Follow some of these accounts of how Komen is responding (or should):

From Holly Hall at the Chronicle of Philanthropy

From the Washington Post

From social media commentator Erik Sass

From blogger Kivi Leroux Miller, a play-by-play

I’m sure there will be more. This affair will become a classic  in the annals of nonprofit crisis management, in part because it’s the first such major meltdown to occur in the social media era. Forgive me for being clinical, but focus on what Komen did wrong (from a communications perspective) and what PPFA did right (from a communications and fundraising perspective).

What if a crisis of confidence and trust in your organization arose? How prepared would you be to acknowledge the facts, respond with alacrity and truthfulness, describe and implement with full transparency the needed changes, and get back to the mission of communicating the positive work of your organization to your donors, other key constituencies and the media?

Tom

P.S. Don’t forget the webinar Roger is moderating this week that will present a new approach and tool for pre-testing packages, developed by DonorVoice. Register here FREE for your seat at the February 9^th  (11:30 EST) Direct Mail Testing Webinar.

From the Chronicle of Philanthropy, here’s a list of America’s Top 50 donors in 2011, the amounts given and the lucky charities.

These 50 donors gave $10.4 billion … although #1, Margaret Cargill, an heir to the fortune of her grandfather’s Cargill Corporation (agriculture and food production), gave $6 billion of that in a bequest to her two foundations (which give to the American Red Cross, Nature Conservancy, YMCA and Public Broadcasting Service, among others).

Twenty-nine donors gave $50 million or more.

My favorite is Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder. Wonderfully eclectic giving — arts, social services, a rock music museum, Native Americans entrepreneurship, a science fiction museum, and neuroscience. He’s the guy on this list I’d most want to have dinner with.

Tom

So I’m recommending you read Getting Attention’s Nancy Schwartz’s excellent analysis of the Komen vs. Planned Parenthood debacle from the perspective of what makes for effective (and ineffective communications) and smart fundraising (on Planned Parenthood’s part) in response to threat.

Tom

P.S. Stuff ‘em Planned Parenthood!

There’s an underlying phenomenon here that’s highly relevant, I think, to nonprofit fundraising.

Pew reports that more than half of adult cell phone owners used their cell phones while they were in a store to seek help with their purchase decision:

• 38% of cell owners used their phone to call a friend while they were in a store for advice about a purchase they were considering making;
• 24% of cell owners used their phone to look up reviews of a product online while they were in a store; and,
• 25% of adult cell owners used their phones to look up the price of a product online while they were in a store, to see if they could get a better price somewhere else.

What’s really going on here? Consumers are looking for reassurance … and they’re looking for it from the source they trust most — other consumers who are friends or who have written reviews based on their own experience. And they’re looking for comparison information, specifically with respect to price … seeking value for money.

In short, they’re realizing … “I don’t need to be on my own making this decision. Advice is just  a few taps away.” They are being trained to consult with others because it’s so easy and immediate.

So, now they’re home, having purchased a new iPhone or iPad, and your prospect mailing shows up. What might they do?

I wouldn’t necessarily say that they’ll pick up the phone and ask a friend … “Should I give to Worldvision or Save the Children?” Although indeed some might inquire of a friend if they support either. Or they might recall reassuringly that a friend has ‘liked’ one of the organizations on their Facebook page.

What I do think many (most even?) will do is go online for some form of validation. They’ll go to the organization’s website and poke around.

And, given the consumer shopping experience described above, where peer referrals are hugely important, what should they readily find?

I would suggest — above all — TESTIMONIALS!

Testimonials both from very satisfied beneficiaries of the organization’s work and from real donors who appreciate the organization’s accomplishments. Testimonials in a variety of formats, from short quotes to short videos.

Secondarily, but definitely not with the same weight as the testimonials, strong ratings from the charity raters (or some other straightforward reassurance/evidence about financial accountability and transparency). Price comparison isn’t really a relevant concept in the fundraising setting. But reassurance about money being properly managed and delivering big bang for the buck clearly is.

Few offers (or solicitations) are considered in isolation anymore. The best thing you can do to address that reality is make sure your online presence is your prospect’s reassuring friend.

Tom

Yet the Agitator hardly ever sees any fundraising mention of the Hispanic audience.

So we were gratified to see this article regarding a charity that has built a Hispanic donor base of some 226,000 individuals. I’ll bet you think it’s a huge charity — maybe one of those health/disease or child sponsor behemoths.

Wrong … guess again. A religious organization? Now you’re getting hot.

It’s Priests of the Sacred Heart.

What this group does successfully is not brain surgery; nor does it require a blockbuster budget. They simply focus on relevance and appropriately nuanced communication. If they can do it … you can too.

Here is their approach. (from Dimensions, National Catholic Development Conference).

Tom

P.S. Thanks to ListenUpEspanol for the heads-up.

I playfully asked “Why 23?” SOFII’s Ken Burnett responded with a Comment that I wanted to share, in part, more broadly:

“And why 23?  Well, we started with 21 (seemed like the key to the door or something, a nice handy number), and privilege of course decreases when shared. So we’ll probably keep it under 50, but we’d love to be able to showcase a small number of truly brilliant campaigns that by common consent are judged the best in the world.

This was our first attempt and isn’t definitive. The first 21 were not selected very scientifically (by regularity of use and popular request). Since then we’ve added only two, by recommendation. We’d love to have more great stuff coming forward but getting fundraisers to share their exhibits is like pulling teeth. [Emphasis added by The Agitator] Surprises me, of course, as I originally assumed fundraisers would want to show off their brilliance.

But no, collectively it seems we’re surprisingly shy. Or perhaps too busy. Or  people assume it’s harder to do than it is.

To any Agitator readers out there, if you have a campaign or a promotion that you think could join or even unseat any of SOFII’s current Best of the Best, do please send it in. We’ve made the process real easy – see www.sofii.org.”

So, one more time, we urge you to share your best work. There’s a lot of need out there … we all need to raise heaps of money to meet it. And SOFII is a great place to do your sharing.

Tom

Each comes with a link describing or illustrating the campaign.

I have two favorites on this list …

The UNICEF card that launched that’s organization’s fundraising in 1946 — just because it’s so iconic. [A little tricky to navigate ... but the card drawing is there!]

The Station WDCN, Nashville “thank you” to a donor — because it exemplifies the best of donor stewardship.

But also read the disheartening results of legendary fundraiser Ken Burnett’s ‘mystery shopper’ test for America’s PBS stations, from which the WDCN response was extracted — nearly half the stations tested didn’t acknowledge the donation at all! That was in 1994 … hopefully things have improved!

Have they?

Tom

P.S. My only question … Who ever heard of a “Top 23″ list?!

Agitator friend Caity Craver thought this wasn’t a bad list for nonprofit fundraisers to think about.

1. In all things, look for money first. Listen to people with money, respond to people with money, justify your actions around money.
2. Embrace the fact that you don’t know what you’re talking about. Aspire to run systems you don’t understand.
3. Compromise over the important issues, but dig in and fight forever over trivia.
4. Along those lines: focus obsessively on the short run. Even though you are virtually assured of re-election, define the long term as “before the next election.”
5. Take months off from your day job (with pay) to actively campaign for a better job.
6. Blame the system, the other side and your predecessors for the fact that you are not taking brave, independent action.
7. Avoid developing independent thought and analysis. Focus on parroting the work of lobbyists and the party line.
8. When given the choice between being on television or doing hard work, pick television.
   When a difficult problem shows up, duck.
9. Try mightily to outlast passionate resistance by quietly ignoring it and waiting for it to go away.

My favorite is #3.

What do you think?

Tom

And thinking about #6 — taking brave independent action — for you direct response fundraisers, perhaps nothing requires more courage than setting out to ‘beat the control’. Roger’s moderating a webinar that will present a new approach and tool for pre-testing packages, developed by DonorVoice. Seats in the February 9^th Direct Mail Testing Webinar are going fast. Agitator Readers can register here FREE.

The Agitator also reports on the GivingUSA and the Blackbaud Indexes, but unlike those, the Atlas does not rely on surveys or selective data as provided by a limited number of nonprofits. Rather it measures total giving by sector as it occurs monthly. And, unlike either Giving USA or Blackbaud, the Atlas provides an annual forecast of the year ahead that is then updated monthly.

For 2012 the Atlas forecasts continued growth in giving, but at a slower pace — 3.9% in 2012 compared with 7.5% in 2011.

You can learn more about their methodology, the 2011 results and 2012 forecast in a FREE webinar to be presented on February 1st at 3pm EST. Register at www.infiniteconferencing.com/join and type in the participant code 79508108.

Key Takeaways from 2011 Atlas Report

• Contributions totaled $346.17 billion – a 7.5% increase over 2010.

• Giving growth was particularly strong in four states: PA (+13.1%), IL (+ 12%), FL(+10.9%) and TX (+10.0%).

• Growth in giving to Education was particularly strong (+8.9%) while Human Needs/Disaster Giving lagged other sectors (+ just 5.8%).

• Both Individual Giving (+7.8%) and Bequests (+7.5%) grew. And notably, gifts to Donor Advised Funds reached record levels.

Key Takeaways from 2012 Atlas Forecast

• Giving will continue to grow in 2011. But unlike the 7.5% growth rate for 2011, Atlas is forecasting that giving will grow at a slower pace — 3.9%.
  

• The forecast is bright for charities with an environmental mission – projected to be up 8%.

• But the church/religious sector is forecast to grow at just 1.6%.

• Political fundraising will divert some dollars from charitable giving but the impact will not be significant. The Atlas forecasts it will be much less than 1% for overall charitable giving. Of course some sectors will be more affected than others.

How do your 2011 results compare? And what increase in giving have you projected for 2012? Would love to hear from you.

Roger

P.S. I’ve noted in previous posts that if you’re a consultant, an on-staff fundraiser or board member, The Atlas of Giving, with its forecasts by sector and its state-by-state analysis is a “must” for your library. There’s a Free Edition and a Professional Edition. Check ‘em out at www.atlasofgiving.com.

And don’t forget to register for the Atlas February 1st webinar at www.infiniteconferencing.com/join and type in the participant code 79508108.

There’s simply too much good stuff going on out there to spend time dithering about whether or when the economy will rebound, for boards to come to their senses … or whatever folks spend their time worrying about. Usually, things over which none of us has any control.

Agitator Readers are special and we sure don’t want them looking back on 2012 wishing “If I had only known” about this innovation or that innovation.

Equally, we have no desire to tout, hype or otherwise go overboard on the latest New, New Thing. Too much of that going around already.

Rather, our goal with the new Agitator Toolbox is to serve up innovations that have been tested and proven. And we’ll also focus on innovative approaches and processes that build on basic and sound fundraising and donor relationship practices.

Some of these tools, applications and case histories will come from our colleagues at DonorVoice, DonorTrends and TrueGivers. Others from serendipitous discoveries we make while attending conferences and reading mounds of research reports. Still others from alert readers. We hope you’ll share your discoveries with us.

Because a large number of Agitator Readers find themselves dealing with direct mail, our first entry for the Toolbox is about a proven tool designed to identify likely direct mail package winners and losers – without having to waste needless time and money on waiting for ink to dry and the postal service to deliver. It’s all explained by Kevin Schulman, the CEO of DonorVoice.

WARNING: You won’t find the Toolbox in your daily email feed; rather it’s a feature that will appear on the homepage of The Agitator’s website along with other features  we hope prove helpful. Features like our Jobs section … an Archive now Searchable by Categories … and some older favorites like Comments, a constantly updated listing of The Agitator Community, and our popular Blogroll.

We’ve added or rearranged others in response to requests and guidance provided by Agitator Readers in our recent survey.

We hope you’ll pass along any discoveries involving tools, applications and processes you think are innovative and helpful. Help us fill the Agitator Toolbox. Together we can explore a fundraising world that’s filled with opportunity.

Roger and Tom

P.S. A Webinar on the Direct Mail Pre-Test Tool will be held on Thursday, February 9 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time.  Registration is FREE, but attendance limited on a first come basis.  Sign up here.