John Abbey´s Blog and News PageLearning Lessons from BillionairesAs we know Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are encouraging their peers to give away billions. They are taking a very simple approach by working through the top 400 richest people in the world and calling each of them up. It’s working, with 40 billionaires already making pledges including the likes of George Lucas, Barry Diller, Michael Bloomberg, Larry Ellison and Pierre Omidyar.
It’s a simple approach and one every fundraiser needs to take on board whether you are involved in trust fundraising, companies or individuals. Forget the endless hours deciding on how you put your Ask together and how you make your approach, just pick up the phone! Okay I know if Warren Buffett calls, you’re going to pick up, who wouldn’t take the call, regardless of how rich you were. However, he still has to make the pitch. He still has to sell the idea and at some point he has to close the deal!
Sometimes we complicate fundraising (most of the time). So much time and effort is put in planning, discussions, seminars and training, at huge expense, not to mention the opportunity cost. I’m not suggesting a good strategy isn’t important, but sometimes we can get too bogged down in the approach with not enough time spent on implementation and let’s face it, the quickest way to get an answer is phoning someone up, whether it is a trust, company or an individual. If you have a good project and your charity is well run you shouldn’t have to sell it too hard. If you do there is something wrong, not with you, but with the charity or the project.
Anyway enough talk, time to make some phone calls! Remember the famous Glengarry Glen Ross speech “Always Be Closing”. ABC
Starbucks to Support our troops in AfghanistanAbbey Solutions wins Starbucks for the British Forces Foundation, a charity that provides morale boosting concerts to the troops on the front line and back in the UK. We are please to announce that Starbucks has agreed to distribute 23,000 drinks vouchers to the troops this Christmas across the world. This is part of Starbucks commitment to the men, women and their families of the British Armed Forces. More to follow.... Relief effort By ASSIST India. Emergency Appeal underway. Response to Cyclone Laila.ASSIST is responding through the provision of food for 5,000 evacuated people in Prakasam District, an area particularly badly effected and an area ASSIST knows extremely well with excellent communications with the communities there.
As a next step and once water recedes, ASSIST plans to extend the relief measures to 2,000 families. These 2,000 families will be provided with 10 kgs of rice each, clothing and emergency shelter.
Urgent appeal launched. For further information contact john@abbeysolutions.co.uk According to IFS Labour government kept poverty downThe Institute of Fiscal studies has challenged the Conservatives claims that the huge sums poured into the benefits system has failed to reduce poverty. Further more the report highlights that Government cutbacks in the public sector could raise poverty in the areas where it has fallen fastest under the previous government. Full story on Financial Times website. Futurebuilders is praised by independent reportNew study praises Futurebuilders for building capacity and attracting new capital according to article on Third Sector website. The report by Sheffield University assessed whether the programme which made grants and loans of £155m to help 375 organisations bid for public service delivery contracts had increased the capacity of the voluntary and community sector to deliver public services. The report says that Futurebuilders had been effective at selecting appropriate organizations to invest in. More at Thirdsector...
NCVO and Charities Aid Foundation says inflation hits large charities hardest.According to NCVO and CAF charities are missing out by failing to ask regular donors to increase the amount they give to keep up with inflation. This is according to a new report by the NCVO and the Charities Aid Foundation. However, others in the sector argue that this may not be exactly the right time to ask regular donors for extra cash. John Abbey says: "We have after all just come out of a deep and damaging recession. The UK in particular with huge public and personal debt will take longer to recover than many other countries. Credit card debt hasn’t even reared its ugly head yet. To ask for an increase from regular donors at this time could be seen as distasteful, greedy, and completely unsympathetic to the state of the country’s and people’s personal finances. This is a time of consolidation with individual donors. We should be looking after them like never before, not squeezing more money out of them".
The report was published today
Charity receives substantial donationA UK charity supporting children through e-learning has received £280,000 donation from a new Trust. The charity purchased our Trust list which contained a trust that was linked to a much larger foundation. This contact resulted in this spectacular donation. Jo Marshall, Director of Development says: " Every charity that has purchased our list is making money year after year. These are donation that they would not have received. It makes our work so worth whiled.”
The top Children’s charity Lifelites has raised over £80,000 from a single mailing
British Forces Foundation last year hit £96,000 from a single mailing
The average seems to be around £35,000 from a single mailing.
Oxfam to benefit from Compareforgood.co.uk.This financial comparison website will give two thirds of its commission and other revenues to the NGO. The site provides quotes for insurance, savings pensions etc. Oxfam hopes the site will generate over £1 million pounds a year. This is great news for Oxfam. However, Steve Lodge writes in the weekend FT (March 6th) that Compareforgood does not always search as many deals as Moneysupermarket.com (He uses car insurance as an exampe), so the consumer may be helping Oxfam, but may not always be getting the best deal around.. Donor Fury Millions unspent in Sudan. Lessons for Haiti? Lessons for us all.In four years only one third of money ring-fenced for Southern Sudan from the World Bank has actually been used. By the end of last year only $181 million out of the $524 million the World Bank had committed to the multi donor trust fund was spent. Southern Sudan where the money is supposed to be working is desperate for hospitals, schools, clinics and of course clean water. Everyone knows the realities of working in this war torn region (well at least I thought so) but to see such slow progress does not bode well for future massive spending progammes, such as the one that will have to take place in Haiti. Meanwhile the blame game goes on with bickering between governments and agencies, while less than half the population have access to safe drinking water, only 1 in 50 children attend any type of schooling, and 1 in 6 babies die before reaching their first birthday.
It’s an international disgrace, not because it has failed, failure happens, and we can all learn from that. It is the false expectation and false promises that prove to be completely unrealistic and unhelpful that do the most damage. Government and agencies must be realistic on what they can deliver in any situation, (play down rather than play up), otherwise we let the people down we are supposed to be there for, donors become disheartened, and the anti Aid lobby voice becomes louder.
Jobs rethink urged to counter povertyWork is NOT a guarantee route out of poverty according to Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The way employers organise their workforce and the support people receive to remain and progress in their jobs are key factors. The full article can be read in today’s Financial Times Britons want Aid budget Cut according to new PollAccording to a Metro Harris poll half of people believe the government’s £7.8billion annual foreign aid budget is too high and even more think the money should be spent at home instead. The government has committed £7.8billion to foreign aid for 2010-2011, up from £5.5billion in 2008-2009.
NGOs have urged people not to see overseas relief efforts as waste of money.
Half of those questioned were also opposed to giving cash to developing countries, because they feared the money would be misused or diverted elsewhere. Only 25 per cent of people disagreed.
Nearly two-thirds suggested it would be better for Britons to offer expertise instead of cash, helping build hospitals, schools and other infrastructure.
Six out of ten people thought the aid aimed at foreign countries should be hoarded and spent in Britain instead. Some 62 per cent wanted it spent on relieving domestic poverty, while 58 per cent suggested using it to improve public services and infrastructure.
More men than women thought the emphasis on overseas aid was too high at 57 per cent, to 43 per cent.Those aged 16 to 24 were the least likely to agree, on 34 per cent.
Yet most did approve of the £18 million allocated by the government to the earthquake in Haiti and as we all know the public appeal for Haiti has been an amazing success and one well worth supporting.
Polls are of course a reflection of the moment. Perhaps if this poll had been taken before the recession a different outcome would have been found.
Aid Agencies braced for long term effort in HaitiAccording to Geoffrey Dennis, UK chief executive of Care International, aid agencies will need to be in Haiti for many years with significant funding going to the country for at least 3 years. Their is optimism that the DEC appeal will be successful, even though the world is still in a fragile economic position. Read more in todays Financial Times. Freedom in the World 2010For the fourth consecutive year, global declines in freedom outweighed gains in 2009, as measured by Freedom House’s annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2010. This represents the longest continuous period of decline for global freedom in the nearly 40-year history of the report.
For more info go to Freedom House http://www.freedomhouse.org Most charity sector professionals want Labour to win election.Third Sector and nfpSynergy survey finds greater support among charity professionals for Labour than for the Conservatives and LibDems. UK Third Sector NewsFor the latest news from fundraising to governance issues go to www.thirdsector.co.uk.
Happy New YearLast year was a tough year for millions of people, lets all hope 2010 really is a year of recovery. My website is being updated as we speak so you may have issues with loading pages for the next few days. Apologies for this. Friedman CSR of businessThe Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits
http://www.lemonjuice.biz/content/corporate-social-responsibility
Worth taking a look Large donations hold up in recessionReported in weekend Financial Times 7/8 Nov that despite recession donations from Foundations are holding up much better than expected. This is certainly our experience. Our small Trust list has generated more funds for charities in 2009 than in any other year. Childrens Charity raises £80,000Our small trust list has raised over £80,000 for a UK charity. It took just three days to send out all the letters. Not a bad return. Trustees wanted for International NGOAbbey is recruiting Trustees for a charity based in India that wishes to establish itself in the UK. Please visit www.voluntarysectorjobs.co.uk for full details Voluntary Sector JobsIf you are looking for a new position in the Third Sector please visit www.voluntarysectorjobs.co.uk.. Now on FacebookAbbey Solutions can now be found on Facebook. Join our discussion on recruitment today. |
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