’s biggest ad-superstar (some would say the world’s) is humble enough to admit what his mum thinks of him.

I hope that UNICEF and Droga also have the sense to test ways of trying to develop an understanding of why this approach works, and whether any of the tap water purchasers would actually welcome entering a lengthier relationship with UNICEF.

Visit the tap project.

Why does kiva work?

Kiva is going from strength to strength, recently being nominated one of 2008’s best websites by TIME magazine.

If you are wondering why take a look at these diagrams one from the kiva site

and one from here on opinionaid!