Thanks to everyone who made it out to the launch party for MWO Philanthropic Advisors.
It was great to see you all and share conversation, food and drinks on the patio.
We had an amazing response to our products, the Fundraising Optimizer, and the Fundraising Incubator. Thank you for your support.
Here are some photos from the party.
The Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) wanted to reach churchgoers, school children and former donors who grew up with the annual fundraising drives the organization ran at schools and church during Lent.
So the ‘Wee Box’ campaign was created by creative agency BD. The concept is simple. Encourage people to donate small change that would go towards little comforts, like coffee or lunch, to help people living in poverty in another part of the world. They would put the money they save in a ‘Wee Box’ – designed like the old SCIAF collection boxes that most would remember from their younger days. The boxes were designed with clear, concise messaging about programs being funded by SCIAF.
Boxes were available to order for free from the campaign website. Donations could also be made online. The website included blogs from SCIAF workers, stories from people who’ve benefited from donations, and a ’40 Days, 40 Ways’ calendar (for Lent) with an idea a day encouraging people to reflect on how small changes they make in their lives that will make big differences in someone else’s life.
The campaign included a MySpace page, a Google adword campaign, support from local press and radio advertising. 130,000 boxes were distributed through schools, churches and community organizations, resulting in an average donation of £45 per household.
We came across this simple idea in a write-up on creativematch and thought it was great.
• Effectively triggering memories can be very helpful in bringing in donations. Consider looking to the past to generate and supplement your ideas.
• Penny drives and small change collections can be very effective fundraising methods, especially in challenging economic environments. What was particularly powerful about this campaign was the ease with which people could frequently give. Donation boxes were brought right into their homes and were a visible reminder to spare some change.
What do you think?
As has been reported many times in the past, when it comes to philanthropy, women play a prominent role in their households and communities. This understanding was reinforced recently by a study released by the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund.
Highlights from the Fidelity study that we found particularly interesting include:
• The vast majority of men surveyed (92%) say their wives have an influence on decision-making for charitable giving.
• While both spouses agree that giving has been a family tradition, women respondents appear more eager to create a family charitable legacy.
• High-income women (annual household earnings of $150,000 or more) are more willing to donate publicly, rather than anonymously.
• And finally, women are more likely to donate additional money during difficult economic times.
That last finding was new to us and we think it is especially worth the fundraiser’s attention.
We recommend that your organization really take this to heart and consider special appeals targeting women. Test sending direct mail addressed to women (and not their spouses), alter your promotional material so that it is especially appealing to women, consider stewardship events that will appeal to women, etc. Don’t just add a few pictures or phrases to already existing materials and proposals; be much bolder about this as the evidence is really overwhelming – target this philanthropic, decision-making population specifically and strategically.
For more information about the role of women in philanthropy, please see:
Giving circles have become a recognized philanthropic force as their numbers have rapidly increased over the past decade. A giving circle is a group of people (friends or like-minded individuals) of all economic backgrounds who pool their money and resources and decide together where to donate.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha, the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, released a new study on the impact of giving circles. For more information about the study, visit: www.givingforum.org/givingcircles.
Highlights from the report:
• Giving circle members say they give more and give in more strategic ways than other donors.
• Giving circle members are highly engaged in their communities. Participation increases members’ knowledge about philanthropy, nonprofits, and community needs and increases community volunteering and involvement in changing government policies.
• Giving circle members say they give to a greater number of organizations, compared to other donors.
• Giving circle members are more likely than other donors to give to areas less often funded by organized philanthropy, such as to organizations serving women and girls, ethnic and minority groups, and for arts, culture and ethnic awareness.
• Giving circles can have a greater impact in these difficult economic times because members pool their donations and are able to make larger grants to nonprofits then they could have individually, and they are providing creative opportunities for new ways to give.
Three ideas that came to us:
1. If you are representing a smaller organization serving the populations noted above, you should ask the giving circles in you community how you approach them for support. Ask to make a presentation at one of their future meetings about a unique aspect of your organization.
2. If you are representing a larger organization, perhaps you should consider joining a giving circle in your community to bring your expertise into the giving circle’s conversations and to better understand how the community is thinking about philanthropy.
3. And finally, perhaps your organization should consider forming its own giving circle and allow members to target their philanthropy to projects within your organization. Seek an annual membership fee, just like the giving circles do, and in addition to funds raised, reap the benefits of giving circles noted above for your organization.
Social media users are increasingly utilizing services that shrink long website addresses. The trend is being spurred on by microblogging platforms that limit the length of postings, like Twitter and Jaiku.
Joining the popular URL-shortening playing field is Good.ly, a website that compresses your link and sends proceeds to charity.
Here’s how it works:
If you think people may be interested in purchasing a product from a participating website, use Good.ly to shorten the link and forward it to them.
If people click and buy what you recommend 55% of referral fees go to a charity you select from the website.
The remaining 45% goes towards running and promoting the service.
And you’ve raised funds for a charity.
Funds are raised for three new charities every month. Contact Good.ly to get your organization featured.
“What killed me kills one man per hour in Britain. That’s even more than my wife’s cooking. Let’s face it, as a comedian I died many deaths. Prostate cancer, I don’t recommend.”
UK comedian Bob Monkhouse, who died from prostate cancer in 2003, was brought back from the dead for the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation (with full support from his family). The film for the ‘Give A Few Bob’ campaign combined archival footage of Monkhouse, shots of a body double, and a sound-alike for the script and was centered around the microsite giveafewbob.org, where people could make donations.
The Communications Agency created the campaign with an aim to:
The viral campaign made headlines and there was extensive television and radio coverage. According to the agency, the £50,000 budget produced over £3.5 million of media exposure and the charity’s income doubled. The agency also quotes Mark Emberton MD FRCS (Urology), “I’ve seen a marked increase in patients being tested and diagnosed early thanks to the Bob campaign. It’s saving lives.”
We came across this winning idea in the ‘Best Cause or Charity Marketing Campaign’ category of the 2008 MAAW Globe Awards.
What do you think?
