Tony Elischer to share recession survival plan
Howard Lake | 29 October 2008 | News
Fundraising expert Tony Elischer will present a plan for surviving the recession during his opening plenary to delegates at the Institute of Fundraising (Scotland) Conference next month.
Founder and managing director of THINK Consulting Solutions, Elischer will encourage fundraisers to renew their efforts in understanding donors, and to track and adapt to rapidly shifting economic circumstances. Most importantly though he will advise fundraisers to keep asking.
“Recession can be the worst of times but also the best for reshaping and remodelling, for inspiring new thinking and creativity,” said Elischer.
“We must force ourselves to embrace the new climate because the world we knew yesterday will never return, now is not the time to batten down the hatches and withdraw. It will take hard work, dedication and adaptability but if we channel this through decisive planning we can emerge in a stronger position to ensure the growth of support and profile for the charity and cause.”
Elischer’s plan is contained in a new thought piece called “Recession: Watching Is Not An Option”. The paper will be sent to all delegates ahead of the conference and will then also be available as a download from THINK’s website.
The eight-page document summarises the likely impact the recession will have on different sources of income, such as corporates, individuals, grant-making trusts, and direct marketing.
Elischer suggests planning ahead for the three recession scenario possibilities of V, U and L-shaped recoveries. He then gives nine suggestions on what fundraisers can and should do: these include learn, hold strong, empathise, communicate, and keep asking.
www.thinkcs.org
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.