Fundraising and Marketing for NGOs –

New Trends and Developments

Report of a meeting held on the 20th April 2006 in Manchester, UK

enter

european multiple sclerosis platform aisbl

EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK

Contents
Introduction 3
The future of fund raising 4
Long term corporate relationships 7
Donor loyalty workshop 10
Marketing and communications workshop 12
Who are the potential donors for national MS societies and how to find them? 13
Review of UK MS Society’s Manchester Meeting 15
Acknowledgements 16
Click on the title to read it directly.

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EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK

Introduction
This year’s meeting focused on two very important topics for EMSP members - fundraising and marketing. Fundraising, as
the name implies is the raising of funds or money. Fundraising can take many forms, from sales to direct asking for money
to organizing events or lotteries for which people will pay. Fund raising is a very important and valuable activity for all EMSP
members as cash and non cash contributions are needed for our ongoing work. Fund raising is a job to which all of us should
contribute, and for which we are all responsible. The successful non-profit group today works regular fundraising into its day
european
to day activities. For the EMSP, a non-profit organization fund raising is often the only way to get the money to pay for the
facilities and programs that you want to organize to help People With MS.
multiple sclerosis
Marketing, a name taken form the corporate world, is the way in which a patient association communicates itself and identifies platform
the services it offers to external stakeholders. Successful NGOs are very good at marketing and fundraising.
aisbl
The sessions for this dynamic, exciting and informative meeting were run by consultants from Think, a company who offer
strategic, marketing, management, fundraising and new media solutions for the not-for-profit sector globally.
The meeting was divided into plenary and break out sessions which provided opportunities to go into more detail on specific
Avenue E.Plasky 173/11
sessions. The conference covered three key areas which EMSP members can use in their fundraising activities in order to
B-1030 Brussels - Belgium
ensure money comes in CONSISTENTLY OVER A LONG PERIOD.
Tel: +32 (0)2 305 80 12
1. How to help you fundraise more effectively.
Fax: +32 (0)2 305 80 11
2. The importance of innovation and creativity in your fundraising.
E-mail: ms-in-europe@pandora.be
3. The importance of vision, communication and planning.

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EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK
The future of fund raising
This inspiring and motivating opening
session, given by Tony Elischer, the
CEO of Think, looked at the future of
fundraising, future trends and where the
new opportunities are likely to be found.
Throughout the presentation, Tony used
thought provoking quotes often from
world leaders and leading figures to
illustrate key points.
• “Dare to be Different” in your fundraising
and marketing was the thought for
EMSP members. Plenty of people
assume that fundraising is a simple
activity not requiring a lot of effort but
this is not the case. If you only want
to raise a small amount of money, this
may be fine, but for all EMSP societies
the challenge is to help their members
long term and this requires money.
EMSP members must raise money
consistently in order to keep your group
and its activities going.
• Many associations assume that people
give money for specific causes for
nothing, but this is rarely the case.
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Studies have shown that people who
are likely to give money to non-profits
generally do so because they feel they get
some value from giving. The corporate
world is changing and the image
and social responsibility of individual
companies is becoming an important
part of their success and MS patient
groups should take advantage of this
in their fundraising activities for example
an organization’s social responsibility
rating is seen as “very important” for
customers when selecting a product
– this rating has risen from 28% in 1998
to 46% in 2001.
• “Existing fundraising and marketing
activities should be re-evaluated in
light of these new changes” says Tony.
Rather than follow the classical model
of fundraising to sell set sponsorship
packages EMSP societies need to step
back and take a different approach that is
built around trying to interest a company,
understanding them and matching their
needs/objectives to yours.
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“Look at what your
association has to Tony Elischer,
offer to potential Managing Director
of ‘think’
sponsors”
• Associations will need to choose the
fundraising ideas that are most likely to
succeed for their group and in order to
help them do this, Tony says: “Make
Creativity and innovation the King in
all your activities”. Creativity can be
described as usable, unique solutions
to problems. Creativity and innovation
can often be seen as challenges for
charities but to be successful you must
look at ways to do things differently and
better in order to raise more money.
To be successful at fundraising, you
carefully need to consider which ideas
Dorothea Pitschnau-Michel (far right),
new EMSP President as of April 21st
work well for your group. 2006, in discussion with colleagues
• There are many structured ways and
techniques to help improve creativity;
the important elements though are to

EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK
use the “full mix of heart, head and
spirit” in the association and to be able
to tolerate and learn from failure – “make
sure you learn from your mistakes and
don’t repeat them in future fundraising
activities” says Tony, for example,
even though you had great planning
and your idea was good there may
come a time when you simply have
made less money than you originally
hoped to raise. Now is the time to re-
evaluate the activity rather than repeat
it again some time in the future. If you
are making less than you would like
through fundraising, evaluate your
fundraising strategies. What have you
not tried? What else can be done?
Are they creative enough? Are they
different enough?
“Rather than thinking outside of the box – 
change the box if necessary”.
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•A
 lways remain practical though, be
optimistic and imagine all the things
that can go right in fundraising, but
consider also the possible problems
that may arise. If the risks are things
your group cannot manage, then you
may want to choose another idea. If
your fundraising method will get you
into debt before you make any profit,
you may want to look at alternative
ideas and approaches. Remember
you are in competition with many other
NGOs for donations – so your potential
donors must remember you and your
association. Choose an idea that no
one else is currently trying and one that
will not overlap too much with another
groups own fundraising efforts.
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What makes up a
good fundraising idea
for a MS society?
Here is a simple check list:
3 The idea makes good use of the MS
societies resources and talents.
3 Start up costs for the activity should
be what you can afford to spend.
3 Your association can find enough
people to work on the project.
3 The theme is appropriate for MS.
3 It is likely to appeal to donors and
it gives added value to your donors
- your donors must feel that they
are getting something from the
experience.
3 It will bring in the required money
you need for your MS society.
Feedback and intense discussion during the meeting

EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK
Here are a few examples of creative fundraising activities.
1. Calendar Girls
Women posed naked for the annual
calendar of local branch of the Women’s
Institute to help raise money for a terminally
ill husband.
2. Temple Restoration in Thailand
Donors buy a roof tile and write a personal
message or put a photo on it before it
is placed on the temple roof to repair
damage.
3. Multi colour Wellington boots store has three categories – Music/DVDs,
To celebrate its centenary year, a Wellington
Boot Manufacturer team up with different
charities to produce a range of different
colour Wellington boots. Each colour of
boot represents a different disease eg
Pink is for breast cancer and some of the
money from the sale of pink Wellington
boots goes to a breast cancer charity.
4. The Popemobile in the Philippines
The vehicle in which the Pope travelled
when visiting the Philippines is used to take
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tourists around the same route. Tourists
pay to take the trip and the money raised
goes to charitable causes.
5. Two in depth case histories
(i) Early detection of prostate cancer
Prostate cancer affects mostly men in
older age groups with 85% of new cases
occurring in men over the age of 60 years.
If left untreated or undiagnosed, prostate
cancer has a very high mortality rate. Early
detection is therefore essential but one of
the main problems is getting men to go
for a simple test. To raise awareness of
prostate cancer the Australian Prostate
Cancer Society uses a “Peeball”. This is a
circular, ball shaped device which is placed
in the urinals in men’s toilets for example in
clubs. The Peeball is made of material which
rapidly breaks down when liquid is squirted
at it. The man then “aims” at the peeball
when going to the toilet and the idea is to
be able to break down all of the material
surrounding the center of the Peeball. One
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of the first early signs of prostate cancer is
difficulty to urinate as strongly as before. If
the person cannot break down the Peeball
he is advised to go to the doctors for a
prostate cancer test.
(ii) On-line Oxfam catalogue
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/online
Oxfam has set up an on-line shopping
centre where the organisation has
partnered with various commercial
organizations. For example the on line
books and eBay. Customers can purchase
and download music or buys DVDs and a
percentage of the money is donated by
the seller back to Oxfam. A similar process
works when people buy books. Oxfam has
also established a partnership with eBay,
the on-line auction house. People can bid
for items which have been donated and
the proceeds or a percentage of the sale
go to Oxfam.

EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK
Long term corporate relationships
This session explored how to develop
long term corporate relationships and
the role of marketing in the delivery of
services, from targeting, the assessment
of sponsor needs and the design of
appropriate services. Make sure that
you have clearly identified what your
national association wants out of the
relationship. While money is of course
important, look beyond that to other
important but less obvious items such
as: Influence, Networking opportunities
and co-operation.
“Put higher value
donors in the
driving seat”
To be able to do this you must first know
who these people are.
If you want to make money for your local
MS society you will want to be able to
appeal to a wide range of donors but
remember you will get the most money by
targeting donors. Targeting your audience
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and carefully planning where you will look • How are key people involved in important
for money will help ensure that all your issues and the long term development
resources are well-spent and that you get of the organisation?
the best return on your time and effort
• What are the strengths of the organisation
investment. Targeting is about identifying
and where is it working well and were
the most important and valuable donors
can it be improved?
for your organisation.
To ensure future successful corporate
Targeting and consistent vision
relationships - “Enter the world of the
For effective targeting the organisation corporate” says Tony. This can be achieved
must share a common view of its purpose by a simple four step approach.
and the ultimate goal of its fundraising
activities. If there is not a common view
of what these activities should be, the
targeting will not be as effective as it
should be. Important questions which an
EMSP national organisation must address
to ensure it has a common vision are:
• What is the management structure of
the association? Does everyone agree
on the role and cope of fundraising? Top: The discussions continued over lunch 
Bottom: Workshop discussion
• How effective is the internal
communication on the objectives of the
organisation? What is understood and
what is not understood?
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EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK
1. Listen: Fundraising is very much
about the emotional and psychological
response that donors have. Often, the
difference between a donation and a
refusal to give is nothing more than a few
small psychological events that make a
potential donor look with less favour on a
patient group. Find opportunities to listen
to companies and find out their priorities,
challenges and opportunities.
“Find out the
compelling reasons
why companies
want to give money”
Use any networks you can to speak
to companies. When thinking about
targeting a company seek opportunities
to listen to other companies. Invite
companies to find out more about you,
perhaps through visits to your offices or,
better still, projects. The key thing at this
stage is to make it clear that you really
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are in the business of listening and not
simply trying to sell a “menu” approach.
“Have passion
– believe in the
progress you can
make”
2. Menu: What does your MS society
have to offer to a potential sponsor?
How well defined are the benefits? This
is where marketing and having a clear
defined vision is important. How can you
match your offering to the needs of the
potential sponsor? Always ask potential
sponsors a lot of questions to find out
what they need rather than telling them
what you can offer them. Developing
positive long term relationships with key
sponsors is very important so ensure
that you speak with these people on a
regular basis and try to see them at least
once every three months.
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“You need to do
research to find out
what is happening
with the company”
Menu items which MS societies can offer
to potential sponsors include:
• Publicity.
• Understanding & insight.
• New market opportunities.
• Access to political decision makers e.g.
EMEA or national regulatory authorities.
• Expertise.
What is important is how you present
these items to a potential sponsor. They
must be packaged in such a way that
attracts potential sponsors. For example, Platform presentation
you could work with a specific sponsor
to design and create a workshop which
has a common subject of interest to
both parties. By asking questions to the
potential sponsor in the early stages you

EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK

would have found out what this common

subject was about.
the association and the sponsor should
be created. This should outline the goals, A good question
3. Match: Remember fundraising is often
priorities and each partners contribution
and responsibilities towards achieving
to ask is: “who do
the only way that you can find the money
to run programmes to help people with
them. Some form of outcome measures companies need to
is also useful to include.
MS, therefore you need money to come
in on an ongoing basis. Work with a
look good with?”
sponsor with the objective of developing “Unlocking the
the relationship into something long term
that will lead to better and bigger things.
DNA of the donor’s
Do not always go for the big “deal” at
first, often it is better in the long term to
motivation is very Peter Kauffeldt (centre), President of EMSP from

start on a small project. It is far easier
to motivate a company from the inside
when you have already established a
relationship. Remember, if you can offer
donors something special or compelling,
they are more likely to support your cause.
This often takes time and will involve a
number of meetings and discussions.
Have a written agreement
When establishing a new partnership
some form of written agreement between
important” May 3rd 2002 to April 21st 2006, in discussion
with colleagues
4. Deliver: Make sure you do what
you say you will do. Focus on a limited
number of fundraising efforts at a time
to ensure delivery of the best results.
Because you are specializing in MS it
makes it easier to target potential donors
and find sources of funding that are likely
to be helpful. Don’t forget to evaluate the
project as you can use this to help you
selling your next project.

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EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK
Donor loyalty workshop
The presentation looked at building the
right framework for all donors – how
to keep them involved and in a long
and fruitful relationship. The session
included a presentation by the UK MS
Society looked at a group of donors
followed from 1985. A number of key
points were made including:
Many organisations focus investments
on getting a first donation but very few
pay sufficient attention to getting a
second donation. Many organisations
find that only 50% of donors give again.
Organisations that can keep more donors
can see their income transformed. By
reducing loss of donors from 20% to 10%
you can increase profitability by 50% over
10 years. If you take into account the
higher costs of recruiting new donors
combined with the additional income you
get from loyal donors (who give at higher
levels and give more widely) then this
figure can be as high as 150%.
On the other hand some low level donors
cost a great deal to recruit and to service.
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A strategy of minimising service for such
donors may be necessary. Therefore it is
vital to understand the value of donors by
segment.
It is also important to understand why
donors stop giving.
Although many people who stop giving say
it is because they can no longer afford it
this may in fact hide underlying reasons (it
is an easier answer to give to researchers
than to say they have lost interest for
example). The second reason given for
not giving is that they are now giving to
more deserving causes – suggesting that
many charities are failing to continue to
make their case for continued support
and have a largely passive relationship
with donors. As many as 1 in 4 donors
either do not recall giving or cannot
remember why they stopped giving again
suggesting that charities are failing to
build strong relationships.
On the other hand the main reasons
for giving more and more often can be
around the following areas:
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• A personal connection with a cause
(such as suffering from or knowing
someone who suffers from an illness)
• Knowing that their donation will make a
real difference to something they care
about
• Engaging with the organisation in
different ways than simply as a donor
(e.g. being a volunteer or buying from a
catalogue).
• Building a genuine relationship with a
donor that involves dialogue and choice
to show a real responsiveness to donor
needs.
THINK described the importance of
creating a “donor journey” to increase
donor giving levels by building an
increasingly strong relationship with
donors over time, however their initial
support is given. THINK described a
number of key tools and approaches to
make this a reality:
• Understanding Lifetime value – based
on how long people give for and how
much they give (and at what cost).
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EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK
• Carry out a database analysis to
understand at what levels current
donors are giving in order to create a
vision for the future of a new “donor
pyramid” with higher levels of giving
(often at the middle donor/regular
donor levels).
• Building a product portfolio – which
enables donors to be encouraged
to deepen their relationship with the
organisation and increase giving levels.
• Building a range of benefits
and communications types for
different levels of donors so that
the higher donors are given increasingly
personalised attention and involvement
with the cause.
A satisfied donor may tell up to 4 people
about the cause they support whilst
an unhappy donor will tell up to seven
people. Loyal donors increase income
reduce bad publicity and will act as
recruiters for other donors.
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Notes on Case for Support
Presentation:
Being clear and confident about whom
you are and communicating what you
do are critical in an increasingly crowded
environment where all charities are
struggling to make themselves heard.
Building a strong case for support is
at the heart of a successful fundraising
strategy. A Case for Support Document
answers the following questions that are
critical to donors:
• What is the problem?
• What drives you to try to help?
• What will change?
• Who are you?
• What makes you special?
• What do you actually do?
• What sort of people are you?
Panel sessions gave a lot to think about
• How have you spent donor money
in the past?
• What will you spend my money on?
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EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK
Marketing and communications workshop
Four elements make a successful
fundraising and marketing campaign.
Common vision, Strategy, Planning
and Communication.
A Common vision is vital amongst all
members of the association of what the
fundraising is to achieve. You have to
have this common vision before you start
any marketing or fundraising campaign.
A common vision will provide a shared
set of mutually agreed objectives and
priorities for your fundraising activities.
Successful fundraising means you must
have an integrated organization, where
there is a strong “can do attitude”.
Strategy is best thought of as a road map
– giving the association the direction
in where it wants to go. Strategy is all
about doing things. It provides guidance
and should act as a frame of reference to
ensure that the organization is on track
to be successful for its members.
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Planning - a fundraising plan does not
have to be complicated but it must
cover some basic elements:
For more information on
•E
 nsure that everyone has a job in
the fundraising activity and that this fundraising – contact the
corresponds to their abilities and
European Fundraising
resources.
Association on
• Time-critical events and materials
are identified in advance . http://www.efa-net.org/
• Make sure you have thought of
everything and that nothing is
overlooked.
• Things are not repeated over and For more information on the
over, wasting time. EMSP please click here to go
Communication is key to success. directly to the web site
Communication must be both internal
http://www.ms-in-europe.org/news/
and external. The ability to effectively
express your goals and ideas among
committee members as well as with
other members of your association is very
important. You must get people within
your association to be excited about
fundraising; they need to be inspired.
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EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK
Who are potential donors for national MS societies and how to find them?
“You only find oil if
you drill wells”
There are five main sources of donors for
MS societies:
• People
• Governments
• Foundations e.g. Wellcome Trust
• Companies eg Pharmaceutical
companies
• Organizations eg Rotary
Targeting is not about narrowing down
your choices of potential donors but is a
way of identifying the people or groups
who are most likely to give you money and
can help you get the best results possible
in the shortest period of time. Once you
have targeted specific groups on donors,
you can find support from donors that
seem less likely to be directly interested in
MS. In some cases, you may be pleasantly
surprised to find unlikely donors who are
willing to help you raise money for MS.
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The pharmaceutical industry is often a very
good source of funding for patient groups
but be careful not to overlook other sources
of donations and fundraising money simply
because you think they would not support
your group. Sometimes, fundraising money
comes from unlikely sources and it is often a
good idea to contact some unlikely groups
such as Government Departments.
“What do you do to
make the donor feel
special?”
How much time and effort you spend
trying to contact donors outside your
targeted donor group will depend on many
factors, including how much time and
effort you have for such campaigns and it
will depend on how much money you have
been able to raise through more targeted
fundraising. If you have been able to raise
all the fundraising money you need through
targeted donor hunting, you may simply
not need to expand your list of donors too
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much and instead of trying to find new
sources for money you may want to direct
your efforts to fulfilling your group’s mission.
There are many ways to get in touch with The EMSP wants your feedback.
the groups and people who can provide
Please email your comments
donations to help EMSP members; some
are more traditional while others are more on the congress report direct
innovative. It is important that you chose a to Christoph Thalheim
range of methods and that these are part
ms-in-europe@pandora.be
of a well thought out long term plan.
Library: The library is a very important
source of information. The librarian can
help you find directories of government
grants and programs that can help you,
and can show you business directories
that can help you find companies who
may be willing to sponsor your national MS
society. The library will also have books
about successful fundraising and you can
read newspapers and magazines to see
how other groups fundraise.
Advertising: You can seek donors by
advertising in newspapers, on radio, and on
television. The costs though for the different
types of advertising are different so you
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EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK
must clearly identify WELL IN ADVANCE
what you want your programme to achieve.
Advertising can reach lots of people even
though individual ads in newspapers
and radio can be quite expensive on their
own. However, sometimes it is possible to
appeal to a radio or local television station
or publication to advertise for free.
Local community: Get involved with the
local community – especially since most of
your activities in helping PWMS are centered
on one geographical area. For small or
new associations it is especially important
to be seen as part of the community for
successful fundraising. Become a part of
your community so that donors in your
area will become aware of your group.
When people see that your group is offering
something to the community, they may be
more inclined to donate. For example the
highly successful Duck Race undertaken
by the Danish MS society has become an
established community event.
Direct Appeals: Direct appeals mean that
you approach people individually. This can
be done door-to-door, by standing in front
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of a store or establishment, or by phoning
or mailing people individually. The idea is
that direct appeals are harder to resist than
general appeals, and so more people are
likely to at least give some money rather
than say no entirely. The problem is that
so many companies use this route that
some individuals feel that this method
is too intrusive and refuse every direct
appeal made.
Awareness Raising: Raising people’s
awareness on a national level about your
local MS society is a major task. Remember
the national Italian MS campaign which
was presented at last year’s meeting
– this showed a very successful use of
advertising to raise awareness and find new
donors. Awareness of your national or local
association can be made in many ways:
• Reports in the media (interviews, articles).
• Advertising.
• Use of celebrities or high profile
personalities.
• Visiting groups such as schools to let
people know about your group.
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• Setting up stands at fairs, volunteer
workshops, and other community
events.
• Going door to door to tell people about Danish awareness
your group. and fundraising project.
A large number of rubber ducks 
• Mail campaigns to raise MS awareness.
are placed in a river. Each duck is
• MS awareness Days for example in
sponsored. The ducks “race” each
Germany. other over a river. The winner is the
To contact Think or to get more information first over the finish line.
about their activities please visit their web
site at: http://www.thinkcs.org/ The web
site also has valuable information and
interesting articles about fundraising .There
are a number of useful presentations in the
presentation portfolio which can be very
useful to EMSP members.
In November 2004 the EPF and EFPIA
organised a workshop on “Strengthening
Patient Groups in the EU”, part of this
workshop included some very interesting
presentations on fundraising which are
complimentary to the Manchester Report -
click on the EPF web site to find out more.
http://www.europeanpatientsforum.org/
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EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK

MS Life Meeting
MS Life took place in Manchester following the EMSP Conference. The weekend event
brought together over 2,700 people affected by MS from across the UK and Europe.
International scientists and researchers gave lectures on topics including Stem Cells,
Genetics and Hormone treatments. There were 80 exhibition stands, an internet café,
a crèche and live cookery demonstrations taking place during the weekend. MS Life
united EMSP with members of the MS Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and
was a great opportunity to share information about MS. There was also a fashion show
at clothes store Harvey Nichols where 30 models with multiple sclerosis took to the
catwalk in front of a packed audience. The next event is planned for 2008.
For more information about MS Life, please go to: http://www.msconvention.org.uk/

Top: Peter Kauffeldt with the Mayor of Manchester 

Bottom: MS Life Exhibition at Manchester

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EMSP Conference, 20th April 2006, Manchester, UK

Acknowledgements
SPONSOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The EMSP is grateful to all its Sponsors for
their financial and professional support.
Without our sponsors this event would
not have been possible.
sustainable partners FOR THE WORK OF THE EMSP
Sponsors accept that their contributions do not imply
recommendation or endorsement of any products
that they produce or distribute. The EMSP is unable
to make any judgment on suitability of treatment;
such recommendation can only be made by qualified
medical practitioners.

SPONSORSHIP IN KIND –
PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TO THE EMSP

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