Blueprint Fundraising

Save the sea kittens

This campaign made me laugh! And it is doing something I’ve wondered about… How can a good cause capitalize on the online world’s unquenchable desire to view cute cat images?

PETA’s campaign is all about asking people to stop eating fish and write to the US government to ask them to protect fish. But since fish are not cute, they propose rebranding them as “sea kittens.” Maybe that will help. “Chicken of the sea” certainly worked for tuna. The site has lots of creative content to explore.

About the Campaign

People don’t seem to like fish. They’re slithery and slimy, and they have eyes on either side of their pointy little heads—which is weird, to say the least. Plus, the small ones nibble at your feet when you’re swimming, and the big ones—well, the big ones will bite your face off if Jaws is anything to go by.

Of course, if you look at it another way, what all this really means is that fish need to fire their PR guy—stat. Whoever was in charge of creating a positive image for fish needs to go right back to working on the Britney Spears account and leave our scaly little friends alone. You’ve done enough damage, buddy. We’ve got it from here. And we’re going to start by retiring the old name for good. When your name can also be used as a verb that means driving a hook through your head, it’s time for a serious image makeover. And who could possibly want to put a hook through a sea kitten?

Benefits of the Brushed Aluminum giving level

Shouts and Murmurs, my favourite section in The New Yorker has a funny piece by Bruce McCall, proposing donor giving levels for a Charity Gala Event.

As part of the Brushed Aluminum Motley, you can expect to receive: Sandwich; unlimited water-glass refills; simulated autograph of Guest of Honor on cover of official event program; preferred coat-check queue position; use of rest room (depending on key availability); partially unobstructed head-table view.

Read the rest… and Happy Friday!

A recess from excess

My fundraising colleague and blog pen-pal Lorna Visser sends this post, after having read my most recent. She makes great points about keeping things in perspective and remembering what really matters in our lives, for our causes and for the planet. — Andrea
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A different spin on the “financial markets meltdown” — a recess from excess?

As fund raisers, we are the front-line representatives of the causes we champion. We simply cannot let ourselves, personally, be dragged down with negativity. New year’s resolution: purify and redirect our thoughts in regard to all the dire economic messages spoon-fed to us by the mainstream media.

The other day the headline on the Vancouver Province was something like “Nation in Crisis.” When I flipped it open, it was just more vaguely ominous predictions that we might lose value in our pension funds or that the value of our homes might go down a bit. Gee, the last time I checked, “crisis” meant people starving to death, or being bombed into oblivion as is happening in Gaza, or, as is happening in Africa, dying of AIDS daily at a rate that exceeds the number of people who died in the World Trade Centre attack.

As fund raisers, the first thing we need to do is give our heads a shake. Consider the source of all these fear and scarcity messages: the mega-industrial conglomerates that own the mainstream media, the very ones who are rightly suffering  economic setbacks right now. But let’s take a look at this, as individuals and as fund raisers, from a different perspective.

If you choose to see the world as a fear-filled place, full of need and want and scarcity, that is all you will see. But if you think of the world as a place of abundance and sufficiency, then this so-called “economic crisis” becomes simply the readjustment of some of the dials that run the financial economy. What was going on before was grossly unsustainable, and this is a necessary correction — society moving toward some sort of sanity. People with no jobs and no money to repay their mortgages will no longer be loaned money to buy houses. Bankers will stop concocting devil’s brews based on bad loans, investment mixes so complicated that no one can understand them. Banks will no longer assume that property values will go up indefinitely.  And while we’re at it, we can all stop assuming this earth’s natural resources are limitless, that we can cut down and mine and pollute and extract indefinitely. I’m thinking of this as a “recess from excess.”

But to tell the truth, I’m not giving the whole thing a lot of my mental energy. I’m in the home stretch of raising $1.5 million for a local land acquisition, and it has been a blast. Working with The Land Conservancy and the Valhalla Foundation, we are raising money to buy a piece of unspoiled, lake-shore private land we have nicknamed “The Valhalla Mile” in order to add it to Valhalla Provincial Park. Know what? This whole campaign has been done during the so-called economic meltdown, and yet we have been overwhelmed with the generousity of individuals, of foundations, and even of the provincial government — proof that when you are truly doing the right thing and you keep the faith, you can build it and they will come! (If you want to know more, check out the campaign at www.conservancy.bc.ca/donatetovalhallamile )

Bottom line: so long as we have our health, good nourishment, a roof over our heads, work that has meaning, and souls who love us and whom we love, we are not in a crisis. Yes, you might have to tighten your belt a bit (who doesn’t need to lose some weight?) and change some budget predictions for donations this year, but we in the charitable sector have always been creative about keeping costs down and doing a huge amount with a little money.

There is abundance in our world, and the people who truly believe in your cause will stick with you. Make sure you stick with them. This is the time to focus on the quality of your donor relationships and recognize that what you do brings meaning to donor’s lives, and that is a most worthy calling.

– Lorna Visser

New year, new fundraising realities

Happy New Year!

This my first day back to work after two lovely weeks off. I’m feeling apprehensive about what’s going to happen to both charitable giving and the pressure on charities for services in the year ahead. January will be the month to assess how your holiday giving compared to previous years and think hard about how your fundraising plans should change to deal with the economic climate.

I wanted to share a few random things with you:

AFP Vancouver has asked the government of British Columbia to increase the provincial portion of the charitable tax credit. The province’s Finance Committee is recommending that the government include AFP’s recommendation in the upcoming budget. Should the government decide to include the measure in the 2009 budget, it would place BC on par with Alberta and provide a combined (federal and provincial) charitable tax credit of 50 percent at the top-end. Please take the time to send a letter or email to Finance Minister Colin Hansen in support of this change. It is the kind of policy reform that could help encourage donors to give.

Also from AFP Vancouver, registration for First Course is now open. The course dates are February 16th and 17th. Early bird prices are available until January 16th.

Over the holidays The New York Times had an article about a fundraising success story that began at the BC SPCA and has gone on to raise more than $30 million for the American SPCA in the last two years. Their most successful fundraising appeal ever is a two-minute TV ad featuring Sarah McLachlan. Simple, emotional and powerful. The ad has generated 1,000 new monthly donors for the BC SPCA. It all came about because a board member, who knew McLachlan and that she loved animals, asked if she would do it. (Thanks to Mary-Ev Anderson for pointing out the article.) Here’s the ad: