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

Good ideas aren’t always unique

Above is a picture of a stencil I created in December 2007. It was uploaded onto flickr around February 2008.
Below is picture of campaign developed for Road Safety in NSW, in May 2008.

Whereas I was angling for an imitation iPod ad, they have cleverly focused on replicating the chalk outlines of dead bodies using the headphone cable. I may get around to trying this out on a street pavement one of these days, as I am sure that the right placement will make the stencil image work strongly too. But really have to take my hat off to this simple, visually strong campaign.

A role for brands

It is the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock this year.

I came across this clever copy on a piece of merchandise being sold to commemorate the event.

Setting aside my amusement at the idea of selling merchandise for Woodstock, I felt that the copy was really well written. But more than that I realized it sums up eloquently the role of a charity brand.

A charity brand should support the accomplishment of the charity’s aims.

This means that it shouldn’t interfere. Nor should it consume too much resource. But I believe that if a brand helps achieve anything positive for the organisation – even a more motivated and effective workforce…. then the brand has helped support the accomplishment of the charity’s goals.

This is hard to measure of course… which is why I believe charity branding exercises get such a bashing… but that doesn’t mean that branding shouldn’t be considered an important part of the mix.

A beautiful example of good charity branding I believe is Macmillan in the UK. The branding work they undertook remained true to the brand values the nurses themselves had already created.

Ever since, they’ve stepped out of the shadows of cancer and received the recognition they deserve.

A lesson from bears

I am attempting to read several books at the same time. I get over excited when I get books for Christmas, try and start them all, and then find myself wrangling over which deserves gets my full attention.

It always gets me thinking about the direct mail letters that charities send out. People like to read… so how do we ensure that they feel compelled to give the letter more of their attention than the cereal packet, paper or blog?

I had only moved maybe twenty feet when she saw me, let out a most electrifying vocalization that I could only call a ‘roar’, and she bolted after me. I can still see her clearing the log in as much detail as if it were yesterday. I began to run for the heavy timber but after a few steps, realized it was futile. The choice was then to get knocked down or lie down myself and play dead.

Do I have your attention?

Using first-hand testimonials is a great way to capture attention. And better still by italicizing it, you draw the reader’s eye to it.

‘Bear Attacks… their causes and avoidance’ by Stephen Herrero grabbed me that way.

James Bond movies should be fundraising appeals.

I finally got round to watching Casino Royale over Christmas.

Yes… so that I can go and see the Quantum of Solice at the outdoor cinema, but also partly because a good Bond movie is as Christmas-y as, well The Great Escape.

Every fundraiser could learn a few tricks from a Bond Movie.

Pretty early on in the movie, I know what the bad stuff is. Of course, there has been some reminding of how cool Bond is at the start, just to make sure I’m paying attention… but nevertheless its usually pretty obvious that Bond is needed after about twenty minutes or so.

We like to know what the problem is. Its natural. Most people only get impressed with a solution if they know what the problem was.

Same for appeals. A good appeal should ensure that nice and early people know how cool the charity they support thinks THEY are, and they should know what the bad stuff is.

A Bond movie usually then takes a few twists and turns. Bouncing from achievements and discoveries that offer hope the bad stuff will be overcome. Presenting urgent pressing deadlines, and of course all the time providing more and more evidence that Bond is cool.

A good appeal should do all those things. The story we choose to tell can take supporter’s on such an emotional roller coaster it can be a real page turner. If we make it so.

And best of all a Bond movie always provides the satisfaction that something can be beaten… without making it seem like there will no longer be any other problems.

A good appeal should do that too. Too much bad stuff, and well the appeal would seem incredulous and over the top. More so than a Bond movie would because we deal in facts. (And I still believe that a large man with metal teeth could cut a cable car wire if he wanted).

But not enough of a sense of what can be achieved, and well the supporter will just feel quite helpless and switch off.

And best of all.. a good Bond movie doesn’t mess with that core stuff. And neither should a fundraising appeal. We don’t tire of Bond movies. So we shouldn’t tire of producing good fundraising appeals either.

If you’re looking for new stuff, then again take a leaf out of the James Bond movie book. I’m sure there’s more but here’s a few pointers…

1. Consider whether your solution is new or different this time? (What is the latest gadget James Bond will use?)

2. Consider whether you can present something familiar but with a slight visual twist? (Daniel Craig’s body stepping out the water rather than Halle Berry’s.)

3. Consider whether you can use one of your cause expert’s to explain the bad stuff or whether your beneficiary case study will? (M or the baddie’s girlfriend.)

opinionaid’s art project phase 1

Tonight is the opening night of the exhibition “Here Come Trouble” part of the Second Annual Sydney Street Art Festival – ST2K

To create the strategic fusion of fundraising and art that opinionaid believes can exist… I first need to find out if my own art cuts the mustard.

Tonight is my first foray into publicly displaying art since college… so here’s goes nothing, “Here Comes Trouble”.

Wish me luck!

Can art help charities?

This piece of art was hung in a gallery in Germany in 2006. Amnesty International reported that over 7,000 visitors saw the sculpture in just two weeks.

The clickrates on amnesty-international.de during the promotion were 16% higher than in the previous months, and they received 50% more applications for memberships right after the promotion.

I think it is a wonderful example of engaging an audience with the benficiaries of Amnesty’s work – something that is really hard to do. (See under “Who am I?” for another example)

But as a fundraiser I can see from the metrics that the strategy was to generate PR rather than generate a direct response.

This art (and many other great pieces) can generate attention and interest in a cause… I am interested in whether it can then be stratgecially partnered with elements that generate the act of giving.

Getting over guilt

Advertising here in Australia is sometimes a little blunt. Last century there was “If you drink and drive you’re a bloody idiot”, this year there is an interesting advert which shows women wiggling their little fingers at boy racers as they speed off down the street.

Australians love being direct. I love that.

So it surprises me that there are still some circles that love discussing whether their fundraising makes people feel guilty. After all, every day people are presented with advertising messages where products and services are positioned as the solution to people’s problems:
“If your home is smelly, buy our room deodorant.”
“If your children need answers for their school projects, buy our broadband.”

For charities this approach has been replicated. Step 1 – present someone or something who is in need. Step 2 – present message of “if you want to help that person or thing, donate to us”. For many, this approach is criticised because it encourages the development of a new problem for people:
“If you want to stop feeling bad about these people in need, donate to us.” Or even “Give us the money or the dog gets it”.

What are we worrying about? Complaints? Do you think anyone complains that TV adverts make them feel like they have a dirty house, or that their kids aren’t as well cared for as the Ramsey’s next door? Of course they do. What drives this criticism is a desire to reject the given marketing approach. People do not want to feel bad. So whilst for some the answer is to donate to charity, for others the solution is to criticise the organisation for trying to emotionally blackmail them.

The ethics of this approach has been debated since Dr. Barnardo told how he would have to turn homeless children away if people didn’t donate. I think it is getting boring now. Let’s get direct with people, and get over their guilt.

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!