Blueprint Fundraising

Philanthropy TV

The makers of Wife Swap have a new show airing in Britain next month: Secret Millionaire.

Here’s the premise (from The Guardian Unlimited): The show will take five millionaire, would-be philanthropists and force them to live undercover for 10 days on the equivalent of state benefit or doing a menial job for the minimum wage in some of the most deprived areas of Britain. At the end of the period, during which they are expected to get out and about in the community under the guise of appearing in a TV show that swaps the rural poor for the city poor, they decide which individuals deserve their money.

At the end, the millionaire gives away ₤50,000 of their own money. There is something slightly offensive about the concept (poverty tourism, as the article suggests). But then again, those who watch are likely to gain an understanding of what it means to live in poverty and those who give away such a tidy sum are to be commended. You can certainly do worse in the reality TV genre!! I really really hope we can see this show in Canada.

Embrace RED – it’s the new pink

How sick are you of pink-tinged fundraising? I have to confess that I’ve had enough already! There seems to be no end to it (weekends, walks, clothing, every kind of food, appliances, and even Canadian currency). I don’t know how much it is really helping to prevent breast cancer. It is definitely selling a lot of products (see this blog posting about Campbell’s Soup seeing double sales for its pink ribbon soup cans).

Red is attempting to become pink for the next generation. (Product)RED offers red GAP clothes, iPods, Converse shoes, Motorola cell phones, Armani accessories and American Express credit cards, in support of the elimination of AIDS in Africa. Flipping through The New Yorker a few weeks ago I saw that (Product)RED purchased just about every ad space in the magazine. It’s a massive marketing campaign and I’m sure it will be wildly successful.

Here’s what they say about themselves:

(RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT)^RED branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT)^RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

What’s the meaning of the parentheses or brackets? Well, we call them “the embrace.” Each company that becomes (RED) places its logo in this embrace and is then elevated to the power of red. Thus the name — (PRODUCT)^RED.

You, the consumer, can take your purchase to the power of (RED) simply by upgrading your choice. Thus the proposition: (YOU)^RED. Be embraced, take your own fine self to the power of (RED). What better way to become a good-looking samaritan?!

A better way to sell sympathy

As if you need more evidence that focusing on the needs of your donor is more important than focusing on your own needs… Here’s a guy who enjoyed a rather advertising agency interesting internship experience.

Matthew Zimmerman, an undergrad at Cornell, spent his summer internship helping street beggars increase their daily revenue with creative new signs.

The concept behind the experiment: Marketing products through pricing or product features alone results in only one-time purchases. However, if a customer feels an emotional attachment to the product, there is a greater chance for repeat buying and loyalty.

…Speaking with a depth of knowledge he didn’t have before hitting the streets, Zimmerman explained that a typical panhandling sign describes the person’s situation or status—Vietnam vet, runaway, unemployed, unlucky one, or drug addict. After interviewing several New Yorkers, however, Zimmerman found that type of sign to be usually ineffective, because it fails to create an emotional tie with the potential giver or make the giver feel good about himself or herself for donating—key elements in getting people to dig into their pockets.

To strike a chord, Zimmerman created a simple poster out of a ripped box that read, “If you give once a month, please consider me next time.” He notes: “Part of the process was learning that it’s all about the consumers and how they benefit from the transaction. Instead of saying, ‘I’m homeless’ or ‘I need this,’ we basically said, ‘I know you feel good when you give, so can you give to me next time?’”

The results were dramatic: One individual he worked with earned her usual daily take of $30 in just three hours. You can read the whole story in Business Week Online.

Big names = big bucks?

The common wisdom is that if you want to raise big money, you need big names on your board of directors. You want people with their own personal wealth or connections to other wealthy and influential people. It may seem like a “duh” concept — of course a prestigious board will attract more money! But two researchers have tested that assumption.

Robert Herman and David Renz followed 44 US community-based human service organizations over a five-year period. Some of the organizations placed a priority on increasing the prestige of their board of directors; others did not. All were engaged in active fundraising and revenue-generating activities.

They found that as the organizations increased the prestige of their board, there was no corresponding increase in revenue. In fact, the opposite seemed to happen! The organizations without prestigious boards saw a greater increase in revenue.

At first I was surprised, but in thinking more about what I see with my clients, this makes sense to me. Many mid-sized nonprofits seek wealthy board members. The rationale is: we will find a wealthy person, they will lead our pathetic fundraising committee, invite all their friends to be part of our cause, and our fundraising woes will be over. Usually what happens is that the new board member doesn’t want to do the fundraising, is already fundraising for other causes, or doesn’t have the time. The organization would have been better off to develop some good staff-led fundraising programs.

Hospitals, universities, major arts organizations –- I think they really do benefit from prestigious boards and they have a board culture of philanthropy. But if you are a mid-sized or grassroots group, don’t assume that the same rules apply. Your fundraising plan should not be to find a board member to solve all your problems!

When we need your help we’ll let you know, ok?

I’ve been waiting for The Onion to write more on charity and philanthropy ever since this article (only for those with a truly dark sense of humour!).

Now this: Proud Cystic-Fibrosis Foundation Doesn’t Need Your Charity.

ATMs for Jesus

Churches have been leading the pack when it comes to fundraising for a long long time. Pastor Marty Baker is going to keep them there with these “ATMs for Jesus” — touchscreen giving kiosks where donors can donate to the church using their credit or debit cards. When the collection plate comes around, people just put their ATM receipts in the basket!

Budget cuts in detail

If you can stomach the ridiculous level of spin in all the writing, take a look at the full list of cuts that “Canada’s New Government” announced on Monday.

The tone is maddening and paints the nonprofit sector and some very important government programs as irresponsible, ineffective, wasteful, and superfluous.

Public art fundraising, as it should be done

Here is a fundraising project that I absolutely love.

The Urban Forest Project in New York is displaying 185 banners in Times Square, created by a wide range of celebrated artists. The banners all use the tree for inspiration and the result is an amazing array of beauty, though-provoking social commentary, humour and gorgeous art. At the end of the two-month exhibition the banners will be made into tote bags that will be sold at an auction. You can also order t-shirts of the images. Proceeds are going towards mentoring and scholarships for visual arts students.

On their website you can look through each banner and read the artist’s statement, plus comments from viewers. The image I’ve posted here is by Rob Alexander and shows the national birds of every country currently at war or in an ongoing conflict. Each bird is illustrated in the colors of its national flag.

I would love to see something like this in Vancouver! I can see it being so much more interesting that other types of fundraising through public art (think bears and orcas). The chance for so many artists to be involved and the ease with which people can see all the messages together in one place is powerful. The tree is such an evocative subject, especially within the city.

I’ll keep you posted on how they do with the auction!

Thanks to Isabelle for mentioning this to me.

Free Vancouver meeting space

For nomadic boards and those working in cramped spaces…

The Canada Line is offering their Community Information Centre boardroom to non-profits in need of meeting space. The office is at Cambie and 16th Ave and there is some parking available. Contact them at 604-639-8720 or info@canadaline.ca.

Branson pledges $3 billion to fight global warming

If only there were more business leaders with the vision of Sir Richard Branson.

Yesterday at the Clinton Global Initiative he pledged to spend up to $3 billion over the next 10 years on projects aimed at tackling the global warming. The money is not a donation. He’ll be re-investing all the profits from Virgin’s train and five airline businesses in renewable energy initiatives.

He was asked about his motivation: self-interest or altruism? When it comes to global warming, the two motivations overlap:

“I was bequeathed a beautiful world from my parents and grandparents, and I want to bequeath the same world to my children and their children. And I think unless I can use my business skills to tackle issues like this, then the world that our children and grandchildren inherit will not be a pleasant world at all, and therefore it’s partly selfish, it’s partly, whatever, altruistic, but the important thing is that it is a gesture and I think things like this need to be done if we are going to tackle global warming.”