# Is 2019 the year of unpredictability?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/01/23/2019-year-unpredictability/
- Published: 2019-01-23T13:19:51+00:00
- Author: John Baguley

Last year we survived the GDPR straight-jacket and the ICO’s rather OTT recommendations
to evolve systems whereby we could fundraise respectfully in ways that our donors
both expected and appreciated. This was tough for us all and involved a distinct
loss of revenue for some organisations, but we still managed to grow the sectors
voluntary income considerably and that is a tribute to fundraisers determination
and ability to adapt and innovate.

[https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2018-publications/uk-giving-report-2018](https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2018-publications/uk-giving-report-2018)

This year on the brink of Brexit, or perhaps not, we face at least a year of economic
uncertainty whatever happens, and uncertainty is the enemy of decisions to expand,
invest in fundraising or even give generously.

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But, before we look forward, let’s look back and see how the predictions for last
year went. I foresaw four positive trends:

 1. Fundraising expanding into overseas markets.

This was obviously not available to every organisation, but here at IFC HQ I have
seen an increasing amount of our business coming from a rather wide variety of organisations
which sought to raise funds in other countries. This varied from the large international
NGOs that wanted to raise funds in wealthy Asian countries, to those who were working
in Latin America and realise that these countries had developed a wealthy middle
and upper class that were far more generous than previously realised and that corporates
in those countries often wanted to make their mark or to simply help the communities
where their sales and profits originated.

Interestingly, many much smaller UK organisations were also able to tap into donors
based overseas or from ex-pats, some setting up ‘Friends of …’ 501 C (tax effective)
organisations in the US. BTW our director in the US can help with the set up and
development of these US support groups. [https://groupifc.com/blog/portfolio-item/laurence-pagnoni/](https://groupifc.com/blog/portfolio-item/laurence-pagnoni/)

 2. A growth of innovative major donor approaches.

In our experience at the International Fundraising Consultancy [www.groupifc.com](http://www.groupifc.com)
an effective major donor strategy is still languishing on many organisations wish
list, and the kind of game changing innovation I was hoping for just hasn’t materialised–
let me know if I am wrong here. I would love to hear from you if you have engineered
a breakthrough. As I said then the good old-fashioned approach routes still seem
the best bet and have been working well for us, especially in our capital appeals.

On the contrary billionaire philanthropists have come in for a rather well thought
through kicking. The brilliant Anand Giridharadas an ex-McKinsey analyst and NYT
columnist asked the following pertinent question:

“Are generous billionaires a crucial stopgap when government isn’t working right—
or are they a reason why government isn’t working right?”

He then answered it in a book ‘Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the
World. See:

[http://time.com/5398801/jeff-bezos-philanthropy/](http://time.com/5398801/jeff-bezos-philanthropy/)

The crux of the matter is that if organisations like Amazons and the other FAANGS
paid their taxes government would have the money to do their job of look after vulnerable
people properly and to invest in overseas development that helps people and lessens
conflict.

Indeed, it is often because these employers pay rubbish wages that people cannot
live on that they cannot provide for their families so causing myriad social problems.

 3. Contactless donations will grow.

Yes, they did and yes, they will continue to grow in 2019; but strictly speaking
the trend, especially amongst the young, is now to pay through the phone using one
of a variety of apps. The good news is that charities are increasingly right up 
there with the digital trends and allow people to give however they like.

By the way, all those charities that accepted Bitcoins early on, and didn’t bother
to cash them in right away, were sitting on fortunes and may still be!  And those
INGOs that use blockchains to ship funds overseas are saving transaction costs and
securing their financial deliveries.

 4. Charities becoming social enterprises.

This was a Continental trend I felt could slip though the Chunnel and arrive on 
our shores but, though this is often the preferred way for millennials to engage
in delivering socially good outcomes, it doesn’t feel like much of a trend here.

So, what about the trends for 2019?

First, I must say with May’s Brexit deal scheduled for a vote on tomorrow, as I 
write, it would be rash of anyone to predict what will happen there. Let’s be rash
and say, “Brexit won’t happen” as the only trend is towards another vote and the
numbers for remain are rather higher now than leave. Phew, with that out of the 
way and the £250m that the EU gives to UK charities saved, let’s return to fundraising.

 1. Proving that what you do actually works effectively will be a key note of charities
    that raise increasing amounts of money.

This is really the continuation of a long running trend with donors, especially 
major donors and grant-makers demanding that charities prove they are worth funding.
I have heard charities still claiming that they work they do cannot be monitored
and evaluated, which is an increasingly unsustainable position. By contrast charities
that monitor and evaluate thoroughly, increasingly use it as an effective selling
point to back up their emotional stories of individuals with some intellectually
striking facts.

So, tighten your procedures because they will be under examination and if you are
not evaluating what you do rigorously – shame on you…

 2. Hitting the media fast and with relevance will be the key to building support.

Chester Zoo is a shining example of using the media effectively. When their cages
caught fire, they had photos in the media whilst the fire raged, set up an appeal
in an instant and made sure the news kept featuring the Zoo by thanking the fire
fighters publicly etc. In the end they raised £120,000 of which £100,000 (twice 
their target) came in 24 hours. See:

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-46589973](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-46589973)

Part do the way to do this is for charities to add campaigning to their mix of activities.
This is hard call for some who have never done it and are frightened of appearing
to be political; but if you are to be relevant then your cause needs to be seen 
as important, and you need to be featured. If what you do is really important you
can do this, but my advice is to have #1 above in place first!

 3. The Thames Garden Bridge fiasco means amateur capital appeals have had a warning–
    take the advice of those who have run capital appeals before.

Essentially, they made the elementary mistake of releasing the news to the press
before they had raised 80-90% of the amount they needed and were very confident 
of the outcome. Once you tell the press what you are doing and how much you need,
they will come back with questions far took early and hound you for not raising 
the money, then cast doubts on the project which is easy to do by finding a few 
people who will object to the appeal or maybe to planning permission for the project.
It is easy to give an exclusive to one paper to guarantee some coverage (which may
have happened here with the Evening Standard) but then the other papers are liable
to run a counter argument.

Professionally one needs a feasibility study to show that the funds are out there
and exactly where they lie. Then a multi-year strategy with the ‘silent phase’ running
until you are almost there, then a public launch and final drive in the ‘public 
phase’ to complete the appeal. Many charities we work with do not plan on a large
public appeal unless they have national reach and know the appeal will be a favourite
with the public.

[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/14/london-garden-bridge-project-scrapped-sadiq-khan](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/14/london-garden-bridge-project-scrapped-sadiq-khan)

The Garden Bridge was, in my humble, a wonderful idea that was monstered and which
could have met a reasonable target, especially as naming the bridge could probably
have commanded far more money than it did. Yes, it had some faults, for example 
the lack of a cycle route, but I hope at some time in the future a similar idea 
will come back and be successful.

 4. Ambitious projects with significant impact back by a sense of urgency will succeed
    in 2019.

Let’s hope the ill-fated Garden Bridge doesn’t drag the idea of other imaginative
projects down in its wake. Remember the NSPCC brilliant appeals – hugely ambitious
with real targets on a significant scale and led by imaginative fundraising programmes.

[http://sofii.org/news/the-nspcc-full-stop-campaign-retrospective-is-here](http://sofii.org/news/the-nspcc-full-stop-campaign-retrospective-is-here)

With London choc full of billionaires and the hard years of public opprobrium behind
us let’s strike out with some awesome appeals. It is these appeals beloved by the
public that make them appreciate the work of charities.

This is probably less a prediction than a call to arms for fundraisers. You can 
do it – get on to that reluctant director or cowardly board and let your organisation
grow with ambitious fundraising targets and resources to really help your beneficiaries.

Roll on 2019 and let’s go…

John Baguley

Chair

International Fundraising Consultancy (IFC)

[www.groupifc.com](http://www.groupifc.com)

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