A continuation of earlier posts from the IFC’s survey on the state of the economy and what we as fundraising professionals should be doing to ride out the storm.

• The strategic and tactical decisions made by charities will have more influence on their fortunes than the recession itself. Charities have more control than they think they do so long as they focus on program fundamentals, do not panic and focus on the long-term.
• Board members and senior management need to understand the current financial data and stop making unrealistic expectations.
• Work like a for-profit organization to gain increased long-term growth.
• Develop messages, themes and scripts around why we need our donors now more than ever.
• Strengthen current partnerships to weather the storm rather than looking for new ones. Look at what you do best and focus on that before trying a new tactic. Examine where your money comes from and concentrate on high-yield activities.
• Focus on the big three areas—regular giving, major gifts and bequest/legacy programs. Drop all other marginal or unprofitable activities that won’t provide significant long-term benefits.
• Organizations should continue to market and conduct bequest and legacy programs. It may not make any difference this year but you’ll be in a lot better position next year than will other organizations.
• Invest time, intelligence and money in massively improving the donor experience with the charity. Remind donors that they are wanted, needed and appreciated.

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In reviewing the survey results I wrote about yesterday, there are a few key comments that showed up consistently. You’ll recognize most; they fall under the heading of Fundraising 101. Key concepts we all know, but to often forget.

• Remind donors they are wanted, needed and appreciated. Invest time, intelligence and money in massively improving the donor experience with your organization.
• Make sure donors who do withdraw their support for economic reasons are still communicated with and are being shown appreciation. Most will return IF ASKED when times get better.
• Do what you are good at better, retain your strengths, cut your losses and seize new opportunities (lower media costs as an example).
• Demonstrate value for money – consistently and across all activities.
• Engage the public in other “non financial” ways with your organization through advocacy, signing up to e-newsletters, etc. This will give you a new and greater pool of warm prospects after the crisis subsides.
• Look after legacy donors more and better than ever.
• Do not stop investing in fundraising. You should spend more in the areas where it delivers the biggest ROI.
• This economic crisis is a wake up call for fundraisers to develop new and effective ways of fundraising. We need to step up fundraising R&D and break through especially on new e-fundraising initiatives. Community fundraising in particular needs to embrace Internet 2.0 and create new fundraising communities.
• Stay front and center with your supporters.
• You can’t do anything about the economy so stay calm, stay on message and stay positive!

And lastly, again, it’s about the donors:

look after existing donors extremely well - appreciate if they can’t offer support at the same level as in the past but know that they’ll see you through tough times.

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I recently attended the International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands. It was a heady experience with over 950 delegates representing 60 countries. Meeting and learning from colleagues on a global scale is becoming increasingly more valuable for all of us as we compare and benchmark with our peers.

As you can well imagine, the state of the economy was on everyone’s mind, played into many sessions and was the focus of a special mini-plenary on the last morning. But what was most interesting: attendees were upbeat about plans for the next year and saw opportunities in the challenges being presented.

Over the course of the Congress, an online survey was undertaken to explore the implications of the global financial crisis for fundraisers. The views of 100 leading worldwide fundraising thought leaders were sought on:

• How serious the financial crisis is and the broad strategy fundraisers should adopt in response to this global phenomenon?
• Where in terms of ‘cause’ - children, environment, faith etc - these international experts think the financial crisis will impact most?
• What action our experts thought fundraising directors should take to prepare for the emerging changes?

The headline results:

• Almost 40% of respondents believe that the best response is to fight for market share now; expansion to secure market share is the only option
• Almost as many favored another strong proactive action though the specific responses varied from downsizing to using reserves to weather the storm
• European and North American fundraisers are more optimistic than their African or Asian counterparts
• Globally respondents believe that the three areas most likely to lose out are arts and culture, international development and animal welfare
• Respondents also agreed that children’s causes, emergency relief, medical and faith-based causes would be least affected
• North American respondents disagree most strongly on the effect of the funding crisis on disability, education, the environment and faith-based causes
• Europeans are more concerned than others about the impact on disability, human rights and the elderly.

Tomorrow: some selected ideas from survey respondents on what fundraising professionals and our organizations should do as we ride out the storm.

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At the recently concluded International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands, Blackbaud Europe, Ltd. released findings from the 2008 European State of the Not-For-Profit survey, incorporating results from the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Fundraising results concluded that the European countries have similar but diverse strategies to bring income into an organization. Online donations were an expected growth area, with 57% of Dutch respondents, 51% of German, and 45% of UK respondents expecting to see increases through this donation method.

(more…)

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I spent last week at the International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands. It was a heady experience with over 950 delegates representing 60 countries. Meeting and learning from colleagues on a global scale is becoming increasingly more valuable for all of us as we compare and benchmark with our peers. Though I was disappointed to be not only the sole delegate from Israel, but (as far as I could tell) the only participant working in the Jewish world.

Over the next several weeks I be highlighting lessons learned from the world’s top fundraisers and also bringing you thoughts from this diverse audience on the current state of the global economy and the projected effects on philanthropy. What was most interesting, is that almost without exception and despite the current ‘economic mess’, attendees were upbeat about plans for the next year. While the economy certainly played into many sessions, and was the focus of a special mini-plenary the last morning, we all saw opportunity in the challenge.

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The following is an extract from Kay Sprinkel Grace’s e-book – Donor-Driven Philanthropy: How the Dreams of Donors are Changing Philanthropy (and Redesigning Our Future as Fundraisers). It will form the basis of the closing plenary at the upcoming International Fundraising Congress in Amsterdam. I’ll be there, and expect to have a great deal to say on international fundraising next month.

Donors’ dreams about making the world a better place are driving their philanthropy, says Kay Sprinkel Grace, so should fundraisers become ‘dream brokers’ to manage those dreams?

None of us can fail to have noticed how philanthropy has changed over the past decade (especially the last three or four years). Donors are demanding greater levels of accountability, stewardship and transparency; and they want more direct involvement in deciding how you spend their money. They are doing this because they have their own dreams about making the world a better place and those dreams are driving their philanthropy. If those dreams are about the future, whose future are donors designing?

That seems relatively simple: while donor-investors are hoping to reinvent the future of the world, they are also redesigning our future as fundraising professionals. (more…)

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