Qantas and getting on with it in tough times.

Recession proofing, economic downturn, tightening your belt.

All terms that we are hearing daily at the moment. Regardless of which part of the world you are in. And we are not immune to it here in Canada.

But as I plan to fly out to Australia in a few days, one iconic Aussie company has got me thinking about the best way to tackle tough times, whether its economic instability or other. I’m talking about our national air carrier, Qantas. Now whatever you think of them, they are bloody resilient!

In the last few months alone they have dealt with a rupture in the side of a plane which forced an emergency landing, countless other mechanical failures, not to mention escalating fuel surcharges. Not surprisingly, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon has come out on the front foot stating that all of these “incidents were unrelated” and that “there had been no significant change in Qantas' rate of reported incidents over the past two years”.

But what shows even greater resilience, and where I think charities should follow suit in difficult times, is their view to advertising/spending. They just get on with it.

I have had no less than 4 emails from Qantas in the past two weeks telling me things like “South America is now closer than ever” and that I should “Grab a Great Deal on Domestic Flights - Sale Ends Soon!” Now I have plenty of travel planned over the coming months and South America is on the cards for next year, but that’s not the point. The point is they faced tough times head on and went about their business.

To back this up, as always I try and illustrate using real and relevant data. When I attended the Institute of Fundraising convention recently in the UK, I listened intently as Jonathan Barker from NFP Synergy talked about research his company had done into the effects of an economic downturn.

The data from the charities included in their study showed that whilst there was a slowdown in fundraising growth during times of negative GDP movement, there was still voluntary income growth. You can see the relative slides in the attached link.

NFP Synergy

And I’ll bet that those who grew more were the ones who carried on as per normal.

Now I’m not suggesting to be frivolous and make decisions you wouldn’t typically make, but just crack on with it. And equally as importantly, now is the time to really focus on genuine donor care with our existing donors, responding appropriately and respectfully, with genuine thanking and relevant and timely communications. Getting back to basics and servicing the lifeblood of our organizations (our donors) properly.

I bet you Aussies out there didn’t think you could learn something from Qantas now, did you?

Cats in Zambia and getting close to the cause

One thing that as fundraisers we don't do enough of is get intimately close to the causes we work for, support and are passionate about.

Typically because of time constraints, often because of logistics. Although few would argue just how inspiring it is and the momentum it can build either in your life as a fundraiser or in your journey as a donor.

This last week has seen two brilliant examples which has really bought this message home to me.

The first relates to a letter we received last week from Plan International Australia with an update on how our sponsored boy is doing. As you can imagine this always creates a spike of excitement in the household, none more so than last week.

Not just because Belfry is growing immensely, doing well at school and his community is really prospering from Plan's fantastic work, but because of the beanie he was wearing on his head in the accompanying photos.

Huh?

You see for those who know me well, know one thing for sure. How passionate (some may say mad or obsessive) I am about my beloved Aussie Rules team, the Geelong football club. And some time back we decided to send Belfry a Geelong woolen beanie to spread the reach of my team far and wide, and of course to keep his little head warm.

So when we opened the letter to find two adorable pictures of him wearing it, it’s fair to say it made our day!

Not just because he is now a proud Cats fan, but because it bought us even closer to the cause. And that's what it is about as a donor.

The second example follows the Masterclass I delivered last week in Toronto which focused primarily on our experiences as a donor in the recent mystery shopping study we have conducted here in Canada.

At the end of the session I announced that as we were not able to give away all of the money we planned to (as a result of the mystery shopped charities inability to process gifts or just not respond in many instances) - I was offering on behalf of Pareto Fundraising to donate the balance to one/some of the session attendees and set participants a challenge to see who in the ensuing days could inspire me the most as a donor.

The response has been phenomenal. I have had brilliant and moving letters, emails and phone calls from fundraisers who genuinely believe in the causes they work for.

I have even had a call from an amazing lady who volunteers for a large Canadian charity who helps people suffering from arthtitis (and when I say volunteer this includes teaching, helping others cope who are living with arthtritis, speak publically about the condition - you name it, this incredible woman does it). This wonderful lady spoke at length and passionately about her experience as a benefactor but also about her committment to advocate their work as a volunteer for, in her words, 'saving her life'.

Brilliant stuff. I only wish all organizations could inspire me and others as often and as well as some of these charities have.

Now the tough part… to decide to who to give the money to!

“What people say about you when you’re not in the room…”

That’s my definition of a ‘brand’. Well actually, I heard it a conference once and it stuck with me as the best definition for a topic that in my opinion is horribly overanalyzed.

One of the most misleading things I heard about big charities brands was in an Aussie article a couple of years back. The focus of the article was that there was a direct correlation between the size of the top 50 or so Australian charities and their level of ‘brand awareness’.

Rubbish I thought! The point was being missed.

Brand awareness didn’t make these non profits the largest (by income) – it was the other way around. The reason they had such big brand awareness was because they all had one thing in common (maybe minus the odd exception) – they spent lots on fundraising. You think World Vision Australia has an annual income of near $300m(AUD) by luck? They spend around $25m per annum on fundraising.

The point is that spending on fundraising (and specifically recruitment of donors) is the best source of brand awareness for charities that there is. Who can convince me that plastering large billboards on a high street or spending on bus back advertising will out pull fundraisers on the street actually talking to the public about their great causes (I.e. people talking to people)?

I was reminded about this as I was flying back from New York yesterday and read an article on branding that caught my eye (most just put me to sleep or drive me crazy). The author was a guy called Guy Kawasaki, the magazine called Entrepreneur.

Guy’s message was simple: if you have a great product, a great brand will follow; so long as you are sending the right message. So simple yet so true.

He makes 8 really clear points, three of which really stuck with me.

The first was about creating one message and avoiding trying many at once, which many companies (and I know many non profits) do.

The second was about speaking English and avoiding using lots of jargon. Don’t try and be too clever – keep it simple!

The third which I liked was referring to companies stupid use of money when they have too much to spend on ‘branding’. He argued that ‘too much money is worse than too little, because when you have a lot of money, you spend a lot of money on stupid things, like Super Bowl commercials’. Now I would take a slight spin on that and add we do need money to spend but on things that will result in income and donors, which then help build who you are and what people say about you (not the other way around).

So what are people saying about you (or your organization) when you are out of the room?

What to learn from the Aussie Olympic team?

It pains me to say this, but Great Britain has headed their long time foes and my nation, Australia in the medal race at the Beijing Olympics. As a result, I’m looking for excuses because like any Aussie I don’t like being beaten by the Brits!

And in my quest to delve deeper into this unfathomable scenario, I did discover something which seems to be at the root of the Australian’s problems: complacency.

Consider these facts:

• The GB team spends more on its Paralympic team than the Aussies spend on both their Olympic and Paralympic teams combined.
• The British government is prepared to pour another 400 million pounds into Olympic sport in preparation for the 2012 London Olympics.
• Australian coaches have been poached en masse by the British, often at double or triple the salaries they were being paid in Australia, boosted by the proceeds of national lottery money.

Now, you could argue as a nation we are ‘punching above our weight’? 20 gold medals in Athens for a country with a population less than the state of Texas is pretty damn good. Yet we finished with 14 gold in Beijing which suggests somethign is awry.

So what the hell does this have to do with fundraising?

Well, like my current experience watching the Aussies slip ever so slightly down the medal table, I cringe when I see firsthand charities taking the foot off the pedal, not striving hard enough to get on the podium.

I recently met with a large Canadian charity to talk about some benchmarking we are doing of charities performance globally, and specifically in Canada.

The fundraisers I presented to loved it. Particularly the idea of being able to learn from others and picking the best of what they are doing that works.

However the meeting ended pretty abruptly when I was told there was one major barrier. There was a perception form certain parts of the organization (I won’t name names) that they couldn’t possibly learn from anyone else, they had all their bases covered and were leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else.

Now don’t get me wrong. This is one successful, very large organization that is doing well. But to think for a moment that nothing could be learned, refined, tweaked and absorbed from others in the sector is absurd. Especially when I have recently mystery shopped this organization and have seen for my own eyes what they are doing!

So as I watched the leader of the marathon enter the Olympic stadium with a lap to go, peering over his shoulder waiting for his challengers to surge, it reminded me of the way as fundraisers we should behave. Always on our toes and on the lookout for others. For if we aren’t then the same fate as the Australian Olympic team could await you.

Jonathon