In the Influential Fundraiser training, =mc uses its powerful five stages of influence model and teaches you the 15 tools you need to learn to apply systematically and sensitively for success. These techniques have been used to secure at least six £1M+ gifts in the last five years, as well as countless smaller ones. The […]
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Age Exchange was formed in 1983 as a specialist reminiscence charity, and over the years has developed new ways of working to reduce loneliness and isolation. For the past 15 years, due to a growing older population, the charity has expanded its work with people who have found themselves as carers for older relatives and […]
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This article on pitching your idea is adapted from the Strategy Workout book by Clare Segal and Bernard Ross (Pearson 2016). Action 1: Pitching – selling a radical idea Having an idea is only the start of your communications journey. You need to know who can make the decision to back your idea, and then […]
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When Paul Amadi took up the reins as Executive Director of Fundraising at the MS Society, it was an exciting time of change. There was an ambitious, new organisation strategy. A 10 year, £100M research appeal had started. A new marketing strategy was in development… and a fundraising improvement programme was building on the outcomes of […]
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Fundraisers are worried about donors saying ‘no!’ This article explores the idea developed by =mc directors Clare Segal and Bernard Ross in their book The Influential Fundraiser (Wiley 2010) that there are 9 different ways in which donors say ‘No’ and how to respond. The starting point is that No normally means “ask me a better […]
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Is your organisation competing in a Red Ocean or Blue Ocean? Put simply, Red Ocean & Blue Ocean are two different ways of comparing the strategy of an organisation in relation to the territory they are competing in. Red Ocean Strategy sees an organisation fighting for a share of the demand in a market which […]
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In this blog, Angela Cluff gives a personal perspective on fundraising appeals, and the impact of statistics versus individual stories on giving. It’s been a busy few days, so good to relax on the sofa, glass of wine in one hand, football on in the background and catching up on Twitter. This caught my eye. […]
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This blog follows on from a masterclass Bernard Ross and Angela Cluff led at the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) in Holland where they were working with participants to explore a range of new approaches to strategy development. As part of this they were exploring whether a radical ‘blue ocean’ approach could help fundraisers transform their ability […]
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Fundraising is about Influence – winning people over to your point of view. The starting point for influence in a not-for-profit setting should be a personal drive to achieve some wider social good. To be an outstandingly successful influencer and fundraiser you need to have a real desire – a passion – for that change. […]
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Fundraising is about Influence – winning people over to your point of view. The starting point for influence in a not-for-profit setting should be a personal drive to achieve some wider social good. In part 1 of this this blog we concentrated on the importance of framing and organising your passion or personal motivation to help […]
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In the first of our series of interviews with thought leaders in the sector, Dr Caroline Harper, CEO, Sightsavers gives us insight into her experiences of leadership, the good and the bad. Dr Caroline Harper has worked successfully in leadership roles in both the private and not-for profit sectors, including Managing Director of Amerada Hess […]
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Some of the most interesting psychological work carried out in the last five to ten years has focused on the issue of so-called multiple intelligences. The basic idea, developed by Harvard-based psychologist Howard Gardner, is simple. We all have access to a number of different ways of processing information, which Gardner has called intelligences. This […]
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The Boston Matrix is one of a series of analysis tools that help you decide the effectiveness of your current fundraising portfolio. It is normally used to assess the relative contribution of various fundraising activities or donor clusters at a particular point in time. But the matrix is enormously flexible and can be used to […]
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Five Key Principles There’s an extensive body of academic research which suggests there are a number of universal cross-cultural principles underpinning influence. There’s some debate about how many principles there are- with numbers ranging from 3 to as many as 10. Many of these were developed by Robert Cialdini in his book Principles of Influence. […]
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The Big Idea Defining strategic direction can be a major challenge for any organisation. Igor Ansoff, US strategy guru, developed a matrix which helps to focus your attention and resources. This matrix, commonly used in commercial settings, has been adapted by =mc to make it relevant to a wide range of not-for-profit organisations. For fundraisers […]
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We’ve all been there – when two or three people leave a meeting, each with a conflicting take on what has just happened. Partly this is because we experience situations differently – we impose our own values, culture and beliefs. But, importantly, we each have an innate psychological preference for one of three distinct perceptual […]
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Marie Curie is one of the UK’s largest national charities, providing care and support for people living with any terminal illness, and their families. They’ve been carrying out this vital work for over 65 years – and last year alone cared for over 40,000 people across the UK. Challenge In 2015 Marie Curie Cancer Care […]
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This case study looks at how a tailored version of The Influential Fundraiser programme has helped almost 300 fundraisers have impact in supporter relationships. Fundraisers at The Prince’s Trust and Marie Curie have also benefited from their own bespoke versions of this training, with the programme being delivered 25 times for them collectively. Since its […]
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Working commercially at a local level, worldwide The British Council asked =mc to help it to increase income generation across the globe by designing and delivering training programmes that would develop sponsorship and business relations skills among staff. After this training British Council staff in Russia secured a 1 million Euro sponsorship deal! Background The […]
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The South Downs is the UK’s newest National Park, covering a wide variety of landscapes, historic monuments, archeological features and living, working communities. Around 2 million people live within or close to the national park – the highest local population among all the national parks – and day visits reach 46 million a year. […]
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Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the world’s leading charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research, has a strong base of supporters, many of whom are motivated by their direct affinity with the cause. They also have a major donor fundraising programme, sustained by some highly motivated volunteers. The volunteers are often involved in networking […]
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In 2007, the Uganda country office of Frontline AIDS (then known as The International HIV/AIDS Alliance) was a new and growing programme with great potential. In need of a country strategy, but with little time to spare on it, they called on =mc. Two years later, and the Uganda country office was ahead or […]
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The Global Development Network (GDN) is a worldwide association of research and policy institutes promoting the generation, sharing and application to policy of multidisciplinary knowledge for the purpose of development. It was founded as a unit in the World Bank a decade ago, and is now an independent International Organisation with headquarters in New […]
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UNAIDS is the leading UN organisation in the global response to HIV, bringing together the efforts and resources of ten UN system organisations. Across its programmes, partnerships with local NGOs and community based groups are key to successful delivery. Challenge Partners in West and Central Africa have limited resources and are reliant upon a few […]
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New charity: new donors – setting up a major donor fundraising programme from scratch Formerly British Waterways, the charity Canal & River Trust (CRT) was launched in 2012. It is responsible for maintaining 2,200 miles of historic canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs, as well as museums, archives and a large collection of protected structures. CRT […]
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Birmingham Hippodrome raises £1m for Stage Appeal with help from =mc The Birmingham Hippodrome started an appeal in Spring 2012 for a major capital appeal to fundraise £1m towards the cost of replacing their 30 year old stage. They had gathered some key customer data and needed some high level expertise help to analyse the […]
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Synopsis: Organisations need to find a way to express their strategy simply and understandably – but also in a way that reflects the complexity of their relationships and activities. One increasingly popular framework to combine these qualities is the balanced scorecard (BSC), and specifically the more recent incarnation, the strategy map. At its simplest the […]
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What’s the Big Idea? Blue Ocean Strategy is a radical approach to strategy captured in a book written by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne – professors based at INSEAD, the leading European business school. The book summarises the thesis that organisations face two key choices: creating new customer demand in an uncontested market space […]
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The RSPCA is the largest animal welfare organisation in Europe. It rescues, rehabilitates and rehomes hundreds of thousands of animals each year in England and Wales. The RSPCA also offers advice on caring for all animals, and campaigns to change laws that will protect them, which it enforces through prosecution. But they face the challenge […]
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UNICEF UK works in 190 countries and runs more projects than any other organisation in the world. They needed a case for support for a campaign that focused on a specific problem. Find out how =mc worked with staff across UNICEF to develop a draft proposition that they used extensively across their campaigning, with great […]
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Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) is a unique organisation – a partnership that brings together the expertise of business, NGOs and academia to deliver drinking water and sanitation services to the poorest people living in cities in the developing world. In 2013 WSUP approached =mc for help to identify new funding sources […]
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