“Doom & gloom, boom & zoom… or get a room?” Day 2 at #IoFFC
Day 2 of the Institute of Fundraising’s Fundraising Convention was a scorcher, both in terms of temperature and content. The five seminars I chose to attend were, without exception, excellent, and almost took my mind off the upcoming England World Cup game. Here’s my report:
From doom and gloom…
Helen Trenchard chaired an important and timely session on the difficulties of recruiting and retaining relationship fundraisers. Are we facing a looming crisis, and either way, what can we do about it?
“I have personally left a role where wellbeing was a factor.”
Are we facing a looming crisis as we try to get and keep the best relationship fundraisers? @helentrenchard thinks so.#IoFFC pic.twitter.com/7K4cvpjyPZ— Richard Sved (@richardsved) July 3, 2018
Each speaker proposed a big idea to tackle the issue:
- Design a powerful and achievable fundraising goal, uniting and engaging people to see their contribution recognised
- Build in flexible working as an attitude, not just a system. Think like a small charity.
- Encourage an excellent work/life balance, give your team time to pursue relevant interests because they’ll become better fundraisers if they’re both interesting and interested.
- Abolish the distinction between Community, Corporate and Major Gift fundraisers as there is no hierarchy of expertise.
The final big idea, from Loretta Bresciani of THINK Consulting Solutions, fascinates me, because I’ve long felt that relationship fundraising skills are transferable, but charities often recruit based on a pigeon-holing “show us your medals” mentality.
We can do it better. This was inspiring, solution-focused stuff.
To boom and zoom?
And how often do you get the chance to listen to someone who’s been fundraising for 60 years? I’m not sure I ever have. Peter Maple fitted that bill, and was talking about what smaller charities can do about legacies. We all know that legacy fundraising has been booming, but is it just about the big boys?
“Ask the right people at the right time.”
Next up at #IoFFC – Peter Maple on what smaller charities can do about legacies. Big growth at the moment in this area, with the baby boomer generation in particular. pic.twitter.com/kniTGGOYR4— Richard Sved (@richardsved) July 3, 2018
Peter thinks not. He spoke movingly about handling the estate of his late mother, and how the various supported charities responded.
They called me and said ‘your mother was a lovely woman’
All charities, no matter how big they are, can build great relationships that lead to legacies. Peter was going to change his own will as a result of this one, illustrating the strong link between in memoriam and legacy giving.
Oh, and that Rob Woods knows how to command a big stage.
I’m at #IoFFC listening to @woods_rob on donor-focused leadership. Love this: make sure it’s not just the Major Donor FRers who get close to the cause because they’re showing a millionaire round… Make sure everyone knows your charity’s Why! Great examples from @HopeandHomes pic.twitter.com/ppwrxeeyTN
— Helen Trenchard (@helentrenchard) July 3, 2018
He spoke compellingly about how charities can achieve growth and success by focusing on great leadership and management, getting the culture right and ensuring that *everyone* feels connected to the organisation’s cause.
Signal to your team that learning’s important, everyone shares information, and responsibility is devolved.
The world is changing so quickly now. If we need to act quickly, the command and control mode of management no longer works. We can’t react to opportunities and threats on our own.
And talking of booms, how lucky were we to get the chance to hear from Kenneth Pennington, who was at the heart of Bernie Sanders’s astonishingly successful (despite losing!) 2016 campaign?
I’m listening now to @pauldegregorio and @penningtonkm talking about building big digital movements, with the case study of the Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign.#IoFFC
(Thread) pic.twitter.com/rFTJHTRwjk— Richard Sved (@richardsved) July 3, 2018
Kenneth was presenting with Paul De Gregorio, and having heard Paul before, I knew there’d be plenty of content, so I tweeted my little fingers off. The above thread contains 17 tweets, and 36 slides, but even then it’s only a taster! Sit down, read, and learn at your leisure. There’s so much there.
Because there’s so much that fundraisers can learn from the experience of big digital movements, from how to improve the success of landing pages, to honing emails that focus on “we” rather than “I”, to ensuring that there’s a strong call to action based on a sound case for support.
Get a room!
For me, however, the standout session of a great day was presented by Viki Hayden Ward and Nikki Bell, on what fundraisers can learn from Tinder.
With humour and panache, with great examples, and with a strong attention to detail, Viki and Nikki told a packed room how relationship fundraising is similar to dating.
Active listening works. You’re listening for the clues about what people love. Make your donor feel wonderful. Tell them that spending time with them made you feel great. Send hand written cards. Surprise, delight and excite your donors. @vikihayden and @CharityNikki at #IoFFC pic.twitter.com/hbdS3zZUAd
— Richard Sved (@richardsved) July 3, 2018
Viki and Nikki’s message was so clear: the vast majority of income to charities comes from individuals. This is about future proofing our organisation. It’s not about making everybody care, but about finding and looking after the people who do. We need to romance them!
And fundraising is like dating because it’s about relationship building. We need to be able to listen brilliantly, to make our supporters feel wonderful (because they are).
We need to surprise, delight and excite our supporters, and they’ll stay true to us.
It’s about #DonorLoveActually.
