What Bill Murray can teach you about email marketing

Will Valverde wants to share the easiest way you can boost response to an email-driven campaign — fundraising, advocacy, whatever. You can spend 30 minutes to increase revenue or actions driven by your very best-performing messages by 50-100% just by following this handy tip. https://www.mrss.com/lab/what-bill-murray-can-teach-you-about-email-marketing-7/

Top 10 ways to make better decisions

Decisions, decisions! Our lives are full of them, from the small and mundane, such as what to wear or eat, to the life-changing, such as whether to get married and to whom, what job to take and how to bring up our children. We jealously guard our right to choose. It is central to our […]

Interview with Professor Michael Arthur, President and Provost, UCL and Lori Houlihan, Former Vice-Provost (Advancement)

The pioneering work of Michael Arthur, President & Provost of UCL and Lori Houlihan, former Vice-Provost (Advancement) have given HE Advancement a seat at the top table. Their campaigns raise unprecedented funds, while challenging and changing the culture of institutions along the way. Here, Sir Eric Thomas, Karen Cairney and Colin McCallum had the enormous […]

Companies House: a treasure trove of info on UK companies

In the UK, for all the challenges we face, including (and because of) a culture where it’s still seen by many as crass or taboo to discuss money even in the context of giving it away to a worthy cause, the prospect research community has one resource that our counterparts elsewhere can only dream of: […]

Rethinking the Future of Donor Visits

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a “new normal” throughout the nonprofit sector, as it has for many other sectors. Frontline fundraisers in particular spend many hours traveling and meeting face-to-face with donors. The recent transition to remote learning and working has prompted many fundraising offices to pivot and learn how to conduct business by way […]

The default nonprofit board model is archaic and toxic; let’s try some new models

Board members are volunteers who contribute time, money, talents, connections, and even the occasional shoulder to cry on during challenging moments. We owe a lot to the brilliant board members out there who are helping us make the world better every day. However, we need to admit that boards in general are seriously problematic. For […]

Meet the people – a lesson in asking the public the right question…

Understanding public opinion is always worthwhile but can be fraught with danger. David Kernohan examines the unexpected policy impact of a recent poll and discusses why a huge part of the art and science of survey design is choosing the right questions to ask. https://wonkhe.com/meet-the-people-a-lesson-in-asking-the-public-the-right-question/

How philanthropy benefits the super-rich

“Philanthropy, it is popularly supposed, transfers money from the rich to the poor. This is not the case.” In the US, which statistics show to be the most philanthropic of nations, barely a fifth of the money donated by big givers goes to the poor. A lot goes to the arts, sports teams and other […]

How much do we really know about why we give to charity?

Charity has become big business, though it’s hard to say how big: there’s little good data. One recent study estimates the British, for example, donate 54p in every £100. That’s three times more than the Germans but three times less than Americans give. This article from the BBC dives into the history of fundraising methods […]

The science of influencing people: six ways to win an argument

Psychological studies show that people fail to notice the logical fallacies in an argument if the conclusion supports their viewpoint; if they are shown contrary evidence, however, they will be far more critical of the tiniest hole in the argument. This phenomenon is known as “motivated reasoning”. A high standard of education doesn’t necessarily protect […]