Being effective (the ABC)

One of our obsessions at Sue Fidler Associates is being effective – as anyone who has been following our blogs over the past few months will have seen...

I was running some training sessions about writing effective emails and blogs with the excellent Mind on Friday. And came to the overwhelming conclusion while we were talking that being effective is really very easy (“easy as ABC” – Jackson 5).

a. It’s about being really clear about what you want to achieve.
b. And then monitoring to see whether you‘ve done it.
c. And tweaking – and tweaking again – until you know you have.

That’s it. Not so hard really, is it?

And inspired to brevity by the excellent Seth Godin , that’s all folks!

Want to read more about effectiveness?

• http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/effectiveness.htm
• http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/helpdesksamurai/why-being-effective-is-better-than-being-efficient-26268
• http://www.slideshare.net/paul_ruralnet/measuring-your-online-effectiveness

On track... why you should make intelligent use of software to make sure you are effective

We know we have a tendency to bang on about effectiveness in this blog – unapologetically so, since if you don’t know that what you do is effective, you might as well just scatter your money to the winds...

On Friday at the Sue Fidler Associates planning day, there was a lot of talk about our purpose as an organisation, what all the different strands of our work and all the different associates have in common. Our conclusion? Demystifying, delivering, educating and empowering.

One of the ways we do these things is by suggesting tools that help people track what they are doing and what effect it is having. Without this, all you can be sure of is your intentions. And whilst we may one day be judged by our intentions, in the world of nfp success it’s what we actually achieve in the here and now that counts for the people we are trying to help.

We were really interested to read David Matthew’s recent article, Altruism and Accountability (www.softwareadvice.com/articles/nonprofit/finding-balance-with-nonprofit-software-1070611/), which makes a similar point, drawing its example from the sad recent stories about Greg Mortensen. Not only has his Central Asia Institute suffered but also, as David quotes Cameron McWhirter as saying (in the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703655404576292900025219580.html)

“Grass-roots nonprofits across the country now find themselves under intense scrutiny because of the Mortenson scandal. All are bracing for an impact on giving.”

So we have a responsibility, not only to our supporters but also to the entire nfp world, to conduct ourselves in such a way that stands up to scrutiny. If we don’t we risk the whole sector coming into question in a way that can damage us all. And what this means is tracking and evaluating – being clear about your objectives and clear about what you manage to deliver/achieve.

David is right: with so much software out there, we really should be making good use of it to help us protect ourselves and the sector.

But which tools should we use? Because there really is a lot out there. Everybody has their own favourite tools, from Google Analytics to our own CharityeMail, an email marketing tool with impressive analytical features – well yes, we would say so, but we’re not the only ones ("I've just had a look at the reporting on our first email newsletter and am staggered by how marvellous it is. A totally fantastic system!" Katy McGrory, Brighton & Hove CVS Forum ).

So what we’re keen to find out is: what are your favourite tools for tracking your effectiveness? Please let us know – we’d like to put together a list of tracking tools (or tools with a tracking component), ready to share in a future blog.

A step by step guide to taking online donations #2

Last week, this blog covered taking online donations by credit or debit card. But there is, of course, another side to online donations: direct debits. This is what we’re covering this week...

This is what you do

To take donations by Direct Debit (DD) – both on- and offline - you need to obtain something called a Service User Number (SUN previously known as an OIN). This is the unique number given to participants who are authorised to use the Direct Debit Scheme.

You can do this via your own bank or via an agency using their facilities management service. Please note that your bank will take into consideration the number of direct debits you anticipate handling when deciding whether they can issue you with your own SUN.

There are 3 ways you can collect online DDs (known as Paperless DDs or PDDs). Your decision about which to use depends a great deal on how you plan to process them every month.

First of all, establish whether you have a database which can run your PDD processing for you (most if not all of the main fundraising systems do, for example: Raisers Edge, Care, Integra, ThankQ, Progress - and the upcoming FOSS and Cloud systems like Salesforce and CiciCRM have add ons which can do it for you).

The 3 ways an agency can help you collect and manage PDDs are:

1. Mandate only. This is where you want to manage and claim the PDDs every month yourselves. If you already do offline DD, this is the most sensible option. An agency can provide you with a Mandate PDD form which sits on your website, then when somebody completes it, the agency “modulus checks” the form to ensure it has been filled in correctly, has a valid postcode/address match and is from a bank which accepts DD. You then import that to your database and run the direct debit files via AUDDIS (registration) and BACTEL IP every month to claim your cash. To do this, apply to your bank for a PDD SUN and set up your database to link to AUDDIS and BACTEL IP.
2. Bureau service. With this you get a SUN in your name, but an agency collects, stores and manages the PDDs for you every month.
3. Facilities managed service. This is where you use an agency’s own SUN. It is most suitable for small charities if the bank won’t issue them with an SUN. In this case, the agency uses their SUN, collects the PDD mandates and processes them for you.

What should you think about when making a decision?

In terms of cost, the options become more expensive as you use more of the agency’s time and resources (so option 1 is the cheapest of the 3 options above).

A key consideration when deciding whether to apply for your own SUN is longevity. If you decide to use an agency’s SUN and then find in a couple of years that your use has grown, you may decide that you want to self manage. In that case, you would have to apply for your own SUN and then ask your donors to restart their DDs with your SUN. In effect the DD ‘belongs’ to the SUN, so if you don’t have your own SUN the DDs are not transferrable to another agency or your own system.

Therefore, if it is possible, it is wise to get your own SUN even if you don’t currently have a database which can manage your DDs or feel up to the task. If you are able to obtain your own SUN you can change agencies or move in-house without finding yourself faced by the difficult task of trying to convince donors to fill in a new mandate.

Are there other online set-ups it would be useful to de-mystify in this way? Let us know and we’ll see what we can do...

A step-by-step guide to taking online donations #1

We’ve been blogging recently about fundraising online and recommending that charities offer supporters as many different ways as possible of giving.

But the world of online donations can look very complicated and confusing to a small charity thinking of dipping their toes in for the first time.

So we’ve put together a quick step-by-step guide to the stages involved. This week we’re looking at taking donations by credit or debit card, whether one-off or recurring.

One-off donations by credit or debit card

To start taking one-off online donations by credit or debit card, you need to obtain your Merchant IDs (MIDs). There are 3 main ways of doing this:

1. You can apply for your own Merchant IDs through your own bank;
2. You can ask an agency to help you get your own Merchant IDs;
3. You can apply for a merchant facility using an agency’s own Merchant IDs.

You will need separate Merchant IDs for online (eCOM) and offline (MOTO).

If you decide to apply for your own Merchant IDs (option 1 above), you can then forward them to an agency and they can plug them into their payment gateway.

It is often quickest and easiest – especially for smaller charities - to go for option 3 when you first start taking online payments.

Recurring payments by credit or debit card

To take recurring payments, the process is similar but you will need additional merchant facilities in the shape of 2 more Merchant IDs, one for online and one for offline.

And there’s always PayPal...

Finally, in the spirit of offering your supporters as many ways as possible of making their donation to you, don’t forget the option of PayPal (http://www.paypal.com), another way of giving online that is used by a lot of people here in the UK.

Next week: how to set up online Direct Debits...