Conor's Fundraising Blog

Best Christmas Campaign

conorbyrne — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:52:44 +0000

I think Christmas brings out some incredibly innovative ideas in charities. Years ago the Christmas pin or badge was the big thing, recently its the Christmas gift list. Well this year I’m setting out to find the most innovative and creative Christmas campaign. It can be a new twist on an old idea, an old idea [...]

The Fun Theory

conorbyrne — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:57:36 +0000

I thought this was kind of cool, came across it on Twitter (cant remember the person who tweeted it, sorry!). The idea is “dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or something entirely different, the [...]

Twitterboard at 29th IFC

conorbyrne — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:56:29 +0000

Ah yes…us Fundraisers are really at the cutting edge aren’t we. At this years International Fundraising Congress Innophoria Lab’s introduced a Twitter Billboard during the four-day conference. Well done to all invovled especially Alan Bird and Kristina Fitzpatrick for their work in supporting this new, Twitter-orientated social network. Posted in Social Media Tagged: IFC, Twitterboard [...]

Adopt a Word

conorbyrne — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:42:13 +0000

I came across this on Twitter last week and thought it was just brilliant. The concept is really clever and pretty simple: The English Language is up for sale. I CAN, the children’s communication charity, supported by Collins, is giving you the chance to exclusively own part of the English language at www.adoptaword.com . All proceeds go [...]

Make a Wish (irl) Ad

conorbyrne — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:10:51 +0000

Make a Wish Foundation Ireland have had an ad made for them by Ogilvy and Mather. The agency got (in their own words) world-class Irish & international illustrators, TV production companies, animators, television networks, media owners, printers, ordinary joe-soaps and no less than John Hurt to chip in all their time and services free, gratis [...]

Guide to Cause Marketing

conorbyrne — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:48:52 +0000

Sandra Sims has done a nice piece on Cause Marketing. Its kind of a beginners guide, but she makes some great points that are reminders to us all. Here are some of the highlights, but check out the full article here While these campaigns can be beneficial, a nonprofit-business partnerships should not be entered into lightly. [...]

Irish National Fundraising Awards – Winners Announced

conorbyrne — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:51:48 +0000

Now in its 2nd year the Fundraising Awards took place last week and the winners were. The awards had just 70 nominations in 3 main categories and 6 sub categories. Would be great to see more nominations next year. The winners were The 2009 Fundraiser of the Year Award for large organisations went to Michael Sheridan of [...]

CARE USA Chaperoned Emails

conorbyrne — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:03:49 +0000

This was on SOFII this week (seriously, you need to check that site out!). Anyway this is a great concept. A chaperoned email is an email that a publisher sends to its own online magazine subscribers, on behalf of a nonprofit. The email may ask for a donation, or ask for another action, such as writing [...]

Fred Hollows Foundation wins Gold Star Award

conorbyrne — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:35:44 +0000

The Fred Hollows Foundation was the winner of the Gold Star Award for non-profit video advertising at this years IFC. I really liked this video, I was engaged by Fred’s story, I understood what Fred had done and I felt like I could be part of his legacy by supporting the foundation and have an [...]

13 Nonprofits Honoured for Outstanding Taglines

conorbyrne — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:30:16 +0000

“Nothing Stops A Bullet Like A Job” Pulls Top Honors for Homeboy Industries Maplewood, NJ – Both large and small nonprofits earned top honors this week for their attention-getting taglines, demonstrating again that an organization of any size can craft a powerful, pithy motto to build awareness and connect with its key audiences. “A high-impact tagline is [...]

Pink Backlash

conorbyrne — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:23:18 +0000

You can hardly not notice that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. No other cause has been able to do what the Breast Cancer charities have been able to do and brand a month and own a colour. I love it. For the first time ever though this year I have seen some articles from people [...]

New Barnardos (irl) TV ad

conorbyrne — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:35:52 +0000

Paul Dervan was telling me about this ad. It’s really well made, some pretty powerful images, I think it certainly shows what things can impact a childs life and the impact that they have. Im not clear on how Barnardos help though after watching the ad? It does make you think though. My biggest issue [...]

Resource Alliance Reveals Shortlisted Entries for International DRTV Award

conorbyrne — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:04:27 +0000

The Resource Alliance, has unveiled the top four entries shortlisted for the International DRTV Award for charities and NGOs – the Gold Star Award for Non-Profit Video Advertising 2009. The shortlisted videos will be presented at the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) in Holland on 21 October, where delegates will vote live for the winning entry. The Gold [...]

In-person ‘asks’ boost fundraising

conorbyrne — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:23:10 +0000

The Philanthropy Journal had this report last week, well worth a read: Echoing conventional wisdom in the fundraising profession, nonprofits can raise more money if donors are asked for gifts in person by people they know, says a study that examines where and why donors make their largest gifts. Donors to secular charities who were approached [...]

Santa Rita Hero

conorbyrne — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:45:21 +0000

Santa Rita want you to nominate your Hero, You could win a trip for 2 to chile and 10k for your hero to spend in their community. I dont actually get the link between Santa Rita wine and Heroes, and its not explained on the facebook page, but still nice thing for someone to win. Check [...]

Marketing for Change

conorbyrne — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:04:51 +0000

I read about this at the weekend, it started with started with Alternatives founders Sandra & Aldagh seeing how they could apply their business competency to make a real difference in addition to the work they were doing with their selected charity. The idea is simply to bring charities and experienced marketers together. It allows the charities benefit from [...]

SOFII’s new look

conorbyrne — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:46:18 +0000

Are you checking out SOFII (showcase of fundraising innovation and inspiration). I have said it before and I will say it again, you should be. Its a fantastic resource, lots of great fundraising campaigns that will help you and inspire you in your work. They are testing a new design which should be going live soon, [...]

Bmycharity – Free My Charity

conorbyrne — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:31:54 +0000

The buzz yesterday on Twitter was all about Bmycharity dropping charges for fundraisers on their site, charities just pay a one off set up fee of 150 pounds! They are starting the Free My Charity campaign. Great idea, certainly puts it up to the competition doesnt it? Here is what they say about it: We believe fundraising should [...]

Annual Events having no impact

conorbyrne — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:03:24 +0000

Im against these events. I think events that have been running for a few years need to demonstrate an impact. There is an ad on the radio at the moment that says “Due to lack of Funding we can’t do X” That’s how the ad starts, now maybe its just me but if I had held [...]

Charity Water have 1 Million Followers on Twitter

conorbyrne — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:56:07 +0000

The first charity to have 1 million followers, congrats. Now they want to harness that into 1 million people getting clean water. I really love the work they do and how they demonstrate their impact, you should really check them out. Posted in Social Media Tagged: Charity Water