Really Good Fundraising

The other night I met someone who told me about a charity they used to support. They had worked very hard in putting on events for that charity and had raised lot’s of money for them. But they found out that the charity had wasted money on some projects they were running and they were quite annoyed. They had offered to help the charity save money but were ignored. I felt a real degree of cynicism in the conversation and knew that this supporter, although they had a real belief in the good work the charity was doing, would be wondering whether they would be wasting their time.

Last night I also watched Mary Portas – Secret Shopper (next one Channel 4 Weds 2^nd Feb 9pm) where she tried to improve the customer service received from various furniture outlets. Her approach last night with the furniture stores was to get the sales team to ask questions and listen to the customers. They also created an inspiration station, ditched all the sale signs and made a promise to offer the best price always. As a result of the changes they implemented their turnover during the Boxing Day period was up 30%.

It got me to thinking – if a furniture store can increase it’s turnover by 30% by listening to customers, inspiring them and giving them an honest promise then surely that can be applied to charities. The charity in question that had wasted money on some projects was really missing a trick. They didn’t listen to the supporter who had offered to help reduce costs. They hadn’t taken any notice of the fact that supporter knew money had been wasted and wanted to help ensure it didn’t happen again. The charity hadn’t inspired that supporter by showing them how their money they worked so hard to raise would be spent. Finally they hadn’t seen that it’s not just about how you raise the money, it’s about how you spend it. You have to ensure every penny spent works as hard for your charity as the work that went in to raise it.