COGNITIVE DIVERSITY, INFLUENCER MARKETING & A FUNDRAISING MESSAGE IN A (WINE) BOTTLE

Brigitte Stundner: Why cognitive diversity is crucial to your organisation
Published on LinkedIn Pulse
Diversity has rightly become a key topic in the charity sector in recent years – but while this often focuses on age, gender and ethnicity, what about cognitive diversity? People have very different styles of thinking and processing information, so they naturally have different perspectives and approaches to solving problems. Here’s what a cognitively diverse Board or workplace can mean for your organisation, and how to avoid being hampered by ‘groupthink’…

Zoe Allen: The Future of Fundraising: Influencer Marketing for Nonprofits
Published on 101Fundraising
We’re not sure exactly what’s going on at the moment, but there seem to be more articles about ‘the future of fundraising’ than ever before. We’ve read about four this week! Sorry for being sceptical, but there almost certainly isn’t a silver bullet for your fundraising: no single area or approach is going to completely revolutionise what you do. That said, this article about how to leverage the power of social media ‘influencers’ to attract new supporters and donations definitely provides some handy tips on an area of untapped potential for most charities.

Ben Swart and Rob Woods: Need to inspire a supporter? Three ways to WOW them!
Published on Bright Spot Fundraising
How do you achieve a good response rate from your donors and supporters, and really communicate the power and importance of your cause? Most fundraisers have been wrestling with this key challenge for years, and in a saturated world of communication it’s only getting harder to stand out from the crowd. So here’s some tasty food for thought on how to dazzle your corporate and major donor prospects, featuring a packet of Opal Fruits, some folded bubble wrap and a message in a (wine) bottle…

Reuben Turner: Fundraising’s other R word
Published on UKFundraising
A short and sweet blog here which takes issue with the age-old concept of relationship fundraising. How can donor relationships be the be all and end all when “when regulation prevents it, technology makes it unnecessary, and people don’t want or value it”? This isn’t about stopping thanking people and doing the basics of “donor stewardship” – which is good, because we think that’s crucial – but it’s worth considering whether a new approach is needed in a rapidly-changing world.

Rebecca Cooney: RNLI to drop opt-in-only communications policy this week
Published on Third Sector
And finally, news from the ever-murky world of GDPR, with one household name charity deciding this week to abandon its policy of only communicating with people who have explicitly opted in, and instead relying more on "legitimate interests". They've taken this action to give themselves more flexibility at a time of funding difficulties and unprecedented demand for their services. This is an interestimg development, with many large charities having jumped firmly into the opt-in camp ahead of GDPR, encouraging smaller organisations to follow suit.