The Commission on the Donor Experience

Charity fundraising has never been more important… This is why it is particularly crucial that we get fundraising right.’ So said Sir Stuart Etherington, chair of the UK’s review into fundraising self-regulation. All the showcases on SOFII are important to fundraisers and fundraising’s role in changing the world, but here, thanks to the Commission on the Donor Experience, we have collected a priceless series of practical reports that focus on putting the donor, not the fundraiser’s targets, at the heart of fundraising strategies. Well done CDE!. 

Click this link for all the CDE project summaries and where to find them on SOFII. For access to all CDE content on SOFII go to the home page and click on the special CDE portal just below the masthead. All the full projects can be found under their respective pages.

Are you the disrupter, or the disrupted?

by Terry Hunt

The Commission on the Donor Experience could be seen as a watershed moment for the not-for-profit sector. Terry Hunt, partner at The Future Customer gives his candid opinion on the future in a specially-commissioned article.

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CDE All the project summaries in one report

by The Commission on the Donor Experience

CDE All the project summaries in one report here.

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The 6Ps: a blueprint for transforming fundraising. For good.

by The Commission on the Donor Experience

The six steps to change outlined here provide windows onto a vast body of work compiled through 2016 and early 2017 by upwards of a thousand individual volunteers for the Commission on the Donor Experience (CDE).

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A question of competency

by Helena Sharpstone

Interviewing well for fundraisers is like interviewing for any post.  It’s all about the questions you ask.  

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What are the three missing pieces of data standing between our sector and success?

by Charlie Hulme

In this blog post connected to the Commission on the Donor Experience Project 3, Charlie Hulme sets out two facts that could be the difference between the fundraising sector prospering or disappearing altogether.

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Meet Nana Murphy: lessons in donor care from Merchants Quay Ireland

by SOFII

This inspirational case study celebrates the incredible work of Merchants Quay Ireland’s fantastic fundraising team. They transformed the fortunes of this small charity, multiplied its revenue more than tenfold, and provided essential assistance to people experiencing homelessness.

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CDE Thank You

by The Commission on the Donor Experience

CDE Thank you and Acknowledgements

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CDE Summary of Qualitative and Quantitative Research

by The Commission on the Donor Experience

Summary of the qualitative and quantitative research findings commissioned exclusively for CDE.

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The treehouse of knowledge – the 34 fundamental foundations of fundraising

by Ken Burnett

Of all the nuggets of essential fundraising knowledge buried within all the lists, books and articles ever written, which would be the one list, that you’d choose to hang directly above your space, your workplace? This is that list. 

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A new approach to fundraising – why you should be accessing your donors’ networks

by Richard Turner

It’s time to ring the changes in the way we raise money. Rather than just looking at our donors’ financial capital says Richard Turner, we could be using their social capital to make fundraising so much better for them and our causes.

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What really matters to a donor

by Mark Phillips

Are you telling your donors what they want to hear? Or are you talking all about yourself? Click here to see what donors want from the charities they support.

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Donor-centred fundraising – are you prepared to take a leap of faith?

by Jackie Fowler

Giving donors choices and allowing supporters to opt out of fundraising appeals are hotly debated topics in the UK right now. But one well-known UK charity has been practising both of these supposed heresies for nearly 30 years now. 

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