The search for meaningful response

Howard Lake | 26 February 2008 | Blogs

What drives legacy fundraising in the UK? The search for meaningful response, thats what. Nothing wrong with that then – except maybe its who is driving that response and why that appears to be the problem.
For years now, the legacy world has by and large been obsessed with pledges. If a donor tells us they have a) left a gift or b) going to, then we put another notch on the totem. Fundraisers are staisfied. Everyone is happy. Except,it appears the donor. Research, lots of feedback and focus groups tell us that donors by and large hate letting on, they still think its private and they distrust our motives. As many of our gifts are from people we have never met the cunning donor seems content to ignore our best efforts. The disconnect between our experience, the donors world and our continued practice are startling. So, is our search for meaningful response driven by a marketing approach that is out of date? Isn’t a fundraising approach – a major giving approach more appropriate here than a direct marketing one? And what if we let that inform and reinvent the marketing way?
Its time to be brave. Donors want something else. Charities need something else.

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.