Fundraising 2005: reality is rosier than projections
Howard Lake | 11 April 2005 | News
Despite fears non-aid related charities might suffer a decline in new donor support after the Boxing Day Tsunami, one street fundraising organisation is currently experiencing ‘best ever’ productivity in the first quarter of 2005.
Oxford-based DialogueDirect Fundraising (DDUK), part of The Dialog Group, works with a number of charities, including VSO, NCH, Amnesty International UK and Sense.
Managing director, Owen Watkins, says the projected downturn in new donors for many charities hasn’t materialised and the reality has in fact far exceeded expectations.
He explains: “Our ability to develop first-class fundraisers has undoubtedly helped and perhaps the tragic events of the tsunami have focussed people’s minds, but we’re seeing consistent improvement in all areas of the organisation this year.
“Many were expecting some kind of effect on fundraising for non-aid related charities, but the reality has been somewhat different.
“Our fundraising techniques weren’t revised in light of recent events, and our visibility in public places has undoubtedly helped prompt a positive public response to our campaigns and charitable giving as a whole.”
“The quality of the charities’ campaigns and their flexibility has also played a key part in delivering ahead of schedule.”
Because of the ongoing success of current campaigns, it is expected that DialogueDirect will bring forward its campaigns for 2005.
Watkins added: “Performance on our contracts has been so positive it looks like it should free up capacity for other quality campaigns later in the year.”
The success of the campaigns so far in 2005 has also allowed DDUK to conduct more pro bono work, with domestic violence charity, Refuge, being the latest recipient.
Watkins said: “We conducted a straw poll of staff and Refuge was an extremely popular choice. We’re delighted to be able to give something back and support those charities we feel strongly about.”
DialogueDirect Fundraising worked for Refuge over the weekend beginning Saturday, 9 April, in Cardiff, Sheffield and Guildford.
DialogueDirect Fundraising, part of The Dialog Group, works with a number of charities, including the British Red Cross, Mencap, VSO, NCH, Amnesty International UK and Sense.
All DialogueDirect Fundraising’s street fundraisers can be identified by the tags they carry.
The Dialog Group is an international group of companies offering specialist fundraising services to the charity sector. Based in Oxford, England, but with offices across Austria, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, the Group is formed from a range of organisations, each offering a specific service within the sector, including street, door-to-door and telephone fundraising acquisition and development, as well as personnel recruitment, donor relationship management, data processing, direct debit and BACS bureau fulfilment services, to name a few.
Collectively the Group works with over 40 charities and NPOs worldwide.
ENDS
For further information or an interview with Owen Watkins, please contact:
Ludovic Morison, Press Office
The Dialog Group
Macmillan House, 38 St Aldates
Oxford OX1 1BN
Tel: 01865 297541
Email: lm******@th************.com
www.thedialoggroup.com
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.