Another fortnight has flown by and it is time for another summary of recent articles that have caught my eye. Enjoy.

Two excellent 101 Fundraising articles:

• A DIY workshop for lead conversion
• So you want to grow your income?

Karen with 15 ideas for testing in direct mail.

Pamela Burk shares some great comments from donors.

Agents of Good on jargon.

Stephen with the 21 habits of poor fundraisers.

Kevin on why charity branding is good for fundraising.

Beth with six steps to great graphs and charts.

John Baguley on zombie fundraising techniques.

Flat Earth Direct on value v values.

ifundraiser with 10 things to if you were to start again from scratch.

Good Works on creating a warm welcome for new donors.

The Fundraising Coach shares 21 social media tips from nonprofit experts.

Ian McQuillin explains why fundraisers are angry.

The Agitator: Generosity pays

Seth on typography.

Another new blog to share - Charity Winehouse. Check out this post which asks, "Who is your 'go to' guy?".

Time for another round-up of some of the articles I've been reading recently.

Katya hosts this month's non-profit blog carnival featuring 25 great pieces of advice.

The Agitator with two articles on direct mail: Stop Mailing! Don't stop mailing! and a look at the ACS decision to stop direct mail acquisition. 

Aline on editing and advice from David Oglivy. If you are interested in David Oglivy then Drayton Bird has a fascinating look at his life: Part 1 and part 2.

Simon George on fundraising and organisational culture.

Karen Zapp on the power of handwritten notes.

A new series from Agents of Good. It starts with three things you can do to love your donors more.

Wild Woman Fundraising shares how to write a story for an appeal letter.

Jeff's nine part series on the levels of fundraising hell ends with level 9: The treacherous.

Charlie asks if you are ok with ok?

Clarification with seven little-known secrets that will get you a visit with your donor.

Open Fundraising share a some fascinating research on attitudes to mobile giving.

The Far Edge of Promise share a story about ugly socks and major giving.

Seth asks about your manifesto and culture.

Out of office replies are normally pretty dull. Sean shares how he makes his stand out and be memorable!

I was going to blog about the decision of KBH Media to limit the amount of charity advertising on trains in London and the south east. However, Paul at Open beat me to it and made many of the points I was going to make.

However, there is one main observation that I would still like to share, which backs the point Charlie Hulme made on 101 Fundraising earlier this week.

Quality over quantity

For me the problem is not one of over supply, it's one of quality. As this channel is increasingly popular, it means that charities will have to work harder to stand out and innovate. What worked six months ago, may not work now.

KBH say that some charities have asked for a limit to be imposed on the number of ads per carriage. I'd wager a fair amount it is charities that have seen disappointing results and not those who have made a big success of train ads.

I've seen this first hand. With our first two attempts at train ads we got some great results. On roll-out we had a part disaster/part qualified success. I don't blame too much competition for this; I blame us for not improving between campaigns.

When fundraising fails, people normally blame external factors rather looking at the quality of their work. High quality fundraising works regardless of the competition.

Unintended consequences

What will be the impact of limiting the supply?

Based on classic economic theory, whenever you limit supply price goes up. 

KBH insist that isn't their intention, but I do worry that many smaller and medium sized charities will be squeezed out of using this medium as the big charities hoover up the capacity.

We've seen this happen with face to face fundraising with many smaller charities unable to meet supplier minimums for recruiting donors as larger charities buy up much of the capacity.

This has led to an issue of quantity over quality (with a race to the bottom on cost), which is one of the reasons for face to face has had such a bad press. It's still a great way to recruit donors, but it's becoming increasingly important to stand out and engage donors in different ways - see how Oxfam have used a bucket to improve their street results.

I hope KBH’s offer of dialogue is genuine and fundraiser’s can work together to make the most of mobile and train advertising.

 

It's been a manic few weeks with having a number of new team members starting, a couple of events to attend and (seemingly) a million and one other things to do -  this means the blogging has had to take a bit of a backseat. I'm hoping next week will bring a bit more time to get back into the swing of things, in the meantime, here is the latest reading round-up. Enjoy.

Clayton Burnett have released a fantastic report called 'Great Fundraising'. You can request a copy here or read some of the key points over at the Agitator.

Another report that is worth a look is this guide to visual storytelling from Visual Story Lab.

The Clarification blog with five things to do to sustain donor relationships.

Kev on the differences between leadership and management.

Kirsty shares some of her favourite thank-you's on UK Fundraising.

Kivi with the best nonprofit videos of the past year. I think the winner is fab and worth watching.

Agents of Good ask 'Are you really social?'

Return on (fundraising) talent on 101 Fundraising.

Nonprofit storytelling: what it is and what it isn't - from Karen Zapp's blog.

Sean looks at the myth of donor fatigue.

What are the 20 best films for fundraising inspiration? Stephen George proposes some of his favourites.

Seth on branding: The brand is a story. But it is a story about you, not about the brand.

Adrian Sargeant critiques the Money for Good UK report. Great reading for anyone interested in fundraising research and an important warning about believing everything you read.

Finally, I wanted to share a new blog that may be of interest to fundraiser's in small UK charities -  Lostandfoundfundraising. This post on learning to speak to your audience has some good practical advice.

 Thank you to everyone who sent me tips for the fundraising induction process. It's helped with my planning and will hopefully make for a great experience for my new team. Here is this week's fundraising reading round-up.

 Mark Astarita from the British Red Cross talks to SOFII about working with suppliers and building partnerships based on value for money.

How to set up a donor centred ask

The Good Agency look at some new charity ads and look at the power of differentiating your brand.

The new Money for Good UK report by NPC is worth a look at.

It is interesting to compare the views of philanthropist Gina Miller's on administration costs for charities and Dan Pallotta's recent TED talk. There are lots of interesting comments on the story at Third Sector and Cause 4 Opinion share their view.

Fundraising Success magazine share 15 mistakes that have already been made for you.

Advice for Good ask if it is right for charities to use neuromarketing?

And the Guardian examine the science of behavioural change and how it can help with sustainability.

Jeff starts a series on fundraising hell. Level 1 is virtuous unbelievers.

Good Works on writing at the appropriate grade level for your donors and a finding your hidden heros infograph.

Be relevant by ifundraiser.

Happy Donors with a neglected "thank you" opportunity.

"Donor fatigue" an excuse for poor fundraising practices.

In pursuit of happiness.

Through my letterbox say if it isn't broke, fix it anyway.

Fundraising...From fig leaf to friendship

Bluefrog Creative on delivering delight.

Avoid lapsed donors from Karen Zapp.

Alliance give an update on the giving pledge.

The Data Monkey asks "what's in a face?"

 

I've just recruited some new fundraisers and I am in the process of planning their induction. In my own career I've had some poor inductions at the start of a new job. When it's badly planned it can result in a slow start, low initial confidence and poor productivity as you struggle to get up to speed.

That's why I'm spending a fair amount of time in planning the first month of activity. By doing this I hope to give the team the best possible start and give them the tools and information to be a success.

Here's what I've got in mind. Do let me know if I'm missing anything or if you have any good or bad examples of organisational inductions.

1. Meetings with key people in the organisation, such as the Chief Executive.
2. Introductions to colleagues - both formal and informal. A colleague recommended 'buddying' new team members with existing ones to help them feel welcome and part of the team.
3. Overview of services, including personal tours and hands on experience.
4. HR issues - expenses, policies etc.
5. Budgets, operational plans and strategy.
6. Database training.
7. One to one planning to cover short term targets and objectives.
8. Team planning for the short and medium term.
9. Job specific training and background information on the role.
10. Feedback and review to check everything is ok.

I think it's important to spread the induction out over a reasonable period of time otherwise it can result in information overload and be quite daunting!

The other important thing is keep it relaxed and fun. Being stuck in a room as a succession of people come and do their ten minute presentation (that they don't really want to do) can be fairly disheartening!

 

The focus on donor retention that has dominated fundraising blogging since the start of 2013 continues with a number of interesting articles on the subject.

I've put those articles towards the bottom and begin some of the other posts that have caught my eye recently.

Kevin looks at three alternative fundraising and awareness campaigns.

Nancy on changing the people that matter.

Usha with a fundraising analogy from the Sanskrit scriptures and other storytelling tips.

The Good Agency share some of their Christmas fundraising results and tips for this year.

What, exactly, is your "product"?

Rosie takes a look at what has come through her letterbox this month.

Donor Dreams on using SWOT for more than just strategic planning.

Kivi with 12 things you are not taught about creative thinking.

Lessons on loyalty from Tesco via Bluefrog Creative.

Cause 4 Opinion ask about the small givers.

101 Fundraising share a great fundraising case study for a community zoo.

Are you listening? ifundraiser wants to know.

Marc Pitman hosts this month's nonprofit blog carnival on how to keep your donors wanting to come back.

Clarification consider where you're going wrong with donor retention.

The Agitator on why donors drop out.

The obvious place to start this week is the furore surrounding comments made by Giles Pegram (a man I have huge respect and admiration for) around the Summit - an event organised to talk about some of the problems facing fundraising.

You can read the full story here, plus follow up pieces by Charity Chicks and the Agitator.

Perhaps the definitive piece, and hopefully the line in the sand, comes from Ken Burnett. Right, now get back to the serious matter of fundraising!

Katya on thanking donors.

Frogloop consider strategies to increase nonprofit retention rates.

More insight on retention from the Agitator.

Agents of Good ask where is the vision?

Start talking to donors about the why and the where says the Donor Dreams blog.

John Baguley on fundraising and zombies.

What works should trump what looks nice.

Amanda gives a quick lesson on how to get someone's attention in the right way.

Advice for Good: Donor loyalty - crucial but neglected.

Building donor relationships one step at a time.

Three from 101 Fundraising:

• Margaux with seven things to make you a better fundraiser
• Rachel challenges us to be different, be brave and make it happen
• Francesco with more on emotion

The Far Edge of Promise: Why our definition of "donor research" must change.

Queer Ideas look at mobile giving.

Bright+3 asks you to pretend to be your donor (HT Jeff Brooks at Future Fundraising Now).

Clarification with some thoughts on Dan Pink's new book on selling. I'm currently reading this and finding it has lots of ideas/implementation for fundraising.