2006 Articles

Lessons from Abroad


In the Trenches 2/06

FundRaising Success

By Tom Hurley

Fortunately, I’ve had the privilege of working for international fundraisers for the past few years. And that’s given me the advantage of seeing great ideas born and developed around the globe.

Until then, my view of new techniques was limited to thinking that fundraising, and particularly direct response fundraising, was pretty much an American institution.

Was I ever wrong! While learning about sophisticated techniques being used in Europe, Japan and elsewhere, I also learned that a spirit of philanthropy exists in every culture, although in different ways.

So, I thought it might be interesting to talk to several industry experts and share some personal observations about what’s happening around the world.

First, the great news! The world is being made a better place by a worldwide array of donors both in the developed countries of Europe and Japan and emerging nations who are developing philanthropy and the systems to support their activities.

While attending the 25th International Fundraising Congress last fall in The Netherlands, the discussion centered on the rapid growth of philanthropy in the “BRIC” countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China.  While all have vastly different cultures each has a rapidly growing a middle class being fueled by the principles of democracy and capitalism.  It’s a widespread belief among fundraisers all over the world that it’s this new middle class that will assume the challenge of solving many of the worldwide human and environmental challenges of the 21st century.

The biggest difference I saw at the IFC appears to be that professional fundraising is a mature business in some parts of the world and a white-hot emerging growth opportunity in others.

I asked a number of international fundraising experts who view the world from our North American perspective to compare the levels of innovation they see here and around the world. 

Ken Burnett, international author and lecturer, sees a malaise among those in developed countries who have done it all.  According to Burnett, “No country is much ahead of the other because they each spend so little on R&D and don’t take the time and trouble to create a culture of innovation.  It’s something that all fundraisers should take more time to study.”

Burnett goes on to cite a new trend in Europe to conduct extensive donor research, but predicts that only a few fundraisers will actually use the information effectively.  He applauds the US for leading the way in using the Internet and email in creative ways, particularly in communicating a commitment to stewardship. And, Burnett claims the practice of effective stewardship is gathering momentum faster in the US than in Europe.

Europeans certainly have embraced alternative media more quickly than the US.  “Telemarketing has a much more calmer way of soliciting in Europe than the US,” according to Fielding Yost, President of the Saturn Corporation with operations in the US and Europe.  “Appeals are more straightforward and without as much emotion or as frequent as those in the US,” says Yost who adds, “Costs are higher in Europe, but so are response rates and income.”

Other alternative media employed in Europe are face-to-face solicitations by paid solicitors.  The cost to acquire a new donor is high, but like many campaigns in Europe, donors are brought on from the beginning with a commitment to automatic monthly giving.  Personally, I’m not sure that face-to-face is ever going to take off in the US. 

Richard Pordes, a leading international fundraiser for UNICEF looks as close as Canada and sees success there with DRTV (Direct Response Television.)  In fact, Pordes sees a great deal of innovation coming from our neighbors to the north.  “It may be that the Canadian market is less saturated,” according to Pordes who sees many Canadian charities working hard while some fundraisers in the US “have just given up trying to be innovative” in the intense competition that exists here. 
 
 “We freely copy each other in developed countries,” says Mal Warwick, founder and chairman of Mal Warwick and Associates, who spends much of his time lecturing abroad these days.  He adds, “While techniques in the western world are pretty much alike, the Global South is another matter entirely.  In those countries where a few brave souls have begun venturing into fundraising waters, most of the time they are on their own.  They have to be innovative.  There’s practically no one to copy from.” 

Two educators from Calgary, who just completed one-on-one interviews with fundraisers around the world, confirm Warwick’s observations.  Guy Mallabone, of SAIT Polytechnic and Tony Myers of the University of Calgary explored attitudes on wealth, cultural influences and overall perceptions of major giving practices in Brazil, Germany, India, China and South Africa.  In nearly all the emerging countries training, credibility and a shortage of professional fundraisers were major issues.

In Brazil they learned that individual giving is so new there are some donors who actually fear kidnapping if their names are published. In India, wealth is kept within a family and transferred from one generation to the next. And in China, where growth and tremendous social needs exist side by side, one major donor there donor described the country as undergoing an ‘age of enlightenment’…with personal philanthropy as a natural outgrowth.

Warwick sees credibility and trust as major issues in the emerging countries. “If trust in nonprofit organizations is low in the United States, then visit some other countries. The word distrust doesn’t even begin to convey the jaundiced attitude that so many in the Global South have for nonprofits.” Warwick is a US delegate to the Resource Alliance, a UK-based organization that supplies advice, training and support for fledgling programs. He, and others believe that trust will come from fundraising professionalism that the emerging countries desperately need.

Mallabone and Myers who presented the plenary session at the International Fundraising Congress, summed up their view of the top eight global events influencing the new world of philanthropy:

  1. The emergence of democracy around the world
  2. Capitalism taking hold in emerging countries and the creation of large worldwide middle class
  3. A new open-market economy free of trade and transportation barriers
  4. A shrinking communications world where instant voice and data can bring people anywhere together instantly
  5. An awareness of the environment by all generations
  6. Growth of the third, or non-profit, sector to help solve problems that business and government just can’t, or won’t.
  7. Global Disasters, which can’t be predicted, but affect attitudes and giving patterns.
  8. Terrorism

So, while we struggle with the complexities of media costs, privacy issues, postal regulations and such, others are just beginning to develop the industry that will help meet human and environmental challenges of the 21st century.  Maybe it’s worth a bit of time for all of us to really pick up our sights to see what’s happening over our own horizons.

One place to get a global view is the Resource Alliance Website at www.resource-alliance.org.

About Tom Hurley
Tom Hurley is president of the not-for-profit division of DMW Worldwide. DMW Worldwide is a full-service direct response-advertising agency with offices in Wayne, PA, St. Louis, MO, and Plymouth, MA. You can reach Tom at 774-773-1200 or via e-mail at thurley@dmwdirect.com. Visit DMW on the Web at www.dmwdirect.com.