Celebrate the power of people...

It's Sunday and I should be putting the finishing touches on a series of presentations I'm giving at next weeks IFC in Holland.

Instead, as is so often the case, I'm messing about on the internet.

This just popped up in my inbox.

It's from Greenpeace.

The narrator is Peter Capaldi and the music is from Massive Attack.

But the sense of pride in being a Greenpeace supporter and the misty eyes - that's all down to Greenpeace.

Where I work...

Nothing says thank you like 3 hours off and £20 to spend.

The reason for this loveliness can be found here.

Greenpeace say thank you like a champion...

Of all the charities and campaigning groups I support, I have a real soft spot for Greenpeace. I probably give more ad hoc donations to them than anyone else as I'm constantly impressed by the range and sophistication of the actions they take.

They climb onto oil rigs in the North Sea to put pressure on Shell so I don't have to!

I love their year (2012) in review film on YouTube. As a donor it reminds me of all the actions I've helped support and gives me confidence that the view I have of them in my mind is exactly who they are.

I particularly love the line 'Thank you for everything. Let's do it again in 2013'.



And it shows me how wrong I can be. My current mobile mantra is short is the only video you should be posting. Wrong. If you've got a lot to say, take as long as it needs.

And here is the Greenpeace International thank you film. Beautiful.

A lesson in thanking...

Because I gave to Charity: water last year, I got sent a brilliant thank you email last week.

It included this amazing thank you video.



I know I go on about this a lot. But you really should be using video to thank your donors. And this should be your inspiration.

I love it for a lot of reasons. Here are a few:

1. It makes me feel part of something special.
2. It feels like he's really talking to me.
3. The energy the video conveys is exciting and feels genuine.
4. It makes me feel like my money is being spent on something brilliant.
5. I can see what I bought. (Well helped buy).

And every time a charity does something this brilliant, supporter expectations change.

Greenpeace do good year in review video

I'm loving this 12 month review video from Greenpeace that I was emailed a few days ago. Very simply put together it shows just how many campaigns they ran in 2011.


2011: How you helped us from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.


If you've seen any other great supporter videos, it would be great if you could post links in the comments section below.

'Thank you from The Three Robbers' a guest post from Stuart Glen

Stuart wrote this great piece and asked if he could post it on my blog. I've never really thought about guest blogs before, so wasn't sure. Then I read it, it's really good. So I said yes. Hope you enjoy.

A chance discovery in a museum on a family vacation in New England leads to a wonderful example of personalised donor care from Child’s i Foundation? Stuart Glen explains, 

With two wee boys – one aged six and the other two – a visit to The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art was top of our to-do list in Massachusetts last summer. It’s refreshing to know that America can deliver attractions like The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art – not all attractions need to be crammed full of rollercoasters and fast food franchises. We spent a magical afternoon at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, marvelling at the artwork on display, completing a treasure hunt and taking part in a storytelling session. The unexpected bonus was an additional exhibition of the work of Tomi Ungerer, a French artist, illustrator and author, who’s work until then I was unfamiliar with.

Six year Mackenzie’s personal tribute to the museum scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

The museum provided me with a magical memory that I will treasure until the day I die. I sat in the Tomi Ungerer exhibition with my two year old on my lap and read to him an exhibition copy of The Three Robbers. First published in 1959, it’s a charming tale of three robbers with tall black hats who use their plundered bounty to buy a castle in order to look after the abandoned children of the land. Exquisitely illustrated, it’s a tale that stands the test of time. The sentiment seeping through the story struck a chord with me as I sat in the museum cuddling my two year old. I immediately thought of the wonderful Child’s i Foundation – a charity extremely close to my heart.

Child’s i Foundation are awesome. Their Baby and Family Centre in Malaika, Uganda provides short-term care for up to 24 at-risk babies; and the tenacious Lucy Buck, the founder of Child’s i Foundation is constant source of inspiration to me. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet Lucy now on a couple of occasions – I invited her to speak at the Institute of Fundraising Scotland Conference 2011 where she delivered an unforgettable and emotionally charged closing plenary. Not a dry eye in the house, or was that just me? Lucy has a penchant for making me cry.

As a thank you to Lucy, I presented her with the copy of The Three Robbers that we bought in the museum. This was a huge wrench for me – this book conjured up images and emotions of a magical moment. Of course, I had to ask both the boys’ permission first. But the charming tale reminded me of Lucy and her amazing journey with Child’s i Foundation.

I know Lucy realised the significance the gift.

When she returned to Uganda I received an email that reduced me tears. Again. It’s a picture of Lucy reading The Three Robbers to one of the children in the Malaika Baby and Family Centre.

From Lucy’s email, “It is a beautiful book and I must admit I keep it in my office as I don't want the kids to damage it but it is becoming a bit of a favourite!”

Lucy’s email was heartening but on Christmas Eve, Child’s i Foundation delivered a level of personal donor care that I believe can only be demonstrated by a small charity in tune with their donors. On Christmas Eve I received a handmade, hand-written Christmas Card. No design agency was involved. No clever creative or call to action. Instead, a thank you. The card design featured the hand-print of eight month old, Liam [as a parent I know how much fun was had making that hand-print] and inside a hand written message from Lucy. It read,

“Thank you so much for all your support this year and believing in me and Child’s i Foundation… “

I’ve done nothing. My £2.50 a month is not going to change the world, but Childs i Foundation make me feel like I’m genuinely making a difference. I believe Childs i Foundation when they say, “The personal contribution of each and every participant makes as they support Child’s i Foundation – whether through time, money or love – is something we recognise and value highly.” I buy this.

The innovation Child’s i Foundation have demonstrated online is well documented. There is a strong community online supporting and advocating their work. But this magical personal touch really does strengthen the bond with their donors. The proof is in the pudding – this evening, I’ve doubled my monthly contribution to Child’s i Foundation. Perhaps Lucy should don a tall black hat?

Stuart Glen is Fundraising Manager at Kilbryde Hospice. He writes this article in a personal capacity. Follow Stuart on Twitter - @stuglen.

Another Thank You from Send A Cow

The final instalment in the Send A Cow 'Thank You' campaign.

This time the people thanked are the charity's volunteers. I love it. I particularly like the way a call to action to become a volunteer has been incorporated into the video.


Thank you Volunteers from Send a Cow on Vimeo.


Quite rightly a lot of people in the fundraising sector are impressed by style and content of communications that US based non-profit Charity: water send to their supporters.

Send A Cow have shown us all, that it really isn't difficult to do. You just need a single minded focus that it's the right thing to do and the energy to make it happen.

One more time...

All I did was write a couple of blog posts and make one donation.

Someone at Send a Cow made the connection and yesterday I got this amazing thank you card from them, full of lovely personal messages from the team there.

Love them all, but my favourite is from Tom the Temp who refers to me as 'a full on legend'. I'm from Somerset and know this is high praise indeed.

I was genuinely touched by this. I am now officially a donor for life.

Yes, I'm obsessed.

As you might know - I've become a bit obsessed by the Send A Cow thank you campaign.

Here's the latest instalment.


Thank you Tony from Send a Cow on Vimeo.


We all know we should thank donors, we know it means something to supporters. I'm sure we all wish we were running campaigns that were as simple and effective as this one.

I'm a Send A Cow donor now - the fact the the organisation I support goes to the effort to thank people in this way puts a huge smile on my face every time I think of it or see the latest instalment. Can't wait to see how this approach to donor care develops.





Photo from JelliS and found on Flickr.

Send a Cow keep on thanking...

Another great instalment in the Send a Cow Thank you campaign.

Charity: water do it well, Send a Cow do it just as good. Imagine that you are one of those kids and your teacher shows you this video tomorrow. You're not going to forget it are you!


Thank you Clutton Primary School from Send a Cow on Vimeo.

This Moo-ves me....

I love cows. I follow Send a Cow with great interest on Facebook. For two key reasons.

1. Cows, as mentioned I love them.
2. Somerset, they are based in Somerset, I love Somerset.

I now have a third reason.

I saw an amazing thing on their Facebook page this morning.

They had donated their Facebook page profile to be a personalised thank you to one of their supporters.

So I tweeted about it and sent it to my wife who is equally impressed by such things.

They contacted me on Twitter and shared this link, it's to a video, again saying thank you to Joe.

Thank you Joe from Send a Cow on Vimeo.

I am a professional fundraiser, who to be blunt can sometimes be very hard to impress.  This really impressed me.

So much, that I'm going to support them with real cash rather than praise. I hope the rest of my experiences are as brilliant as this one.

My amazing online fundraising experience...

To be honest I don’t see myself as much of a premeditated writer. I seem to write what I think is my best stuff very quickly when I’m in the moment or am grabbed by something I really want to say. 

So when I decided that I wanted to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society in lieu of birthday presents for my 40^th birthday, I put off writing the reason why on my JustGiving page for weeks.

Then I wrote this, and I like what I wrote...

The fact that you are here means you are thinking about donating which is fantastic.  Thank you so much.  I should explain why I asked.

My grandad, Aniello de Gregorio and I shared a birthday, the 25 August. If he were still alive today he would have been 99 on my 40th birthday. He died aged 95.

There are few people I view as a hero, but my grandad is on the list. A hard working man born in the south of Italy who came to England to make a better life for his family.

He was a man of few words, but I hung on every one of them. He loved his family, his garden, his wife's cooking and the odd glass of red wine. He worked hard to keep southern Italian culture alive in Somerset and for that I love him even more.

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and needed full time care.  I didn’t see him enough towards the end of his life, but when I did I was convinced I could see a flicker of recognition in his eyes. I was probably wrong.

I decided to ask for donations to the Alzheimer’s Society in lieu of 40th birthday presents because I don’t need anything. And no one should have to watch someone they love fade away like you do if they are struck with this horrible disease.

Thank you so much for giving.

And what happened next blew me away.

I had set myself the target of £400, well initially £300, but I decided that as a fundraiser I should set what I thought was a stretch target! I expected some close friends and family to give me a few pounds in lieu of the bottle of red wine or novelty gift that they would normally get.

Nothing of the sort. The response was amazing. People I have met briefly in real life or never met ever bar on Twitter proved to be unbelievably generous. And of course my family and close friends were superb. I've said thank you to everyone who has given, but I will say it again. THANK YOU! You're amazing!

Today, Sunday 18^th September the total is £1,830. My JustGiving page helpfully tells me that’s 458% of my target. I am genuinely humbled by this.

And doing it all via JustGiving connected with the geek fundraiser in me. The thrill of getting an email telling you that you have a new donation is extraordinary. And when I sorted out the text to donate function I was in GEEK heaven, some numbers that will satisfy your inner geek:

• 96 donations in total
• £165 in SMS donations - 9% of the total value
• 21 gifts labelled as SMS - 22% of the total number
• £375 in Gift Aid
• £140 offline

So, here comes the financial ask I’m sure you're expecting.

Do you fancy helping me get to £2,000?

You can use your mobile phone and it’s very very easy. Think of it as sector research if nothing else.

To give £10 text PAUL71 £10 to 70070

To give £8 text PAUL71 £8 to 70070

And as all good telephone fundraisers know, 25% of response comes from the third ask, so to give £4 text PAUL71 £4 to 70070

Thanks very much.

http://www.justgiving.com/pauldegregorio