MARKETING and Fundraising in NGOs

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Fundraising and Marketing or NGOs New Trends and DevelopmentsReport o a meeting held on the 20th April 2006 in Manchester, UK

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EMSP Con erence , 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK

2

Introduction 3

The uture o und raising 4

Long term corporate relationships 7

Donor loyalty workshop 10

Marketing and communications workshop 12

Who are the potential donors or national MS societies and how to fnd them? 13Review o UK MS Societys Manchester Meeting 15

Acknowledgements 16

Click on the title to read it directly.

Contents

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Avenue E.Plasky 17 /11B-10 0 Brussels - Belgium

Tel: + 2 (0)2 05 80 12Fax: + 2 (0)2 05 80 11

E-mail: [email protected]

This years meeting ocused on two very important topics or EMSP members - undraising and marketing. Fundraising, asthe name implies is the raising o unds or money. Fundraising can take many orms, rom sales to direct asking or moneyto organizing events or lotteries or which people will pay. Fund raising is a very important and valuable activity or all EMSPmembers as cash and non cash contributions are needed or our ongoing work. Fund raising is a job to which all o us shouldcontribute, and or which we are all responsible. The success ul non-proft group today works regular undraising into its dayto day activities. For the EMSP, a non-proft organization und raising is o ten the only way to get the money to pay or the

acilities and programs that you want to organize to help People With MS.

Marketing, a name taken orm the corporate world, is the way in which a patient association communicates itsel and identifesthe services it o ers to external stakeholders. Success ul NGOs are very good at marketing and undraising.

The sessions or this dynamic, exciting and in ormative meeting were run by consultants rom Think, a company who o erstrategic, marketing, management, undraising and new media solutions or the not- or-proft sector globally.

The meeting was divided into plenary and break out sessions which provided opportunities to go into more detail on specifcsessions. The con erence covered three key areas which EMSP members can use in their undraising activities in order toensure money comes in CONSISTENTLY OVER A LONG PERIOD.

1. How to help you undraise more e ectively.

2. The importance o innovation and creativity in your undraising.

3. The importance o vision, communication and planning.

Introduction

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mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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This inspiring and motivating openingsession, given by Tony Elischer, theCEO o Think, looked at the uture o

undraising, uture trends and where thenew opportunities are likely to be ound.Throughout the presentation, Tony usedthought provoking quotes o ten romworld leaders and leading fgures toillustrate key points.

Dare to be Di erent in your undraisingand marketing was the thought orEMSP members. Plenty o peopleassume that undraising is a simpleactivity not requiring a lot o e ort butthis is not the case. I you only wantto raise a small amount o money, thismay be ne, but or all EMSP societiesthe challenge is to help their memberslong term and this requires money.EMSP members must raise moneyconsistently in order to keep your groupand its activities going.

Many associations assume that peoplegive money or speci c causes ornothing, but this is rarely the case.

Studies have shown that people whoare likely to give money to non-pro tsgenerally do so because they eel they getsome value rom giving. The corporateworld is changing and the imageand social responsibility o individualcompanies is becoming an importantpart o their success and MS patientgroups should take advantage o this

in their undraising activities or examplean organizations social responsibilityrating is seen as very important orcustomers when selecting a product this rating has risen rom 28% in 1998to 6% in 2001.

Existing undraising and marketing activities should be re-evaluated in light o these new changes says Tony.Rather than ollow the classical modelo undraising to sell set sponsorshippackages EMSP societies need to stepback and take a di erent approach that isbuilt around trying to interest a company,understanding them and matching theirneeds/objectives to yours.

Look at what your association has too er to potential sponsors Associations will need to choose the

undraising ideas that are most likely tosucceed or their group and in o rder tohelp them do this, Tony says: MakeCreativity and innovation the King in all your activities. Creativity can bedescribed as usable, unique solutionsto problems. Creativity and innovationcan o ten be seen as challenges orcharities but to be success ul you mustlook at ways to do things di erently andbetter in order to raise more money.

To be success ul at undraising, youcare ully need to consider which ideaswork well or your group.

There are many structured ways andtechniques to help improve creativity;the important elements though are to

The uture o und raising

Dorothea Pitschnau-Michel ( ar right),new EMSP President as o April 21st2006, in discussion with colleagues

Tony Elischer,

Managing Director

o think



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use the ull mix o heart, head andspirit in the association and to be ableto tolerate and learn rom ailure makesure you learn rom your mistakes anddont repeat them in uture undraisingactivities says Tony, or example,even though you had great planningand your idea was good there maycome a time when you simply have

made less money than you originallyhoped to raise. Now is the time to re-evaluate the activity rather than repeatit again some time in the uture. I youare making less than you would likethrough undraising, evaluate your

undraising strategies. What have younot tried? What else can be done?

Are they creative enough? Are theydi erent enough?

Always remain practical though, beoptimistic and imagine all the thingsthat can go right in undraising, butconsider also the possible problemsthat may arise. I the risks are thingsyour group cannot manage, then youmay want to choose another idea. I your undraising method will get youinto debt be ore you make any pro t,

you may want to look at alternativeideas and approaches. Rememberyou are in competition with many otherNGOs or donations so your potentialdonors must remember you and yourassociation. Choose an idea that noone else is currently trying and one thatwill not overlap too much with anothergroups own undraising e orts.

Rather than thinking outside o the box change the box i necessary.

What makes up agood undraising idea

or a MS society?

Here is a simple check list:

3 The idea makes good use o the MSsocieties resources and talents.

3 Start up costs or the activity shouldbe what you can a ord to spend.

3 Your association can nd enoughpeople to work on the project.

3 The theme is appropriate or MS.

3 It is likely to appeal to donors andit gives added value to your donors- your donors must eel that theyare getting something rom theexperience.

3It will bring in the required moneyyou need or your MS society. Feedback and intense discussion during the meeting



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1. Calendar G rls

Women posed naked or the annualcalendar o local branch o the WomensInstitute to help raise money or a terminallyill husband.

2. Temple Restorat on n Tha land

Donors buy a roo tile and write a personalmessage or put a photo on it be ore itis placed on the temple roo to repairdamage.

3. M lt colo r Well ngton oots

To celebrate its centenary year, a WellingtonBoot Manu acturer team up with di erentcharities to produce a range o di erentcolour Wellington boots. Each colour o boot represents a di erent disease egPink is or breast cancer and some o themoney rom the sale o pink Wellingtonboots goes to a breast cancer charity.

4. The Popemo le n the Ph l pp nes

The vehicle in which the Pope travelledwhen visiting the Philippines is used to take

tourists around the same route. Touristspay to take the trip and the money raisedgoes to charitable causes.

5. Two n depth case h stor es

(i) Early detection o prostate cancer

Prostate cancer a ects mostly men inolder age groups with 85% o new casesoccurring in men over the age o 60 years.I le t untreated or undiagnosed, prostatecancer has a very high mortality rate. Earlydetection is there ore essential but one o the main problems is getting men to go

or a simple test. To raise awareness o prostate cancer the Australian ProstateCancer Society uses a Peeball. This is acircular, ball shaped device which is placedin the urinals in mens toilets or example inclubs. The Peeball is made o material whichrapidly breaks down when liquid is squirtedat it. The man then aims at the peeballwhen going to the toilet and the idea is tobe able to break down all o the materialsurrounding the center o the Peeball. One

o the rst early signs o prostate cancer isdi culty to urinate as strongly as be ore. I the person cannot break down the Peeballhe is advised to go to the doctors or aprostate cancer test.

(ii) On-line Ox am cataloguehttp://www.ox am.org.uk/shop/online

Ox am has set up an on-line shoppingcentre where the organisation haspartnered with various commercialorganizations. For example the on linestore has three categories Music/DVDs,books and eBay. Customers can purchaseand download music or buys DVDs and apercentage o the money is donated bythe seller back to Ox am. A similar processworks when people buy books. Ox am hasalso established a partnership with eBay,the on-line auction house. People can bid

or items which have been donated andthe proceeds or a percentage o the salego to Ox am.

Here are a few examples of creat ve f ndra s ng act v t es.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/onlinehttp://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/online


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This session explored how to developlong term corporate relationships andthe role o marketing in the delivery o services, rom targeting, the assessmento sponsor needs and the design o appropriate services. Make sure thatyou have clearly identi ed what yournational association wants out o therelationship. While money is o course

important, look beyond that to otherimportant but less obvious items suchas: Infuence, Networking opportunitiesand co-operation.

Put higher valuedonors in thedriving seat

To be able to do this you must rst know

who these people are.I you want to make money or your localMS society you will want to be able toappeal to a wide range o donors butremember you will get the most money bytargeting donors. Targeting your audience

and care ully planning where you will lookor money will help ensure that all your

resources are well-spent and that you getthe best return on your time and e ortinvestment. Targeting is about identi yingthe most important and valuable donors

or your organisation.

Target ng and cons stent v s on

For e ective targeting the organisationmust share a common view o its purposeand the ultimate goal o its undraisingactivities. I there is not a common viewo what these activities should be, thetargeting will not be as e ective as itshould be. Important questions which anEMSP national organisation must addressto ensure it has a common vision are:

What is the management structure o the association? Does everyone agree

on the role and cope o undraising? How e ective is the internal

communication on the objectives o theorganisation? What is understood andwhat is not understood?

How are key people involved in importantissues and the long term developmento the organisation?

What are the strengths o the organisationand where is it working well and werecan it be improved?

To ensure uture success ul corporaterelationships - Enter the world o the

corporate says Tony. This can be achievedby a simple our step approach.

Long term corporate relationships

Top: The discussions continued over lunchBottom: Workshop discussion



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1. L sten: Fundraising is very muchabout the emotional and psychologicalresponse that donors have. O ten, thedi erence between a donation and are usal to give is nothing more than a ewsmall psychological events that make apotential donor look with less avour on apatient group. Find opportunities to listento companies and nd out their priorities,

challenges and opportunities.

Find out thecompelling reasonswhy companieswant to give moneyUse any networks you can to speakto companies. When thinking about

targeting a company seek opportunitiesto listen to other companies. Invitecompanies to nd out more about you,perhaps through visits to your o ces or,better still, projects. The key thing at thisstage is to make it clear that you really

are in the business o listening and notsimply trying to sell a menu approach.

Have passion believe in the progress you can make2. Men : What does your MS societyhave to o er to a potential sponsor?How well de ned are the bene ts? Thisis where marketing and having a clearde ned vision is important. How can youmatch your o ering to the needs o thepotential sponsor? Always ask potentialsponsors a lot o questions to nd outwhat they need rather than telling themwhat you can o er them. Developing

positive long term relationships with keysponsors is very important so ensurethat you speak with these people on aregular basis and try to see them at leastonce every three months.

You need to do research to fnd outwhat is happeningwith the companyMenu items which MS societies can o erto potential sponsors include:

Publici ty.

Understanding & insight.

New market opportunities.

Access to political decision makers e.g.EMEA or national regulatory authorities.

Expertise.

What is important is how you presentthese items to a potential sponsor. Theymust be packaged in such a way that

attracts potential sponsors. For example,you could work with a speci c sponsorto design and create a workshop whichhas a common subject o interest toboth parties. By asking questions to thepotential sponsor in the early stages you

Plat orm presentation



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would have ound out what this commonsubject was about.

3. Match: Remember undraising is o tenthe only way that you can nd the moneyto run programmes to help people withMS, there ore you need money to comein on an ongoing basis. Work with asponsor with the objective o developingthe relationship into something long termthat will lead to better and bigger things.Do not always go or the big deal at

rst, o ten it is better in the long term tostart on a small project. It is ar easierto motivate a company rom the insidewhen you have already established arelationship. Remember, i you can o erdonors something special or compelling,they are more likely to support your cause.

This o ten takes time and will involve anumber o meetings and discussions.

Have a wr tten agreement

When establishing a new partnershipsome orm o written agreement between

the association and the sponsor shouldbe created. This should outline the goals,priorities and each partners contributionand responsibilities towards achievingthem. Some orm o outcome measuresis also use ul to include.

Unlocking the

DNA o the donors motivation is very important4. Del ver: Make sure you do whatyou say you will do. Focus on a limitednumber o undraising e orts at a timeto ensure delivery o the best results.Because you are specializing in MS itmakes it easier to target potential donors

and nd sources o unding that are likelyto be help ul. Dont orget to evaluate theproject as you can use this to help youselling your next project.

A good questionto ask is: who docompanies need to look good with?

Peter Kau eldt (centre), President o EMSP romMay rd 2002 to April 21st 2006, in discussionwith colleagues



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The presentation looked at building theright ramework or all donors howto keep them involved and in a longand ruit ul relationship. The sessionincluded a presentation by the UK MSSociety looked at a group o donors

ollowed rom 1985. A number o keypoints were made including:

Many organisations ocus investmentson getting a rst donation but very ewpay su cient attention to getting asecond donation. Many organisations

nd that only 50% o donors give again.Organisations that can keep more donorscan see their income trans ormed. Byreducing loss o donors rom 20% to 10%you can increase pro tability by 50% over10 years. I you take into account thehigher costs o recruiting new donors

combined with the additional income youget rom loyal donors (who give at higherlevels and give more widely) then this

gure can be as high as 150%.

On the other hand some low level donorscost a great deal to recruit and to service.

A strategy o minimising service or suchdonors may be necessary. There ore it isvital to understand the value o donors bysegment.

It is also important to understand whydonors stop giving.

Although many people who stop giving sayit is because they can no longer a ord it

this may in act hide underlying reasons (itis an easier answer to give to researchersthan to say they have lost interest orexample). The second reason given ornot giving is that they are now giving tomore deserving causes suggesting thatmany charities are ailing to continue tomake their case or continued supportand have a largely passive relationshipwith donors. As many as 1 in donorseither do not recall giving or cannot

remember why they stopped giving againsuggesting that charities are ailing tobuild strong relationships.

On the other hand the main reasonsor giving more and more o ten can be

around the ollowing areas:

A personal connection with a cause(such as su ering rom or knowingsomeone who su ers rom an illness)

Knowing that their donation will make areal di erence to something they careabout

Engaging with the organisation indi erent ways than simply as a donor(e.g. being a volunteer or buying rom acatalogue).

Building a genuine relationship with adonor that involves dialogue and choiceto show a real responsiveness to donorneeds.

THINK described the importance o creating a donor journey to increasedonor giving levels by building anincreasingly strong relationship withdonors over time, however their initial

support is given. THINK described anumber o key tools and approaches tomake this a reality:

Understanding Li etime value basedon how long people give or and howmuch they give (and at what cost).

Donor loyalty workshop



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Carry out a database analysis tounderstand at what levels currentdonors are giving in order to create avision or the uture o a new donorpyramid with higher levels o giving(o ten at the middle donor/regulardonor levels).

Building a product port olio whichenables donors to be encouraged

to deepen their relationship with theorganisation and increase giving levels.

Building a range o bene tsand communications types ordi erent levels o donors so thatthe higher donors are given increasinglypersonalised attention and involvementwith the cause.

A satis ed donor may tell up to peopleabout the cause they support whilst

an unhappy donor will tell up to sevenpeople. Loyal donors increase incomereduce bad publicity and will act asrecruiters or other donors.

Notes on Case for S pportPresentat on:

Being clear and con dent about whomyou are and communicating what youdo are critical in an increasingly crowdedenvironment where all charities arestruggling to make themselves heard.Building a strong case or support isat the heart o a success ul undraising

strategy. A Case or Support Documentanswers the ollowing questions that arecritical to donors:

What is the problem?

What drives you to try to help?

What will change?

Who are you?

What makes you special?

What do you actually do?

What sort o people are you? How have you spent donor money

in the past?

What will you spend my money on?

Panel sessions gave a lot to think about



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Four elements make a success ulundraising and marketing campaign.

Common vision, Strategy, Planningand Communication.

A Common vision is vital amongst allmembers o the association o what the

undraising is to achieve. You have tohave this common vision be ore you startany marketing or undraising campaign.

A common vision will provide a sharedset o mutually agreed objectives andpriorities or your undraising activities.Success ul undraising means you musthave an integrated organization, wherethere is a strong can do attitude.

Strategy is best thought o as a road map giving the association the directionin where it wants to go. Strategy is allabout doing things. It provides guidance

and should act as a rame o re erence toensure that the organization is on trackto be success ul or its members.

Planning - a undraising plan does nothave to be complicated but it mustcover some basic elements:

Ensure that everyone has a job inthe undraising activity and that thiscorresponds to their abilities andresources.

Time-critical events and materialsare identi ed in advance .

Make sure you have thought o everything and that nothing isoverlooked.

Things are not repeated over andover, wasting time.

Communication is key to success.Communication must be both internaland external. The ability to e ectivelyexpress your goals and ideas amongcommittee members as well as withother members o your association is veryimportant. You must get people withinyour association to be excited about

undraising; they need to be inspired.

Marketing and communications workshop

For more in ormation onundraising contact the

European Fundraising Association onhttp://www.e a-net.org/

For more in ormation on theEMSP please click here to godirectly to the web site

http://www.ms-in-europe.org/news/

http://www.efa-net.org/http://www.ms-in-europe.org/news/http://www.ms-in-europe.org/news/http://www.efa-net.org/


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You only fnd oil i you drill wells There are ve main sources o donors orMS societies:

People

Governments

Foundations e.g. Wellcome Trust

Companies eg Pharmaceuticalcompanies

Organizations eg Rotary

Targeting is not about narrowing downyour choices o potential donors but is away o identi ying the people or groupswho are most likely to give you money andcan help you get the best results possiblein the shortest period o time. Once youhave targeted speci c groups on donors,you can nd support rom donors thatseem less likely to be directly interested inMS. In some cases, you may be pleasantlysurprised to nd unlikely donors who arewilling to help you raise money or MS.

The pharmaceutical industry is o ten a verygood source o unding or patient groupsbut be care ul not to overlook other sourceso donations and undraising money simplybecause you think they would not supportyour group. Sometimes, undraising moneycomes rom unlikely sources and it is o ten agood idea to contact some unlikely groupssuch as Government Departments.

What do you do to make the donor eel special?How much time and e ort you spendtrying to contact donors outside yourtargeted donor group will depend on many

actors, including how much time ande ort you have or such campaigns and it

will depend on how much money you havebeen able to raise through more targeted

undraising. I you have been able to raiseall the undraising money you need throughtargeted donor hunting, you may simplynot need to expand your list o donors too

much and instead o trying to nd newsources or money you may want to directyour e orts to ul lling your groups mission.

There are many ways to get in touch withthe groups and people who can providedonations to help EMSP members; someare more traditional while others are moreinnovative. It is important that you chose arange o methods and that these are part

o a well thought out long term plan.L rary: The library is a very importantsource o in ormation. The librarian canhelp you nd directories o governmentgrants and programs that can help you,and can show you business directoriesthat can help you nd companies whomay be willing to sponsor your national MSsociety. The library will also have booksabout success ul undraising and you canread newspapers and magazines to seehow other groups undraise.

Advert s ng: You can seek donors byadvertising in newspapers, on radio, and ontelevision. The costs though or the di erenttypes o advertising are di erent so you

Who are potential donors or national MS societies and how to nd them?

The EMSP wants your eedback.Please email your commentson the congress report directto Christoph [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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must clearly identi y WELL IN ADVANCEwhat you want your programme to achieve.

Advertising can reach lots o people eventhough individual ads in newspapersand radio can be quite expensive on theirown. However, sometimes it is possible toappeal to a radio or local television stationor publication to advertise or ree.

Local comm n ty: Get involved with the

local community especially since most o your activities in helping PWMS are centeredon one geographical area. For small ornew associations it is especially importantto be seen as part o the community orsuccess ul undraising. Become a part o your community so that donors in yourarea will become aware o your group.When people see that your group is o eringsomething to the community, they may bemore inclined to donate. For example thehighly success ul Duck Race undertakenby the Danish MS society has become anestablished community event.

D rect Appeals: Direct appeals mean thatyou approach people individually. This canbe done door-to-door, by standing in ront

o a store or establishment, or by phoningor mailing people individually. The idea isthat direct appeals are harder to resist thangeneral appeals, and so more people arelikely to at least give some money ratherthan say no entirely. The problem is thatso many companies use this route thatsome individuals eel that this methodis too intrusive and re use every direct

appeal made. Awareness Ra s ng: Raising peoplesawareness on a national level about yourlocal MS society is a major task. Rememberthe national Italian MS campaign whichwas presented at last years meeting this showed a very success ul use o advertising to raise awareness and nd newdonors. Awareness o your national or localassociation can be made in many ways:

Reports in the media (interviews, articles).

Advertising.

Use o celebrities or high pro lepersonalities.

Visiting groups such as schools to letpeople know about your group.

Setting up stands at airs, volunteerworkshops, and other communityevents.

Going door to door to tell people aboutyour group.

Mail campaigns to raise MS awareness.

MS awareness Days or example inGermany.

To contact Think or to get more in ormationabout their activities please visit their website at: http://www.thinkcs.org/ The website also has valuable in ormation andinteresting articles about undraising .Thereare a number o use ul presentations in thepresentation port olio which can be veryuse ul to EMSP members.

In November 200 the EPF and EFPIAorganised a workshop on StrengtheningPatient Groups in the EU, part o thisworkshop included some very interestingpresentations on undraising which arecomplimentary to the Manchester Report -click on the EPF web site to nd out more.http://www.europeanpatients orum.org/

Dan sh awarenessand f ndra s ng project.

A large number o rubber ducksare placed in a river. Each duck issponsored. The ducks race eachother over a river. The winner is the

rst over the nish line.

http://www.thinkcs.org/http://www.thinkcs.org/


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MS Li e took place in Manchester ollowing the EMSP Con erence. The weekend eventbrought together over 2,700 people a ected by MS rom across the UK and Europe.International scientists and researchers gave lectures on topics including Stem Cells,Genetics and Hormone treatments. There were 80 exhibition stands, an internet ca ,a crche and live cookery demonstrations taking place during the weekend. MS Li eunited EMSP with members o the MS Society o Great Britain and Northern Ireland andwas a great opportunity to share in ormation about MS. There was also a ashion showat clothes store Harvey Nichols where 0 models with multiple sclerosis took to thecatwalk in ront o a packed audience. The next event is planned or 2008.

For more in ormation about MS Li e, please go to: http://www.msconvention.org.uk/

MS Li e Meeting

Top: Peter Kau eldt with the Mayor o ManchesterBottom: MS Li e Exhibition at Manchester



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SPONSOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The EMSP is grate ul to all its Sponsors ortheir nancial and pro essional support.

Without our sponsors this event wouldnot have been possible.

AcknowledgementsSponsors accept that their contributions do not imply recommendation or endorsement o any productsthat they produce or distribute. The EMSP is unableto make any judgment on suitability o treatment; such recommendation can only be made by qualifed medical practitioners.

SuSTAiNAbLE PARTNERS FOR THE WORK OF THE EMSP

SPONSORSHiP iN KiND PROViDiNG PROFESSiONAL SERViCES TO THE EMSP


Documents

MARKETING and Fundraising in NGOs