The challenge

After implementing a new fundraising strategy, the DEC wanted feedback on how well it was working and what they could do to improve future appeals. “During our Syria appeal, we had new team members working with a new fundraising strategy for the first time,” says Adil Husseini, Head of Fundraising and Marketing at DEC. “So we wanted to have an independent review of the appeal to gauge its success.”

What we did

Our review was gathered through a workshop with DEC staff, as well as telephone interviews with fundraising directors and CEOs from member organisations, broadcasters and other partners.

We analysed the results of the appeal, looked at the strengths and challenges, and made recommendations to maximise their income. We also considered how the DEC could work better with their member organisations and take on any feedback they had.

Our impact

We made eight key recommendations, such as revitalising broadcaster partnerships, maximising the length of time DEC raises money, and trialling giving by direct debit.

The DEC took seven of these forward, including extending the length of disaster appeals so they could make the most of donor momentum.

“Usually, after two weeks we reduce our PR for the appeal,” - says Adil, Head of Fundraising & Marketing at DEC, -   “But the recommendation from the research was that, if something is going well for the DEC, we should continue the campaign. We put that forward to our member organisations who have put it into action. So for the appeal the Nepal Earthquake Appeal, we continued with the some of the online marketing that were going well for us for another three days.

“As well as using the comprehensive review to prepare ourselves for future appeals, we found the research was great to share with other suppliers to help them understand what we do. We also decided to do a public and donor survey, our second project with nfpSynergy. It continues to be a very good relationship. Joe Saxton and the team take so much time to really understand their clients.”