Giancarlo Ramaioli

by damian on May 27, 2009

Many of you will have known Giancarlo, who passed away yesterday after a long illness.

Back in 1989, Gian co-founded Graphiconies, which later became Public Communications Centre. Myself and Gian worked together in PCC from 1994 until 2001 and shared an office for much of that time. When I joined, Gian had the job of teaching me everything I needed to know about printing - now long forgotten curiosities such as output bureaux, film and cromalins.

Way back in the last century, Gian was an online evangelist, seeing the potential of the internet for nonprofits long before most charities even noticed it. The Community Exchange newsletter he established while at PCC endures still as a vital communication and networking resource for the sector.

Gian was an incredibly hard-working and committed man. He had a passion for the nonprofit world and the issues that drive us. And he was a beautiful basketball player, dazzling us mere mortals on the court in the YMCA on Thursday evenings.

The last time he emailed me, he told me he was back doing chemotherapy and that he had “to get used to the fact that the tumor might get in a ‘bad mood’ at some stage - hopefully not before 2050…. ;-)”

It was characteristic of his quiet sense of humour, and while the tumor may have got in a ‘bad mood’, throughout his illness Gian never seemed to. He fought it with the same determination, passion and commitment that he brought to his work.

Our deepest sympathies go out to his wife Paola and all his family.

(There’s a far more eloquent tribute to Gian on the PCC website.)

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IFC Online just about to start…

by damian on May 12, 2009

ifc online logo

The world’s “first global virtual fundraising conference” is just about to start. Mari Tikkanen will kick things off with a session on Using social media to re-energize relations and mobilize support from government donors at 12.30 today.

Some of the other highlights include, Obama-man Scott Goodstein talking about digital advocacy, Mal Warwick on Fighting the Recession with Online Tools on Nick Allen on how to build an email list.

You can still register here.

You can follow the liveblog here.

And the twitter tag is #ifconline

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Just a quick post to mention that ourselves and Barnardos took home the Bronze Award for Best Direct Mail (High Volume) at the An Post Direct Marketing Awards last night.

Barnardos also won the Best Charity and Best Creative Golds for their Big Toddle campaign. When we’ve recovered fully, we’ll post some more

{ 2 comments }

Are you your donor’s biggest fan?

by damian on April 26, 2009

I’ve been reading some of the twitter coverage of the London Marathon today and two things stick out. The first, is the good news that fundraising appears to be significantly up. Bmycharity are reporting funds raised through their site up by 47%, while Friday was a record day for fundraising on the JustGiving site.

More interesting, however, is to read the tweets from many charities who are actually at the Marathon and cheering their runners on (as well as tweeting their runners on). Action Aid and Shelter among others are there in person.

So my question is, when the Mini-Marathon rolls around in June, will you be out with your fundraising team, waving banners and cheering wildly as your supporters run their hearts our for your cause?

{ 2 comments }

We’re delighted that we’ve been nominated in three categories in the An Post Direct Marketing Awards.

Our CPR campaign for the Irish Heart Foundation was nominated in Best First Time Use.heartfndenv

And Barnardos ‘Hard Times’ campaign was nominated in Best Charity & Public Sector and Best Direct Mail (High Volume).

hardtimes

Fingers crossed for judgement day on 7 May. Wish us luck.

{ 1 comment }

An online reality check

by damian on April 22, 2009

With all the hype around online fundraising and campaigning in the wake of the Obama campaign, the Agitator points to a good case study from California’s Prop 8 campaign (from the anti-gay marriage side - but don’t let that put you off).

What’s interesting is that the ‘Yes on Prop 8′ campaign, despite having an older, supposedly more conservative base, outgunned their younger, obama-phile competitors. Which shows that you don’t need a youthful, trendy issue to get traction online.

But what’s also interesting is how much it cost. They raised $7m online (Can you already hear your Chief Executive telling you they want one of those online campaign thingys - and all that cash?)

But it cost them $1m.

A very good return on investment, but a considerable outlay all the same.

So next them someone in your organisation starts talking about an Obama style campaign to raise tons of money online and mobilise half the country to campaign on your latest issue, tell them sure it can be done, but can we have a proper budget now please.

{ 0 comments }

Who said twitter was banal and rubbish?

by damian on April 15, 2009

It was probably me, actually. I spent a long time baffled by it’s popularity and sneering at it’s trendiness. But that’s behind me now. In recent weeks I was really beginning to see it’s power and it’s potential - to build opt-in networks of interested people, to drive traffic, to engage supporters and to provide a presence (an easily updated one) where some of your supporters are.

But then I heard about Hugh Jackman.

Well, obviously, I’d already heard of Hugh Jackman. What actually happened was I heard about RealHughJackman, who is, naturally, the real Hugh Jackman.

hughjackman2

And more particularly, I heard (via Conor) of his plan to donate $100,000 to one individual’s favourite charity - the catch being that you have to persuade him, via twitter, in 140 characters or less.

hughjackman1

So off you go. Start tweeting.

PS - you can follow my brilliant, insightful and utterly compelling twittering here

{ 2 comments }

In short, because it will make you money. Today and into the future. In fact, it may be the most secure method of fundraising to invest in during a downturn.

But I would say that, wouldn’t I? I run a direct marketing agency.

Well let’s look at the data.

Of the five donor mailings we produced for clients last Christmas for which we have results and a valid comparator, four did better than in 2007 in terms of response rate and income. Average gifts varied - some steady, some up, some down. But overall income for the four in question was up on 2007.

OK, so donors are still giving. What about recruitment?

If anything, the picture is even better. Each of the four campaigns where we can benchmark against a previous campaign show better results for Christmas 2008 than 12 months previously.

Ah, you say, but the economy is deteriorating at such a pace that last Christmas isn’t relevant anymore. There’s another 100,000 people out of work. We’ve been battered, bludgeoned and budgeted by bad news. And anyway, Christmas was a last hurrah, the celtic tiger donors dispensing the last of their alms before battening down the hatches and canceling their foreign holidays, kitchen extensions and charity direct debits.

Actually, no. The sky hasn’t fallen in in 2009. It’s early days yet, but we’ve got initial results in from two campaigns so far and both are up - significantly - on 2008. And that’s for donor mailings and cold recruitment.

Donors are still giving. New donors are still signing up. While many of us are understandably trimming back it seems clear that, for ordinary people, the desire to help others is as strong - or stronger - than ever. Philanthropy is not the first thing go. Far from it.

{ 5 comments }

Trócaire once again prove that they’re leading the way online with their bebo campaign for Lent. They’ve produced a 16 (so far) episode online drama - a media studies student in Maynooth receives a video clip from Africa on his mobile phone and sets out to investigate it for his college project.

It’s (pretty) believable, well made and engaging. Interestingly the link they sent out via email was to most recent episode, rather than the first. I don’t know if this was deliberate or just a quirk, but it worked to heighten the curiosity and draw the viewer in.

I don’t know who’s managing it - whether it’s Trócaire or Kevin, the student in the clips. But it feels far more real than most viral campaigns, and Kevin keeps it up to date by responding to posts and answering questions.

More please.

{ 0 comments }

Nick Cave’s underpants

by damian on March 27, 2009

As mentioned in today’s Irish Times. Definitely the strangest fundraising campaign I’ve come across today. The New North London Synagogue’s Destitute Asylum Seeker Drop in (what a mouthful - sounds terribly Victorian) has persuaded 37 famous folk to sign their undies and put them up for auction on ebay.

Mr. Cave’s small’s are currently going for £112 plus post and packaging. If that’s a bit steep, Alison Goldfrapp’s ‘butt warmers’ are a snip at £62 and Ray Winstone’s can be had for just £25. Or you could splash out on Steve Bell’s cartooned y-fronts at £330.

{ 1 comment }

Fundraising Ireland Presentation - 26 March

by damian on March 26, 2009

Here’s my presentation from the conference today:

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Come in, have a look around…

by damian on March 26, 2009

Welcome to our new website. The builders are done, but the decorators are still finishing off and we’re running through the snag list - do tell us if you spot anything wrong. We’ll be finishing off the last few bits over the next few days. 

Now make yourself comfy and have a good snoop around.

{ 2 comments }

Moving the furniture

by damian on March 23, 2009

We’re going to be moving the furniture around here over the next couple of days as we get ready for our shiny new website. There may be a few glitches and hiccups, so apologies in advance if everything goes a bit wonky for a day or two.

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I’ll be speaking at Fundraising Ireland’s first National Conference at the end of March in Croke Park. I’m doing a 90 minute session on 66 ways to improve your direct marketing. If you have any ideas, hints or great examples of direct marketing that you think I should include, get in touch. If I include your tip, I will of course give you a plug on the day.

There’s a strong line up of speakers on the day, including the always enlightening Bernard Ross talking about sticky stuff.

Book here

{ 0 comments }

We’re looking for a direct marketing & fundraising account executive to cover a maternity leave period starting in March 2009.

The ideal candidate will have two-to-three years experience in a fundraising, marketing or communications environment, in either the not-for-profit, public or private sectors. Experience of direct marketing would be a distinct advantage, as would experience in any client-facing role, such as client management or customer service.

This is a great opportunity to work with some of the most dynamic charities in Ireland and gain a huge amount of direct marketing experience.

An attractive salary commensurate with experience will be offered to the successful candidate.

For a full job description, person specification and details of how to apply, please email the jobs desk

Closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 7 January 2009.

Oh, and we’re only interested in hiring people who want to be the best.

[tags]recruitment, jobs, direct marketing, fundraising[/tags]

{ 2 comments }