happy donors

I recently spent a week in Barcelona, followed by four nights in upcoast Catalunya.  Hence the tardiness of posting here.  But anyway …

Scoping around for info about FC Barcelona’s relationship with UNICEF, I read that the team has a firm zero-tolerance on racism, even “firing” a support group for taking a racist stance.

Their position of acceptance was echoed in some recent posts in the spain-football.org site maintained by a former Brit devoted fan of the beautiful game.

Read his commentary and posts that follow, but it revolves around FCB’s reception for a gay and lesbian fan group in February, yet another bold position taken “in support of equality and against discrimination in football in particular and society in general.”

Living in the US, and therefore essentially under a rock when it comes to futbol, I was surprised to recently notice the UNESCO prominently displayed on the front of FC Barcelona’s jerseys.

This is brazen product placement that even STP couldn’t buy at NASCAR.  Barcelona has fierce fans at home and one of the world’s top league teams.

New to me, the link goes back to a collaboration launched with the agreement that FC Barcelona and UNESCO signed on November 23, 2007, to  join efforts in three areas:

FIGHT AGAINST RACISM AND VIOLENCE IN SPORTS

Positive values in sport will be promoted through educational actions. These actions will be focused on the fight against racism and violence in sports. UNESCO will invite FC Barcelona to join the International Coallition of Cities Against Racism and will contribute to the development of the pedagogical resource Juga-la, created by the FC Barcelona Foundation. Besides, both organizations will celebrate the Day Against Racism (March 21).

FIGHT AGAINST DOPING

Both organizations will promote the positive values of sports through the development of educational programs against doping. FCB will make these programs public through it most representative figures and, at the same time, both institutions will develop educational material on the subject. The Foundation will channel these values through the Support Centres of the XICS Program and the pedagogical resource Juga-la!

EDUCATION AND LITERACY TEACHING FOR DEFENCELESS CHILDREN

The work of both parts will be focused on the social integration, education and literacy teaching of defenceless children and young people. There will be a media campaign to eradicate violence from schools with the media spokesmen of FC Barcelona. Other actions will be taken. The club and the UN will participate in important celebrations like the International Literacy Day September 8 and will support the following UNESCO initiatives: United Nations Literacy Decade (UNDL) and Literacy for Empowerment (LIFE)

During last year’s International Fundraising Congress I talked with several people trying to deal with AIDS in Africa, all of whom expressed deep frustration and harsh complaints with President Bush’s famous $15 billion global HIV/AIDS initiative, which is still lauded by major US news media.

Shelf Life: Bush, the AIDS President, published in the July 2008 Utne Reader shines a bright light on this misguided program.  Please read this if you still applaud our can’t-be-bone-too-soon “leader of the free world.”

While the AIDS treatment plans are GREAT, the folks in the metaphorical trenches saw the downsides of AID prevention policy shaped by conservative religious extremists, like:

– One third of the funds marked for AIDS prevention must be spent promoting abstinence until marriage.  (Studies of dozens of abstinence education programs show they have no affect on STDs.)

– NGOs accepting AIDS prevention money must sign a pledge stating that they oppose prostitution.   (Unintended outcome: local organizations don’t work with prostitutes, fearing loss of funding.)

– No money can be used to run needle exchange programs.  (In many areas, needles are the primary avenue of HIV transmission.)

The US Congress is considering reauthorizing Bush’s plan.  Please feel free to write a letter or three encouraging revision of its terms, lest this crippled and crippling program continue as Bush’s legacy.

The Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration aims to provide nonprofits with an archive of great fundraising creative approaches and appeal ideas. Visit that link, register, and you’ll have free access to their “Top 20 Best of the Best” ideas, which are excerpted below. Each campaign citing has a link to a site that shows images of the appeal elements with full explanation of the approach.
These are almost all nonUSA programs, though some orgs have Stateside sections. A sampling:

Greenpeace — the reinvention of face-to-face fundraising
The full story of how Greenpeace broke the mould to transform its fundraising fortunes and present the world with a new way of recruiting monthly electronic donors in huge numbers.

UNICEF’s first ever Christmas card, 1946
The product that launched fundraising in UNICEF more than six decades ago. Times have changed and international fundraising organisations such as UNICEF have learned much as they’ve grown and developed and have raised $millions to help people in need. Most fundraisers sell cards of one kind or another. UNICEF was one of the first to do it on a global scale.

Feed the Children’s baby box for Bosnia
Even in the midst of a tragic civil war it is possible to find the right circumstances to develop an imaginative and involving monthly giving product. Many organisations have copied this or been inspired by it to try monthly giving.

The ActionAid insert with built-in reply envelope and coupon
Before this appeared in the early 1980s, loose inserts were the poor relation of the fundraiser’s repertoire. The arrival of new technology led to a new format that not only gave donors much more information than most press ads, it also carried a ready-made reply envelope. So a new fundraising format was born.

The Amnesty International newspaper ads, 1980s
This series of seven whole page press advertisements changed the political landscape of Britain. Find out how, now. And while doing that, perhaps ask yourself how the urgency and rightness of your cause could stir the conscience of a nation.

Dr Barnardo’s four historic exhibits from the 1880s and 1930s
Pre- Second World War segment testing plus data collection, member-get member initiatives and brilliant direct mail from when Jack the Ripper was around. Sadly few modern direct mail appeals are this personal or anywhere near so passionate and sincere. Enthusiasts for good fundraising are advised to study some of these early fundraising initiatives, for they show how you might improve your own.

Greenpeace legacy beer mat
Smile at the audacity behind this amusing approach but then ask yourself, did it work? Would we not all be a bit more successful at raising money via legacies if we took a leaf or two out of Greenpeace’s book? This exhibit has encouraged dozens of organisations to believe that they can find an appropriate way to talk to their supporters about the difficult subject of legacies, or bequests.

Botton Village giving donors choices
This simple experiment, which became progressively more sophisticated, is one of the most important initiatives in donor relationship development in all of the history of fundraising.

Dog’s Trust sponsor a dog scheme
Show these ads, mail packs and TV spots to, even, a roomful of fundraisers and invariably it’ll be greeted by cries of “Awwww!” — a sure sign of a winner. Itself a copy from the child sponsorship agencies, this campaign shows that if you have the right proposition it can be presented as an irresistable monthy giving campaign.

UNICEF’s Change for Good campaign
See how UNICEF raises $millions each year from a simple idea, with many of the world’s leading airlines as its partners. Copied the world over, most international airlines now have a similar scheme.

Ryton Gardens recyclable mailing
This pack raised more than 10 times its target but more importantly, people loved it, wrote in to praise it and even reused it in their own gardens. The recyclable mailing had become a reality.

Amnesty International’s pen pack
This launched 1,000 copycat packs. But it’s worth studying for other reasons too. Without doubt, this pack embodies the standard all direct mail copywriters should aspire to.

Posted in International | No Comments »

Don’t blame the messenger

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

I’ve praised the work and fundraising of Save the Children on these pages. It’s with very mixed feelings that I now follow the British StC’s expose of child molestation by “humanitarian” workers and United Nations peacekeepers in several destitute and often war-ravaged countries.

As reported on CNN: “After interviewing hundreds of children, the charity said it found instances of rape, child prostitution, pornography, indecent sexual assault and trafficking of children for sex. …”

Save the Children UK also said that “almost as shocking as the abuse itself is the ‘chrionic under-reporting’ of the abuses. … children told researchers that they were too frightened to report (more…)

Posted in "happy donors", International | No Comments »

Culture of philanthropy: Make a gift or pay your taxes?

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

The last two happydonors posts reference articles that, at some point, wander into speculation about whether more funds might be raised for philanthropic purposed by shifting programs under the government’s wing and having donations essentially included in people’s taxes.

Disclosure: I sit left of center on the political spectrum. I think that many things can be best accomplished by united citizens’ resources under government action. Highways and police come to mind. BUT …

Before anyone shifts anything more to government management, I urge a long, hard stare around the world. (A perspective most Americans seem largely indifferent to, sad to say.)

At the International Fundraising Congress last year, one recurrent theme was “creating a culture of philanthropy” in many countries where little had existed before.

The usual reasons: a relatively recent emergence of a middle class with disposable income” and “recent release from a communist system, where the government used to be responsible for the commonweal of all citizens.”

The examples that apply here arose in Eastern Europe. The citizenry is just beginning to have some disposable income, but no tradition of philanthropy. The government’s effort to encourage philanthropy was to allow people to designate that some part of their taxes could be directed to the charity of their choice.

This led to the funding of many charities. But not one step toward a “culture of philanthropy” because there was no personal responsibility — or satisfaction! — derived from giving to a cause.  Nascent local NGOs saw this as an impediment to any “culture of philanthropy” since it did not seem to make people any more comfortable with making personal gifts.

They’re fighting an uphill battle thanks to cultural taboos on asking for gifts.  Don’t ask … don’t offer = no progress.

Let this be a warning. Charities are doing extremely well in the States. (Again something we may not appreciate until looking around the world a bit.) Let’s not muck it up by handing our efforts over to tax authorities in hopes of increasing funding. I choke at the thought.

Freedom to give opens the opportunity to gain all the satisfaction and feeling of participation … the pheremones and brainwave activity … whatever makes philanthropy work. Let’s be careful with that.

Posted in "happy donors", International | No Comments »

How much “faith” should we have in copy?

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

I just received the e-newsletter from npadvisors … a recap of the Nonprofit Technology Conference highlighting a gathering they hosted for folks involved in faith-based online fundraising. Along with topics shared by all nonprofits, they spent time on more focused topics:

• How much “faith” do we put into our copy?
• Do we quote scripture enough? Too much?

Quoting the newsletter: “The general consensus was that it’s important to remain true to the faith, but not to the exclusion of those outside the faith who share in the mission. The Quaker organization Friends Committee for National Legislation, for example, lobbies for peace and says that only 35% of their supporters are Quakers. “It seems the concept of peace has a broader following,” said its representative.”

Yep, many causes that sound centered on a denomination or religion attract many like-minded folks. After Katrina Catholic Relief Fund was inundated with online donations from people of all faiths. After the Tsunami that hit Southeast Asia Christian Children’s Fund received heavy online giving. (Not all who sponsor CCF children are Christian, of course.) And AFSC has received many emergency donations.

All three merit donations during emergencies for one shared reason: they have people on the ground everywhere in the world. So they’re better able to deliver emergency aid. The news media know that, and recommend accordingly during disasters.

And with each of these groups, the cause has transcended the roots in a particular faith.

Still, with these and all organizations whose names identify their faiths, religious language is an issue in everyday donor acquisition and appeals. Use of scripture and denominational or Christ-centered language must be tested in even the most seemingly obvious environments. More thoughts on all this in a happydonor post to come …

Posted in email/internet, International | No Comments »

« Older Entries

---