Bluefrog Presents… The Secret Life Of A Donor
Howard Lake | 27 January 2013 | News
A film produced for fundraising agency Bluefrog. In a humorous and self-deprecating style it demonstrates that donors with the best of intentions can be put off giving altogether by repeated exposure to fundraising requests from a wide range of charities. Every day donors receive direct mail packs, see newspaper adverts, encounter street collectors and sometimes face-to-face fundraisers. It’s enough to stop you wanting to give to charity at all, the film seems to suggest. Perhaps the film is intended to remind fundraisers that their message exists in a context of many similar messages, and it uses humour to make that situation plain. But what can fundraisers do about it? Perhaps that’s where Bluefrog comes in – understanding donors, carefully crafted and timed messages to the right people. Yet the film is just stating the obvious, whether it covers charity messages or for-profit messages. We are all bombarded with multiple adverts and marketing messages in many different forms every single day. While we might find the volume annoying, they don’t result in empty shops and restaurants, and people cancelling all their financial products. So, I’m not sure of the value of this film. Fundraisers operate in a complex world, as do all marketers. Will that stop donors giving? It hasn’t done so so far.
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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.