The nfpSynergy Blog

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14 June 2013

“You can have data without information, but you cannot have information without data.” (Daniel Keys Moran)

The latest trend in sales and marketing talk is “big data”. It’s a simple enough proposition - the idea that the vast amount of consumer behavioural data now available to companies can revolutionise the process of targeting and selling goods. It’s easy to see how this can be attractive, both for companies and charities. So how should charities go about getting the best out of the data they've collected?

7 June 2013
picture of broken moneybox

Money in account – check; credit card in front of me – check; computer up and running – check; internet connection working – check; relevant website on my browser – check. I think I’m ready to make a couple of dozen online donations to a couple of dozen different charities.

“Generous one, that Andrea,” you say. In fact I do it twice a year. At the end of our Charity Media Monitor (CMM) survey, participating journalists can either claim an incentive or donate it to charity. It’s my job to make any donations on their behalf. Charities clearly need all the funds they can get, so why do some make it so difficult to give?

31 May 2013
picture of an a-maz-ing maze

“What’s the point of a ‘research and insight manager?”

Someone asked me recently about the wisdom and value of having this dedicated role. Their charity was considering creating the position and were debating the pros and cons. It was a great question... and one that perhaps not enough charities ask. Not just because of the consideration around a new role, but also the underlying questions relating to value of research itself.

24 May 2013
image of tax form and calculator

Last month I opened my first pay check of the new fiscal year and it raised a few questions for me. It showed that the amount of money due to arrive in my bank account has gone up because the tax-free allowance has increased from £8,101 to £9,440.

I’d heard a lot about this tax cut over the past few months and every time a politician of Liberal Democrat or Tory persuasion mentioned it, they said they wanted to lift minimum and low wage earners out of the burden of income tax. Having given my best years to nfpSynergy, I was a little surprised to find myself benefitting from it and there could be many more people out there sharing my surprise. This money that they were not expecting to get is the very definition of expendable income, so should charities be looking to benefit from it?

21 May 2013
picture of an annual report

A remark I made about impact reports being ‘turgid, dull and deeply boring’ hit the sector headlines recently. I was even mad enough to suggest that we should replace impact reports with tweets. I suspect some people read the article because they couldn’t quite believe that I meant it.

17 May 2013
picture of calculator on top of bank notes

There is a cold war in the charity world.

On one side are the public and the vast majority of donors. The public don’t like admin costs, overheads and waste and they don’t like to think of their money going to anything but the charity’s cause. Our research at nfpSynergy shows this antipathy to costs and overheads very clearly. People typically think about 10% of their donation at most should go on admin and around 20% be spent on fundraising.

8 May 2013
pen circling a job ad

Getting a reference from a candidate for a job is almost as deeply engrained in charity sector thinking as equal opportunities. Yet the value to the recruiting organisation is deeply questionable. Not sure you believe me?  Ask yourself these two questions:

  • How many times have heard you of a job offer being withdrawn on the basis of references?
  • How many times have you told the whole truth about a candidate as a referee?
29 April 2013
page of writing, complete with pen

Before this, I wrote a piece on why it's important to blog. Although I meant it as a few quick notes, it actually turned into a blog of its own and inexplicably mentioned sky diving. Hopefully, it also explained a few reasons why blogging is beneficial and how it’s really easy to get started. So, eager with endeavour and sufficiently seized of blogging’s benefits, you’ll no doubt be chomping at the bit to get some ideas down on paper. So, what's the best way to get started?

24 April 2013

Between February 2011 and February 2013, we had a PAYE audit at nfpSynergy. If I live to be 100, I think it will still rank as one of the most painful, expensive, exasperating and protracted audits I experience. When we began the process, I could find virtually nothing in writing that prepared us for the compliance check that was randomly foisted on us by HMRC. Writing this is my attempt to help others be better prepared than we were.

10 April 2013
pound coins

It is fair to say that the deregulation of charity lotteries has been an issue for decades. Though improvements were made in the 2005 Act, lotteries are arguably the most regulated area of fundraising. We passionately believe that their growth is being hindered by unnecessary, disproportionate regulation and this is deeply affecting the amount of money being raised for good causes. So we decided to write a report to look at the whole lottery landscape and consider how the situation could be improved, creating a win/win for the government, charities and, most importantly, people in need.

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