The main areas of fundraising
The ALS (USA) ‘ice bucket’ challenge
by SOFII
You may be sick of hearing about the ice bucket challenge. You may even think it has no relevance to your own organisation. But find out the special characteristics that made it the biggest fundraising idea of 2014.
BBC Television: the 1966 documentary, Cathy Come Home
by SOFII
Cathy Come Home, the powerful story about a young family’s slide into homelessness and poverty was a defining moment in 1960s television. The controversy it created led to public outrage at the state of housing in Britain and to the launch of several charities, including Shelter. Here you will see the deeply moving final scene, presented by Chris Barraclough at last year’s IWITOT.
Read moreCancer Research UK’s Dryathlon
by SOFII
If you think that the cause should never take second place in an appeal, click here to see how Cancer Research UK’s Dryathlon did exactly that. And raised £4.5 million.
Read moreRSPCA: ‘home for life’ scheme
by Alex McDowell
A superb new service from the RSPCA that takes away the worries and concerns of their supporters, whilst increasing their legacy income considerably.
Read moreMusings of a direct response fundraiser no. 2: finding the ‘sweet spot’
by Jonathon Grapsas
Our job as fundraisers is to find the sweet spot: an amount that is appropriate to that donor at that time. In his second article on the musings of a direct response fundraiser Jonathon Grapsas shows exactly how to do it.
Read moreF*CK CANCER: raising money for cancer research
by SOFII
‘Fundraisers – your job isn’t to keep complaints down, it’s to connect with people who do care in the strongest possible way.’ So says Rob Woods in this powerful case study from this year’s IWITOT.
Read moreJustGiving: a ‘for profit, for good’ platform for online giving.
by SOFII
Is JustGiving the most transformational development in the UK charitable sector since the introduction of street face-to-face fundraising? Find out here.
Read moreThe Children’s Center, Detroit: ‘children should be seen and not hurt’ winter appeal
by Marie Burnett
How the Children's Center in Detroit turned dwindling finances and donations into a huge success through a seamless, integrated, multi-channel campaign.
Read moreUniversity of Michigan, USA. Newsletter, plus reply form
by SOFII
We at SOFII also liked the simple graphic presentation of different giving plans that are shown in this newsletter (option 1, the maize plan and option 2, the blue plan). Donors don’t automatically understand the implications of their giving, particularly when there are tax advantages. If these can be simply rendered in graphic form, then donors will be encouraged and fundraisers will benefit.
Read moreForcing or forging a relationship? Part 2: what makes a relationship?
by Charlie Hulme
If Pret A Manager, Pizza Express, or Starbucks were losing even half the amount of customers as we are they’d go out of business, says Charlie Hulme. And here he explains how we can be even better at customer, or rather, donor service than they are – and keep our donors from deserting us.
Read moreNSPCC’s supporter care gifts in wills ‘mind map’
by Marie Burnett
This innovation from NSPCC - the mind map - could raise £1,000,000 in legacies.
Read moreAt last, some genuinely fresh thinking in press advertising from a charity
by Andrew Papworth
Discover what’s so special about this ad from Sightsavers that it made Andrew Papworth go ‘Wow!’
Read more