She Planted Trees So Others Could Enjoy The Shade

July 10, 2008

This morning our friend and long-time colleague Polly Agee, 61, will be buried in the National Memorial Park in Falls Church, Virginia

Personally we mourn her death (and have had quite a good wake telling “Polly stories”), but we most of all want to note her passing because she contributed so much to the small, but critically important and uniquely back-biting branch of American fundraising focused on social and political change. A contribution for which all fundraisers, regardless of politics or discipline, should be grateful

For nearly 10 years in the early days (‘70s) of the liberal advocacy movement through the late 80’s Polly was in the foxhole with us. Developing systems that are still used to this day…developing training systems still used to this day…and developing an intolerance for the mediocre that seem to have been all too recently forgotten.

As the Senior Vice President of Craver, Mathews, Smith & Company, Polly helped us launch and build many of the liberal advocacy organizations that are household names today. The National Organization for Women, National Abortion Rights Action League, Greenpeace, The Cousteau Society, and Common Cause. While at CMS she worked on dozens of United States Senate campaigns for Democratic candidates and the presidential campaigns of Morris Udall, Edward Kennedy and John Anderson. Not to mention the Democratic National Committee, The Democratic Senatorial Committee and the Democratic Congressional Committee.

Never one to suffer fools lightly Polly had a temper, but one tempered by an iron-willed discipline to get the most out of every opportunity and every person she came in contact with. And she succeeded. Today, there is a generation of seasoned direct response fundraisers in the advocacy and political arenas that are tougher and wiser because of Polly.

Polly “retired” ( her own words) in the early ‘90s. AND… then went on to start several new careers. Her energy went toward women’s equality and democracy. As Ellen Malcolm, the founder of Emily’s List puts it:

"She always had infectious enthusiasm for women candidates and so many progressive causes. And if there was ever a set-back or special challenge, Polly was ready to give a helping hand. So many of the elected Democratic women we see in public life benefited from Polly’s generosity and help.”

She trained a generation of fundraisers, but wasn’t one bit willing to stop there.

In her final years she went into life coaching and established New Directions Life Coaching which helped, trained, and mentored many.

When a pioneer dies we all should pay attention — and also pay homage.

Polly, honest to God, we’re paying attention. Don’t get mad. We’re just saying “Thank You!”

Roger and Tom

P. S. A memorial service for Polly will be held in early August. We’ll keep you posted as to dates and times.

 

 

 

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, advocacy, direct mail, direct marketing, fundraising, politics | 7 Comments 

The Latest Wake-up Call

July 7, 2008

At the very time when the stock market is dropping, unemployment is rising and fundraisers are attempting to read the tea leaves in preparation for next year’s budgets, Target Analytics has released their Index of National Fundraising Performance for the 1st Quarter of 2008 … and the picture ain’t pretty.

Not only did the number of direct response donors continue to decline, but, for the first time, the increases in revenue per donor that have compensated for the decline in number of donors failed to prevent an overall revenue drop.

The Index’s authors say the falling donor populations “may be due to a mix of factors including economic changes, a changing generational profile in the United States, changing attitudes of donors about giving, and a change in focus by fundraisers toward higher-dollar donors.

Whatever the reasons the numbers are a bit spooky:

·The number of new donors has declined 7.6 % over the past two years. (However, the rate of decline has slowed from 5.3% in the first quarter last year to 2.3% in this first quarter of 2008.)

·Retention rates continued to fall with first-year donor retention dropping 6.6% in Q1 2008 over the same quarter a year before.
·And reactivation rates declined 5.0% from Q1 2007 to Q1 2008.

Among the 72 organizations included in the Index only those in the environmental and animal welfare sectors escaped the pain. For advocacy groups (what Target Analytics calls the “Societal Benefit Sector) there is sunshine among the clouds. New donor growth rose 6.1% in Q1 2008 with 69% of the organizations in this sector showing positive donor growth.

The news wasn’t as encouraging for groups in the International Relief Sector where new donor acquisition declined 23%–the greatest decrease of any sector –and reactivation rates were down significantly as well, falling 21.6% from Q1 2007 to Q1 2008.

And we shouldn’t be looking for clear skies and a return to growth in the near-term future. As the economy slows, so does giving.

Now’s the time to take another look at next year’s budget and make sure you’re spending more, not less, to achieve on donor satisfaction and loyalty to hold on to your base.

Roger

 

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, Hot Research, Measuring Up, advocacy, charities, demographic trends, direct mail, donor retention, fundraising, loyalty, nonprofit management, nonprofits, research | Leave a Comment 

Thank You For Stealing

July 1, 2008

 

The maxim very successful fundraisers live by was set forth by George Bernard Shaw 80 years ago: "The mediocre borrow, genius steals."

In short, when you see a winning concept, campaign, technique, whatever, just steal it. Adapt it. Run with it.
Which brings me to today’s plea: All of us need to be sending more samples of good and great campaign or one-off efforts to SOFII the marvelous fundraising attic (aka: swipe file) where you can find all kinds of useful, informative and stealable stuff.
SOFFI just posted its June additions yesterday. For example:
§ActionAid’s controversial Bollocks to Poverty campaign.
§ Inspirational direct mail from a seven-year-old schoolgirl.
§ How Giving Scotland turned a crisis into a triumph.
§ A simple but brilliant idea for involving business people in the fight against heart disease.
§ Croatia’s campaign for mobility and independence for blind people.
§ A small organisation’s low-cost solution to recognising donors.
§ Hannah’s make and bake cake and biscuit sale.
§ The launch of a high level monthly giving product designed to upgrade donors in their thousands.
§ How a beautiful flower, the Edelweiss, became an involvement device and a symbol of hope for a hospice in Romania.
§ Make–A-Wish and upgrade your donors.

§ Twenty years before Barack Obama, the tale of an African American’s bid for the White House. Common Cause takes on the excesses of the American legislature. [Hey, this is copy I wrote 20+ years ago, long before "mid-level donor programs" were even a glimmer in whatever consultants’ eyes and it’s still good, he says, in all modesty :) ]

Seriously, so much great thinking, great creative and great innovation occurs every day in our trade, but we need to be far more energetic in sharing it with the rest of our world.

So please, vow to take 15 minutes, find one or two samples and get it up on SOFII’s site.

Thank you for stealing.

Roger

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under Uncategorized, advocacy, cause marketing, charities, communications, copywriting, creativity, direct mail, direct marketing, drtv, email marketing, fun | Leave a Comment 

Where Younger Voters Get Their Information

June 17, 2008

Last week, as the primary phase of the presidential campaigns ended and the run up to the November elections began in earnest, Ad Age and Digital Hollywood held their co-produced extravaganza Advertising 2.0 in New York City.

Among the panelists was Kristi Vandenbosch head of Tequila, the global marketing services network, who put together a video reel to emphasize the dramatic change in politics. Her message and the message of the video is that social media and user-generated content have fundamentally changed the political landscape. Where once the ‘brand" (read ‘candidate’) was controlled by campaigns, control has now shifted to the "consumer" (read ‘voter’).

Ms. Vandenbosch told Ad Age, "The pieces I collected in the video were examples from an informal poll I conducted asking people under 35 where they got their election information. Rather than traditional news outlets, they provided these as samples. They were more likely to trust commentary –even satirical commentary –from their peers than either news or — especially — the candidates’ advertising." I’m not sure the reason for the shift is that clear or simple, but judge for yourself.

You can watch the Ad Age video by clicking here.

Roger

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under General Post, advocacy, branding, communications, creativity, demographic trends, new media, online video | Leave a Comment 

Ready For Mobile Messaging?

April 21, 2008

Here’s a report from Nielsen that 23% of all mobile phone users (or 58 millon users) have been exposed to advertising on their phones in the past 30 days.

  • Half (51% or 28 million) of those who recall seeing mobile advertising in the previous 30 days say they responded in some way.
  • Teens, Asian-Americans and African-Americans are among those with highest recall.
  • 26% of those who saw an ad responded at least once by sending an SMS text-message, the most popular as response.

Despite these response figures, the same report indicates that only 10% of users think advertising on their mobile devices is acceptable! Go figure.

I confess to being an old codger … so woe to the advertiser that finds their way onto my cell phone uninvited.

But what about you and your nonprofit … are you ready to experiment with mobile messaging? Have any experiences you’d like to share? Try Mobile Active for ideas.

Tom

 

Posted by tbelford | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, advocacy, communications, new media | 3 Comments 

Conservative Media Bias? No Way!

March 18, 2008

We’ve heard plenty about liberal media controlling the hearts and minds of America.

Here’s a great online service, Media Matters, for those more worried about conservative media bias.

Around since 2004, Media Matters documents and analyzes "conservative misinformation" thoughout the media. Its mission:

"Media Matters works daily to notify activists, journalists, pundits, and the general public about instances of misinformation, providing them with the resources to rebut false claims and take direct action against offending media institutions."

You can sign up for regular updates and get involved in action campaigns directed at media outlets.

Tom

Posted by tbelford | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, advocacy, communications | Leave a Comment