Category Archives: Fundraising

NSPCC’s stats on child addiction to porn don’t stand up to scrutiny

Posted on December 21, 2015 by carolinefiennes

Oh dear. The NSPCC seems to have lost the moral high ground to – of all people –Vice magazine, a trendy periodical that is mainly about trainers and unconventional sex. The children’s charity recently claimed that a tenth of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Fundraising, Great charities | Leave a comment

Behavioural insights are rocket-fuel for charities

Posted on April 23, 2015 by carolinefiennes

Few people can claim that their work has been used routinely to inform or improve fundraising, reproductive health, the governance of African countries or road safety, or to help people to get jobs or quit smoking; but the US economist … Continue reading →

Posted in Effective giving, Fundraising, Impact & evaluation | Leave a comment

Non-publication of charities’ research: groundbreaking new project!

Posted on February 2, 2015 by carolinefiennes

This was first published by our friends at Evidence Matters. It’s hard to make evidence-based decisions if much of the evidence is missing, ropey, unclear or you can’t find it. Charities produce masses of evidence about their effectiveness but Giving Evidence … Continue reading →

Posted in Effective giving, Fundraising, Impact & evaluation, meta-research | 1 Comment

Donors don’t care much about impact! (say the data)

Posted on January 30, 2015 by carolinefiennes

This article first published in Third Sector. There has been a huge rise in interest recently in the impact charities have, so it’s remarkable that only now are we seeing rigorous evidence emerging about whether donors actually care. It’s a … Continue reading →

Posted in Donor behaviour & giving stats, Fundraising, Impact & evaluation | 3 Comments

How do you make people give more? Research in the US has some surprising messages

Posted on January 7, 2015 by carolinefiennes

In the US, individual charitable giving is much vaunted, but it’s flat. Once you adjust for inflation, it’s been between 2 per cent and 2.2 per cent of income for more than 30 years. Identifying how to increase giving is … Continue reading →

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Do matched giving schemes work?

Posted on October 8, 2013 by carolinefiennes

This article was first published by Philanthropy Impact magazine. Many fundraisers tell us that donors give more if a match is available, that is, somebody else will also give if, and only if, they give.  Fundraisers’ confidence is based largely … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysing giving, Fundraising, Impact & evaluation | Leave a comment

Good charities spend more on administration than less good charities spend

Posted on May 2, 2013 by carolinefiennes

Ground-breaking analysis by Giving Evidence disproves the popular idea that charities should spend less on administration. This is the first analysis which shows (doesn’t just argue) that high-performing charities spend more on administration costs than weaker ones do. {Report here. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin costs, Fundraising, Great charities, Impact & evaluation | 33 Comments

Publicising charities’ admin spend would be a disaster

Posted on November 19, 2012 by carolinefiennes

This first appeared in The Guardian, and is co-authored with Kurt Hoffman, DIrector of the Institute of Philanthropy Joe Saxton suggested last month that charities must do more to explain their finances but it’s charities’ results that matter. The public don’t know … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin costs, Fundraising, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Improving your fundraising hit-rate

Posted on April 5, 2012 by carolinefiennes

This article first appeared on The Guardian’s Voluntary Sector Network.  Do you play the National Lottery? Why ever not, given that you could win a few million pounds which I dare say you’d find pretty handy? Probably because the odds … Continue reading →

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Kate Middleton’s charities: a curious but quite good set for a beginner

Posted on January 31, 2012 by carolinefiennes

The Duchess Formerly Known as Kate Middleton announced today her first four charity affiliations. It’s a quirky set. If she’s clever, Kate (if we’re still allowed to call her that) can add a load more value to them. The overriding precept of … Continue reading →

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