Telling a story simply...

A phone number on your t-shirt could be the only way to inform your family that you didn't make it to #Europe. pic.twitter.com/s71VNNvwcu

— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) May 30, 2016

You've probably guessed that I'm increasingly in awe of the people at MSF.

The humanitarian crisis in Europe has really touched me, so I've been researching and engaging with a lot of organisations who are working there to help.

MSF are the organisation who have impressed me the most for a whole range of reasons.

One of them is they way they are telling the story of what they are doing and the people they are helping.

It's positive when it can be, heartbreaking when it's heartbreaking and most of all - it feels authentic. So whether it's updates from their boat in the Mediterranean or stories from the camps in Europe, they are telling stories in an authentic voice in a way that's grabbing my attention.

I don't know the internal workings of MSF, but I can only assume that to deliver this masterclass in digital communications they've kept it simple. It's clear they trust their staff to tell the story in real time, that they're looking for the human stories and that they recognise that the simple tools of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are invaluable in building communities and support around the issues. We can all learn a lot from them.

More great examples follow...

Around 900 #people may have died in the #CentralMediterranean in the last week alone. #Europe,this is unbearable. pic.twitter.com/j73FsSsO99

— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) May 29, 2016

BREAKING: First goal to Madrid!!!! High excitement for the #championsleaguefinal2016 on the #Argos! pic.twitter.com/CjefL8qR4U

— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) May 28, 2016

UPDATE: The 1sttrain is coming through a cleared out #Idomeni -the eviction of 1000s of #refugees is almost over. pic.twitter.com/CGe4tV2YEB

— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) May 26, 2016

A child from Syria holds a placard reading: 'EU, Turkey: We are not merchandise' at a camp for refugees and migrants in Idomeni, northern Greece. Two months after the signing of the deal by the European Union and Turkey, the situation continues to deteriorate for migrants and refugees incarcerated on the Greek islands. "Pushing people back to their country of last transit transforms asylum into nothing but a political bargaining chip to keep refugees as far away from European borders and the eyes of the European voting public as possible." - Dr Joanne Liu, MSF international president. #MSF #DoctorsWithoutBorders #Syria #Greece #Refugee #RefugeeCrisis © Gemma Gillie/MSF

A photo posted by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (@doctorswithoutborders) on May 19, 2016 at 3:36am PDT

Our very own @alvsakaalva is on board the MSF Aquarius for the next couple of months reporting on the refugee crisis. Make sure to follow her for all the latest updates from MSF and @sosmediterranee. #MSF #doctorswithoutborders #aquarius #Mediterranean #MediterraneanSea #Refugeecrisis #Refugee #takepeoplein #sosmed

A photo posted by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (@doctorswithoutborders) on May 13, 2016 at 1:07pm PDT

If we keep on doing the same things the same things will keep on happening...

We Are Social Presents The Social Marketing Mix from We Are Social

If we keep on doing the same things the same things will keep on happening.

If all we do is defend the things we've done before we will become defensive.

If we criticise everything that is new we will become outdated and eventually irrelevant.

We need to have an eye on where the supporters, activists and campaigners of tomorrow are.

They are all over social media.

(and we'd be really really stupid to ignore where their kids and grandkids are - they're in the same place)

This set of slides is very good brain food for all progressive fundraisers, campaigners and activists.

Ignore them at your leisure and keep on doing the same old things.

Because that's working just fine right?

Look Up.

This is well worth a watch. Fiona made me aware of it over on that Facebook.

Yes we are all connected.

We all know we're just a little too obsessed with our phones.

We all know that we look a bit too often to see if anything is happening on social media. And that invariably nothing is happening.

Make sure you put your phone down from time to time.

It's amazing what you can see when you look up.

All the digital stats you could ever want... (for now anyway...)

Digital, Social & Mobile in 2015 from We Are Social Singapore

The lovely people at We Are Social have been at it again. This time they have compiled all the stats related to digital you could ever need into one monster slideshow.

The headlines...

You should flick through their blog as it's a brilliant resource for all things digital.

What's going on in India and why it matters...

We Are Social do great slide deck.

This one is all about India.

Some highlights...

886.3 million active mobile subscriptions or 70% of the population.

70% of web traffic from mobile/tablet.

92 million active social media users via mobile.

Social, Digital & Mobile in India 2014 from We Are Social Singapore

You may wonder why I care..

I care because I believe that globalisation is coming for fundraising.

The rise off mobile use means that fundraising propositions can sit outside of national borders.

No credible reason why the biggest fundraising brands in the UK can't be fundraising outside of the UK.

Lots of reasons why it won't happen quickly. But it can, will and should happen.

EDIT: And as Bernard pointed out on Twitter, there is no reason why charities in other parts of the world can't generate response here.

A #tubestrike update from Save the Children

I like this. Spotted on Save the Children UK's Facebook page.

So today in London there are tube strikes. Save the Children jumped on it quickly this morning and posted a spoof of the TFL tube line status graphic. With a link to how you can help. When I looked it had been shared 356 times. Like I said, I like it.

Social media for you & you...

More goodness from 'we are social'.

We Are Social - Making Friends & Influencing People (2014) from We Are Social Singapore

Their regular social media/technology usage stat breakdowns and opinion pieces are useful & beautiful.

Social, Digital & Mobile Worldwide in 2014

A great collection of stats for your viewing pleasure from the fab 'we are social'.

Social, Digital & Mobile Around The World (January 2014) from We Are Social Singapore

Social Media in 2013: if you're going to use it you need to understand it

A great recap on social media in 2013 with a US perspective...



Of course it's a fad and will never catch on...

Likes don't save lives (II)

A while ago I blogged on UNICEF Sweden's 'Likes don't save lives' campaign.

I missed this film.



I like it.

A 2013 internet trend geek fest from Mary Meeker

I've just spent far too much time looking at this.

A wonderful collection of digital/mobile/social stats pulled together by Mary Meeker. A full 117 slides of statistic fun.

KPCB Internet Trends 2013 from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

One of my my favourite stats. Mobile traffic made up 15% of all internet traffic in the whole world in May 2013. And it is obviously only going one way.

The adoption of smartphones in China is extraordinary as is the fact that mobile search surpassed desktop search in South Korea at the end of 2012.

Enjoy comrades.

Friend to friend fundraising from Finland

I like this from Plan Finland.

Fundraising is broken. As the film says...

"Fundraising is broken.

More people than ever are in need.

But on the street fundraisers are ignored."



This campaign aims to crack peer to peer, or friend to friend fundraising. The concept is simple and brilliant. The process looks a bit clunky - but it's raising money and getting attention so it has a good chance.

I worry about the requirement for Facebook logins and app authorisations in campaigns like this, as I fear they may suppress response. But in this case it's part of the process, it is the idea, if you want to share something with a friend, it's all about Facebook.

You can see more on the Girls Can website, there is an English version.

I saw this originally on Connor Byrne's blog. Which is a great blog. Go see.

The social media revolution

A totally brilliant video/animation packed full of stats and insights about social media trends and usage.

Updated for 2013.



And I don't even like Fat Boy Slim that much.

Text to inspire the next generation

I've loved every minute of the Olympics & Paralympics.

I love the C4 Paralympic ad and I love the fact Public Enemy have recut the video with footage from the games.

I love that Scope are using text to donate to harness the positivity around the games in order to fundraise.

Text DREAM to 70007 to give £3 to Scope to help young disabled people follow their dream. 

You could copy and paste that last sentence right into your Facebook status or a tweet!

That Public Enemy video...

Dig the Big Dig

WaterAid have launched the Big Dig with this superb campaign film.

The campaign aims to make sure that by the end of the summer 134,000 people in some of the poorest communities in rural Malawi get access to clean water.

The campaign is really interesting as it will supported by live blogging and Instagram via smartphone from two of WaterAid's staff on the ground in Malawi. We will see the success of the campaign, as it happens, through the eyes of the communities being helped.

And to make things even better, every gift before the 18th September is matched by the government.

You can get involved here.


I love the thinking behind this campaign and wish it all the success in the world.

Mobile is social.

It's a phrase I'm using a lot at the moment. Maybe it's a bit cliched but it feels right.

If you have a well run, engaging, and interesting Facebook presence. Where better to serve content to your mobile donors. We love mobile because if fuses payment and communication into one device. But that doesn't mean we need to create a new way of telling our stories and interacting with donors when it might already exist right under our noses.

This great infographic from socialbakers gives some intertesting data on Facebook and mobile. e.g 20.5 million Facebook mobile users in the UK!

Why we should all encourage Slacktivism

I don't like the term Slacktivism, if you're not familiar with it, this Wikipedia definition is as good as any...

Slacktivism (sometimes slactivism or slackervism) is a term formed out of the words slacker and activism. The word is usually considered a pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction. Blah, blah, blah...

Basically it's doing something relatively small and simple like signing an online petition, sending an SMS, sharing a link or hitting 'Like'.

It's a term I'm hearing more and more from people in fundraising who clearly don't think that interacting with a charity or other non profit in this way has any true value. Which seems an odd stance to take. As fundraising becomes harder, fusing campaigning and fundraising seems like the obvious thing to do.

I recently read a brilliant blog on the subject, 5 reasons not to use the word "Slacktivism". As its title suggests it gives 5 reasons why the term shouldn't be used:

1. Digital technology is more likely to activate the politically inactive than deactivate the politically active.
2. Small acts of digital activism are helpful.
3. Derogatory terms like slacktivism discourage first timers.
4. Change has always happened through a 'ladder of engagement'. Now we have a new first rung.
5. Slactivism implies that the action is ineffective, yet we often don't know the ultimate outcome until long after the action has occurred.

Point 4 got me thinking. When I was starting out in fundraising I would go to conferences and wise people would be at the front of the room talking about the donor pyramid.  The basic concept was that those who take small actions are the people that we should focus on developing, as they were the big givers of the future. Basically the fundraising version of the 'ladder of engagement'.

Complex stuff I know, back then the bottom of the pyramid was a one off cash donation, which if we did our jobs well could eventually lead to a legacy.

I've created this amazing infographic to illustrate the principle.

I learnt very quickly that few real people followed the principle. Big gifts aren't given by the majority. If we are really good we can take cash and monthly givers to legacy without ever getting big/major gifts from them... But I digress...

Small acts of engagement aren't meaningless. They are just a new layer beneath cash donor in our overly simplistic donor pyramid. Writing off these small acts of engagement as unimportant misses the point. They are one of the ways we can draw people to our causes and encourage interaction with us. Something to be encouraged rather then scorned.

The challenge for people like me (and you) is to develop these small acts of solidarity and make them the start of ongoing support and ultimately long term donations.

So, back to that infographic. Slacktivism is the new first rung!

A charity collecting box for the Facebook generation

I found this brilliant reinvention of the charity collecting box on one of Beate Sorum's Pinterest boards.

My favourite feature is the digital camera that takes a picture of the donor to give a personalised thank you.

But the whole concept is pretty amazing - a really innovative update on an old fundraising technique.

You can read more about it here and here. 

And I've just noticed Mark has blogged about it as well.

The 2011 social media story...

A neat video telling the social media story of 2011.

Facebook alone accounts for 10% of all iPhone mobile data!

Another one of those numbers that is only going to go one way. And that's up.

My mate Stuart...

My twitter buddy Stuart Glen gave this great Prezi at the IoF conference in Scotland. Sounds like it went down a storm from the Twitter chat that surrounded it.

I was chuffed to see a screenshot of my JustGiving page in there. Stuart told me that the context was that 'these platforms (JustGiving etc) work because people trust their friends'.

Which is why I love what JustGiving do, their technology puts amazing tools in the hands of individuals like me who want to fundraise. I blogged about my experience here.

Digital fundraising: Blurring the boundaries between giving and living. on Prezi