# Sexy buzzword or a fundraising survival strategy? What does innovation mean to you? - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/04/07/sexy-buzzword-fundraising-survival-strategy-innovation-mean/ - Published: 2014-04-07T17:45:14+01:00 - Author: Howard Lake Is innovation just another passing fad for fundraisers, a buzzword that will be gone tomorrow, replaced by the next sexy-sounding jargon? Or is it an essential part of your fundraising and vital to your organisations existence? Charities are innovative by nature. They exist to solve problems and to drive change. In order to achieve this they must raise funds in a fast changing and competitive environment. How can charities better connect with supporters, respond quickly to opportunities to ensure they maximise their income and impact? Is this innovation buzzword the answer? Do you need a team to be able to ‘do’ innovative fundraising? Or is it part of every fundraiser’s role? Do you need big budgets? Or are necessity and scarcity the ke drivers of innovation? Is innovation the elusive search for the ‘next big thing’ in fundraising or simply making improvements to what you and your team currently do? ## Advertisement Where do good fundraising ideas come from? How do you choose the best ones to test and develop? When should you say ‘no’? Is it just a process? Or is innovation cultural? What if your [new fundraising idea](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/02/06/effective-fundraising-ideas-for-charities-in-2017/) doesn’t work? How do you measure innovation? What do you measure? How do you show the impact that it is making? What does innovation in fundraising mean to you? So many questions and I am looking for answers. That’s why I’ve teamed up with [Zoe Amar](http://twitter.com/zoeamar) and the excellent team at [Guess2Give](http://www.guess2give.com) to create the Charity Innovation Survey. We want to hear from you about your experiences of innovation in fundraising. What it means in your organisation, if and how you tackle it, what has worked so far and what hasn’t. Please complete the Charity Innovation Survey. It will take no more than 5-10 minutes. To say thank you, you will be entered you into a prize draw to win £25 Amazon vouchers. We shall share the findings in a report that will include practical tips, tools and case studies to help you develop your innovation potential, raise more money, deliver better services and make a bigger impact. Please do share this survey with your colleagues. The survey closes at high noon on Monday 14 April. Take the [Charity Innovation Survey](https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/charityinnovation) here.   _[Lucy Gower](http://www.lucyinnovation.co.uk/about/) is an independent trainer and consultant helping charities to think differently  to find ways of improving their fundraising, services and communications.  _   _Image: [light bulb](http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-108432155/stock-photo-idea-concept-with-light-bulbs.html) by Peshkova on Shutterstock.com_ * **[Charities’ reactions to concerns about overhead costs fuelling an “innovation slowdown”](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/04/09/charities-reactions-concerns-overhead-costs-fuelling-innovation-slowdown/)**( 9 April 2014) * **[Innovation considered essential to charities’ survival, says Charity Innovation Report](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/06/10/innovation-considered-essential-charities-survival-says-charity-innovation-report/)**( 10 June 2014) * **[New £10k grant to encourage social innovation in not-for-profit sector](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/08/06/new-10k-grant-encourage-social-innovation-profit-sector/)**( 6 August 2014) ![Loading](https://fundraising.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/page-views-count/ajax-loader- 2x.gif)