How much do you know about the worldview of your mother or your grandmother? How much do they know about yours?

Your mother, and almost certainly your grandmother, probably make charitable donations by direct mail. You probably don’t. But in your job, you may well be making decisions about direct mail creative.

Would you go to your grandmother for advice on your next social media campaign? I don’t think so. So when making decisions about direct mail creative proceed with caution.

You could try consulting your grandmother, mother or another older person. But be careful. For example, they will almost certainly say they hate premiums – address labels, book marks, note cards etc. Almost every direct mail donor says that. But when you actually test premiums in a mailing, they almost always net more funds for you.

When trying to evaluate direct mail creative, first and foremost you should listen to the advice of your agency. They will have decades of experience in marketing to older folks.

If you really don’t like your agency’s creative ideas, but their drafts don’t violate your organization’s brand or mission, then agree to a test. More often than not, I predict, their approach will win, net you more money, and bind your older donors closer to you. And if not, you will now have real evidence to back up your opinion.

And yes, I have a bias. I’m an older person myself now. That’s why I won’t be writing any advice blogs on social media!

I’ve started eyeing other people’s iPhones. With hundreds of cool apps, the ability to take amazing photos, it’s like my BlackBerry Torch, only infinitely cooler.

So what happened to the Blackberry and its makers Research in Motion (RIM)? Co-founders and CEOs, Mike Lazaradis and Jim Balsillie recently jumped ship. Many would suggest that the appointment of Thorsten Heins, the new CEO and President (previously responsible for the BlackBerry portfolio worldwide, as COO, product engineering) is a step backward for RIM at a time when they need to be looking forward.

Heins contends “If we continue doing well at what we’re doing, I see no problems with us being in the top three players worldwide in the next years of wireless.” However, RIM and their products seem to have lost their edge, their cool factor.

Steve Jobs knew that if you don’t swim fast enough you die. Admittedly, he may not have been the nicest guy to work for, but in Apple he built a shining example of a company that could very successfully build and market great products.

Jobs built a team and a culture of forward-thinking innovation.

Is Your Non-Profit settling for being a BlackBerry, or is it aspiring to be an iPhone?
Have you stopped swimming?

As an agency, Stephen Thomas has successfully convinced at least one of our clients to adopt an “Innovation budget”. This is a line item meant to allow them to take a little risk, to innovate.

Needless to say, this is one of our most admired clients. They’ll take a risk. They’ll be ahead of the pack. In the short term, this has paid off. They’ve raised more money which in turn has allowed them to make great strides toward accomplishing their mission.

We love it when the non-profit organizations we work with are eager for new ideas: how to integrate; how to utilize multi-channel efforts in their fundraising and marketing for example. These are the questions the smart charities are asking.

It’s a new year, time for a temperature check, time for resolutions. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you think about the year (and the years) ahead:

• Does your charity have an innovation budget?
• If a staff person makes a pitch for a great and innovative idea, do they get asked if it’s worked before? Or are they encouraged to go for it?
• Are you allowed to take risks?
• Does your organization support or squash new ideas?
• Does your charity aspire to be a RIM or an Apple?

The holidays are a busy time of year for giving, both online and offline. Did you know that about 40% of all donations made online are made in December?

Why? Because we’re in the mood for giving. All that time by the fireplace, hot cocoa in hand and family around us is not for nothing. It reminds many of us of how lucky we are to have all that we have.

On the one hand, the commercial sector is promoting material gifts for the ones we love. But what are charities and non-profits doing? Hopefully, you’re reminding your donors how important this time of year is to those in need and how important it is to give. And, hopefully, you’re telling compelling beneficiary or donor stories that capitalize on the emotion of the season and extend an impossible-to-refuse ask.

At this extremely busy time of year, why not make it as easy as possible for your donors to give? Ramping up your online initiatives with the right revenue-driving strategy is a great place to start.

Have you thought about how you’re going to make that final year-end appeal? Go digital this holiday by customizing your donate page. Setup a mini-campaign on Facebook and Twitter. Email your donors and ask them to make an online donation before December 31st.

You might think it’s too late to ask, but if the cause is relevant and the need is great, then now – during the holidays – is the best possible time.

Digital isn’t just the quick fix, one-off answer to your year-end fundraising. It can be a sustainable model for raising money now and well into the New Year. If you want to learn more, then let’s chat.

‘Tis the season for Digital. Happy Holiday Fundraising!

Below is an excerpt of my chapter in Guy’s book. Comments welcome!

Direct response fundraising is a subset of direct marketing. Direct marketing differs from above-the-line advertising in that it is completely measurable. I spent x, I received y and (hopefully) I netted z. In other words, we make an offer to a group of people and we do (or don’t) receive a response in the form of a donation.

Using the mail to ask for money has been around since at least Confederation. Canadian churches sent letters to adherents asking for money. In the 1920s, the Canadian Tuberculosis Society began to mail unaddressed householders with Christmas seals. In the 1940s, Easter Seals, the organization created to fight polio, began mailing unaddressed householders at Easter. After the Second World War, War Amps mailed their car key fobs to Canadians. It wasn’t until the early 1980s though that some Canadian charities, notably Oxfam and Amnesty International, began scientific direct mail programs modeled on what was happening south of the border.

In this chapter we will deal with eleven channels or media that can carry our offers to a group of people plus campaigns that integrate two or more of these channels. As some of the channels I’ll discuss didn’t exist 20 years ago, we can predict with confidence that new channels will likely emerge in the future to enrich our direct response fundraising.

In direct response fundraising we have a number of offers. The oldest offer is a one-off gift. But we also offer recurrent, committed or monthly giving, planned gifts or a special event sponsorship. Creative fundraisers the world over are constantly trying to find yet more offers.

If you’d like to read more about direct response, or hear what other great fundraisers have to say about other aspects of fundraising, you can order Guy’s book here.

So how do you get their attention and how do you move them from awareness and participation to commitment, loyalty and donation?

Based on research conducted by Stephen Thomas and youth marketing expert Max Valiquette, here are FIVE THINGS you need to think about before you start:

1. When it comes to health charities, this younger demographic does not respond to the long-term consequences of disease. They are still young enough to believe “it’s not going to happen” to them.
2. As they mature, they are able to understand their values better and how a cause supports, connects and reinforces those values. Those at the younger end of the demographic (18 year olds) are obviously less engaged in the world beyond their friends and family. Those at the older end (27 year olds) have a broader perspective on the needs of the world and their role in addressing them.
3. The causes that get their attention first are the ones they have proximity to (e.g. a relative with an illness). If they don’t have proximity, they are more likely to engage when the cause involves something they think is right, or wrong, or needs fixing.
4. They receive personal gratification from involvement and participation in causes. So they’re more likely to connect to a cause by participating in a fun event than by making a donation initially. It’s about what’s in it for them.
5. For a young person, connecting means participating with a group, meeting a physical or financial goal (as a fundraiser rather than as a donor initially), or influencing change.

We ignore the younger demographic at our own peril. Eventually, they are the ones who will become our donors. But will your cause be the non-profit that gets their attention when they are first becoming aware of their power to help? Or will you let your competitor start the conversation with them first? It’s not too late to begin making your case with them.

Come to the Stephen Thomas booth at AFP Congress 2011 (Nov. 28 – 29) and join the youth marketing conversation.

Imagine spending 4 days with a 1,000 fundraisers from around the world, all working to make the world a better place…

In a word:  Inspirational!

The highlight for me was a masterclass run by AJ Leon. AJ is the CEO and Creative Director of misfit, inc. and is a writer, blogger, and speaker.

AJ’s session the art of digital story telling – best practices in social media argued that the best way for a non-profit organization to share their story online is through micro story telling.

Every charity has its macro story. But these stories can be long and often contain multiple goals (these goals can often be intangible).  A macro story can therefore be a difficult to share.

On the flip side, every charity has its own micro stories. And these stories are often much easier for potential donors to relate to than the macro story.

Digital micro story telling can help demystify your organization.  Or… and I love how AJ puts this, help your audience “get behind the cloak of your logo”. And, evidence suggests digital story telling can be a great way to raise money.

AJ shared with us the story of the Ola Nagele Village in Kenya.  A village formerly plagued by poverty and lack of clean water which is now on its way to self sustainability. How? This particular micro story was shared online and as a result 100 supporters made it happen.

Every organization has its micro stories. AJ challenged participants of his masterclass to consider their own charity’s stories. In so doing, he suggested we keep in mind the following points.

Good digital stories need to be:

1. Compelling (capture the interest of potential donors)
2. Bite-sized (easy to consume)
3. Shareable (digital geeks love online sharing)
4. Real Time (stories should be immediate with an end to the problem in sight)

Great tools for digital story telling include:

• Video footage (this can be done very low cost using hand held equipment – especially from the field)
• Great photos (once again, these don’t need to be professionally done, get out your camera, make it real
• Tumblr – a free site which allows you to host your story, images and video. Further it allows easy upload even from mobile devices (can your organization’s website do this?)
• Short description of your micro story – 140 character description
• 50 word description – can be shared with bloggers
• 100 word description – can be shared with the media

What’s your charity’s micro story?

I have to say that I think the AFP hit this one out of the park. The presenters were experts and engaging. The topics were big, but with enough of the practical to be useful this week. I don’t intend to report on all the sessions but I would like to share the most inspiring moment for me.

What I call the tyranny of cost of fundraising has long been a particular concern of mine. In fact, I presented a session more than 5 years ago at the AFP Congress in Toronto with that title. The senior fundraisers in attendance agreed that cost of fundraising is a pretty terrible way to evaluate charities, i.e. to judge them on how little they spend instead of how much they accomplish. But we were all at a loss for a way to change such a deeply entrenched prejudice on the part of our boards and the general public.

I don’t know that we are much further ahead today as a sector, but at D3 we did hear Paul Alofs, the CEO of the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, talk about how PMHF has addressed this issue. He talked about the ‘creed’ that everyone at Princess Margaret lives by. Doctors, nurses, researchers, fundraisers and board members share these beliefs and principles. One of those principles is that PMH is committed to being one of the top five cancer research centres in the world (they are currently rated number three).

As Paul pointed out, along with that commitment comes the responsibility to fund its realization.  So if the PMH is to compete in the same league as Sloan Kettering in New York or any of the other great cancer institutions in the world, it must strive to raise the same kind of money they do. And it must succeed or PMH won’t be able to attract the best researchers or do the best research. So raising money has to be part of the mission! And Paul’s board understands that and holds Paul and the rest of his team to account, not for the cost to raise a dollar but for how much net money they can raise—period. Otherwise, PMH won’t be able to deliver on its promise and commitments, and we won’t see cancer conquered in our lifetime.

It was a great conference with lots of big ideas, but thank you Paul for showing the way on this issue.

There is also an Award given to a Small Organization for Excellence in Fundraising (three or less employees in fundraising).  Last year under the leadership of Mark Climie, this award was named after my colleague, Mo Davies.

I’ve known Mo for a long time.  She was an organizer for the Federal NDP when I used to visit their Ottawa office to work on their direct mail campaigns.  My first memory was of Mo and her female colleague’s ooh-ing and ahh-ing over a newly arrived poster of the Spanish socialist party leader.  He was a hunk.  And later he did become Prime Minister.

Mo had a great political career, organizing and running campaigns in a number of provinces including the cradle of Canadian Social Democracy, Saskatchewan.

In the eighties Mo moved on to fundraising, working as a consultant and helping, almost exclusively, small community organizations find their fundraising legs.  Many, many vital community organizations are thriving today – working for the greater good – because of Mo’s work.  Naming the Small Organization Award after Mo makes so much sense.  Good on you Mark.

Mo’s been fighting cancer for a couple of years now.  Defying all odds she is still with us, enthralled with events at the Federal NDP and still deeply interested in the welfare of her ex clients in particular and all small organizations in general.

Mo it’s been a privilege to work with you, first in politics and then in fundraising, over the past decades.  You were always a regular at the Stephen Thomas Ltd Christmas party.  You’ve missed a couple; I expect to see you there this December.

Many fundraisers associate storytelling with performing, which, for most, adds a tremendous amount of pressure to every interaction. Instead, think about storytelling as having or facilitating a great conversation and you’ll rarely miss the mark.

Great conversations happen all around us, all the time. They are happening right now in livingrooms, kitchens, cafés, and (like it or not) online. Unfortunately, the majority of charities have yet to join these conversations. Charities need to spend less time politely knocking on the door of the party, and instead, go on in and introduce themselves.

The charities that can use digital technologies to partake in honest conversations and tell a great story stand to make unprecedented gains by engaging the generally disengaged 18-35 year olds. The charities that shy away from opening the digital toolbox, or engage online in forgettable or superficial ways, are going to get left behind. Having authentic conversations in the digital space doesn’t have to be difficult.

Here is an example I love – PFLAG Canada recently launched stories.pflagcanada.ca – a shining example of putting stories front and centre with as few distractions as possible. The production is slick, but it didn’t have to be.

Every video on the PFLAG site is a winner, and everything about this site encourages conversation. Here are a few, but you should check out the site and tell a friend.

Eileen:

Michael:

Wondering where to start? Grab one of your most loyal and approachable donors, take out your smartphone or digital camera and ask them to talk about why they began giving. Then, post the video to your facebook page. Easy!

Jack Layton, 1950-2011

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair.
So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.
Jack Layton, 1950-2011.

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