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

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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