This was the presentation I gave at the Fundraising Regulator Conference in Manchester on 21st February 2017. It outlines the steps The Children's Society are taking to move from 'fundraising' into a new era of 'supporter engagement'. I hope it is of interest!

1. Fundraising Regulator Conference
Manchester – 21st February 2017
Henry Rowling
Director of Supporter Experience
@henryrowling
23 February
2017
1
Changing our charity
Fundraising model, for ever

2.  In 1881, a young Sunday School teacher named Edward Rudolf was
appalled by the poverty affecting the lives of children in his parish and
reached out into his community to do something about it
 Thus began The Children’s Society
 135 years later, the concept of a community taking action together to
achieve positive change for children is still at our core
 Each year over a million committed volunteers, donors, supporters,
campaigners, and communities join forces with the professional staff
 They ARE The Children’s Society
 They have done so for decades - and will continue to do so because they
want to stop children facing terrible problems in their daily lives
The Children’s Society
23 February
2017
2

3.  Like other charities we watched with great sadness as the events of 2015
unfolded after the death of Olive Cooke and subsequent media coverage of poor
practice in the sector
 As the spotlight swung sharply onto the fundraising practices of charities in the
UK, we paused for thought. The sector was found wanting.
 The reasons for this are multiple and complex - and for discussion another day
 We had never stopped valuing our supporters – but were we behaving in a way
that genuinely demonstrated this?
 We have been raising money for children through building relationships for 130
years
 Was the experience of getting involved with The Children’s Society as positive
and inspiring as we believed it should be?
 We know some fundraising methods have become over-used and put the sector
in a poor light.
From Fundraising to Supporter
Engagement
23 February
2017
3

4.  We can fix this by taking firm, principled and positive actions.
 People still want to support building a better world and community
through engaging with charities - but we must listen and adapt to them
more and build better internal systems to do this
 We need to change our business model:
 We are moving away from product led fundraising – to true supporter
engagement – with the experience of supporters paramount in key decision
making.
We are not there yet - it is hard work and we don’t have all the answers.
Continue
Fundraising
23 February
2017
4

5.  We took immediate action from mid-2015
 Reduced our investment in recruitment channels with high cancellation rates –
particularly street fundraising, door to door and telephone campaigns.
 Created four work streams and 18 priority change projects that will catapult us into a
supporter-led future.
 Committed to using a different set of metrics to measure performance
 Our Life Time Value takes into account non-financial actions as well as financial
contributions to include campaigning, volunteering and networked contributions, so that
we are considering the total value of our supporters engagement.
 We know that if we only use metrics that focus on short-term returns on a campaign by
campaign basis then that will focus the way our supporter engagement staff behave
Actions
23 February
2017
5
YES: supporter satisfaction, lifetime value, % of opt-ins by
channel and a loyalty index
NO: shorter-term product-focussed ROI, response rates and
net present value

6.  Longer term measures of success focus staff on
building better relationships with supporters
 Reduced the number of “solicitation” communications
(with sole direct financial asks) and increased the
number of “engagement” communications (with no
direct ask to supporters).
 Using the ‘non-ask’ communications to find out and
understand more about our supporters, thank and
recognise their contributions and offer more feedback
on impact.
 Increased focus on innovation and insight so we
understand supporters lives better and how they can
support children through what they do day to day
Continue
Actions
23 February
2017
6

7.  Increased the amount of call listening we conduct
with our telephone agency and ensure we have a
systematic way of recording outcomes of that
listening
 We are seeking to increase non-financial
engagement with the organisation that will build
supporter trust, commitment and satisfaction –
creating much stronger loyalty across the supporter
base.
 Became full members of the Direct Marketing
Association (DMA).
 Immediately audited the activities of the supporter
facing teams against the IOF Codes of Practice
Continue
Actions
23 February
2017
7

8.  There are limited charity cases that prove greater supporter
engagement definitively increases income in the short and medium
term.
 We have a financial picture that suggests it will – but we have taken a
leap of faith and are doing all we can to make it a reality.
 If ultimately it does not increase overall value to children and young
people we will not have succeeded.
 Moving from a business model that delivers short-term returns to one
that may take longer to deliver results there is a danger that we lose
patience if we cannot see immediate results.
Risks
23 February
2017
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9.  But we have a commitment at CEO, Trustee and senior leadership
levels to this new supporter engagement model
 We are committed to making every single interaction with The
Children’s Society an enjoyable one. We won’t always get that right.
But when we don’t we will listen, adapt and learn.
Continue
Risks
23 February
2017
9

10. • So far we have had staff
discussions around why we
want to take this approach –
when in the short-term it will
mean we have less money to
fund our work with children and
young people.
• This is a difficult conversation to
have with colleagues in an
environment when funding from
all sources is being squeezed.
Continue
Risks
23 February
2017
10
• We have painted a picture of a
richer future – with more
engaged supporters – who fully
and deeply understand our
work – and support in a variety
of different ways – to create
better opportunities for young
people.

11. Yes there are risks in this approach
 But it is not an optional decision.
 It is something we have to do.
 We are confident - in 5 years time when
we have supporters who have positively
opted in to hearing from us; who have
the right communications from us, at the
frequency they want they will be more
involved and engaged in our work –
And that can only be a good thing for
children.
Opportunities
23 February
2017
11

12. Building a movement
23 February
2017
12
Conducted a
thorough
internal and
external
review,
Considered
data, theory
and case
studies from a
wide range of
sources,
Undertaken
research with
our
supporters
(existing and
potential),
Engaged
with
trustees and
staff at all
levels.
We have:
• Nevertheless, this approach
still requires a leap of faith.
• We can’t “know” that deeper
richer engagement focussed on
long-term relationships over
short-term transactions will
grow our income.
• But everything about our
values, philosophy and
approach to achieving social
change gives us confidence
that this is the right direction for
us.

13.  Of course, we have to perform well
against our planned approaches –
and hold firm and true to the
Supporter Engagement principles.
 We will not retreat into the old ways
of working at the first sign of
challenge.
 Our aim and vision is to build a
dynamic movement of people
collectively transforming the lives of
vulnerable children and young
people through their actions.
Building a movement
23 February
2017
13

14.  Seeing the whole person: from “fundraising” to “supporter
engagement”
 Moving beyond siloes - don’t treat people ‘just’ as donors, see all the
huge value they can bring to your organisation
 Compliance vs experience: much of the regulatory debate has
focussed on codes and compliance
 Seeing the whole person and putting supporter experience at the
forefront, we see compliance as the baseline but the quality of the
supporter experience is the key driver above and beyond sector
codes
Key Shifts
23 February
2017
14

15.  Importance of innovation: we must innovate around how we
fundraise and engage our supporters; the wake-up call has not been
one of refining/revising business-as-usual, but the need for step-
change in our sector
 Joy of giving: science and personal experience tell us that the act of
giving – be that money or time – brings joy to the giver as well as
making a difference to those in need
 Our new approach focuses on releasing that joy so we can both
maximise the impact of our supporters for young people AND
maximise the positive experience for our supporters;
 We’ve changed our team name to “Supporter Impact” because that’s
our priority – connecting people directly to the cause
Key shifts continued
23 February
2017
15

16.  Whole organisation approach: to achieve great supporter
experiences and maximum impact for our beneficiaries everyone
must be involved – trustees, senior leadership, colleagues from
across the charity; it must not be seen as a job just for the
fundraisers.
 We have been lucky that The Children’s Society gets this, and our
new approach to supporter engagement is owned by the whole
organisation not any one team, with trustees acting as proactive
champions for our approach
Whole organisation approach
23 February
2017
16

17.  We are still only starting on our journey to supporter-led
fundraising but if Edward Rudolf were still with us today he’d
approve – and across The Children’s Society
we are excited about the
Building a movement
23 February
2017
17