1. Charitable Innovations Braden Kelley Innovation Excellence The operational model for charities in this country is an ideal candidate for disruptive innovation. It strikes me as odd that the organizations that really have the least to spend on marketing (charities), spend such inordinate amounts of money and time on marketing to raise money. Does spending lots of money on fundraising actually work? Lets stop for a moment and look at how AIP defines acceptable charity performance:We must maximize ourinnovation leverage at every - Spending 60% or more of a charitys budget on programs, and spending $35 or less tolevel of society. A stable society raise $100 in public supportdemands that businesses,governments, and charities worktogether to create an efficientGroups included on AIPs Top-Rated list generally spend 75% or more of their budgets onecosystem that injects hope into programs, and spend $25 or less to raise $100 in public support.the populace.Braden KelleyUnfortunately, many charities dont even meet the acceptable charity performanceInnovation Excellence definition:Related Quotes:- "It is sad that cancer charities, one of the most serious and popular giving categories, perform so poorlyhalf of the cancer charities that AIP rates in this Charity Rating Guide receive a D or F grade and only 37% receive an A or B." If we look across charity organizations as a whole, it is not a stretch to imagine that the aggregate reality is probably somewhere around spending 50% or less of their budgets on programs, and spending $50 or more to raise $100 in public support. What greater positive benefit could we have on society as business innovators, than to help create a disruptive business model for charities? What if we could stand the traditional, and hugely inefficient, model of list rental, telemarketing, direct mail, and list saturation on its"We make a living by what we head and instead imagine something different?get. We make a life by what wegive." There has to be a better business model that we could collectively create as a gift to societySir Winston Churchillthat would increase the % of charitable revenue that actually goes towards the charities intended missions (feeding the homeless, saving the environment, etc.). If we could create a new best practice that could be adopted across the industry, think about the impact we could have (equivalent of up to a doubling of monies raised). I think we can distill the disruptive possibilities down to the following five key principles: 1. Giving consumers a way to offset negative side effects of a purchase with a positiveaction 2. Linking fundraising efforts more closely to the benefit delivered 3. Reducing the friction in the fundraising process 4. Maximizing the existing communication channels to highlight benefits that others"Charity and personal force are provide that are on missionthe only investments worthanything." 5. Improved EfficiencyWalt Whitman Let us now look at the disruptive possibilities each one presents:

2. Charitable Innovations Braden Kelley Innovation ExcellenceRelated Quotes: Principle #1 - Giving consumers a way to offset negative side effects of a purchase with apositive action Definition: There are activities in our everyday lives that have negative consequences (transportation, electricity, etc.) or that remind us that others are not as fortunate. This principle involves giving consumers a way to offset the negative"You will find, as you look back impact of the activity.on your life, that the momentsthat stand out are the momentswhen you have done things forExisting Example: Northwest Airlines partnered with The Nature Conservancy on an initiativeothers." that makes it so that as customers use the nwa.com reservations system, Northwests Carbon Emissions Calculator will estimate the amount of CO2Henry Drummond emissions generated by their flight and provide a suggested voluntary carbon offset contribution to The Nature Conservancy to remove or sequester CO2 from the atmosphere. Existing Example: Adam Gardner, 35, singer and guitarist for the pop-rock band Guster, runs Reverb with his wife, Lauren Sullivan, 34. Their tour consultancy greens up dozens of acts, including John Mayer and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. - FC Example Idea: Violent movies have been shown to contribute to increases in violent behavior. When people attend a horror movie, a small donation to victims of"I am only one; but still I am abuse charities is incorporated into the ticket price to offset the impact itone. I cannot do everything, but might have in others (definitely not them). Alternatively, people couldstill I can do something; I will notrefuse to do the something I can choose a higher priced ticket option that doesnt involve a donation.do." Example Idea: Instead of Regular Unleaded, Plus, Premium, and Diesel, pumps at a gasHelen Keller station could include an "Offset" choice, so that consumers choosing the "Offset" option could pay a price premium that would fund an equivalent carbon offset. "Fill your tank and grow some trees." Principle #2 - Linking fundraising efforts more closely to the benefit delivered"Make it a rulenever to lie Definition: When someone asks you for money on the street, in the mail, or on thedown at night without beingable to say, "I have made onetelephone, the action is unexpected and your mind was not likely thinking abouthuman being at least a littlethe subject prior to the interruption. This principle involves bringing up thewiser, a little happier or a littlesubject when the topic is already on someones mind. And, if at the same timebetter this day." you move a step away from cash donation in the mind of the consumer, towardsCharles Kingsley the purpose of the charity, you will be all the more successful. 3. Charitable InnovationsBraden Kelley Innovation ExcellenceRelated Quotes: Example Idea: Instead of asking people at grocery checkout on the keypad if they would liketo donate $1 to the local food bank, ask people if they would like to donate 4cans of tuna for a $1 to the local food bank. The food charity could work withgrocer and wholesalers/producers to donate something they are overstockedon. (a win-win for all parties involved)Example Idea: Buy One Give One - Charities working together with grocery stores, drugstores, etc. could run special periodic or even weekly promotions that allowcustomers to buy one product for themselves and give another one to acharity (food, toiletries, clothing, etc.). These sales would allow people to"No person was ever honored consume and do good at the same time. This would be bigger than thefor what he received. Honor has somewhat famous TOMS shoes.been the reward for what hegave"Calvin CoolidgePrinciple #3 - Another approach is to look for ways to reduce friction in fundraisingDefinition: As we disclosed at the very beginning, there is a huge cost to fundraising(probably 50% or more of the amount raised on average). Reducing the friction infundraising (making it cheaper to give), would give charities more money to usefor programs.Existing Example: Navy and Marine Corps Relief spends an astonishingly small $2 to $3 to raise $100. Why?"Never doubt that a small groupof thoughtful, committed- Many enlisted personnel have called upon the service at some point in their careers,citizens can change so people see the value of their work first handthe world. Indeed, it is the only - Most of their donations come from fellow military personnel via automatic payrollthing that ever has."deductions, but also 35% of their donations were unsolicitedMargaret MeadExisting Example: The Nature Conservancy and others solicit members to sign up forrecurring credit card withdrawals via their print publications or othersolicitations. This helps to reduce the friction of fundraising.Example Idea: Charities could partner with mobile phone carriers to set up donate by text orother mobile donation methods. These could be for one-time donations orfor recurring donations added to subscribers monthly plans.Example Idea: In much the same way that Navy and Marine Corp Relief do most of theirfundraising via payroll deduction, charities could try and partner with majorpayroll service providers to help facilitate setup of automatic payroll"Down in their hearts, wise men deductions. The donor provides their employer name and their social securityknow this truth: the only way tohelp yourself is to help others."number and the amount. The charity would check the employer against anapproved employer list and the payroll provider will start the process andElbert Hubbardhave the donor confirm the request using contact information on file. 4. Charitable Innovations Braden Kelley Innovation ExcellenceRelated Quotes: Example Idea: Help companies do good and make employees feel good at the same time.Work with employers and payroll service providers to set up an automaticdeduction for all employees (as a bonus). This bonus would actually be paidby the company, not the employee (to shield the employee from any taxburden under current tax rules), but the employee would have the option ofincreasing the size of this deduction (after-tax contribution).Example Idea: Lobby Congress (or your local legislative body) to establish the CharitableBonus Act of 2009 the IRS. This is related to the idea above. Why not lobbyCongress to change the charitable donation rules. In order to improve the"You cannot hope to build abetter world without improvingquality of life in our society and allow charities be more efficient by reducingindividuals. We all must work for fundraising friction, and allowing charitable payroll deductions toour own improvement, and atthe same time share a generalautomatically be tax-free (and thus deducted pre-tax). This would increaseresponsibility for all humanity." charitable giving and could potentially decrease tax return processing costsfor the government enough to offset any lost revenue.Marie CuriePrinciple #4 - Maximizing existing communication channels to highlight benefits that others provide that are on mission"The bread in your cupboardbelongs to the hungry man; thecoat hanging unused in your Definition: Charities should be about creating positive change around their mission, not justcloset belongs to the man whoneeds it; the shoes rotting inraising money for their own programs. As a result, charities should use theiryour closet belong to the man magazines, mailings, and other member contact to highlight the ways in whichwho has none; the money which members can contribute to the higher-level mission in a personal, local way. Thisyou hoard in the bank belongsto the poor. You do wrong tomay not drive immediate donations, but will drive increased loyalty andeveryone you could help, but fail commitment to the cause (and likely increased donations over the life of theto help." member). - Look at how Apple approaches the Apple Store concept.St. Basil the GreatExample Idea: To further their mission, environmental charities could partner with localutilities to highlight their 100% green energy options for consumers.Example Idea: To further their mission, poverty charities could highlight social entrepreneurs whose ventures benefit the poor - i.e. Toms shoes - buy one give one"You must be the change youwish to see in the world."Mahatma Gandhi 5. Charitable InnovationsBraden Kelley Innovation ExcellenceRelated Quotes: Principle #5 - Improved Efficiency"Kindness is the language whichthe deaf can hear and the blindDefinition: As the relatively recent saying goes - "A barrel of oil saved is a barrel of oil found."can see." By becoming more efficient, charities need to raise less money and what they doMark Twain raise goes farther. Existing Example: Southwestern Vermont Health Care is using Six Sigma to improveperformance. Six Sigma is a business strategy focused on improvingquality of services by driving out waste (defined as defects, unnecessarycosts, and inefficient use of time) contained in our work processes. Example Idea: Strategic partnerships with other charities that facilitate shared office space and shared services"Never look down on anybodyunless youre helping him up." Example Idea: Better data analysis and list pulling to prevent wasting money mailingJesse Jackson unproductive names If charities explore and effectively embrace a disruptive discovery process and a commitment"One of the serious obstacles tothe improvement of our race is to development and implementation around one or more of these five principles then theyindiscriminate charity." should be able to achieve improvements in their efficiency and effectiveness.Andrew Carnegie I would love to hear other peoples perspectives and see people add to the charitable disruption conversation in order to allow us collectively to create positive disruptive innovations in charity fundraising and operations.Contact Information: If you would like to help evolve these ideas, please post a comment with your thoughts,Braden Kelleyadditions, or refinements, or join our Innovation Excellence group on LinkedIn and contributeInnovation Excellence3520 253RD CT SE to the discussion there.Issaquah, WA 98029(206) 349-8931 What do you think?http://bradenkelley.comhttp://innovationexcellence.comBraden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)http://twitter.com/innovate