The main areas of fundraising
Forcing or forging a relationship? Part 3: how to measure a relationship

by Charlie Hulme
You are only nine questions away from unlocking enormous value from your current donor file. Nine questions that represent the beginning of the end of inevitable donor churn.
Read moreRethink Mental Illness ‘find Mike’

by SOFII
Here is the story of Jonny Benjamin's search to find 'Mike', one of the bystanders as he climbed onto Waterloo Bridge in an attempt to kill himself. Only Mike didn't stand by, he walked up to Jonny, talked to him and, most of all, he listened. Click here to see how Rethink Mental Illness put their brand in second place and helped to find Jonny's hero. It was a brave decision and one that brought many rewards.
Read moreSave the Children: Buy a brick capital appeal

by Reuben Turner
This warm appeal from Save the Children beat its target by over £150,000 and acquisition approached break-even. Clinics were built and children’s lives were saved.
Read moreThe Magic Bus: corporate customers pay for a facility that helps poor kids

by SOFII
How corporate customers enable an innovative charity to raise money to pay for a unique development facility for disadvantaged youngsters.
Read moreToilet Twinning

by SOFII
The radical concept of toilet twinning brought at least 300 smiles to the audience at IWITOT. John Bird of data experts Blackbaud says its success is because it directly explains the cause and, obviously, has strong links to aspects of the donor's life that make it relevant. The beauty is, some elements are easily transferable to other charities.
Read moreThe unconventional fundraising gallery

by SOFII
SOFII loves to celebrate all that is good about fundraising: what we can learn from and replicate. At the same time, we like something quirky, even controversial. So we were delighted to hear about the Good Agency's gallery of unconventional fundraising. Click here to see the first four nominations.
Read moreThe 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.
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