Welcome to Propper Fundraising, the website collating fundraising blogs and articles written by some of the best fundraisers, leaders, marketers and data professionals.
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Christian H Propper
Long Read: Head to Head – A Conversation on Behavioral Science and Ethics
An exploration of the intersection of compliance and ethics programmes and behavioural science may not immediately strike you as a top candidate for your summer reading list – especially a fundraising reading list – but it would be a mistake to miss out on this review of a research paper by Meredith Niles. She considers how the learnings could be applied to fundraising to provide us with some well considered new perspectives.
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Long Read: What does it take to deliver an outstanding donor experience?
Hundreds of development professionals shared their views in the sector’s first professional study into what it takes to deliver an outstanding donor experience.
Holly Palmer, Lee Durbin and their team on volunteers crunched and analysed the results to produce a pretty unique report, chock-a-block full of insight. This is an essential read for everyone involved in HE fundraising.
https://hedonorexperience.com/research-report-fundraising-in-higher-education-the-donor-experience/
Long Read: The philosophical dispute between fundraising and data protection
At the end of 2016, when the ICO fined several charities for breaching the Data Protection Act 1998, Ian MacQuillin, wrote a fascinating philosophical piece on how charities are perceived by different types of people.
Even though this feels like a long time ago, it’s still as relevant today as it was back then. Whenever you feel that GDPR and data protection are not your friend, have a read of this.
Long Read: 2020 Vision in Fundraising
This long read by John Baguley from International Fundraising Consultancy is split into several parts and what the team has learnt as they gear up to the firms 20th anniversary. focus on their top 20 tips to help us fundraise more effectively.
These 20 key facts every fundraiser should know: some are basic and some are outside any box we have ever found. None should be forgotten as we seek to grow our income and influence.
Part 1: https://groupifc.com/blog/2020-vision-in-fundraising/
Part 2: https://groupifc.com/blog/2020-vision-in-fundraising-part-ii/
Part 3: https://groupifc.com/blog/2020-vision-in-fundraising-part-iii/
Part 4: https://groupifc.com/blog/2020-vision-in-fundraising-part-iv/
Long Read: DPN Legitimate Interests Guidance – GDPR
The Guidance prepared by the Data Protection Network is a practical tool aimed at helping commercial and not-for-profit organisations to assess whether or not they can rely on Legitimate Interests as a lawful basis for processing personal data under the GDPR.
The Guidance covers:
- Understanding what Legitimate Interests are
- Identifying areas of processing where Legitimate Interests may apply
- The Legitimate Interests Assessment (LIA) – the 3 stage test
- Transparency and the consumer
https://www.dpnetwork.org.uk/dpn-legitimate-interests-guidance/
Long Read: Good asking
The Institute of Fundraising (IoF) recently launched Good Asking – a report on why charities research and process supporter information. They worked with leading academic Dr Beth Breeze from the University of Kent, to survey over 300 fundraisers to understand why they process and research information about their supporters, and what the benefits are for donors, charities and the wider public.
The purpose of this report is to shed light on the importance of fundraisers and their work. If they are to be successful, fundraisers need to conduct research to facilitate the efficient and accurate matching of donors and the causes they might wish to support, and to do so in a way that makes the experience as pleasurable as possible for the generous donor.
THE REPORT FINDINGS INCLUDE:
- 90% of fundraisers believe that conducting research enables fundraisers to better communicate and tailor their work to the interests and priorities of donors
- Most (88%) fundraisers believe that conducting research reduces the levels of unwanted or irrelevant mail sent out
- A representative survey of the general UK population found that almost two-thirds (60%) of those who prefer charities to communicate in a tailored way with them, think that charities should be able to use information that is publicly available, for example doing Google searches or drawing on newspaper articles, in order to tailor their approach to their supporters.
The report also highlights that:
- Two-thirds of major donors believe that a ‘more professional approach’ by fundraisers has been a key factor in the development of philanthropy in the UK
https://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/library/good-asking-report-2017/
At last, clarity and sense about wealth screening, prospect research and updating addresses
Adrian Beney is back with an update on CASE’s work on providing guidance for charities for adopting GDPR best practise.
This document lays out in detail and with great clarity the circumstances under which these activities, regarded in recent years by some at the Information Commissioner’s Office as very controversial, can be carried out lawfully.
Follow the link below for full details.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/last-clarity-sense-wealth-screening-prospect-research-adrian-beney
Data Governance: 3 Key areas to focus your efforts
Data governance is needed to ensure your organisation can consume data which has integrity and quality.
But how do you focus your efforts so that your governance programme can deliver the results needed?
Toochukwu Philip Ibegbu MBA shares with us how he was able to successfully launch data governance initiatives that made the most impact.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/data-governance-3-key-areas-focus-your-efforts-philip-ibegbu/
How to Make Better Decisions with Less Data
Are you drowning in analysis paralysis? Having data to back up your decision making is good, but sometimes there is just too much!
Sometimes people often struggle to convert data into effective solutions to problems. The problem isn’t lack of data; the vast amount of data means managers struggle to prioritise what’s important. In the end, they end up applying arbitrary data toward new problems, reaching a subpar solution.
Here, Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson discuss how you can make better decisions with less data.
https://hbr.org/2016/11/how-to-make-better-decisions-with-less-data
Retention is the New Acquisition
While organizations focus on their development goal and raising money through major gifts, events, direct mail, grants and online, it is often stewardship and retention that fall by the wayside.
According to Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay, a 10% increase in donor retention can enhance the lifetime value of your donor base by up to 200%.
Those are sobering statistics and make it pretty clear what we should be focusing on. Here, Danielle J Vermenton provides 10 tips on how to embrace donor retention.
https://npengage.com/nonprofit-fundraising/retention-is-the-new-acquisition/