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Think small act BIG! Why I love small charities

Whilst partaking in a fundraisers favourite pastime recently (glass in hand enjoying the sunshine), a friend and fundraising colleague posed a question I had never been asked before. We had been putting the world to rights as so often happens at these sort of things, before the gem of a question appeared. “Why do you love small charities?” he asked me with the serious yet inquisitive face he does so well.

I collected my thoughts for a moment, and mulled through the data. The data that tells us that there are 164,108 registered charities in the UK with over £62.5 billion in income. 93% of these charities rely on less than £500,000 per annum, leaving a staggering 89% of the annual income attributed to the 7% largest charities. (more…)

3 things to think about when recruiting fundraisers

photodune-4415072-recruitment-mAs someone who has recently gone through the fundraising recruitment machine, I have been amazed at the number of national and large charities who handle recruitment of their fundraisers badly.

Any recruitment agency will tell you that finding the right candidate is all that matters, but bearing in mind that the recruitment process for that candidate will help to shape their view of the organisation, I have been scratching my head sometime trying to work out what is expected of me as a potential candidate. (more…)

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When did thank you become so difficult?

For years, the top 250 charities in the UK have been receiving over 90% of donations made, and yet donor attrition rates are holding steady between 15 and 35 per cent annually.

thankyouTo combat this, they have developed more and more ways to say thank you, to create ‘touch points’ with their donors, to explain what £3 a month could do — but they should take the lead from some of their small charity cousins who, instead of a donor development strategy and a ‘contact chart’ simply respond back with a simple but heartfelt “THANK YOU so much for your donation, with it we can keep doing good work on your behalf.” (more…)

The ask that got the fundraiser

Last week was one of the UK’s largest small donation programme spectacles… Comic Relief. This annual campaign, now in its twenty fifth year has raised over £800m for use in the UK and abroad tackling social injustice and improving the lives of millions. Capturing the heart and imagination of the UK, it has grown from a single day event into a sustained build-up of programming, activity and fundraising that culminates in over seven hours of televised entertainment and fundraising pleas. (more…)