I was driving a friend’s son back from a meeting the other day when his mobile  rang. He’s 21, just graduated and looking for his first job.

The phone call lasted half an hour. Overhearing his side of the conversation it was obvious he was trying to get off the phone from a pushy sales person. “No, I really can’t afford to increase my subscription”, “But I’ve not got a job yet and got a big student loan to pay off”, “Really, I would if I could, I just can’t”. On and on it went. I was getting increasingly frustrated at how polite he was being, making throat-cutting symbols etc. Eventually the lad finally managed to get off the phone, apologising to the caller and promising he would increase his payment as soon as he was able.

“Who the hell was that?” I asked, expecting some dodgy loan provider or money lender. “Oh it was [insert name of large international charity]. I give by direct debit and they were asking me to increase it because people are suffering terribly. I feel awful, but I just can’t. They call every so often”.

This just didn’t seem right to me. And it made me think. I won’t talk about my own charitable giving, that’s just naff, but I do know some wonderful people and organisations in the sector. I admire them greatly. But let’s use my wife as an example.

She has given for many years to a few causes, mostly environmental and children’s charities. I often open the post. She is bombarded by either the charities she supports or others who seemed to have ‘acquired’ her details somehow. The mailings follow a similar pattern. Either, “thank you for your previous donation, but the situation in xxx is still terrible. Look at this awful/ appealing picture. Please give us more” or “here is a little gift for you. Feel free to keep it for yourself. You don’t need to send us any money if you can look yourself in the mirror, but otherwise please send money”.

Now I’m a marketer and have spent a fair amount of my career advising my clients on how to increase revenue from their customer base. I can’t ever remember advising them to call their most loyal clients and humiliate them for not spending more.

Charities need to grasp that in these social media-enabled days, it is not just the brand itself that has an awareness, positioning and personality, but the PEOPLE representing that brand. Most people have a positive sentiment towards the charity itself. Of course, or why would they support them. Similarly for the people ‘on the ground’ doing the work. But what about the managers, administrators, marketeers, customer service personnel? I’m not so sure.

I’ve either worked with, professionally or know personally many people in these functions. Every one of them is smart, dedicated, hard-working and selfless in their work for their cause. But, I’m sure like you, heard hundreds of comments like  “I’m not sure how much of my donation actually goes to the people it’s for”, “They’d be better spending their money on what they’re supposed to do rather than pushing stuff through my door every day” etc.

So where’s the disconnect? Is it simply PR or is there something inherently wrong in the way some charities go about their marketing? I’m sure the marketing departments can supply ROI data on how these tactics work, but for how long? A leaking bucket can be only  re-filled so often.

So how to get it right? I’m going to declare an interest right here. I’ve worked with these people professionally and support them personally, but I think they’ve got it right. Forever Manchester is also forever positive about the future of the communities they help. They give a steady stream of positive stories about what deprived communities in Manchester are achieving, with or without their support, In their marketing they have acknowledged that their donors of the future will be different to their donors of today and have developed their strategy to reflect that. They’ve embraced the new communications channels of social media, digital marketing and understand its power. But here’s the thing. There’s not only warmth towards the brand and its work but also the people who work for it. From Chief Executive Nick Massey down everyone acknowledges they’re simply nice people. As a supporter you can guarantee their communications will have something to say and quite often be fun! Of course they ask for your money, that’s their job, but it’s the way they ask. They ask like a friend, not a ‘sleeve-tugger’.

I fully appreciate there’s a huge difference between a large, international organisation and a local one, but I still think there are lessons they could learn.

And here’s their link again so you can donate!

Steve Downes

Juice Digital, Manchester