Should you give your ‘regular givers’ a name?

I’m often asked whether charities should spend time developing product or campaign names. I believe that the answer is often to consider whether it is a trick question or not!

The question above is of course, a trick question.

If you are going to remember, recognise, and value the support of ‘regular givers’ you are going to need to acknowledge their act of regular giving, and probably their status as a ‘regular giver’.

So… rather than use a piece of unfriendly, generic jargon such as ‘regular giver’ to personalize your communication.. why not spend a little time developing a unique name for them.

Here are some examples… if you would like more details of why I have grouped them the way I have, ask me for my opinionaid!

Group 1: Futuremakers, Full Stop supporter
Group 2: Field Partners, Discovery Partners, Frontline Member, Friend of PAWS, Golden Hearts supporter
Group 3: Human Rights Defenders, Frontline Member, Child Sponsor, Heart Saver, Kennel Sponsor

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!

Should I give my supporters a kit to help them change their will?

Bequests are a major source of donations from individuals. Often they are the largest source of income a charity has. In the quest for more of these donations many charities find themselves wondering… what was different about our supporters who do leave us a bequest and those who don’t?

One way of tackling this question is to consider whether some supporters knew how to change their will to include a charity, whereas most others did not. The marketing solution to this problem then becomes to encourage more bequests, a “will kit” should be created which helps people to change their will to include a charity.

But more often than not these days, most people don’t make their wills without legal support. So marketers start to consider whether promoting their charity to the legal profession is a better idea.

Each of these approaches is based on the same insight… that people will leave a bequest if they are helped to do so.

It is not surprising that marketers have sought to find ways to make it easier for people to leave a bequest.

But what fundraisers have recognized from years of failure is that just because something is easy, it doesn’t mean everyone will take part. Most charitable acts happen because someone was asked well.

So what can charities do to increase their bequest income? Ask their supporters whether they knew that they could leave money in their will, and give them plenty of reasons to do so.

If that sounds too simple, then consider carefully whether you can truthfully tell your supporters whether you’ll be changing the world, helping people, sending money effectively when that supporter dies. Once you have worked out that promise, you should give asking a go.

How can I find some new environmental supporters?

Corporate Partnership fundraising should come with a health warning – many abosrb too much of good fundraisers’ time and do little but increase sales for the corporate partner and fool the public into thinking they have “done their bit”.

But some partnerships can be an excellent way to generate a pool of prospective individual donors.

The first charity to tap into this little product’s customers will surely find some dedicated environmentalists.

A mooncup is an environmentally-friendly alternative to tampons and menstrual pads.

I was wondering the other day what lengths people will (or won’t) go to, to reduce their waste and this was one of the things that I found. My hat goes off to the women who are using them. From the tesimonials it seems like they’re actually fantastic but there’s no denying that there must be a few barriers initially.

A sign of more environmentally friendly times for sure. Perhaps there is some space for environmental charities to actually get involved with the launches of new products like these (with the backing of retail corporate partners like Boots the Chemists), and gain a list of new prospective donors as well as the admiration of the public for actually making an environmentally-friendly life more accessible.

Here in Australia the Australian Conservation Foundation have successfully teamed up with Al Gore and his film An Incovenient Truth, using the film as the basis for some clever fundraising using the film itself as way of identifying prospects and most recently some new advocates.

Learn what your donors are like and you’ll probably soon find a lateral way of approaching similar people that could be exactly what you’re looking for.