In a masterclass at the conference in Holland held by Resource Alliance, delegates were told that data from Europe and South America shows that face-to-face fundraising is “recession free”. The session was led by David Cravinho, head of regular giving at Unicef (Switzerland), and Daryl Upsall, of Spanish based Daryl Upsall Consulting International.

Cravinho said: “Face-to-face fundraising is recession free – data from across Europe and South America shows this to be true. This is because it is about one human connecting with another, and in times of economic difficulty people recognise that others suffer and so want to help them.”

Upsall added: “Contrary to popular opinion, a recession is absolutely the time to approach your board for more investment. The biggest non-profits in Spain have grown enormously since the recession, recruiting many thousands of new supporters through face-to-face.”

A delegate in the audience from Australia said that the recession had been helpful for them in recruiting fundraisers as well as donors.

The delegate said that when the national job market is difficult, it means there is a higher calibre of people willing and able to work as fundraisers – adding that that “the more intelligent a conversation fundraisers have with donors means the stronger the relationship the charity can have with that individual”.

Donor retention

Also speaking in the masterclass was Rupert Tappin of Decaid Consulting, who discussed effective retention of donors recruited via face-to-face fundraising.

Tappin said that charities need effective fundraising management, which includes clean data, well-managed teams, realistic expectations, the courage to innovate and a willingness to question everything.

He said that fundraisers shouldn’t “neglect payment reconciliation”. He told delegates that back-end donor processing facilities are important, and that lots of donors can be lost due to payments not being properly collected by the charity. He said the quicker the first payment is collected, the lower the attrition rate.

Tappin also said it is important to “break down internal silos”, particularly between the finance and database teams, and that internal knowledge and understanding of face-to-face fundraising is critical for effective continuity of donor relationship.

Source: Civil Society

Related topics: Charity CRM