This document provides guidance on practical fundraising strategies focused on insights into philanthropic giving. It begins by explaining the importance of fundraising growth given current challenges. Next, it overviews wealth dynamics in the UK, noting the concentration of wealth among the top 1% and potential for growth if targeting this segment. The document then discusses methods for understanding donor capacity and affinity, including analyzing response rates, donation histories, and wealth screening. It concludes by recommending actionable strategies like identifying major donor prospects and calculating fundraising growth scenarios to demonstrate returns on investment in philanthropy.

1. WHERE IS THE MONEY?
cc: Cristiano Betta - https://www.flickr.com/photos/45488928@N00
PRACTICAL STEPS TOWARD INSIGHTFUL PHILANTHROPY FUNDRAISING

2. Format
Why growing giving matters
Overview of UK wealth dynamics
Some methods
Q&A

3. Why Growth Matters
FPS & stricter controls on marketing; forecasted shortfalls (NCVO, RNLI);
government austerity
Younger generations agnostic on achieving social impact; CSR, ethical goods
Mixed/’layered’ funding; social finance evolving, growing

4. Value and number of British £m donations
Accessed at http://philanthropy.coutts.com/en/reports/2015/united-kingdom/findings.html on 20112015

5. Top Wealth in the UK
UK HNWI population of roughly 500,000,
estimated net worth of ~$2trn
Those highest on the income scale have
seen the highest growth in wealth
According to the ST Rich List 2015, the
wealthiest 1,000 people worth £547bn…
2% of this would double UK fundraised
income
Next: four
dimensions of
wealth:
• Change over time
• Wages
• Geography
• Wealth vs
Affluence

6. Haves and Have
Yachts
Top wealth has
increased the nearer to
the top we look

7. Distribution of
Total Wage Mass
by FTE PPP wage
decile
Graph shows the proportion of
total EU wages earned by each
decile
“The UK’s share of the top 1
percent accounts for “nearly
4% of the total EU wage
mass, despite comprising
only 0.4% of all EU wage
earners...Britain’s polarised
pay is skewing the numbers
for the entire continent.”
Accessed at
https://flipchartfairytales.wordpress.com/2015/05/27/inequality-in-the-
uk/ on 27092015

8. A Tale of One
City
In terms of top wealth, the
UK is a city which
happens to have a country
attached to it
Accessed at
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/1-27022014-
AP/EN/1-27022014-AP-EN.PDF on 4/1/2015

9. Postcode Ranking: affluence Postcode Ranking: price
1 N20 8 Totteridge (47) 1 SW7 1 Knightsbridge (24)
2 KT22 0 Oxshott (46) 2 SW3 6 Fulham Road, Chelsea (22)
3 SL9 8 Gerrards Cross/Chalfont St Peter (118) 3 W8 7 Campden Hill Road (17)
4 KT24 5 East Horsley/Effingham (159) 4 SW1X 7 Knightsbridge (26)
5 SL9 7 Gerrards Cross (124) 5 W8 5 Kensington Court (29)
6 WD3 4 Rickmansworth (92) 6 W1K 1 Park Lane (42)
7 SE21 7 Dulwich (70) 7 SW3 4 King's Road, Chelsea (18)
8 KT10 9 Esher (72) 8 SW1X 8 Kinnerton Street, Knightsbridge (55)
9 CR3 7 Woldingham (129) 9 SW1Y 5 St James's (425)
10 RG9 3 Shiplake (134) 10 W1B 4 Regent Street (69)
11 AL5 2 Hatching Green/Harpenden (81) 11 SW7 2 Princes Gate, South Kensington (77)
12 KT17 3 Epsom (236) 12 W1J 5 Mayfair (88)
13 SM2 7 Sutton (182) 13 W11 3 Notting Hill (36)
14 WD17 3 Cassiobury Drive, Watford (247) 14 W1K 7 Park Street, Mayfair (167)
15 KT11 2 Cobham (94) 15 W1H 6 Portman Square (52)
16 BR2 6 Keston (132) 16 W8 4 Kensington Church Street (78)
17 W8 7 Campden Hill Road (3) 17 SW1W 9 Eaton Square (133)
18 SW3 4 King's Road, Chelsea (7) 18 NW3 7 Hampstead (49)
19 RG9 6 Hambleden (150) 19 SW3 2 Walton Street, Chelsea (51)
20 GU10 2 Churt/Tilford (184) 20 W1G 0 Cavendish Square (135)

10. Drivers of Giving (McCoy, 2013)
Look at a group of supporters who ‘do the thing’ you are modelling, eg: make a
major gift, and build a picture of who they are
Determine the significant, defining characteristics of giving across the base, ie:
the key drivers?
Demographic, behavioural, attitudinal or transactional characteristics
The elements that make a good supporter differ from charity to charity.
Certainly the importance, or ‘weighting’ on each variable, will differ greatly
Accessed at http://insightsig.org/networking-events-20122013/

11. Some Questions I Tend to Ask…
• Who is responding to more than one in ten appeals? (‘responding’ not necessarily meaning
sending gifts)
• Which supporters contact us unprompted to update details, chase us to re-send something
or ask unprompted questions about our work?
• Do we have petition signatories from affluent areas who may want to uplift their giving or
become a supporter?
• Who donates via active methods, ie internet donations, cheques, telephone calls or mail
donations?
• Who attends our advocacy events? Are there repeat visitors?
• Which households have more than one family member who is a supporter?
• Who is supporting us in memory? Who among our supporters has direct experience of the
cause we work to support?
• Whose giving is uplifting spontaneously?

12. Useful Data (in no particular order)
Tenure/continuity of giving
Giving velocity
Recruitment Date
Response Ratios
Unprompted communications
Wealth flags: private bank,
property value, equity sales
First gift amount
Current Lifetime Value
Questionnaire responder
Event participant/volunteer
First gift date-present
This years gift total/av previous three
Date added
Appeals/responses
Sum total no. comms
NO MATHS REQUIRED
NO MATHS REQUIRED
Sum total giving
NO MATHS REQUIRED
NO MATHS REQUIRED

13. Actionable
Insight
1. Wealth screen all donors added to your supporter database or
those giving for the first time in the last month
2. Overlay the first gift list with response ratio scores
3. Query & export lifetime value for donors with a recent last gift
date. Descending sort on LTV. Be extra nice to those at the top
4. Query for donors giving in the thousands in ‘Super Suburbs’
5. Export within-year donation totals for the last four completed
years for your top wealth segment. Use this to calculate uplifting
giving (‘giving velocity’). Be extra nice to those at the top
6. Wealth screen and research the networks of your volunteers
7. Wealth screen petition signatories or campaigns sign-ups
8. Query for supporters using private banks
9. Query for first gift amounts in the thousands, especially internet
donations
10. Use postcode searches to locate households with more than one
supporter in affluent areas
11. Recruit a volunteer to do an old style wealth screening with a copy
of the Rich List (or even better the top 5,000 from 2005)
Eleven things to do
immediately to
understand
engagement among
your wealthier
supporters

14. A Simple, DIY
Model of
Capacity &
Affinity
• Aim is to create a
composite score
combining
capacity &
affinity
• Simple 1-100
score: simple,
usable &
insightful

15. Actionable
Strategy
1. Draw up a list of case studies to demonstrate value added by
your research work (identification & stewardship)
2. Following this, prepare a paper for senior leadership detailing
ROI of your work and estimated remaining value
3. Sum up all of the estimated value of all wealth segments on
your supporter database
4. Proactively deliver reporting on wealth segments and giving
patterns to leadership
5. Draw up a benchmarking report to demonstrate (untapped)
value of philanthropy to your organisation
1. Include a section comparing charities to HE institutions’
philanthropy income
6. Calculate the value of uplifting donors in a range of scenarios
to make the case for investment in philanthropy
7. Identify the leader in your sector. How did they get there?
8. Repeat steps 1-7
Strategy is not "high
sounding sentiments
together with plans to spend
more and somehow 'get
better'“
Strategy is "a way through a
difficulty, an approach to
overcoming am obstacle, a
response to a challenge“
From Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy

16. Rare Events
•Many other professions - epidemiologists, insurers and bankers, the military,
geographers, scholars of international relations and meteorologists - face similar
forecasting challenges
• Academic work is ongoing into correcting biases & forecasting using rare events data:
• Gary King
• Raffaella Calabrese
• Blattman, Blair & Hartman
• Popular work is also ongoing online by some of these authors and others to improve
our ability to forecast rare events
•Researchers can do more! Work across silos

17. Charity sector forecast to be
heading for a £4.6bn shortfall
within the next four years, an
achievable, sustainable way to
grow overall giving through
enduring donor relationships is a
positive message!
Barack Obama did not say ‘No,
They Can’t’, and Dr. Martin
Luther King did not say ‘I have a
nightmare’
• Understanding market dynamics of wealth/income critical to success in growing
giving, for top philanthropy and ‘leadership giving’
• Huge potential to identify wealth and understand affinity, much of which is
already in our supporter base
• These methods can be used to incorporate measures of connection and affinity
into our work
Summary

18. Further Reading & Resources
Kevin MacDonnell’s blog: Cooldata
His and Peter Wylie’s 2014 book ‘Score!’ (ISBN 0899644457)
Josh Birkholz: Fundraising Analytics
Philip Tetlock: Superforecasting: the Art & Science of Prediction
See list at: https://www.worldcat.org/profiles/BenRymer/lists/3257763
https://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/prospect-dmm
Twitter: @joshbirkholz @iofinsight @n_ashutosh
Thanks & Q&Ahttps://fundraisingvoices.wordpress.com/
@benrymer
ben.rymer@ageuk.org.uk
This presentation is copyright Ben Rymer, Fundraising Research Manager, Age UK
© 2015 All rights reserved. Used with permission.