Building a bridge between the hard and soft side of legacy giving, for you and your donors

by Kimberley MacKenzie

In her thought-provoking article, Kimberley MacKenzie, fundraising director at Ontario Nature, Canada, identifies the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ side of planned giving.

Less pessimism about the fundraising climate but…

by Andrew Papworth

Andrew Papworth reports on the latest Managing in a Downturn and you’ll be pleased to learn that although things are still tough, there is a less pessimism about the fundraising climate. Even better is that individual giving continues to be an important part of fundraising in the UK (and elsewhere too, no doubt).

Five ways to ‘Harry Potterise’ your Internet and direct mail appeals…. and get donors giving when times are tough

by Nicole Schmidt

Nicole Schmidt is convinced that we should all be copying J K Rowling by telling our stories they way she told Harry Potter’s. Ms Rowling, of course, sold millions of books and made a huge amount of money. Will we fundraisers raise millions for our causes if we adopt her techniques?

How would you kick-start your ‘nonprofit’ career as a consultant

by Sudeshna Mukherjee

Do you sincerely want to be a consultant? Don’t know how to go about it? Sudeshna Mukherjee has spoken to several giants from the world of consultancy and gives their valuable insights here.

Practical advice on how to make the most of social media

by Alisha Fernandez Miranda & Alissa Steiner

A practical guide to social media for charities and social enterprises, published as a free service for charities by Unity Trust Bank and Social Misfits Media, London. 

Reviewed for SOFII by PhD researcher Suay Melisa Ozkula.

How to advertise for funds off-the-page. Part 2

by Andrew Papworth

It is always important to have a banker advertisement that you know you can rely on. This is an advertisement that has proved itself over time to be consistently reliable. But that alone is not enough. Your banker advertisement will inevitably start to decline at some point, even to become ineffective.

Ad excellence: refreshing and instructive variations on an old theme

by Andrew Papworth

Here is some ad excellence. Two great campaigns reviewed by a master of making messages work hard off-the-page – click here for lots of great tips and copy worth copying.

When you wish upon a star

by Andrew Papworth

You might be surprised to learn that even in this celebrity-obsessed age, UK charities don’t use the famous extensively in their campaigns. If you do have a celebrity you need to use him or her wisely, says Andrew Papworth.

A strange, old-fashioned plea for respect

by George Smith

In this latest article George Smith doesn’t mean that all fundraising is nice and all advertising nasty. He does mean that advertising is generally pretty silly and that fundraising is pretty damned important. And we fundraisers would do well to dwell on the difference.

Making cancer cute

by Jeff Brooks

The ad agency has struck again with this strikingly stupid nonprofit ad. The victim...

World’s shortest stupid nonprofit ad

by Jeff Brooks

Sorry if this series offends. It’s meant to provoke, challenge the blinkered and encourage improvement. And its author Jeff Brooks could have said, the world’s stupidest short nonprofit ad. It’s difficult to see how anyone imagined this ad would be a good idea. Well, actually, it’s difficult to see, period. As Jeff says, ‘Get real…’

How to advertise for funds off-the-page. Part 1

by Andrew Papworth

Papworth’s principles of press advertising

Part 1: How fundraising ads work