13 July 2010

Thoughts on IOF Convention

Having spent 3 days at the IOF’s convention last week we came away with some key observations that we wanted to share with those members who weren’t able to attend.  

Dan Pallotta in his plenary on Tuesday challenged the sector to turn things upside down and not continue to accept the status quo – why should commercial companies be allowed to do things that charities aren’t? He wants charities to not be frightened of investing in strong marketing campaigns if they support their overall aims; organisations should also be prepared to take more calculated risks to help drive up revenues. And finally charities should look to investment as a way to achieve long term revenue growth. Bold challenges for the sector!

To see an interview with Dan where he talks about his challenges to the sector visit his website www.uncharitable.net

Also on Tuesday, Ken Burnett emphasised that donor loyalty was probably the key challenge that fundraising charities face. Relationships with supporters are often very shallow and acquisition, retention and development teams need to stop working in silos and work together to enhance the experience of the supporter and keep them for the long term.

Two of the ways in which he suggests charities achieve loyalty from their supporters are:

  • Invest in customer care and create an environment that enables supporters to give feedback and comment
  • Give quick positive feedback when they have made a donation. Face to face is very good for this, sending an SMS almost instantaneously when a supporter signs up to a DD on the street.

In a truly inspirational plenary on Wednesday, Camila Batmanghelidjh founder of Kids Company, gave us all a few key tips for getting the most for your organisation:

  • Make sure you have robust and clear plans, backed up by research perhaps, that cover any objections you might encounter
  • Work hard to get the media on side. Get to know them and they will eventually come to you
  • Stay true to your cause and don’t let funders persuade you to change your programmes to suit them

In one of the final sessions on Wednesday, a panel of experts discussed the future of direct marketing in 2015. Most of the panellists agreed that the supporter will become more central to the relationship. They will also have more control over the when, where and how. With the help of technology, charities will be better able to sell experiences or as was said on the day ‘making it real is worth more’. And a final challenge was – will we even be calling it ‘fundraising’ in 2015? That is perhaps something for next years’ convention!

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