This Agitator is now back on station following an expedition Down Under to present at the 2016 Conference of the Fundraising Institute of Australia (FIA) and to meet with Tom at The Agitator’s Southern Hemisphere HQ for some conspiratorial back and forth on Agitator goals for the future.

I’ll be sharing some of the insights gained from this journey with you; and will begin today with a fascinating presentation by Daryl Upsall that served as the wrap-up session for the splendid FIA Conference.

Innovate or Die: Why NGOs need to change to survive and thrive is a wide ranging tour of fundraising’s global horizon. A tour beautifully and — to those entrenched in the status quo — disturbingly illustrated with the pace and scope of change. [Note: This is a 38MB presentation. If you have trouble downloading PDF from The Agitator site, try this Dropbox location.]

If you can answer any of the following questions, you probably don’t have to read any further. If not, finish reading this post. More importantly, download and browse through Daryl’s presentation.

Questions:

Q 1: Who’s using robots to conduct Face-2-Face street campaigns?

Q 2: How many donors are there worldwide?

Q 3: Who’s using ‘Virtual Reality’ techniques and how’s it working?

Answers:

1: Save The Children in South Korea

2: 1.4 billion people; 27% of the world’s 5.2 billion adults give to help others.

3: UNHCR and Amnesty International among others. Early Amnesty results show a 16% increase in sign ups for ‘regular’ or monthly giving.

All of the above are interesting factoids and the presentation is packed with others. But, if you truly care about the future you’ll want to understand why innovation is so essential.

Daryl has devoted a good part of his 30+ year career to helping organizations grow, expand and innovate. I know of no one with a better understanding of global trends.

So, if you want to understand global trends in a nutshell here’s a summary of the key takeaways from Innovate or Die along with my notation of the slide number where you’ll find the point illustrated.

Why Bother to Innovate?

• No ‘perfect’ fundraising formula lasts forever.
• Donors giving habits are changing.
• What works for one generation may not work with the next.

One needs only remember once-Big Brands like PanAm, Nokia, Blackberry to realize even the greatest become extinct when they fail to innovate and adapt. [Slides # 2-3.]

To quote Ken Burnett: “There are two ‘I’s’ in Fundraising. They should stand for inspiration and innovation, not imitation and irritation.” [ #9]

‘Innovation’ in fundraising means testing new tools … combining new tools in new ways … modifying existing tools … trying something completely new … expansion to new countries. [ #10]

Major Global Trends

Be alert to both changes in techniques (movement from one-time gifts to ‘regular’/monthly giving in many parts of the world) to demographics (fundraising, once the province of the ‘north’ or so-called developed countries has now moved south where one-time ‘recipients’ have become the donors.). [11,12, 15,16]

Note also major changes in the profession and approach to fundraising itself, [#13-14] and the trend for more and more organizations faced with growth issues to turn to international markets. [#17-21]

More Folks Giving

Of historic significance I believe is the global trend toward more and more involvement by folks around the world. Daryl apparently shares that belief and cites some evidence of the trend with 63% of the consumers in the so-called ‘new economies’ feeling more and more ’empowered’ to make a difference. [#22-23]

The trend toward feeling more empowered translates into giving. Today, more than 1/4^th or 27% of the world’s 5.2 billion adults give money to help others. That’s a whopping global total of 1.4 billion donors. [#26]

What Do Donors Want?

Every Agitator has read our rants on the importance of the quality of donor experience offered by any organization that wants to succeed now and in the future. The qualities/characteristics are universal. Choice. Engagement. Authenticity. Credibility. Transparency. Listening to the donor (feedback). Ethical behavior.

As Daryl illustrates — especially for older, more developed markets (North America, Europe, U.K., Australia, NZ) — these traits become more and more important given increased competition and a decreased number of donors. [#27-39]

Use of Technology

After you’ve made certain the experiences you’re offering donors is up to current standards take a look at Daryl’s illustrations of the various uses of technology now in play around the world. Do any of these applications represent a potential for your organization?

• Donate via SMS….then convert to regular or monthly giving by telephone. (In Spain, Daryl’s call center, The Fundraising Company has raised $30+ million USD with this technique. [#45]

• SMS from Billboard, Restroom Poster, Bus Placard, print Ad followed by telephone conversion to regular/monthly giving. [#41-43 ]

• Exhibitions at shopping centers and other public places offering involvement and engagement with, of course, the request to become a monthly/regular giver . [ #52-53 ]

US fundraisers should pay special attention to the global trend toward ‘regular’ or monthly giving, [# 46] an area where American nonprofits badly lag.

UK fundraisers where the technique has grown hackneyed, shop-worn, and is pissing of the public should pay attention to some refreshing examples/techniques that might renew/reboot or otherwise rejuvenate the Face-to-Face process.

Both groups will find interesting examples for testing some new approaches to make F-2-F more interesting and far less anger-producing. [# 47-60]

Virtual Reality and Robots

Readers into the next new thing (of course, Agitator readers chasing the ‘new’ have already perfected the basics of the ‘old’) will want to check out the slides [#55,56,60 ] on the use of Virtual Reality and Robots in F-2-F solicitation.

You’ll see that the UNHCR is using VR successfully to recruit regular/monthly donors by giving prospects a virtual tour of a refugee camp. And Amnesty International is using the power of the VR technology to recruit donors by exposing them to the frightening destruction taking place in Aleppo, Syria. [ #56 ] According to Reuben Steains, Amnesty-UK’s Innovations Manager, “early results show a 16% increase in people signing up for a regular gift”.

And yes, the robot has now entered the fray where street fundraising is concerned. Save the Children has put a mechanical marvel to work on the streets in search of donations. [ #60] . The Agitator will follow up to see how that’s working.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Daryl shows how ‘corporate responsibility’ for fundraising has been transformed from simply giving money to a worthy cause for purposes of ‘greenwash’ to a best practice for a sustainable business.

Not only do 87% of consumers expect businesses to act in a socially responsible manner, an amazing 53% will use that as a deciding factor in which brand to go with assuming price and quality are equal. [# 67]

Browse through this section of Daryl’s deck [# 62-71 ] for a terrific global overview of what’s happening in the world where the consumer and donor brain come together. I particularly loved the illustrations of Ikea’s work. [# 68-69]

And What About YOU and Innovation?

Daryl wraps up the tour with some great questions and insights on what each of us needs to be doing if we’re to even dare call ourselves innovators.

According to Daryl here are some of the questions you should be asking and answering if you’re gonna make it into the ranks of the ‘innovators’.

• Do you donate to the organization you serve? To other organizations? Hard to be a good fundraiser if you’re not a good giver. [#85-86]
• Does you organization spend at least 20% of your fundraising budget on innovation?

• Do you attend conferences and workshops?

• Are you working with a ‘dream’ or ‘vision’?

• Are you having FUN?

AND….

Are you spending enough time reading about who’s doing what in the field?

Because you’re reading The Agitator, you’ve already met one of Daryl’s tests. Among his top recommendations for regular reading is 101 Fundraising, SOFII and The Agitator.

Thank you Daryl for a terrific tour and recommendations that rock. You get a well-deserved Agitator Raise.

Roger

P.S. Great innovation involves stealing. In fact, one the ‘Innovation and Trends’ tracks of the FIA Conference was a session with Daryl, Jonathan Grapsas and Ben Wright titled 20 Great Ideas You Should Steal and Do Today.    So, I’m sure Daryl would welcome your sharing his presentation with others. And those who can’t resist ‘borrowing’ a slide or two to add to your brilliance please credit Daryl Upsall of Daryl Upsall Consulting International and the Fundraising Institute of Australia.