Stemming donor attrition showcase
Woman’s Royal Voluntary Service face-to-face postcard
This is a wonderful example of outstanding stewardship. It shows that developing a strong relationship with the donor at the earliest possible stage can significantly affect loyalty and reduce attrition in a notoriously difficult and challenging type of donor recruitment.
Médecins sans Frontières: ‘field partners’
Without doubt all fundraisers want regular givers and lots of them. This is a great example of how to convert your existing supporters from random one-off gifts to planned regular giving, and how charities can change the giving behaviour of existing supporters
Muscular Dystrophy Group: envelope test
In tests, when groups of fundraisers were asked, ‘which of these five envelopes do you think would provoke the best response?’, they almost invariably opted for the letter that looks most like a letter from a friend.
Soil Association: membership development
This instructive exhibit shows how it is possible to target different types of member by carefully segmenting donor files and structuring membership offers according to the different donor groups found on the Soil Association’s database. But you need to really understand your donors.
Rebecca Brown and Agnes Holliday: mystery shopping tests for PBS and the Smithsonian Institution
The purpose of these tests was to find out if the generally low levels of customer service offered by fundraising organisations in the UK and Europe were matched by similar organisations in other countries. While the results were generally depressing they also produced flashes of individual brilliance and a long list of useful lessons.
Fondation Nicolas Hulot pour la Nature et l’Homme: ‘eco-actors’
By giving their supporters the chance to become ‘eco-actors’ the Fondation Nicholas Hulot pour la Nature et l’Homme (the Nicholas Hulot Foundation for Nature and Mankind) forged a special relationship with them and raised an amazing amount of money.
