Cost effectiveness is a fundraising tool

Until recently I haven't had many clients asking about how to incorporate efficiency and effectiveness into their fundraising strategy, but times are changing!

Efficiency is  perfectly acceptable fundraising strategy according to Mal Warwick's very useful book which identifies five types of strategy under the acronym GIVES (growth, involvement, visibility, efficiency and stability).

For us in New Zealand, efficiency is becoming more important as philanthropic funding and statutory funding becomes harder to source. Funders don't want to see duplication of resources and they are tending to place a higher priority on groups which work together, hence The Working Together More Fund which is supported by Tindall, JR McKenzie, Todd and Hugh Green Foundations.

Bearing this in mind, the time seems to be right to re-investigate the concept of shared services. Shared services is not about amalgamating databases, but more fundamentally, about choosing to make decisions based on efficiency. It might mean sharing information, sharing knowledge, sharing case studies with other groups so they don't have to reinvent the wheel. It might be about improving systems and processes to ensure that no time or resources are wasted. It might be about identifying new ways of working that take less time or raise the quality of the output. It might be about ICT or sourcing products and services for the business sector that could be  used by the charitable sector. It might mean collaboration, co-opetition, or outsourcing. Phew, there's a lot to think about.

One of the organisations I work with is exploring all the options for increasing the efficiency of charities. WICT is concerned with eliminating the digital divide and making sure that technology can help all people and organisations. We're posing the question "can the right technology deliver efficiencies, improved productivity and better systems and processes so that charities can focus on their mission (not on the admin)?

Watch this space for developments.

Gambling Harm Reduction update

I posted some months ago about the Gambling Harm Reduction Bill and the number of people wanting to make submissions. At long last I got my moment in the sun when some more time was scheduled for submissions. I had only two points to make - impact on national organisations and diversity of funding sources.

I didn't get many questions from the panel. They wanted to know what rate of success I had in making grant applications. And this was a question that was asked of a number of other submitters. I was forced to concede that grant funding was not the most efficient and sustainable fundraising tool for larger organisations.

So no clear direction yet on what the committee might be thinking.

Fundraising Issues of the day

It looks like I'm not going to get my  moment in the sun. There are so many people trying to make comment on the Gambling Harm Reduction Bill that the only slot I could get was in Christchurch, and seeing as I'm based in Wellington, that's not going to happen.

So far the jury is out on whether this Bill will last the distance. My personal feeling is that there may be some sort of middle of the road solution which pops up, and let's face it, no one will be happy. In the meantime we've all been distracted from our real work - fundraising!

I heard an interview on the radio recently about the politics of the Pink Ribbon campaign. You may remember a few years ago in New Zealand that people were complaining that too many companies were tagging along with the Pink Ribbon, for minimal effort and minimal payment. The Breast Cancer Foundation responded to the criticism by putting aside a greater amount of money into research, rather than just focusing on awareness raising. Anyway the whole issue of corporate involvement in charity campaigns will become more transparent with the passing of the Fair Trading Amendment Act recently which will introduce a range of regulations governing fundraising. The most relevant to this issue being transparency around cause related marketing. It may be that corporates will have to disclose how much they are donating to charity through marketing campaigns.

On the corporate side of things, check out the website Business and Community Shares www.bacshares.org.nz This is a new hub of on-line corporate social responsibility (CSR) in New Zealand. There should be some good tools and information useful to fundraisers and also you could get yourself profiled there. Check out the flash survey they've undertaken - "who do you call?".

Also incredible freebies - if your organisation is based in Wellington and you want some help with your website or social media presence - talk to Wellington ICT - they have a fantastic range of volunteers who can help. www.wellingtonict.org.nz

Corporate Endorsements

Met up with Jo Burrows recently. Jo is director of Rededge Fundraising Solutions, based in Victoria.

Funnily enough, a week later I was looking back on some fundraising resources and found an article by Jo written for the  Aus magazine, Fundraising and Philanthropy.

Back then Jo had introduced The Sensitive Choice endorsement for the National Asthma Council in Australia.

The subject of endorsement is a fraught one and I noted that the board of the Asthma Council had asked how they could endorse products in a safe and low risk way.

Endorsements are difficult and should not be entered into without serious consideration of the risks. Too often I find that charities/nonprofits entering into any kind of business relationships fail to do any due diligence or risk assessment.

What should we be looking for?

First I would do a company search through the Companies Office. Check up on the shareholders and directors and their past history. How long has the company been around?

Don't forget the obvious - website and google search. If there is no website, or you can't easily find it, that's a bit of a red flag for me. If you find a website, make sure you look at the history, the annual report if it's attached, and any other links.

Look out for previous media coverage. Have their been any scandals or unfortunate headlines?

If they are reasonably big you might find more information in the Top 200 company's listing which is published in Management Magazine once a year.

Having found all the public information, create a risk register which outlines all the potential risks of partnering with the organisation. Capture all the "What If.s"...Think about things like the company being sued,  managers with their hands in the till, product recalls, environmental pollution, bankruptcy etc.

The final thing is to make sure that you are happy to endorse the product or service. That's the absolute bottom line. If you can't eat or drink the product, or stay overnight, or drive the car with a smile on your face, then don't go any further with product endorsements!!!!

Fair Trading Amendment Bill

An amendment to the Fair Trading Act is not exactly exciting news unless you are a serious fundraiser who is  keeping your knowledge up to date.

The passing of this legislation is a forewarning of regulation in the charitable sector, forcing transparency of fundraising practices including cost of fundraising. In a nutshell the Bill allows the Minister of Commerce to make regulations requiring organisations and professional fundraising companies to disclose the cost of their fundraising activities.

So there is small window of opportunity to stave off any regulations by ensuring that the sector is open and accountable and fully able to report on the cost of fundraising if required.

The legislation has serious implications for marketers also.  As a specialist in corporate/charity relationships I've been frequently annoyed by cause related marketing campaigns which proudly announce that a donation is being made to a charity from a sale of a product or service. "How much?" is rarely explained. the new legislation now brings this under the realm of the Fair Trading Act, and if regulations are introduced, then marketers will need to be aware of what they say about such donations, including how much is being donated.

More information can be found about this legislation in the Fundraising Institute magazine Newz Viewz, August issue.

CFRE is it worth it?

There's a lot of talk about at the moment about the value of a qualification in fundraising such as the CFRE (certified fundraising executive). It's a hard qualification to gain, you have to be doing practical fundraising and it only lasts for a limited period. I managed to gain the CFRE myself but only because I was working with a client who actually asked to me help with their fundraising. Normally I would only advise people on how to go about fundraising rather than actually doing it for them.

The sad thing is that CFRE is hardly recognised in job adverts, and I've certainly not seen any fundraisers rewarded by their employers for gaining the qualification.

But like a lot of things in life, it's over to you to promote the value of the qualification.  I certainly highlight it at every opportunity. I mention it in media releases, in client proposals, in presentations and at workshops.

Not everyone of course will aspire to this level of commitment. There's a cost to it, and not everyone is motivated by the challenge of a four hour exam. But if you want some international recognition for your professional development, then this is it!

There is little else on the market. Of course there are no specific tertiary qualifications and no plans for any NZQA accredited courses.

FINZ is working with FIA to develop some trans Tasman courses. There is the Principles and Techniques of Fund Raising Course from the Centre on Philanthropy at Indiana University, brought to you in New Zealand by the Fundraising Institute. There are also privately run courses on various introductory and specialised topics, run by private providers like Foresee Communications.

So you can go so far with your professional development until you need a qualification, then it's over to CFRE.

Not everyone appreciates what we do!

Media Management and crisis communications are jobs usually reserved for the comms manager rather than the fundraising manager but it's certainly something we all need to be aware of. A very minimum requirement is that the organisation should have a risk management plan that includes fundraising issues.

Recently in Australia, as was reported in a recent issue of Fundraising New Zealand, a news media reporter registered and attended the annual fundraising conference.  Surely this would be  a good thing? At long last the public would hear of our good planning, our donor stewardship, our love of people, our great success at our chosen profession and all the good we are doing for the community. Oh no, from the public point of view we were presented as cold, calculating and money hungry! How could this be?

The worst headlines came from a session on bequests. A few unfortunate jokes (you can imagine what they might be!) cracked by a presenter were used to demonstrate how callous our fundraising strategies might be.

So we need to think carefully about how we present ourselves at all times. Ditch the  jokes, however internally they may be intended! Remember at all times that our donors are amongst us. Remember the higher calling of our profession and that what we do is a wonderful thing.

Our own Fundraising Institute, along with the FIA, is looking at media management. Currently there is little budget for media work. But our professional reputation is important so we should be supporting our professional body to represent us. We need to let Council know that this is an important issue and that we support budget going towards media management.

In your own organisations make sure you are prepared for media crises. Identify the potential issues, how things may be interpreted, the questions the media may ask. Prepare answers and decide who will represent you to the media. Make sure everyone knows who has the media speaking rights. Only one person should speak for all. Make sure they are trained. Yes, its expensive but it's an investment for your brand. Perhaps your corporate partners will help you with this. You may be able to attend media training courses for their staff at no additional cost. Finally ensure you have contact details for all important stakeholders so you can alert them to any upcoming headlines.

Let's hope its something you don't ever need but better to be ready, than lost!