Taxing Times

Oh George, what have you done? 

It’s all over the news: Mr Osborne is proposing a cap on tax relief from 2013 that will apparently stop rich people from giving to charity – because they’ll lose the tax relief loophole that made it worthwhile.

That’s a funny idea, isn’t it? That people will stop being altruistic… because it’ll no longer be in their self-interest?

The concept of getting something back for your good deed – ‘reciprocal altruism’ – is an interesting one. 

Many people support charities relating to cancer or heart disease or another condition because they have a closeness to the cause. But, perhaps, some people do it as a kind of insurance policy. 

Cancer research for example – support that today and you might be improving the effectiveness of treatments in the future, when you might personally need them.

And what about raffle and prize draw mailings? They can raise lots of money for charities from audiences who don’t respond to cause-led appeals. 

People giving money to a charity… because they might win a larger amount of money for themselves (and I can tell you, winners nearly always choose the money not the car, and they rarely donate their prize back to the charity).

Mind you, those cause-led appeals should be giving the donor something too. Heartfelt thanks. Recognition and appreciation. 

A warm glow from doing something really good to make a positive change in the world.

Unlike that George Osborne, for instance.

Merry Christmas

Well what a great year it's been. Ok, not for Greece or Nick Clegg or Rupert Murdoch or Osama Bin Laden. But for me, terrific.

I became a dad for the first time to the amazing Daisy Boo (pictured), I had a couple of books published, I helped the agency win and grow a few of our charity accounts and I helped us win a few awards – including several fundraising golds.

And today I heard that the Christmas campaign we did for one of our newer clients has raised over a million pounds. Which they're understandably delighted about.

So, in the spirit of Christmas giving (or possibly because I can't think of any funny Christmas jokes apart from the one where Darth Vader says to Luke 'I have felt your presents') here's a pdf that you may possibly maybe might perhaps find a tiny bit interesting-ish.

You may not of course, but then, who really likes all their Christmas presents? I got a pair of 'slipper socks' as a present – try smiling convincingly as you unwrap those fashion horrors.

Anyway, the pdf is something I've shown a few clients and many of them have liked it. 

It's two lists, each of seven items. A list of the seven things we believe a compelling fundraising communication should be. And seven things we believe we should be trying to get our supporters to think / feel.

We call it 'Happy 2 Give'. Because the more of the 14 items on the lists your fundraising can achieve, the happier your supporters will be to donate.

Like the ones who donated a million pounds to the appeal I mentioned earlier.

Have a very merry Christmas and here's the pdf.

Hello, no-one!

 

I write a blog!

Goodness gracious, I’d completely forgotten. And all those avid followers I’d built up have doubtless deserted me. Reluctantly relocated to read some other rude boy’s rabid ramblings. Even though my alliteration is better.

So I shall write this to me, myself and I. So… me, what have I been up to?

Well, I was invited to a couple of fundraising focus groups last week. Not to take part, I was on the other side of the one-way glass, looking in. Munching through a lovely buffet.

The focus groups were for a very big charity, and the purpose was to discover which proposition (out of eight, all creatively dramatised) would be most likely to get the people in the group (all regular givers to the charity) to increase their monthly gift.

Anyway, I was very glad to be invited along. Not because I believe in the power of qual research of this kind: I don’t. I think focus groups are a load of drivel.

However, while I think those things are useless at giving you a useful answer to the question you ask, they’re nearly always great at giving you an insight you can do something with.

And I’m sure you agree with me that focus groups are generally rubbish, but in case you know someone who doesn’t agree, here are five reasons why I think they’re (usually) fatally flawed:

1. Last week we asked supporters which of eight propositions they preferred. EIGHT? I can barely hold three ideas in my head, let alone one for every finger of both hands.

2. Supporters don’t spend 10 minutes analyzing an envelope before deciding whether or not to open it. So why do we get focus groups to do exactly that?

3. Nor do real people decide whether or not to read your words on the basis of whether they consider your missive to be ‘on brand’ or not.

4. We all know that emotional reasons to respond outpull rational ones. So why do we ask people in focus groups to rationalise their response, artificially reducing the importance of the emotive element?

5. And besides, what people say and what they do are often wildly different. The number of times I’ve heard people in focus groups say “Oh, don’t send me those expensive mailings with gifts in and the like, they are so wasteful, I’d never respond to that. Just tell me you need the money, and I’ll give it.”

If it was as easy as that, we’d all be getting 100% response rates. Which we’re not. And a relevant gift wouldn’t ever uplift response. Which it can.

And the number of times I’ve heard someone say something like ‘Oh, the research has shown that people really like pictures of bananas’ and what they mean is ‘One person, in one focus group, vaguely mentioned they like the picture that had a banana in it. But that’s probably because they’re a greengrocer’. But that kind of Chinese whispers you get from focus group exponents becomes a new ‘rule’ for the client: we must show pictures of bananas.

But, as I said 200 words of rant ago, you do often get fantastic insights that would never have occurred to you otherwise. At these focus groups, for example, someone said that they had downgraded their gift when they’d lost their job. Not cancelled their direct debit, just reduced it.

They said if they’d got a pay-rise, then maybe they’d have increased it.

Which was a bit of a eureka moment for me, despite it being blindingly obvious.

Because something else we all know is that timing is much more important than the creative execution. As is personal relevance.

So with an upgrade mailing, maybe rather than worrying about the colour of the donation form, perhaps it’s more important to work out when your audience is most likely to be feeling flush. Maybe, if it’s the pay-rise time of year, we could reference that if they’ve been lucky enough to have a pay-rise, they might want to give £2 a month of that increase to the charity, in addition to their current gift?

Oh me, what am I saying? I’m a creative director: I should stick to what I know. The vital importance of the colour of the donation form!