tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50309366372912705072024-03-14T10:27:07.008+00:00ChangeFundraising.com - A Blog by Simon ScriverUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger133125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-87232483801685844292015-07-28T11:40:00.001+01:002015-07-28T11:40:23.261+01:00ChangeFundraising Has Moved!This blog has moved to <a href="http://changefundraising.com/">changefundraising.com</a>!<br />
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Please update your bookmarks, as the new site is where I'll be at from now on with blogs, podcasts, vlogs, random projects and all things charity fundraising related.<br />
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If you don't have bookmarks to update then I highly recommend getting bookmarks. They're like physical bookmarks that we use in books. But maybe you prefer to fold over the corner of your page rather than use a bookmark...which is OK. Unless you do a massive corner fold taking up as much of the page as physically possible. If you're one of those people then I don't want you to visit my new website.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-52064622892987549102015-07-09T15:11:00.001+01:002015-07-09T15:11:29.973+01:00The 4 Reasons Your Fundraisers LeaveYou've probably read a lot of articles on why the turnover of fundraising staff is so high. A friend asked me the same thing recently as her charity has just lost yet another fundraising manager. I replied, and then I shared my reply on LinkedIn...and a lot of fundraisers agreed.<br />
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So here - in my opinion - are the 4 reasons your charity's fundraising staff keep leaving:<br />
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<ol>
<li>Fundraisers are under appreciated, and the rest of the charity generally looks at them as a 'necessary evil'.<br /></li>
<li>Often the rest of the organisation don't respect it as a job or believe that it's a profession. I've never seen any other job where so many outside people with no experience are as happy to tell you everything you're doing is wrong.<br /></li>
<li>Fundraisers often aren't supported in their own training and qualifications. That's probably because, again, it's not seen as a real job. If your manager and Board believe fundraising is guesswork and witchcraft then why would they pay for you to go on a fundraising course?<br /></li>
<li>It's lovely that charities want to change the world, but one of the results of that is one of my pet peeves: a fundraising target which is "as much as possible". Besides being unrealistic it's demotivating. Your reward for raising €1 million last year? A €1.3 million target.</li>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-22742411748146104432015-03-11T12:23:00.001+00:002015-03-11T12:23:11.278+00:006 Great Charity Singles<i>Make a cup of tea and spend 25 minutes watching these...</i><br />
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1. The best of them all comes from Flight Of The Conchords<br />
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2. Brett Domino's How To Make A Charity Single<br />
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3. Not strictly a charity single, but I like Pulp's Bad Cover Version<br />
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4. The Simpsons' Sending Our Love Down The Well<br />
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5. USA For Africa's We Are The World. Everyone who matters is in this video.<br />
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6. Band Aid 20's Do They Know It's Christmas? My secret shame is that this is my favourite version.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-67351131639107790412015-03-04T15:58:00.002+00:002015-03-04T15:58:51.904+00:00Which Fundraising Disney Princess Are You?Have you ever wondered what Disney princess you’d be? Or what kind of fundraiser? Well this quiz (constructed by me, <a href="https://twitter.com/RoryJMGreen">Rory Green</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/StevenShattuck">Steven Shattuck</a>) ANSWERS BOTH!<br />
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I got Mulan - the Small Shop Fundraiser.<br />
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Who will you get?<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/roryg4/which-fundraising-disney-princess-are-you-dh0i?utm_content=buffer4906d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">Take the quiz here!</a></b><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-20370535240963518642015-02-26T14:03:00.000+00:002015-02-26T14:03:04.243+00:00Who Is Going To Win The Irish Fundraising Awards?So the shortlist for the Irish Fundraising Awards was just announced. <a href="http://www.fundraisingireland.ie/whats-new/events/the-national-awards-for-excellence-in-fundraising-2015/">You can read it here</a> - it's a great resource to get ideas, read real results, and just get inspired.<br />
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While I'm reasonably impartial, I have to say I'm delighted to see Tony Ward from Fighting Blindness shortlisted for an award. And I'm very happy to see Concern's Direct Dialogue team get shortlisted - I always thing face-to-face fundraisers are completely overlooked and undermined in our sector.<br />
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The whole shortlist is full of lovely people - many of whom I've had the pleasure to work with.<br />
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It should be a great night and I hope you're attending.<br />
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Now...to make it more interesting...I've launched the <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3GJDHT2">First Annual Irish Fundraising Awards Sweep</a>.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Can you correctly predict the winners of the Irish Fundraising Awards 2015 from a selection of the categories?</b> </blockquote>
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<b>It'll cost you a €5 donation to enter! You can pay your fee here: http://www.oneinfour.ie/help-us/</b> </blockquote>
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<b>Half of all entry fees will go to the person with the most correct guesses.</b><b>The other half will be donated to the amazing charity One In Four.</b></blockquote>
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You can enter here: <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3GJDHT2">https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3GJDHT2</a><br />
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And you can pay your entry fee here: <a href="http://www.oneinfour.ie/help-us/">http://www.oneinfour.ie/help-us/</a><br />
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Good luck!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-15073006922081252172015-01-24T17:38:00.000+00:002015-01-24T17:39:26.595+00:00Top Fundraising Blog Posts Of 2014<i>Like any good blogger, I'm shamelessly collating my top blog posts from 2014 in to a new blog post of its own. Not only does it give us an additional post to drive traffic to, it also bumps up traffic to the original 5 blog posts. Overall, 'clicks' are the drug of the modern world - it's a pathetic attempt at increasing visitors and views in a growing effort to monetise this blog and finally allow me to buy Fantastic Four #48.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>So here are my most read blog posts of 2014:</i><br />
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<a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/05/everything-i-know-about-fundraising-in.html">1. Everything I Know About Fundraising In One Slide</a><br />
"People Donate Emotionally. Keep It Simple. It’s Not About You. Make A Personal Connection. Ask. Transparency, Obviously."<br />
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<a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/10/restorative-fundraising.html">2. Restorative Fundraising</a><br />
"Think about whether you are doing something to someone, for someone, with someone, or not doing it at all."<br />
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<a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/03/nomakeupselfie-what-should-your-charity.html">3. #NoMakeUpSelfie - What Should Your Charity Learn From It?</a><br />
"For every #NoMakeUpSelfie there are a million efforts that raised nothing."<br />
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<a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/03/guest-blog-why-everyone-loses-over.html">4. GUEST BLOG: Why Everyone Loses Over the World Vision Controversy</a><br />
"When charity becomes more about promoting an ideology than helping people, everyone loses."<br />
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<a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/08/the-obligatory-icebucketchallenge-blog.html">5. The Obligatory #IceBucketChallenge Blog Post - Criticism of Criticisms</a><br />
"You're allowed to find fun in everything as long as it's not at the expense of others. Jesus, otherwise what's the point of anything?"<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-68937545629215375292015-01-05T11:00:00.001+00:002015-01-05T11:03:31.988+00:00A Look Back At Irish Fundraising In 2014Well, I'm glad to get that year over and done with. What a nightmare. Here were the fundraising highlights of 2014:<br />
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<b>CRC Scandal Spills Over</b><br />
We'd hoped the scandals of 2013 would die down a bit, but the coverage continued in to the New Year and beyond. The newspapers revealed a €700k pay out to the retiring CEO and every charity suffered.<br />
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<b>Rehab, Angela and Frank</b><br />
More Rehab scandals which caused a further loss of trust in charities. Angela Kerins stepped down. Frank Flannery did what Frank Flannery does. And nobody paid much attention to <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/01/the-real-numbers-behind-irish-charity.html">the real numbers behind the Rehab scratch cards</a>.<br />
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<b>SEPA Deadline Extended 6 Months</b><br />
The new direct debit processing requirements were delayed 6 months because nobody really knew what they were doing. We're still figuring it out, and Irish charities are still working out the costs of extra processing and an increase in rejected DDs.<br />
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<b>Charity Regulator Announced</b><br />
We got our Irish Charity Regulator. Yay! And then we slowly realised that it's going to take years to figure out what a charity is and how many exist. Fundraising sits down the bottom of the list, and the new regulator hinted that it might not be on the list at all.<br />
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<b>1% Difference Campaign Results</b><br />
The <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2013/06/one-percent-difference-national-giving.html">1% Difference Campaign</a> published some results and found that donations to charities had declined (not their fault, of course). The -50% Difference Campaign still simmers.<br />
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<b>AccountingForCharities.ie</b><br />
With good intentions, Ireland's first 'charity comparison website' launched. Of course, these comparison sites <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/02/the-problem-with-charity-ratings.html">don't make any sense</a>, and maybe that's why it hasn't taken off yet.<br />
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<b>#NoMakeUpSelfie and Other Selfies</b><br />
Charities tried to capitalise on the latest trend of taking a photo of your own stupid face. One of the campaigns worked really well and all the rest flopped. Nobody knew why but it gave us all something to blog about (like <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/03/nomakeupselfie-what-should-your-charity.html">here</a>). Isn't that what's really counts?<br />
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<b>The Charity Regulator Board Announced</b><br />
We got ourselves a Charity Regulator Board. And Alan Shatter resigned (loudly making a donation to a charity that doesn't publish their salaries)<br />
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<b>New Face-to-Face Fundraising Code of Conduct</b><br />
The IFFDR regrouped and relaunched. The priority was to rewrite the <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/07/the-updated-irish-code-of-practice-for.html">Code of Conduct</a> for street, door, and private site fundraising.<br />
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<b>Fundraising Site Costs Went Up</b><br />
Costs begin to sneak up for on-line fundraising portals. The good news is Sponsor.ie stayed at 4% (with no registration or annual fees), and we even had a Fee Free April!<br />
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<b>George Hook At The Irish Fundraising Awards</b><br />
As Ronan Ryan put it: <i>"This is one of those 'were you there?!' moments in my fundraising career"</i><br />
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<b>#IceBucketChallenge</b><br />
Jonathan Waddingham invented the great phrase of Meme-raising to explain these campaigns that charities have little or no control over. But again, it gave bloggers lots of fodder to pretend they know what they're talking about (like <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/08/the-obligatory-icebucketchallenge-blog.html">here</a> and <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/08/how-your-charity-can-replicate.html">here</a>).<br />
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<b>GoodCharity.ie</b><br />
Working with Fundraising Ireland, The Wheel, Dochas and Whitebarn Consulting, we launched <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/05/what-makes-charity-good-goodcharity.html">GoodCharity.ie</a>. It was amazing.<br />
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<b>IFC Holland, One In Four and CFRE</b><br />
Although my personal life was pretty much a disaster, I was delighted to get to speak at IFC Holland (#TeamJohann), to start working with One In Four, and to achieve my CFRE.<br />
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<b>#GivingTuesday</b><br />
<a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/12/see-you-next-givingtuesday.html">Whatevs.</a><br />
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<i>Any other highlights?</i><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-44941272428775290512014-12-18T12:31:00.002+00:002014-12-18T12:32:05.959+00:00Predictions For Irish Fundraising In 2015<i>I've had a rough year this year and really right now I don't have the energy or mindset to do my annual predictions for Irish fundraising - I'm circling the drain. But looking back at <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2013/11/predictions-for-irish-fundraising-in.html">last year</a>'s predictions I would say we're in for more of the same. So here's a recap:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
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<b>The Charity Regulator Will Disappoint Many</b><br />
But many people think the regulator will somehow reduce what CEOs earn, get rid of 'chuggers', and eliminate some of the more questionable charities. They won't - it just wouldn't make any sense. And that'll leave a few people lamenting the Charity Regulator as 'another quango'. In fact, it's been argued that 'fundraising' doesn't even fall under the regulator at all.<br />
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<b>SMS Giving Will Get MORE Expensive</b><br />
The Data Commissioner put the kibosh on the opt-outs in any form which made the whole thing so much more expensive. And surely the '100% goes to the charity' can't last much longer?<br />
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<b>Negative Media Coverage</b><br />
Fundraising/chugging/salaries will receive huge negative, misinformed, one-sided media coverage in February, August and October.<br />
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<b>Legacies Will Get Big</b><br />
It's already started, but in 2015 we're going to really see legacy messaging drip-feeding through everything. You may as well just go update your will now and get it over with.<br />
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<b>Cost Per Acquisition Is About To Go Nuts</b><br />
More and more charities are finally getting round to recruiting regular donors, which is a great thing. But it's also going to put pressure on the public, on the suppliers and on fundraisers. Combine that with stronger regulation, stricter data protection rules and more large charities bringing their face-to-face in-house (and driving up wages to an unsustainable level) and what you'll see is an increase in your cost per acquisition.<br />
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<i>What do you think we're going to see in 2015?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-6795829451406824712014-12-14T22:25:00.001+00:002014-12-14T22:25:35.559+00:00Are Direct Mail, E-mail, Vinyl and Bruce Willis Dead?<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nBCtt3xzHaI?list=PL5Mw3rHjMloFYYYE7xymEv6vPHjsJjFOA" width="480"></iframe><br /></div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/181522277&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe><br /></div>
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I keep reading that DM is dead. And now e-mail and Facebook are dead. Meanwhile, people bought more vinyl records this year than any time in the last 20 years.<br />
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What's going on?<br />
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Well maybe it's just impossible for things to die.<br />
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Tobin Aldrich wrote a nice blog post pointing out the <a href="http://tobinaldrich.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/direct-mail-isnt-dying-but-its-changing/">DM isn't dying...it's changing</a>. He also says he's <i>“been hearing that DM is dead for 20 years.”</i><br />
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I don't think anything is dead.<br />
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Things don't die. They change. We get nostalgic. We might prioritise differently, we might budget differently. But to say anything is dead is probably nonsense.<br />
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I could make a VHS appeal work if I sent a good strong ask on a VHS tape to the people that still own VHS players. It would work.<br />
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When you read an article saying that something is 'dead', check who wrote it and see if they own a company that sells the thing they're claiming is 'next'.<br />
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The only thing that will die is each and every person that you love.<br />
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Happy Christmas.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-32146668826449283022014-12-09T14:38:00.000+00:002014-12-09T14:38:17.218+00:0010 Key Lessons From The Fundraising #AnnualLecturesI was fortunate enough to attend the second Annual Lectures, having won my place by writing <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/12/whats-next-in-fundraising.html">this</a>.<br />
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Here are, not so much 10 key lessons, but my 10 highlights from the day:<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Pat Dade asked <i>"What parts of humans are still chimps?"</i></b> reminding me that so many of our actions and reactions make no sense. Or at least make no sense to modern, logical, tweeting us. And don't forget we share 50% DNA with bananas.<br />He went on to point out that our whole society is falling apart - is that a few bad apples or is it because of what we're stuck working with?<br />
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<li><b>Jacob Rolin declared that "Church, State, and Financial Institutions are dying."</b> Beautiful.<br />He also confronted our habit of thinking other charities - especially children's charities - are easier to fundraise for (I call it 'The Cause Is Always Greener'). He said, <i>"We are all children's charities."</i> Your charity is making the world better for the next generation.<br /><br /></li>
<li><b>Phil Barden explained a weak brand uses more energy in our brains.</b> A strong brand uses less energy and allows us to autopilot and focus on survival. As humans we want autopilot. I think good fundraisers nurture a habit of giving...not flashes.<br /><i>"It is hardwired in us to attend to humans."</i><br />
<b><br /></b></li>
<li><b>Jeremy Hughes said "There is no point in standing there and not rattling the can."</b><br />
He's 50 years a fundraiser. A fundraiser who became a CEO. And a delight to listen to.<br />I'm going to steal his quote and use it for years, saying it to bookend any conversation on fundraising in a poetic way, whether or not it makes sense.<br /><br /></li>
<li><b>He also asked why isn't the first page of our annual reports about money</b> and how it ties in to what we do? We should be proud that everything relies on and is tied to fundraising. Instead it's usually <i>"Here's a bit about fundraising even though you don't want to hear it."</i><br /><br /></li>
<li>A couple of people quoted the Unilever CEO as saying <b>"Unilever is the biggest NGO in the world, but because we make a profit we're sustainable."</b><br /><br /></li>
<li><b>Iain McAndrew explained that Cystic Fibrosis advertised for a 'Master Storyteller' </b>as opposed to 'engagement' or 'marketing' person.<br />
<br /></li>
<li><b>Ken Burnett lamented, "The biggest tragedy of most charity communications is that they're dull." </b>His large collared shirt took out the eyes of the front row and he went on to explain that charities need to deliver Fast, Frequent, Fabulous Feedback. He knows what he's talking about.<br /><br /></li>
<li><b>Alan Clayton concluded that "People need to give...and we're fulfilling that need."</b><br />He did what he does best: riffing on the audience's emotions like a Don McLean concert.<br /><br /></li>
<li><b>Richard Taylor of CRUK neatly surmised every conference (and life itself) by saying <i>"It's worth remembering we don't know what we're talking about."</i></b></li>
</ol>
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It's a bit of an injustice not mentioning Tony Elischer (King of The Quotables), and the rest of the legendary speakers. Great day.<br />
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Now get back to work.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-13204312209262723972014-12-08T16:45:00.000+00:002014-12-08T16:45:30.425+00:00What's Next In Fundraising?<div>
<i>This is the 500 word piece of writing that won me a place at The Annual Lectures.</i><br />
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I read recently that we only spend a couple of hours each day actually working. Who has time to fundraise? Between countless cups of tea, checking my phone, Twitter, reading blogs, watching videos and crying in the bathroom, really there is very little time.</div>
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The next big thing in fundraising - and in everything, really - is actually doing stuff.</div>
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Talking about what a mess we’re in, attending conferences and reading ‘67 Ways To Improve Your Productivity’ isn’t going to cut it anymore. We need to start actually doing this stuff.</div>
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I love fundraising conferences. Genuinely, they’re like little holidays for me. But it strikes me as odd that year after year some of the greatest fundraisers in the world are telling rooms of people that we need to thank our donors. That we need to look after them. But when I mystery shop charities it still feels like someone didn’t get the memo.</div>
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We’re coming away from these sessions feeling invigorated and inspired, but then life, love and True Detective gets in the way. Are we to blame? Are we choosing an easy life over working - I mean really working - to do all the stuff we know we should be doing?</div>
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You know picking up the phone is more effective than sending that e-mail so why don’t you do it? You know handwriting a letter to a major donor will do more for you than reading yet another article on donor retention, but you don’t do it. Even this sentence...this one here...that you’re reading...right now...it’s unnecessarily long and really doesn’t tell you anything...shouldn’t you have used this time to ask someone for money?</div>
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I actually blame digital for some of this. Even though I’m young (at least according to the Annual Lectures) I think digital fundraising is overhyped. It’s a method, not a motivator. And as long as humans are born and raised with physical contact and human love we are always going to thirst for it. It will always trump digital.</div>
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Instead, this new media has made it really easy, really convenient, to not communicate like humans. While we try to keep up with the latest revolutionary, innovative fad (“This will change everything!”) we move further and further away from giving humans what they require. All because it promises to be easy, to fix all our problems, and save us from having to actually do this terribly difficult thing called ‘fundraising’.</div>
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What’s next in fundraising? Let’s be brutally honest and admit we haven’t implemented half the classic stuff we should have. Let’s continue to learn what works from each other and from the greatest minds in fundraising. And then let’s actually do it. Let’s do it now, with the same level of urgency we impart to our donors. We have to...there are so many people relying on us.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-7421957444410967992014-12-02T21:34:00.004+00:002014-12-02T21:52:11.617+00:00See You Next #GivingTuesday?<div style="text-align: center;">
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#GivingTuesday - similar to movements like the 1% Difference Campaign - are a nice idea. I don't believe they work, but they're harmless (aren't they?) and do bring about a few positive results. Albeit, not in the way they intend.<br />
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So why don't I like it?<br />
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Well, other great fundraising blogs have already beat me to it:<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://michaelrosensays.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/no-evidence-of-givingtuesday-success/">Michael Rosen points out</a> that there is no evidence that Giving Tuesday actually does anything.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.clairification.com/2014/11/09/givingtuesday-win-lose-day-youre-control-2/">Claire Axelrad wonders</a> "if #GivingTuesday encourages token, one-time transactions or small gifts that might have become larger gifts if solicited another way.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.thefundraisingauthority.com/fundraising-ideas/avoid-giving-tuesday/">Joe Garecht of The Fundraising Authority</a> says you should avoid it - Your message will get crowded out, social media sucks for fundraising, it encourages “spot giving”, and the Return On Investment is just awful. </li>
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Let's delve a bit deeper...<br />
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<b>Relationship Fundraising</b><br />
Every good fundraiser knows good fundraising is about building and maintaining good relationships. Giving Tuesday is an attempt to build a relationship with a day, when you should be building a relationship with your charity.<br />
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One of the overwhelming problems with Giving Tuesday is there is little or no consideration on what should have happened in that relationship before and what's going to happen after Tuesday.<br />
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<b>#AskingTuesday</b><br />
I think we see, and will continue to see, positive results because charities ask where they wouldn't have asked. <b>The day gives shy charities a license to ask. </b>It's not that donors have been compelled to give because it's Tuesday. It's because your 'ask' compelled them. Really <b>we should call it #AskingTuesday</b> and just admit to ourselves that it's a campaign for charities rather than the public.<br />
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<b>Why Do People Give?</b><br />
Do you really think people are going to give because it's Tuesday? Are you hoping that they're going to give to you because a different charity or person told them it was #GivingTuesday?<br />
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No...<b>they're going to give because you reached out, and because you asked.</b><br />
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So then ask yourself, is <i>the fact that it's Tuesday</i> your most compelling 'ask'? Or do you think perhaps <i>feeding that starving child, finding a home for that puppy, or helping someone who has been sexually abused</i> is a more compelling story and a better ask?<br />
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<b>As a charity, is #GivingTuesday the most effective way for you to raise money? Or is it just noise?</b><br />
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Instead, I urge you to boil it down to your usual emotionally captivating story. And go out to the public with a clear call to action, whatever the day of the week. Let others spend time and money on it if they need to.<br />
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And to the umbrella groups and suppliers that spend money on these types of campaigns: Ask yourself if this is the most effective way to support the charity sector?<br />
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What if you put that budget in to fundraising campaigns or fundraiser training instead? What if your budgets were used to turn bad fundraisers in to good fundraisers? And ask yourself what could a DM or Telephone fundraising expert in a little charity do with these budgets instead?<br />
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Those are the actions that would bring positive increases in fundraising each and every day of the week.<br />
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<i>Update: Only just discovered <a href="http://colludo.ca/blog/the-devils-avocado-giving-tuesday/">this awesome post</a> on Giving Tuesday from Sheena Greer.</i><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-5343326955484147942014-11-27T12:47:00.003+00:002014-11-27T12:48:02.433+00:00How Good Does Your Fundraising Chicken Taste?<i>This blog post originally appeared on the excellent <a href="https://bloomerang.co/blog/what-kfc-can-teach-you-about-donor-communications/">Bloomerang.co</a>.</i><br />
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People talk a lot about how often you should be mailing, e-mailing and phoning your donors. Charities often ask me how often they should be contacting their donors. And whenever they do I always think about the Chicken Variety Meal at KFC.<br />
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Yes, KFC.<br />
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If you’re my age or older you might know them as Kentucky Fried Chicken. But they rebranded in an attempt to hide the word ‘fried’ (or, as some might have you believe, to hide the word ‘chicken’). KFC is my secret shame. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I’m generally a good person. But, despite myself, I love KFC and have had to manage my addiction to the point where now I can proudly say it’s just a ‘special treat’.<br />
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Every time I go in to KFC and order my meal they ask if I want to give them more money to Go Large. And every time I say yes. And I never get annoyed.<br />
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Even if I went in there every meal of every day they would continue to ask me to give them more more money. And I would never get annoyed.<br />
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Why not?<br />
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Because I love their chicken, I love their fries, and I love their Pepsi. I crave for it. Every bite is a euphoric journey to a salty land of nostalgic love. KFC and The Colonel are giving me exactly what I want, when I want it. And when they offer me more I’m grateful. <br />
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You see, <b>junk mail is only junk if it doesn’t apply to you</b>. I get pizza menus dropped in my letterbox every day...and they annoy me every day that I don’t want a pizza.<br />
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I hear anecdotal evidence on Donor Communications all the time: People don’t want to get mail, don’t want to get e-mails, don’t want to get phone calls. And people don’t want to be asked for money.<br />
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That’s simply not true.<br />
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<b>People don’t want to receive bad mails. They don’t want to receive bad phone calls. They don’t want to receive bad e-mails. And they don’t want to be asked for money...badly.</b><br />
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If people don’t want to receive your updates and your appeals it’s not the donors fault and it’s not the mediums fault. It’s your fault.<br />
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<b>The public want to hear from you as often as you have something interesting and relevant to say.</b> How often should you be contacting your donors? Well, ask yourself how often have you got something good to say?<br />
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And ask yourself, honestly, how good is your fundraising-chicken?<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-69998621056758303582014-11-06T09:36:00.002+00:002014-11-06T09:37:42.908+00:00Simon's Weekly-ish Charity Fundraising VideosSo I've started trying to do a weekly-ish video ranting about all things fundraising and charity. You can watch a couple of them below:<br />
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And if they floated your boat then you can subscribe to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeOc5P4zozw&list=PL5Mw3rHjMloFYYYE7xymEv6vPHjsJjFOA">whole playlist here</a>.<br />
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<b>Please feel free to like, share or leave comments. It's all I have.</b><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-53020702585194539152014-11-04T13:08:00.000+00:002014-11-04T13:08:41.507+00:00Here's a photo I took of a charity with no admin costs or overheads<span style="color: red;">So yesterday I tweeted what I think is my most popular tweet of all time:</span><br />
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Here's a photo I took of a charity with no admin costs or overheads: <a href="http://t.co/FY5nnFhLu0">pic.twitter.com/FY5nnFhLu0</a></div>
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— Simon Scriver (@TotalFR) <a href="https://twitter.com/TotalFR/status/529310708308402178">November 3, 2014</a></div>
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-40009183185126021282014-10-09T09:26:00.002+01:002014-10-09T09:27:29.886+01:00Restorative FundraisingI've been learning about Restorative Practices, a concept new to me. It puts forward that <i>“human beings are happier, more cooperative and productive, and more likely to make positive changes in their behavior when those in positions of authority do things <b>with them</b>, rather than to them or for them.”</i><br />
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Makes perfect sense, right?<br />
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And the more you read about it the more obvious it becomes that it's an effective way to communicate with criminal offenders, employees, kids, friends and family.<br />
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<b>And donors.</b><br />
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I'm not a clever man, so a really easy way I found to picture it is using the Social Discipline Window:<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Social Discipline Window</span></i></div>
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Our communications fall in to one of these categories: punitive, neglectful, permissive and restorative. <b>Restorative is where you want to be.</b> In plain English, think about whether you are doing something <i>to</i> someone, <i>for</i> someone, <i>with</i> someone, or not doing it at all.<br />
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So where does <i>your</i> fundraising sit?<br />
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The majority of Irish charities sit in the 'Not' section - willfully or unwittingly <b>neglecting their donors and potential donors</b>. You never contact your donors or you don't contact them enough. Money might come in, but it's pretty much a stroke of luck and unlikely to be repeated. As any good fundraiser knows if you don't ask you don't get.<br />
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Or you might be permissive. If you find yourself organising golf classics and black tie events because your Board like them, or you've been running the same loss making events for years because your donors 'love them', then <b>you're working for them</b>.<br />
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Punitive fundraising is one-way communication, guilting and begging the public in to handing over their hard earned money. <b>If you've ever written a letter saying you're at risk of closing down or you've never shown a success story then you're probably sitting in that 'To' box.</b><br />
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But Restorative Fundraising...that's where something beautiful happens. That's where you want to be. Your communications and appeals are regular. They focus on the donor and the beneficiaries. The show they need, they show the success. They are humble but confident.<br />
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<b>And they successfully raise money.</b><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-65464797958668897222014-10-08T16:03:00.002+01:002014-10-08T16:03:43.080+01:00The Wrong Numbers In Telephone Fundraising<i>[This article has been published previously on <a href="http://101fundraising.org/2014/10/wrong-numbers-telephone-fundraising/">101fundraising – Crowdblog on Fundraising</a>]</i><br />
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I grew up in that profoundly awkward era where we all had landlines and nobody had mobile phones. When I phoned a girl I was trying to woo it was paralysingly scary - one of her parents may well have answered and you'd have to deal with that.<br />
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That was bad...but even now, where we essentially have a direct line to anyone, making that call can be terrifying. Maybe that's why so many people try to avoid picking up the phone?<br />
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A recent study in Ireland found that <b>only 2% of charities used the phone to fundraise</b>. Compare that to 3.6% of charities using 'international treks'. Some people would rather climb Kilimanjaro than pick up the phone. And haven't we all be in the position of sending way too many e-mails back and forth rather than a quick call, simply because we couldn't face talking to someone.<br />
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I've found one of the common traits of great members of staff is a willingness to pick up the phone. Seriously. If a fundraiser (or any staff member) delays and deflects that phone call then I'm sorry to say it's probably not going to work out.<br />
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For me, <b>nothing beats telephone</b>. It's relatively cheap, instantly adaptable, completely personalised, scalable, and it integrates with everything you do. It's easy to launch and easy to stop. Anyone can do it - you don't need an agency. Your charity should know what it's doing with its phones (and I mean <i>really</i> know what it's doing) before it touches anything else.<br />
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So, as the eloquent telephone fundraising guru Adrian Salmon once said, <i>"Why aren't we protecting Voice?"</i><br />
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"Voice"! Have you ever heard a telephone call described so wonderfully? And maybe that's part of the problem: we think of the telephone as this lump of plastic on our desks rather then this amazing instrument that allows us to put our voice - one of our most powerful fundraising tools - in a potential donors home and head.<br />
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The truth is that we undermine phone. We prioritise digital and all these fancy new medias while we hang up the phone. Perhaps because we undermine it, in many ways we're seeing a race to the bottom...<br />
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Lovely dedicated telephone fundraising agencies exist, but very often we're seeing charities hand their calls over to sales companies with scripts and auto-diallers. We suck the life and love out of the calls and strip our fundraisers of their personalities. Why? A lack of trust? Because it makes the calls cheaper?<br />
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And then the smaller charities who keep their telephone work in-house very often don't invest in training or skill. Why? Because they don't believe in it? Is it actually only 2% of charities that use the phone to fundraise, or do they not realise that <b><i>every</i> phone call is a fundraising call</b>.<br />
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Yes...calls to your fundraisers, calls to your volunteers, thank-you calls...they're all fundraising calls. And every time your phone rings? That's a fundraising call.<br />
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At the IFC in Holland I'll be speaking about why Voice is worth saving and why there's room to grow. I'll be spelling out exactly what makes a good and bad fundraising call and we'll be listening to actual samples. We'll mystery shop some charities and I'll tell you about the multiple times I phoned up to make a donation and was unable to do so.<br />
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You might also come to understand why I love telephone fundraising. And why so many girls have dumped me by text message.<br />
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<i>[Find times and details of my IFC seminar <a href="http://www.resource-alliance.org/sessions.php/584/2/telephone-fundraising-one-ring-to-rule-them-all">here</a>]</i><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-22048576210818145522014-09-26T13:33:00.001+01:002014-09-28T17:00:29.415+01:00Charity Begins At Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><a href="https://twitter.com/MikeMcGuire_M">Mike Maguire</a> pointed me towards some of the things in this blog post. I promised I wouldn't write it until he'd done his own, but since he's now crossed to the for-profit dark side...here we go...</i><br />
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As someone who fundraises for international humanitarian organisations, one of my least favourite phrases in the world is '<b>Charity begins at home</b>'.<br />
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Whether or not it is explicitly racist, I hate the notion that there might be a mathematical relationship between how far away someone is standing from you and how much their life is worth. As someone put it to me: When a person says charity begins at home what they really mean is that it <i>ends</i> at home.<br />
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I especially hate it when Irish people say it, forgetting how recently it was that we depended on international aid and relied on other countries to welcome our emigrants (We still do).<br />
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<i>The Sun in 1989</i></div>
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There are some truly beautiful stories of how people around the world step up to help the Irish - in particular during our most desperate time: the Great Famine.<br />
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There was the <a href="http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/amazing-story-of-how-choctaw-indians-raised-money-for-irish-famine-relief-234212611-237790401.html">Choctaw tribe in Oklahoma</a> who, despite having so little and suffering so much, donated $170 (worth tens of thousands today) to help the Irish. And the <a href="http://razormind.co.uk/how-quickly-we-forget-how-muslims-helped-ireland-during-the-great-famine/">Islamic Ottoman Empire</a> sent us a fortune.<br />
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And why are we so happy to ignore the fact that our economy is propped up by customers 'over there' and foreign visitors. It is sad to see some of the xenophobic comments that float around Irish news stories and charity social media posts, knowing that their authors may not even have existed if it weren't for the compassion and generosity of others.<br />
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I hope my country and my generation will be remembered as charitable.<br />
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And I hope we will see the phrase 'charity begins at home' disappear, or at least revert back to it's original meaning. You see, it doesn't mean <i>help yourself (and people who look like you)</i>. Quite the opposite. Instead it means that by being charitable and kind to all, others will follow.<br />
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Lead by example. And dismissing the most vulnerable in our world flippantly with some meaningless catch phrase - well, that's not the example I want to set.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-58379534957659487782014-09-15T14:17:00.001+01:002014-10-03T09:38:47.962+01:00Some Dates For Your Fundraising Diary<span style="background-color: white;">Here are some great events coming up, if you're in to charities and fundraising:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><strong><a href="http://email.code23.com/t/r-l-mjhdktt-l-t/" target="_blank">Fundraising Essentials</a></strong><br />On 24th September Fundraising Ireland are running a really cool 'introduction to fundraising'. There are some really good speakers lined up - some of the best fundraisers in Ireland...and me.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><strong><a href="http://email.code23.com/t/r-l-mjhdktt-l-i/" target="_blank">Fundraising Ireland's DM Series</a></strong><br />This looks really good - 4 separate seminars run by some of the most experienced DM fundraisers around. It's not too late to book for the sessions on the 18th and 25th of September.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><strong><a href="http://email.code23.com/t/r-l-mjhdktt-l-d/" target="_blank">International Fundraising Congress</a></strong><br />The IFC in Holland is always a great event. From 14th to 17th October fundraisers from around the world get together to learn, develop and gossip. It's pretty epic. I'll be running a session on Telephone Fundraising.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.goodcharity.ie/"><b>Launch of #GoodCharity</b></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The GoodCharity.ie website has been live for a while now, and the response so far has been great. We're trying to run an official launch next month, and get the media involved. At the moment we're pencilled in for 30th October.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><strong><a href="http://www.fundraisingireland.ie/whats-new/events/southern-branch-networking-events-increase-your-fundraising-by-85/">Increase Your Fundraising By 85% - Event In The Wesht Of Ireland</a></strong><br />I'm running a really special morning seminar with The Southern Branch of Fundraising Ireland in Cork on November 11th.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><strong><a href="http://email.code23.com/t/r-l-mjhdktt-l-h/" target="_blank">IoF Northern Ireland</a></strong><br />On the 13th of November the annual NI fundraising conference takes place in Belfast. It's always good and really reasonably priced.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><strong><a href="http://email.code23.com/t/r-l-mjhdktt-l-k/" target="_blank">Toastmasters For Good</a></strong><br />I'm still getting this set up, but working towards a series of early evening meetings in October/November. These will be free opportunities to help improve your public speaking if you work in the non-profit sector.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-40153433996996360102014-09-11T15:52:00.001+01:002015-02-19T15:46:11.842+00:00Recommended Fundraising Reading<b>Blogs</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/">Change Fundraising (Mine!)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.futurefundraisingnow.com/future-fundraising/">Jeff Brooks' Future Fundraising Now</a></li>
<li><a href="http://101fundraising.org/">101fundraising Crowdblog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.pamelagrow.com/">Pamela Grow's blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://charity-chick.blogspot.com/">Charity Chicks</a></li>
<li><a href="http://tobinaldrich.wordpress.com/">tobinaldrich | A few thoughts on fundraising</a></li>
<li><a href="http://seantriner.blogspot.com/">Sean Triner's blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://fundraiserbeth.com/">FundraiserBeth</a></li>
<li><a href="http://denisacasement.blogspot.com/">Denisa Casement's "Opinionated. I know."</a></li>
<li><a href="http://kevmagic.blogspot.com/">Kevin Delaney's Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.theagitator.net/">The Agitator</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.flatearthdirect.com/blog/">Jonathon Grapsas' Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://beateinenglish.wordpress.com/">Beate thinks out loud</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.lisasargent.com/e-news.htm">Lisa Sargent's sporadic newsletter</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.clairification.com/">Clairification Philanthropy</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.fundraisingdetective.com/fundraising-detective/">Fundraising Detective's Reading Round-Up</a></li>
<li><a href="http://sofii.org/">SOFII</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.plymouth.ac.uk/criticalfundraising/">Rogare's Critical Fundraising</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div>
<br />
<b>Books</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470080396/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0470080396&linkCode=as2&tag=thetravelwilburd&linkId=JIYMR7Q6MDDKAN3D">Simone Joyaux's Keep Your Donors</a> (And I imagine her other books too)</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1BuJwSg">Anything by Jeff Brooks</a></li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1hsi5SL">Anything by Tom Ahern</a></li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/MvXW0q">Dan Pallotta's Uncharitable</a></li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1c14lqy">Adrian Sargeant and Jen Shang's Fundraising Principles & Practice</a></li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1hsiTHv">George Smith's Asking Properly</a></li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1qmNt9k">Ken Burnett's Storytelling Can Change The World</a> (Haven't finished it yet)</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1wiQFFc">Roger Craver's Retention Fundraising</a> (Haven't finished it yet)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<b>Articles & Videos</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://qz.com/84943/what-we-can-learn-from-one-of-the-worst-charities-in-the-world/">What we can learn from one of the worst charities in the world</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfAzi6D5FpM">Dan Pallotta: The way we think about charity is dead wrong</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
<br />
<b>How To Fundraise</b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.clairification.com/2014/08/13/check-next-appeal-letter-16-point-list-sending/">Check Your Next Appeal Letter Against This 16-Point List Before Sending</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.pamelagrow.com/4720/your-year-end-fundraising-appeal-letter-downloadable-template/">Your Year-End Fundraising Appeal Letter (Downloadable Template)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://bloomerang.co/blog/your-7-step-donor-retention-data-checklist/">Your 7-Step Donor Retention Data Checklist</a></li>
<li><a href="http://agentsofgood.org/2014/09/automation-kills/">Automation Kills</a></li>
</ul>
<b></b><br />
<div>
<b><b><br /></b></b></div>
<b>
</b>
<div>
<b><b><br /></b></b></div>
<b>
DM</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blogs.plymouth.ac.uk/criticalfundraising/2014/09/24/opinion-the-forgotten-man-of-direct-marketing-fundraising/">OPINION: THE FORGOTTEN MAN OF DIRECT MARKETING FUNDRAISING?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://agentsofgood.org/star-wars-series/">Agents Of Good's Star Wars series</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Telephone Fundraising</b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://shop.fundraising.co.uk/products/fundraising-by-phone">Fundraising By Phone by Adrian Salmon (£)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://pellandbales.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/telephone-fundraising-part-2-how-to-use-the-phone-in-fundraising/">Pell & Bales' blog</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
<b>Major Gifts</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.gailperry.com/2015/02/16-ways-get-meeting-major-gift-prospect/">16 Ways to Get a Meeting With Your Major Gift Prospect</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-88634249033721516692014-09-05T11:04:00.000+01:002014-09-05T11:04:45.995+01:00Charity Videos: Good versus BadHere are two recent Irish charity videos:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hqOO1E5uC1w" width="240"></iframe> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/F350oc3hAdc" width="240"></iframe> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
One is cheap, poorly acted, with bad sound quality, and looks like it took about half an hour to make. IT IS AMAZING!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The other is slick and fancy, loads of people involved and obviously took a lot of work. I don't like it at all.</div>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Irish Cancer Society video is so average because:</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>It's all "We we we". We launched this, we did this. No you didn't! Your donors did!</li>
<li>There are so many numbers...so many stats.</li>
<li>As much as I like their CEO, he shouldn't be in the video. And get rid of the fundraisers too. Give me more nurses! Give me more service users!</li>
<li>Get rid of words and phrases like 'Strategic plan', 'incognisant', 'collaborative', 'oncologist'.</li>
<li>Thank you count = 0</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<b> The IMNDA video is so good because:</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>It's all thank yous</li>
<li>So many service users, so many nurses. Not a CEO in sight!</li>
<li>It's filled with real people with first names. No surnames!</li>
<li>Real descriptions of how they spend money, spoken like humans.</li>
<li>It's so cheesy and cute!</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
When you're making a video for your charity (and you should be...you only need a phone) there is one simple thing to remember. It is a bitter pill to swallow but it is really one of the most important things in fundraising:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Nobody cares about your charity or your CEO. It is all about your donors and the people they help.</b></div>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-79024273691620365352014-08-27T09:44:00.000+01:002014-08-27T09:44:29.856+01:00How Your Charity Can Replicate The #IceBucketChallengeLet me just get it out there straight away:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>You can't replicate the #IceBucketChallenge,</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>the #NoMakeUpSelfie</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>or the next big thing.</b></div>
<br />
(I'm sorry - I kind of tricked you in to opening this blog post. But wait! I will tell you how to <i>increase your chances</i>.)<br />
<b><br /></b>
<a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/03/nomakeupselfie-what-should-your-charity.html">As I said before</a> you can't replicate these things and instead your fundraising should focus on things that are more scientific and more reliable. You also need to be ready just in case it does happen. I've got <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/03/nomakeupselfie-what-should-your-charity.html">some tips here</a> about how to be ready and Zoe Amar did an <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140820180445-7046455-how-charities-can-prepare-for-their-icebucketchallenge-moment">excellent post here</a>.<br />
<b><br /></b>
So how do you increase the chances of an #IceBucketChallenge kicking off for your charity?<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Through <b>good old fashioned fundraising.</b></div>
<br />
You see, ALS didn't really benefit out of nowhere. When the Ice Bucket Challenge started it was vaguely for any charity, until one guy decided to bring ALS in to the mix. Why did he do it? <b>Because one of his relatives had ALS, he had confidence in the charity, he knew they needed money, and he'd probably already donated to them.</b><br />
<br />
So how do you replicate that?<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Gain people's confidence by running effectively, being transparent, and showing the public how you help.</li>
<li>Tell people you need money and what you're going to do with it.</li>
<li>Get people to donate to you through traditional fundraising which is proven to work.</li>
</ol>
<br />
If you have all that stuff in place then there's a better chance the next big thing will come your way.<br />
<br />
And even if it doesn't? (Which it almost certainly won't)<br />
<br />
<b>Well, you'll still be raising money.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_kT8iKrFT2TUaw5C-uj538y9dPT_IGrf5RndR37OvzcUvYSCdc3NloLs2hzGZvX55_YA1V3ooUfBajBZa32Eo8aqgy1i-yCewnIlEo6QQLtsmpWZ9fhIXu0WVKIwbCw03bnkB3JHMsl4/s1600/daddy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_kT8iKrFT2TUaw5C-uj538y9dPT_IGrf5RndR37OvzcUvYSCdc3NloLs2hzGZvX55_YA1V3ooUfBajBZa32Eo8aqgy1i-yCewnIlEo6QQLtsmpWZ9fhIXu0WVKIwbCw03bnkB3JHMsl4/s1600/daddy.jpeg" height="320" width="226" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-87945718783578112732014-08-19T10:36:00.002+01:002014-08-19T10:36:52.394+01:00Your Donation Page Is Out-Of-DateYour donation page is probably not as good as it could be. As a result you're losing donations and the people who are giving to you aren't probably giving as much as they could.<br />
<br />
You need to overhaul your donation page and there's plenty of great tips out there on what it should look like:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Beate Sørum posts awesome tips on her blog: "<a href="http://beateinenglish.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/slides-and-resources-from-iof-national-convention-from-good-intentions-to-more-web-donations/">From good intentions to more web donations</a>"</li>
<li>Both Jeff Brooks and Sean Triner (essential follows) shared this post: "<a href="http://unbounce.com/landing-page-examples/20-landing-pages-critiqued-rand-fishkin/">20 Landing Pages Torn Apart"</a></li>
<li>And I've blogged about it before: <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/07/raise-more-money-on-line-tomorrow.html">"Raise More Money On-Line Tomorrow"</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But even if you follow all that great advice <b><i>your donation page is going to be out-of-date.</i></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Why?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well, because you don't know what your next appeal is. You don't know what the next big news story is. When you designed your donation page you might have know why people were visiting it, but you probably don't know why they're going to visit it today or tomorrow.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So how do you deal with that?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well, the next time you're putting your money in to your website make sure you get an <b>adaptable donation page</b>. You almost certainly don't have an in-house website person and can't afford to pay an agency every time you want to change something, so you need to make sure you can edit your donation page from the back-end <i>at no extra cost</i>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
More than that, you need more than one donation page. You need to have your standard donation page, but you need to be able to quickly set up up a donation page customised to the #IceBucketChallenge, #FreeGaza, #MigrantX or whatever is going to motivate people to want to help you.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>The customised pages need to have relevant images, relevant text, relevant stories, a relevant Thank You, and a relevant 'shopping list' - even a relevant URL.</b> Have a look next time and what you'll see is almost all charities have the same generic donation page with no mention of what drove them there.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Remember, your donors aren't donating to you. They're donating to your cause...or more specifically <i>how they interpret your cause</i>. Your donation page needs to match their interpretation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-63089413775147910242014-08-18T09:52:00.000+01:002014-08-25T09:54:20.075+01:00The Obligatory #IceBucketChallenge Blog Post - Criticism of Criticisms<i>It was inevitable that I'd do a blog post on the #IceBucketChallenge. As a Fundraising Consultant and Service Provider my business model relies on me piggybacking my thoughts on to the latest trend, attempting to add some insight that you'll associate with my name. As this post is shared it spreads my name and moves me up the search results, which then converts to more business and increased income, allowing me to accumulate more material objects until I die at 64. Anyway...</i><br />
<br />
In case you missed it, the Ice Bucket Challenge is the latest on-line viral sensation which also claims to raise money and awareness for charity (in this case ALS a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's Disease).<br />
<br />
It's interesting...but more interesting is that the tide is starting to turn and it's becoming more and more fashionable to criticise these things rather than support or just ignore them. You'll see that - we see it with every positive movement, as we have with charities themselves.<br />
<br />
I've seen articles call it a 'damaging fad' and even 'the end of charity fund-raising'.<br />
<br />
The criticism's I've read so far are:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>It's not raising extra money for charity...it's just taking money from elsewhere.</b><br />No doubt some people that donate $10 to this challenge will then find themselves having to decline a $10 donation elsewhere. That's unfortunate but it's still a donation. However, the people we're interested in are the ones that donate the $10 and then find themselves having to buy less drink, cigarettes, crap, etc. What the 'for-good' sector has effectively done is stolen some business from the 'for-bad' sector and made an effort at increasing national percentage donation levels that have otherwise remained pretty steady.<br /> </li>
<li><b>People are having too much fun.</b><br />And presumably they're not having more fun...they're just taking fun away from other places?<br />I never understand this - even if you work in a morgue or warzone or charity you're allowed to find fun as long as it's not at the expense of others. Jesus, otherwise what's the point of anything?<br /> </li>
<li><b>It doesn't raise any awareness.</b><br />While 'awareness' may well be useless, you can't argue that more people <a href="http://www.google.ie/trends/explore#q=als&date=today%2012-m&cmpt=date">searching for</a> and reading about the disease is in fact raising awareness.<br /> </li>
<li><b>Some people aren't even donating.</b><br />That's right. And these people weren't going to donate anyway. But some people are donating that hadn't before. And some of these 'some people' will go on to donate again.<br /> </li>
<li><b>Some people are donating to the wrong charity!</b>Well they're probably doing so because they have a personal connection to that cause. So, whatever.<br /> </li>
<li><b>We should be donating without these fads. And we should be donating monthly because it's more cost-effective!</b><br />We shooooould...but if you've ever met a human and/or have any self-awareness you'll know that we don't always do what we should.<br /> </li>
<li><b>It's a waste of water</b>Really? Kind of sounds like you're clutching at straws, like the people who say that electric cars use more energy than normal cars. But if you're really worried about it then use sea water. It's freezing.<br /> </li>
<li><b>It's so annoying!</b><br />The reason the Ice Bucket Challenge is <i>so annoying</i> is because it's <i>working so well</i>. If your Facebook timeline was filled 20 million news stories about a cash collection on Tara Street you'd be annoyed too. Now you know how I feel about GAA and Harry Potter.<br />But my buzz with fundraising is always that the results justify a tiny bit of annoyance and inconvenience. I always try to picture a kid who will benefit from these donations and someone telling his parents he shouldn't be helped anymore because their Twitter feed is annoying. You know where you won't hear about the Ice Bucket Challenge? In a book, a park, or a Marx Brothers movie.<br /> </li>
<li><b>Ice bucket purists are annoyed that the charity element is detracting from their first love.</b><br />OK, I made that one up.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You'll notice a lot of these criticisms can be applied to cash collections, challenge events, galas, etc.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqEA-4pMTO1SSlHgS0Nx1affRSnA-JhGY06GDovgUt8yTY_s3MzALQBuyrJoCkNripiqtBCgxra4LaP0aUOvLK99TKgxC-M1uT0h8MepcuLG8u1Nvr1zzIoPo8iELSQY3zkYFVSu9G69k/s1600/moreeffectivemoreannoying.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqEA-4pMTO1SSlHgS0Nx1affRSnA-JhGY06GDovgUt8yTY_s3MzALQBuyrJoCkNripiqtBCgxra4LaP0aUOvLK99TKgxC-M1uT0h8MepcuLG8u1Nvr1zzIoPo8iELSQY3zkYFVSu9G69k/s1600/moreeffectivemoreannoying.PNG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
For me there is only one valid criticism, and it's not even a criticism of the campaign. It's more of a criticism of consultants, bloggers, Boards, and fundraisers that encourage you to try and replicate these things.<br />
<br />
As I said in my <a href="http://changefundraising.blogspot.ie/2014/03/nomakeupselfie-what-should-your-charity.html">#NoMakeUpSelfie post</a>, charities should be prepared and ready to capitalise on these amazing things that crop out of nowhere.<br />
<br />
But don't waste time and money trying to replicate it. Forget chasing the viral dragon and instead focus on good old-fashioned, reliable fundraising. And have some fun.</div>
<br />
Here's my Ice Bucket Challenge:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8SzWv7lYo_s" width="480"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030936637291270507.post-49019783977715441212014-08-06T13:14:00.000+01:002014-08-06T13:29:35.204+01:00Become A Better Public Speaker in the Charity Sector<i>Do you work in the Irish charity sector - either as a paid member of staff or as a volunteer?</i><br />
<i>Do you need to make presentations to groups of people? Maybe to co-workers, potential funders, or volunteers?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Do you think your public speaking could use a boost? Want more confidence?</i><br />
<br />
If so, I hope I can help. I am looking to bring Toastmasters to the Irish charity sector - and <a href="mailto:simonscriver@totalfundraising.ie">I want to hear from YOU if you are interested.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>What Is Toastmasters?</b><br />
Toastmasters International is a worldwide, non-profit educational organisation that teaches public speaking and leadership skills. It's a friendly, fun and supportive environment. Every day around the world like-minded people meet to help each other improve their skills.<br />
<br />
There are already over 100 clubs in Ireland, usually made up of members who share a common location or common employer. So far, there is no organisation dedicated to the unique needs of the Irish charity sector.<br />
<br />
<b>How Is A Meeting Structured?</b><br />
A typical meeting is divided in to 3 parts:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><i>'Table Topics'</i> helps people to speak 'off-the-cuff', delivering short impromptu speeches with little or no preparation.</li>
<li><i>Prepared Speeches</i> gives you an opportunity to deliver a speech you have been working on for days or weeks. It's a great chance to practice an important presentation or speech before the real thing.</li>
<li><i>Evaluations</i> are constructive feedback, used to help everyone become a better speaker. It also helps you get better at delivering constructive feedback.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<b>What Are The Benefits?</b><br />
You'll become a better public speaker. You'll get a chance to meet other people working in the Irish charity sector. You'll learn loads about lots of random topics. You'll have fun.<br />
<br />
<b>What Does It Cost?</b><br />
It depends on the club, but you're usually talking about €5 a meeting.<br />
<br />
<b>Why A Toastmasters For Charity Staff & Volunteers?</b><br />
Your public speaking is so important. How you deliver your message can be the difference between someone donating, volunteering, or doing nothing. We can all benefit if we have better public speakers in the charity sector.<br />
<br />
<b>I'm Interested Already! Shut Up And Tell Me What To Do</b><br />
OK, at the moment I'm recording interest with a view to launching an introductory 'Speechcraft' set of meetings. From there, with enough interest, we will work together to launch an amazing club which meets every 2 weeks.<br />
<br />
So please <a href="mailto:simonscriver@totalfundraising.ie">e-mail me</a>, with no commitment, and let me know if it's something you'd be interest in.<br />
<br />
Thank you!<br />
<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1