1. Welcome!

2. Objective: toto provide participants
Objective: provide participants with
ideas ideas and inspiration to develop
with and inspiration to develop their
fundraising and to shareto share skills
their fundraising and skills and
experiences with each other. other.
and experiences with each

4. Strategy – useful tools that really work
Simon Burne
July 2011

5. Objective
• To share a set of easy to use tools to help
you to make fundraising strategies that
work

6. Four key drivers

7. Thinking inside the box

10. 80% Rule: Roughly right
– not precisely wrong

11. What is Strategy?
It is not
A structure
A list of things to do
Tactics
A big document that decorates your shelf
and gathers dust

12. We trained hard… but it seemed that every time we
were beginning to form up into teams, we would be
reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend
to meet any new situation by reorganising and a
wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion
of progress, while producing confusion,
inefficiency and demoralisation
Petronius Arbiter 210 BC

13. “I always leave my strategy on the
train in the hope that a competitor
will pick it up and believe that’s
what we’re really going to do”
Denis Stevenson

14. “However beautiful the strategy,
you should occasionally look at the
results.”
Winston Churchill

15. “Strategy without tactics is the
slowest route to victory. Tactics
without strategy is the noise before
defeat.”
Sun Tzu 500 BC

16. donor
“A satisfied customer is the best
business strategy of all.”
fundraising
Michael Leboeuf

17. • Knowing where we are now
• Knowing where we want to get to
• Knowing how we’re going to get there
• It’s about
• Internal stuff
• External stuff
• Matching the two
• Planning for success - prioritising
• Monitoring the results
• Being flexible

18. In times of crisis…
The horizon gets closer
So strategies get shorter

19. Too much to deal with!

20. Risk Management
Paralysis by analysis
Strategic options Internal analysis No change

21. How do we escape?

22. Or… 8 things to do with a box

23. 1. SWOT
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats

24. Internal Bridges & Barriers

25. Internal Bridges
• Processes that work
• Key allies
• Core skills and competencies
• Networks and contacts
• Beneficiaries

26. Internal Bridges
• Recognise them
• Celebrate them
• Strengthen them
• Use them
• Learn from them

27. Internal Barriers
• Lack of expertise
• Finance
• Service Staff
• Lack of information
• Poorly-defined need
• Lack of strategy
• Processes that don’t work
• No resources

28. Internal Barriers
• Form alliances to overcome
them
• Work around them
• Find a way through them
• Accept your limitations

29. 2. PEST
Political Economic
Social Technical

30. External Market Factors
Focus on top 3-4 key external factors
which could have a genuine major
impact (+/-) on fundraising success.
Invest resources in these areas = do a
few things well.

31. External Market Factors
Develop scenarios for each key factor:
• In-depth knowledge of factor
• Predict range of possible outcomes
• For each outcome:
– What would be impact on your fundraising for
each?
– What action would you need to take to maximise
benefits/minimise problems?
– What resources will you need?
– How will you monitor the situation?
– How will you be prepared to respond quickly?

32. Benchmarking
Develop links with similar NGOs, share
information, monitor position
Income:cost ratios of each activity
Comparative size of each activity
Comparative growth of each activity
Mystery shopping

33. 3a. Boston Matrix (Products)

34. Product Development Cycle
Need
Evaluate Innovate! Audience
Product

35. Product Lifecycle
R&D investment maintenance cull
Profitability
Time

36. Product Lifecycle
R&D investment maintenance cull
Profitability
Time

37. Product Lifecycle
R&D investment maintenance cull
Profitability
Time

38. Building your fundraising
£
Time

39. Boston Matrix
PROBLEM CHILDREN
Internet
Monthly Giving Upgrade
Direct Dialogue Mail Acquisition
Annual Giving (High Value)
Major Donors
CASH COWS DEAD DOGS
Renewals
Special Appeals Foundations
Legacies and Merchandising
Planned Gifts DRTV Acquisition

40. Boston Matrix
RISING STARS PROBLEM CHILDREN
Internet
Monthly Giving Upgrade
Mail Acquisition
Annual Giving (HV)
Direct Dialogue Major Donors
CASH COWS DEAD DOGS
Renewals
Foundations
Special Appeals
Merchandising
Legacies and
DRTV Acquisition
Planned Gifts

41. Value (ROI) vs. Volume (potential)
volume 1
3 2
value
value
PROBLEM CHILDREN
Internet 2
Upgrade
Mail Acquisition
Annual Giving (HV)
Major Donors

42. Ease of implementation vs. impact
impact
Must haves Low-hanging fruit
ease
PROBLEM CHILDREN
Internet Quick wins
Upgrade
Mail Acquisition
Annual Giving (HV)
Major Donors
Sinks

43. 3b. Boston Matrix (Problems)
+ Devils Mysterons
Level of
impact
Sacred Sad
- cows sacks
+ Level of -
understanding

44. 3b. Boston Matrix (Problems)
Devils
– Focus on the four biggest
– Develop clear strategies for neutralising
Mysterons
– Watch closely
– Be ready to take action
Sacred cows
– Need change at the very top
– Learn to work round them
Sad sacks
– Safely ignore

45. 3c. Boston Matrix (Competitors)
Rising Stars Problem Children
Potential threats
Ideas to copy Ideas to improve
Best practice Learn from mistakes
Real threats
Cash Cows Dead Dogs

46. Competitors
What I will do What I want to know The questions I need How can I find this
with the to ask out?
information
Develop new New ideas or products Which new products Speak to them,
products from my competitors are being developed share information.
that I could use/adapt. or tested? How well Mystery shopping.
are they performing? Research.
Be first with Which competitors also What are their plans Speak to them,
my appeal for raise money for xxxx. for launching an share information.
xxxxx Timing. appeal for xxxx?
Improve Ways in which How well are their Mystery shopping.
performance competitors are offering current products Financial reports.
of my current my products more performing compared Conference
products successfully. to mine? What are presentations.
they doing differently Research.
to me?

47. 4. The Ansoff Matrix
?
new
taking them to new products for
new audiences new supporters?
market/audience
existing new products to
current
product existing supporters
current new
offer/product

48. E.G. Monthly Giving
New areas
Older age profile
new
New creative
?
market/audience
Upgrade
Campaign action
Direct
Special Appeal
current
Dialogue
Text appeal
current new
offer/product

49. Prioritising your investment choices

50. • How do you compare apples and oranges? EG –
a new shop versus a new DM campaign?
• ROI doesn’t work – too short-term
• IRR is better but doesn’t tell the whole story
• Four key factors are:
• Profitability
• Level of risk/uncertainty
• Market size/potential
• Market understanding

51. 5. Investment Sailing Boat
Net return
Market Market
potential understanding
Level of risk

52. 5. Investment Sailing Boat
Net return
Market Market
potential understanding
Level of risk

53. Goals & Objectives

54. Goals & Objectives
• Important to set targets.
• Objectives can divide as well as motivate.
• Objectives need to be set that are cross-
organisational.
• KPIs should be few, and not all financial.
• Remember the Rule of Four

55. 6. Balanced Scorecard
Financial Processes
Vision &
Strategy
Supporters/ Learning
Stakeholders and growth
• one objective per quadrant –max 4
• keep the objectives SMART

56. Objective-Setting
SMART
• Strategic
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-limited

57. Objective-Setting
SMART
• Scary
• Mouthwatering
• Ambitious
• Rare
• Team-building

58. 7. Strategic Risk Analysis
Impact
Stakeholders Finances
Probability
Culture/skills Processes

59. 8. Vulnerability Index
Very important
Relatively Very
safe vulnerable
Insignificant

60. Last thoughts…

61. “We don’t see things
as they are.
We see them as we are”
Ref.: Anais Nin

62. Innovation
“If we don’t make utter fools of
ourselves from time to time,
we grow smug - that is,
we do not grow at all.”
Ref.: Tom Peters

63. ‘We are taught to
solve problems
not to recognise
opportunities.’

64. “Every act of creation
is first of all an act of
destruction”
Ref.: P. Picaso

65. “We’ve made a lot of mistakes. And
we’ve been very lucky at times. Some
of our products are things you might
say we’ve just stumbled on. But you
can’t stumble if you’re not in
motion.” R.Carlton

66. A culture of successful risk
‘If you don’t screw
up at least once in
your first year with
us, you aren’t trying
hard enough.’
Words used by a boss to a new employee on
their first day at work

67. The Formula for Failure
‘There is no formula for
success. But there is a
formula for failure, and
that is trying to please
everybody.’
Nicholas Ray, Film Director

68. The truest word…
Whether you believe
you can or whether you
believe you can’t,
you’re right
Henry Ford

70. The two most important words in
fundraising