#8: Mark Phillips — What you can learn from the past about fundraising during the Coronavirus pandemic

04/03/20 • 49 min

If you’re like many nonprofit leaders, you’ve spent the last two weeks going back to the drawing board on what your fundraising and communications will look like now that everything is different.

And make no mistake: everything is different.

And that means all the careful planning and strategies, all the campaign rollouts and scheduled posts, and all the thank you letters and mailouts need to be reviewed and rebuilt to take into the account the impact of the Coronavirus.

And I want to make sure that, though this podcast, we can support you in that.

So for the next few weeks, we’re switching our focus to helping you fundraise and communicate in a crisis.

I know many of you are in a tough position right now. But you’re not alone.
And today’s guest will show you how leaders and marketers and fundraisers like you have lived and worked through emergencies before.
History is full of fundraisers who have inspired and motivated people to come together to overcome terrible problems. And the gifts they raised generated the funds that were crucial to keeping the most vulnerable in society protected.
Today's guest — Mark Phillips — will help you learn from some of them today.

Mark is founder of Bluefrog Fundraising in the UK, a fundraising agency focused on meeting donor needs.

Mark keeps an online archive of the history of fundraising — it’s a pinterest board full of ads and campaigns from the world’s most successful charities like The Red Cross, Save the Children, Oxfam, and the YMCA.

Recently Mark pulled up three ads from different crises throughout history that we’re going to walk through today. Make sure to check them out on Mark's blog here: https://queerideas.co.uk/2020/03/crisis-fundraising-what-you-can-learn-from-the-past.html

Each of these three ads has something to teach us today about how to fundraise in a crisis. And I think you’ll come always with at least three ideas that will make your fundraising stronger today.
LINKS

Mark's blog on all things fundraising
Mark's online archive of old charity ads
Bluefrog Fundraising

Send us a text

If you’re like many nonprofit leaders, you’ve spent the last two weeks going back to the drawing board on what your fundraising and communications will look like now that everything is different.

And make no mistake: everything is different.

And I want to make sure that, though this podcast, we can support you in that.

So for the next few weeks, we’re switching our focus to helping you fundraise and communicate in a crisis.

Mark is founder of Bluefrog Fundraising in the UK, a fundraising agency focused on meeting donor needs.

Mark's blog on all things fundraising
Mark's online archive of old charity ads
Bluefrog Fundraising

Previous Episode

#7 — 5 things your donors need to hear from you right now

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If you put yourself in your donors' shoes for a minute, you'll know they are likely sitting at home. Like you, they are watching the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe. And they might wonder what it all means for them and their loved ones.
So you might be tempted to leave them alone. Give them some space. Let them cope.
But what if your donors are longing to hear from you? And what if it's your duty of care to reach out to them right now with care and compassion? And what if they want to help make the world a tad bit better?
Chances are your donors have many questions right now. And they are waiting for you to have the courage to be vulnerable with them.
On today's podcast, we walk through five things your donors need to hear from you right now:

They need to know you care
They need to know your beneficiaries are ok
They need to know you have a plan
They need to know they are still needed
And they need to know they will be part of the solution

I know things are scary right now. But you were made for these times. And now, more than ever, people are looking to you to lead them through these uncertain times.

I want you to know and remember when this is all over, your donors will remember the kind of person you were long after they remember what sort of decisions you made about staffing, finances, programs, etc.

So go easy on yourself. Rise to the challenge. And start reaching out to your donors with as much humanity and vulnerability as you can muster today.

Next Episode

#9: Amanda Rocheleau — How to look after your mental health in a time of crisis

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Are you having a hard time staying positive and balanced and sane during these crazy times?
The coronavirus pandemic brings a rare combination of a scary health emergency, human isolation and an economic crisis at all once.

And I worry about you.

I am not worried if you're going to survive this crisis, or if your nonprofit will survive the storm. I am worried about what the crisis is doing to you, and the toll it’s taking on you as a leader and parent and friend and spouse and all the other roles you play.

I know a lot of people are relying on you.

Maybe your boss or your board is relying on you to bring in the funds, to produce a lot more work or communications pieces, to call every donor, or to produce a new campaign in a hurry...and so much more.
There's a lot on your shoulders.

And the only way we are going to get through this is by acknowledging how hard it is and taking care of ourselves.

So today on the show I’m talking to Amanda Rocheleau, a registered social worker and certified compassion-fatigue therapist.

Amanda works specifically with people who are in the business of helping others, so she understands how quickly burnout and anxiety and work-life balance issues can creep up and completely derail us.
Amanda is going to walk through 5 things you can do to manage your anxiety, reduce your stress and take better care of your mental health, including:

How you can manage the stress of juggling so many things at once.
How you can balance your news intake with things that give you hope.
How you can be realistic about your own limitations and communicate them to your team and family.
How you can create healthy habits even when your routine is all out of whack.

Plus, we’ll get into how leaders can best support the mental health of their teams who are working remotely, and how those of us who are talking to donors all day can deal with feeling drained at the end of the day.