At the IOF recently I overheard a few senior fundraisers stating how their intuition was core to making large scale future fundraising investments. 

And this of course is nothing new. One of the benefits of being an experienced fundraiser is having a well-honed gut instinct for what works well and what doesn’t.

There’s no doubt that intuitive bets have paid dividends for many charities in the past. And in a stable and established charity sector, following your instinct is a sure-fire way to success based on a well-worn feel for what worked in the past.

Today, however, relying on hunches alone has become increasingly risky. 

When intuition meets increasing complexity

Fundraising is fast becoming convoluted and complex. The variety of ways audiences support and engage is evolving and, as a result, decision-making based based mostly on intuition is less assured and less likely to succeed. 

As this trend continues, many senior fundraisers are in a tricky position, where even with years of experience and knowledge on their side, acting on gut instinct can be a bit of a gamble. 

It makes a lot of sense then to combine that hard-won intuition with a more evidence-based approach, leveraging insight derived from data. 

So why aren’t fundraisers already doing this across the board?

Most charities have a wealth of data but not always at their fingertips. Putting this data to practical use for decision-making is often the biggest obstacle.  Maybe it takes months to compile a post-campaign-analysis simply because that’s always the way it’s been done. Perhaps you are able to only look at channels in isolation, or your reports don’t roll up to give a high-level view of performance against priorities. 

Or maybe it’s the fact the mosaic of performance measures available is blinding you to what’s working, what isn’t, where you should invest and where you might want to optimise. 

Whatever the reasons, it takes a concerted effort to embed usable views of performance derived from data. 

In our experience this is best delivered via browser-based dashboards – highly accessible and easy to consume reports in a graphical format – which, when delivered collaboratively, can fast become an invaluable source of actionable insight across your organisation. 

These well-designed visual dashboards work on a number of levels, helping you gain a clear picture of key aspects of performance, so you can unpack activities and optimise spend. 

Track the KPIs and insight on what’s business critical

Make business decisions supported by robust, accurate insight

Visualise moments of truth, customer journeys and future contact strategies 

Instill governance and controls - all from a single source of truth

Deliver automated and real-time insight directly to every user’s device.


It’s also important to remember that effective visualisations, when done right, are about more than the tool itself. Poorly designed and over-engineered dashboards can actually cause more confusion than illumination.

Effective dashboards, delivered collaboratively, help create a common language for fundraisers based on your most important objectives.

Properly scoping this will help narrow your focus to what will speak to and support the priority functions in your organisation, rather than over-engineering your dashboard with too many sanity and vanity metrics and filters.

Just as important is how you use the dashboard to inform your decisions on an ongoing basis. Regular check-ins and cross-discipline analysis sessions are a must.

Summary: If you’re not effectively measuring, you’re mostly guessing

In an evolving charity sector, it’s crucial that intuition is not your sole decision-making source but is well supported with data and insight. This begins with metrics and KPIs, delivered via easy to consume dashboards. 

Effective dashboards are much more than numbers and dials. They are a means to ensure shared comprehension of performance and engagement. And they help you make more informed decisions on future activity to repeat, reshape or discontinue.

Intuition should play a key role in driving your strategic direction. But with metrics and insight at your fingertips, it’s time to lose the gut and take the guesswork out. 

Want to make more confident decisions and turn insight into action? 

We help fundraisers build a powerful shared focus around the metrics that matter.

Get in touch if you’d like to find out more.

Fundraisers: Let’s take the guesswork out

Intuition should play a key role in driving fundraiser's strategic direction. But it is no replacement for data; it’s time to lose the gut and take the guesswork out. 

For fundraisers, acting on gut instinct alone can be a bit of a gamble. Instead, intuition combined with a more evidence-based approach can lead to more informed decisions. 

Fundraisers: Let’s take the guesswork out | Signal Blog 

Ben Hunt-Davis MBE is a big believer in focusing on the metrics that matter. 

He was part of an underachieving British rowing team who came in last place at the 1996 Olympics. But his team went on to achieve a remarkable turnaround, winning Gold in Sydney four years later. 

How did they do it? By organising themselves around one simple question: ‘will it make the boat go faster?’ 

Hard work, determination and training were all still required, of course, but all those efforts were directed towards one clear purpose.

Ben’s story beautifully illustrates the power of being laser-focused. But with the charity sector in the midst of an unprecedented period of change, it can be tricky for fundraisers to identify such a simple route to success.

We know that ambitious fundraisers are exploring new recruitment channels and products, and new ways to deepen engagement and value from supporters.  

Making that shift can be risky however, without a clear view of the right metrics at the right time. And the reality for many charities is that it can take months to analyse their results and make recommendations for future activity.  

However the same basic principle applies to charities as much as it does an Olympic rowing team - decisions are made much easier when you have access to the right metrics to steer the ship.

When we talk about the ‘metrics that matter’ it’s not about saying some of your KPIs are unimportant. It’s about being clear which metrics are most important of all. And giving internal teams a way to easily communicate (and understand) how you’re tracking against them.

Getting the timing right is also crucial. I’ve heard too many stories of charity teams getting a shock when unexpected results are unveiled to them months down the line. Not only that, but the time it’s taken to produce the results means a lot of missed opportunities.

For example, one Head of Individual Giving recently told me that they almost fell off their chair when the charity’s data agency presented the ‘latest’ view of their Weekly Lottery retention performance (which was actually 6 months old).  

The expansion of recruitment channels had dramatically increased attrition, but their teams were operating for months without this knowledge and repeating costly mistakes over and over again. 

Putting a stronger performance culture in place

Thankfully, charities that cultivate a strong performance culture can avoid this situation.  By establishing a shared view of your charity’s most important metrics, all in one place, at a glance, fundraisers will benefit from:

Improved accountability across internal teams, with a common language and a genuine reason to collaborate

The ability to make better, quicker decisions, enabling meaningful progress against big strategic challenges.

The insight to turn off, or reshape failures as soon as they become apparent, and build on successes as soon as they show a significant uplift. 

All hands on deck - collaboration is critical

As my colleague Sam points out, well-designed visual dashboards can provide these benefits, but tools alone don’t guarantee success, especially if bought ‘off the shelf’ and left to gather dust.

The most important part of cultivating a performance culture is making sure all the key end users/stakeholders (IG, Data, Digital teams) are together from the start, to discuss, challenge and agree on the common insight view that will drive performance forward. 

This co-creation means that internal charity teams have the reassurance of a common, agreed-upon results view (via a tailored dashboard) that they can use to minimise risks. This facilitates leaner working practices, and continual testing and learning.  

This on-going lens into the latest results can be liberating. It strips dangerous delays and a reliance on outside agencies (and their reporting routines) out of the process. 

In a sector where every pound spent on fundraising is (rightly) scrutinised, placing bets should be as informed as possible. And with a little bit of effort upfront, it is possible for charities to track the most important metrics and therefore make better decisions.

Just as Ben Hunt-Davis’s ‘big question’ kept the whole British rowing team on track for Olympic success, charities that prioritise performance measurement in this way will be able to make quicker progress against big goals. 

It should also help fuel appetites amongst internal teams to work together for further positive change, and make the job of fundraising much less frustrating and more interesting for everyone involved.

Do you want to improve your fundraising results? 

We help charities create a powerful shared focus around the metrics that matter.

How fundraisers can make faster progress by tracking the metrics that matter

A shared understanding of the latest key metrics is central for fundraising success

Charities can make better decisions when they have access to the right metrics, but what do we really mean when we talk about the ‘metrics that matter’. 

 How fundraisers can make faster progress by tracking the metrics that matter | Signal Blog 

The IOF Convention, which takes place over 3 days in July each year at the spectacular Barbican Centre in London, is Europe’s biggest fundraising event of the year. 

It’s a fantastic opportunity for professional fundraisers to learn from their peers and share their latest insights through a series of expert presentations, panels and workshops. 

It’s also a chance for us to check in with how the sector as a whole is tackling the current charity change conundrum.

With this in mind, we assembled an intrepid team of Signallers to attend this year’s event and find out what the burning issues are for fundraisers in 2019. 

Here are the four talks (or themes) that stood out:

‘Digital transformation: another way’  

Mistie Roskelly, Client Service Team Leader

Within the charitable sector, 75% of leadership have an intent to implement digital transformation, but only 37% have a strategy to implement this. It is clear that digital transformation is a huge area to be addressed in all charities, with many hurdles and blockers in the way. 

Martin Francis Campbell and Ben Nolan are both under a year into their roles in World Vision, but are driving real, tangible digital progression within the charity. Moving on from just the intent to change, they have recognised that true digital transformation cannot be achieved by simply layering a ‘new tech product’ over the top of existing processes and donor journey strategies, and hoping for different results. 

Instead, for example, using new tech products to support new agile online acquisition strategies has brought down World Vision’s cost per email address from £5 to under £1, as well as resulting in improved engagement and timeliness with the supporter.

The key factor to take away for the sector is that there are no longer ‘historical' fundraising products that anyone can be confident will work in perpetuity. Instead, there needs to be a fundamental change in the business model itself, and in every area of a charity, to make digital part of their new fundraising and supporter engagement reality. 

‘Build the plane as you are flying it’

Julie Roberts (Pancreatic Cancer UK) and Nick Burne (RAISETHRU) shared how PCUK used Facebook Ads to recruit over 100,000 leads from cold prospects and double their regular donors. One key theme became clear - if you wait until everything is perfect you will never get off the ground. Instead, their advice was to ‘build the plane as you are flying it’. 

Though a potentially terrifying prospect in the world of aviation, in the world of digital marketing it makes sense. We can never know for certain what will work until we try it, and as Julie pointed out, if a Facebook Ad wasn’t working she could simply just turn it off. Building the plane as you are flying it allows us to test ideas, learn what is working, and adapt or discard what is not.

Legacy acquisition is one of the strongest areas of growth in most charities, however it continues to be the most under-resourced. It is almost seen as a bit of an add-on and often charities don’t even have a dedicated team. A show of hands in the room backed this up, with most people there who worked on legacies also having other roles and responsibilities. 

The speakers from Cancer Research UK and Kew demonstrated that the main reason their programmes have been successful is down to collaboration within the charity, not operating in silos and seeing it as all part of the same supporter journey. 

Putting supporter engagement first - and making ideas happen

Monday’s presentation from WaterAid’s Director of Fundraising and Marketing Marcus Missen was a good example of what people mean when they say "we need to move away from transactional fundraising".

Missen shared how WaterAid have grown their income thanks to two big shifts:

1. Creating a more agile and innovative way of working internally

2. A new marketing strategy that focuses on engaging donors in a more relevant way and reduces the number of donation requests

Internally, they just went for it and created a culture of “if you’ve got an idea, make it happen”, and the result was that 75% of their comms now completely focus on demonstrating progress rather than asking for donations. 

They also talked about two recent campaigns that have performed well. To Be a Girl was their first integrated campaign, and it centred around supporters sharing their own childhood photos alongside their current photo as a way to make the issue more relevant. Their goal was to raise £1m within three months, but it went on to raise more than £2m – the most ever from a stand-alone WaterAid campaign at that point. 

Their #untapped campaign, which launched in 2017, was even more of a success, raising £8.9m (with half coming from UK Aid Match). It centred around telling the story of a community in Sierra Leone as clean water was brought to them. 

It’s heartening to see that charities that they need to learn fast and adapt their methods to cope with the shifting landscape, which is an area we are currently addressing for clients such as the British Heart Foundation.

We also saw an increasing emphasis on more inclusive collaboration across departments. More and more charities are understanding the link between breaking down silos to work more efficiently, and their ability to engage donors in more relevant ways.

From the recent discussions at the Convention, it’s clear that charities should aim to be much braver when trying out new ideas. They don’t need to be perfect the first time, as long as they are continually testing, learning and adapting, looking at what works and what doesn’t, and acting on this data. 

Of course, this won’t mean overnight transformation for most charities. But it’s great to see that making small steps in the right direction can lead to significant success.

4 key takeaways from the IOF Convention 2019

The burning issues for fundraisers in 2019. 

We assembled an intrepid team of Signallers to attend this year’s IOF Convention to find out what the burning issues for fundraisers in 2019. 

Four key takeaways from the IOF Convention 2019 | Signal Blog

Most of the environmentally damaging products that get the David Attenborough’s of this world in a rightful funk are convenient solutions e.g. single use plastic bottles. The thing is, we’ve organised our society in such a way that everything is as convenient as possible. And changing our habits isn’t easy. So what part can us marketers play in breaking the deadlock?

There are already plenty of environmentally sound, sustainable products popping up on our social feeds, e.g. Chilly’s bottles and Wild Rubber. What these have in common, and where their charm comes from, is that they are creative solutions. If we reframe sustainability from a ‘cumbersome problem’ to a ‘creative challenge’, it’s easier to get everyone on board. 

Given that Christmas is often a time of over-consumption, it seems like the perfect opportunity to start making a few changes for the better.

I was able to pick up a few tips at the recent #GreenArts Conference. It’s an annual meet-up of eco warriors who are on a mission to make the Scottish cultural sector more sustainable. Again, creativity was a common theme of the event. Talks from The Scottish Government, workshops with Creative Carbon Scotland and chats with local arts organisations left me feeling energised and inspired - from more than just the six cups of tea in my reusable mug. 

With all that in mind, here are a few creative ways to add a little Green to your Christmas. After all: Christmas trees, The Grinch and even the mighty, Quality Street Triangles are already Green icons.

Each year, we throw away 277,000 miles of wrapping paper. Most of which is unrecyclable and ends up in landfill. Which means it’ll probably outlast the presents themselves - unless you’re planning on gifting a Christmas Pudding to the back of the cupboard. Instead, why not try:

Furoshiki - it’s a wonderful, traditional Japanese wrapping style using scarves. It’s very en vogue this year. And if they don’t like your pressie, they’ve also got a snazzy new scarf.


Brown paper - if you’d rather not go cold turkey on the wrapping paper, wean yourself in with brown paper instead. It’s entirely recyclable and looks Pinterest perfect with a sprig of holly - just make sure you stick it together with glue instead of tape.


Cardboard boxes - this is a great way to combine recycling and wrapping (10 points to Green Gryffindor). Just fill a cardboard box with shredded paper. It actually looks surprisingly Instagrammable. And let’s admit it, shredding is such a satisfying day in.

If you want to end up on Richard Attenborough’s Nice List, you might consider a vegan Christmas. But for a more crowd-pleasing way to have a green Crimbo, give these a go:

Quality Street - fun for Christmas day. Frustrating for the rest of the year when your Gran keeps the tins and fools you by filling them with sewing stuff instead. But the good, Green news is you can keep the outer wrappers and compost them. Save me a Purple One.

Crisps - thanks to Geraint Ashcroft who led a public campaign to encourage big companies like Walkers to take on the sustainability challenge, you can now recycle your crisp packets. Find out more about this and other TerraCycle schemes here.


Recycle your wrappers - unfortunately not all plastic tubs are recyclable. So if you can, avoid black plastic as the machines can’t recycle the carbon in it (just think ‘no coal for Christmas’ and you’ll be on the right track). In better news, when you’re dropping off your old plastic carrier bags in the supermarket recycling boxes, you can also recycle things like beans wrappers/bread wrappers/cereal inserts too here. Now you can have a guilt-free Christmas breakfast.

While you’re in the spirit of giving, give the planet a little TLC too. Catriona Patterson, the Green Arts Project Manager’s tip is to do a Secret Santa. “Less stuff, often more thoughtful and resource efficient.” Combined with the fun of wondering who picked your name out of the Santa hat, what’s not to like? So here are a few of our fave good-for-the-globe gifts:

Who Gives a Crap Loo Roll - need a daft Secret Santa pressie? This toilet roll is made from entirely recycled paper. Because why are we ‘wiping with trees’? Like it says on the very pretty packaging…


4Ocean bracelet - two wonderful, best pals from Florida (what a great start, eh?) started a global business paying fishermen to fish plastic out of our oceans. They then make these unisex bracelets from recycled glass and plastic bottles, and fund further sea-cleaning projects with the sale of each bracelet.

National Geographic magazine subscription - naturally the articles are all about that big green and blue guy we’re trying to save. But their team have also opted for a biodegradable cover to wrap it in.

Adopt a penguin - OK, so more than a stocking filler - unless you count John Lewis circa 2014. But from £3 a month with WWF, adopting a penguin is an alternative gift that keeps on giving. You’ll know you’ll be helping conserve one of winter’s favourite friends, keeping them safe from pollution - and truthfully it’s cheaper than a doggo in the long run.

And here’s one final reminder. When you’re out picking up the last bits and bobs, heed the advice of two of my favourite actors: don’t forget your reusable bags.

Creative ways to save the planet at Christmas

Creative ways to save the planet this Christmas | Signal

We share some creative solutions to help people adopt greener behaviours for Christmas, inspired by Scotland's #GreenArts Conference.

Creative ways to save the planet at Christmas | Signal Blog

https://cellosignal.com/blog/green-christmas

In April this year, myself and three other (p)lucky adventurers from Signal set out on the challenge of a lifetime - trekking along the Great Wall of China, where it meanders through many miles of remote villages circling Beijing.

Signal China trekkers, L-R: Karen Wyatt, Lakshmi Balakrishnan, Graham Duffield and Leah Munting.

We prepared ourselves for what was billed as a mental and physical battle between man and the man-made. We were to conquer the impenetrable Wall, with its incessant steps, staggering climbs, demanding descents and searing heat - all to raise money for one fantastic charity - The British Heart Foundation.

Meeting our fundraising target of over £6,100 was no mean feat. We’d been frantically raising money since the previous August. As mentioned in the article I wrote during this time, we did everything we could to encourage donations, including organising raffles, gin tasting evenings, auctions, street collections and bake sales. 

So as we departed Heathrow, we felt lighter knowing we’d smashed our target, raising over £7,900 for BHF. Signal also covered the cost of entry, bringing the final total to £14,177.

Over 10 hours in the sky and 8,000km later, we finally landed and got some rest, having leapt seven hours in the future. We woke up for the first day of our trek jet-lagged and nervous. 

The iron sky outside belied the forecasts of sun, but our backpacks were bulging with wet layers, dry layers and any other layer we thought we could possibly need. So with our belongings stowed safely, we journeyed by bus to our first stop at Jinshanling. 

This is the question everyone asked us afterwards. But it hasn’t been easy to answer.

There are few words that can capture the sheer scale and awe of peering up and seeing the Wall rising in front of you. Thoughts flitted through my own mind about the impossible number of bricks, the feasibility of the challenge itself and just how infinitesimal I felt. 

Clambering up those first steps and emerging through the first watchtower, all descriptive abilities melted away as I looked down and traced the structure with my eyes, seeing it snake away from my feet, hugging the mountain spine and flowing into the endless horizon.

Then the terrain bought us back with a bump. 

We were of course prepared for there being a lot of steps. Extensive scouring of the internet had told us that much. We were sort of okay with the hills too. However, we were not prepared for steps that were sometimes higher than our knees! 

These would often appear entirely at random, hidden on a downhill or camouflaged in an uphill flight – essentially whenever we were just able to get a pace going. Our guide told us later on that this was a deliberate tactic to slow down invading armies from the North (along with us 21st century trekkers).

Sometimes there were no steps but this didn’t bring much relief, as we were faced with smooth stone surfaces worn down into a slipperiness by thousands of footsteps over the ages. 

This brought the high possibility of a long and painful roll to the bottom of the slope, so we were often clinging to the sides of the wall, fingernails digging into the brickwork to stop us from falling.  

We experienced isolated and unrenovated sections of the wall, which had us picking our way through ancient rubble and fresh undergrowth. This pushed us perilously close to several scary precipices.

(The sign shown above on the right translated to ‘Danger! Do not pass’, which we weren’t aware of until we passed it)

And then there were the climbs! These were unpleasantly frequent. The terrain never failed to tease us, so when we thought we could see the top within reasonable distance, the Wall would inevitably climb upwards to the next mountain crest and then disappear from view. 

Whilst it’s a popular misconception that the Great Wall can be seen from space, at times the ascents were so steep and unforgiving that we were sure it actually must be true. 

But for every moment of chest-heaving, sweat-drenching and heart-bursting uphill exertion, there were so many emotional highs. 

There was the zen-like tranquillity of stepping out from our inn in Gubeikou onto a riverside lined with cherry blossoms, whilst kingfishers darted out, scattering the resident goldfish.

Or when we trekked for over an hour through the dense forest at Mutianyu to get to a particularly remote but original and spectacular section of the Wall, only to find the ladder to climb onto it had gone. 

Together, our team built a cairn of rocks and scrambled, pushed and pulled everyone up to the most breathtaking and overwhelming view.

We dedicated prayer ribbons to family and friends and tied them to the trees to whip in the eternal winds at the top of the Heavenly Stairs.

And after a long day of walking, as the last visitors of the day to the Ming Tombs,  we were able to watch the sunset fall down behind the temples.

We walked for between six to eight hours most days, often not seeing anyone beyond our group. We would mostly hear our own voices, our footsteps, the clack-clack of walking poles, deep breaths and quite often the internal pounding of our hearts.

When we woke up on the final day and headed to Huanghuacheng, we were all a little quieter and more contemplative. Scaling the last peak and taking the last step we celebrated the achievement in the individual ways we’d become accustomed to over the past days with each other; Karen’s singing of ‘On Top of the World’ echoing around, Graham beaming from ear to ear, Lakshmi giving it her all right to the end and me simply contemplating the moment.

Before that finishing descent, standing on top of that ultimate peak and feeling on top of the world, we laughed (and maybe we cried). 

We thought about what we’d done, we thought about our loved ones and we thought about home. We thought about walking and we thought about not walking. We thought about the journey and just how good it was, how far we had come and what we had achieved, for us and for the BHF. It left us all speechless.

As the Tang dynasty poet Wang Zhihuan (688-724 AD) wrote:

But you can widen your view three hundred miles

By ascending a single flight of stairs…

Conquering the Great Wall of China for Charity

A team of adventurous Signal staff took on the challenge of a lifetime in China - for a great cause.

Taking on the challenge of a lifetime for a great cause.

We tackled the Great Wall of China, all to raise money and fundraise for The British Heart Foundation.

Conquering the Great Wall of China for Charity | Signal Blog

https://cellosignal.com/blog/china-charity-challenge-success

In a recent article for the Institute of Fundraising I explored how the dialogue around change is failing the not-for-profit sector.

We paint the future as a distant utopia and charities as behind the times. While, at the same time, we ignore or misunderstand their resilience.

The result? Change is seen as too big, too costly, or plain out of reach. Charities struggle as they try to do everything at once, or they just put it off until another time.

How can charities find the right pace for transformation when the commercial urgency isn’t always there?

And how can they maintain or grow their traditional fundraising operations without neglecting their progress towards future goals?

Priorities likely include better experiences for supporters; an increasing focus on digital; and a diversification of fundraising products (or a combination of all three).

Not to mention a likely scenario where large scale investment either needs to be justifiable to donors, or isn't an option at all.

It's a conundrum. But, fundraisers, fear not!

We've used our experience working with charities on this exact issue to create a process that will help. Six small, but significant, steps that will help your organisation to better manage big change.

Don’t worry, you don’t need a crystal ball for this - just a good data analyst. Project what your next five years will look like, based on your current trends. You’ll need to simplify, and there are sure to be assumptions made, but write it all down and own it.

Is individual giving going up or down? By how much?

How is your audience mix changing over time?

Many charities have huge growth targets, but at the same time they’re looking for significant cost savings. This is in a context where their resilience means there isn’t a commercial urgency to drive large scale change at pace. This is a dangerous position to inhabit, leaving charities stuck in the change conundrum. 

Solid analysis will offer you the first key to driving change. It’s about understanding how sustainable your current approach is, and not assuming that a complete transformation needs to be immediate.

From there, it’s a case of working out the scale and speed of change that’s right for your organisation. Base these goals on your new insights, otherwise you could face a bottomless pit of potential costs.

2. Define your purpose - where are you going and why?

Your analysis will start to paint a picture of the type of change needed at your organisation. But change in and of itself shouldn't be the goal. The purpose for the change must be an intrinsic reward for the charity - usually the potential impact on beneficiaries or supporters.

Your purpose should articulate this benefit, and it should also serve two important purposes:

1. It should paint a picture that inspires passion in people to help you get there. 


Passion goes hand in hand with success on both an individual and a corporate level. Your purpose needs to give people something to believe in and get excited about.

2. It should have a profound effect on the silos that can slow down change. 


Silos can be particularly damaging given today's challenges, few of which fit within one directorate. A solid, high level purpose doesn’t just remove silos, it plain ignores them. Your unifying purpose should focus your teams and give them the clarity they need to understand their roles and work towards a common goal.

3. Take your first step. Then another. And another…

When you're trying to define the perfect plan it can be far too easy to get bogged down in details - sapping the fun and speed out of the change initiative. The truth is, in the complexity of today’s world, there is no perfect plan to address your big challenges. 

Some will say it’s all about digital transformation. Or perhaps investing in brand, or becoming supporter-centric. The reality is that you’re going to have to make progress across all these fronts. While, of course, also still delivering your ongoing BAU.

So, this step requires you to cast aside your ‘master plan’ and instead focus on just moving forward. Keep your purpose firmly in mind and try something. It almost doesn’t matter what you try (within reason), the point is to see what happens and revaluate. The step will either take you closer to where you're aiming, or further away.  Bear in mind, if it takes more than 3-6 months to understand the impact it probably isn't the right step - at least for now.

These test results will be the life-blood of your change programme (and they don’t even need to be positive!) Anything that you can learn from is good, as long as you analyse your failures as well as your successes.

4. Assemble the right ingredients - people, processes, tech and tools. 

Change is multi-dimensional, so when assessing your approach it’s helpful to ensure you’re covering off the three areas below:

1. The right people. 

Combine experience and expertise from the charity and agency partnerships. Multiple viewpoints (when aired in a collaborative environment) usually provide the best results. Getting the right people in the room from the start enables a much faster pace (you can deal with any objections nice and early too).
 

2. The right processes. 

Any action must be supported and facilitated across the whole organisation, with clear ways to move forward. This will allow you to adapt and improve along the way, creating a culture of curious, fast learners.
 

3. The right tech and tools. 

Make use of what you already have available, while also laying the groundwork for future progress. Adoption of technology is not the end goal, but it often helps to serve the desired outcomes. It should never be a barrier to change.

Confused? It's likely that finding the right partners for one or more of these areas will be helpful for you. Look for those who can flex around your existing capabilities, plug immediate gaps, and help you build for the future.

5. Look back, as well as forward - simplify your old world to create space for the new.

Something that is difficult one year should be streamlined and simplified for the next. This applies to change initiatives, but equally to your BAU activity - something that is taking charities more and more time and resource to fulfil. It’s not unusual for teams to deliver the same campaigns year in, year out. Even senior leaders in charities are spot-buying on print production.

But technology is there to transform outdated processes into simpler and more effective ways of working in the present, as well as helping you to embrace the future. Then you and your team can do what you’re best at - thinking, planning, strategising and imagining.

6. Stay positive - we’re living in exciting times.

Finally, and to an extent most importantly, change should be fun. It should enable your teams to feel excitement about their work like never before.

There will be times when it’s hard work, but it shouldn’t be a burden. This isn’t just a nice-to-have sentiment, it’s good business sense. 

Ultimately, your organisation will thrive when - and only when - your people thrive.

We're currently working with a number of charities to help them drive large-scale change forward in a manageable way. If you want to have a chat about your goals, or just find out more about the change conundrum then drop an email to Mark at mark.dibden@cellosignal.com

charity

Fundraisers: Let’s take the guesswork out

How fundraisers can make faster progress by tracking the metrics that matter

4 key takeaways from the IOF Convention 2019

Creative ways to save the planet at Christmas

Conquering the Great Wall of China for Charity

6 ways to challenge the ''change conundrum'' in the Third Sector

IOF Convention 2018 - challenging the fundraising status quo

Collaboration, not competition - why charities need to challenge the silo situation

Happy GDPR Day! Charities, your big challenge starts now.

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