One of the great mysteries of the universe - and what it costs. Plus an opportunity if you are a charity
Two weeks ago I was interviewed by bvo.com - the bv stands for business visions, or in my case nightmares.
Actually it was a rather good interview, but it's not up yet - I think they're still removing the bad language.
Much of this was provoked by a question about marketing directors - or more exactly - how they are chosen.
There appears to be little rhyme and less reason in the process. I sometimes think firms take more trouble with references for secretaries than for marketing directors. To give you an example, a charity recently hired as marketing director someone with no experience in direct mail or direct marketing - but experience in re-branding.
I confidently predict tears before bedtime.
It is VERY hard to raise money nowadays. If you have no experience of the essential discpilines, I imagine it will be much harder. And if one of your first acts is to fire the agency which has done an outstanding job for nine years and knows more about the charity than you do, you really are taking chances.
Of course, I could be wrong - I am regularly. But if you're interested in results. check these out.
This is how much money they have pulled in over the last nine years the agency has held the account. Look how consistent the performance is. The old agency used to raise about £700-800k a year and a couple of million in legacies.
| Year | Direct FR | Gift Aid | Legacies |
| 2002 | £1,290,204.76 | £111,602.31 | £4,507,657.98 |
| 2003 | £1,135,446.80 | £253,000.05 | £6,621,321.91 |
| 2004 | £1,467,087.91 | £339,906.97 | £5,289,737.11 |
| 2005 | £1,444,583.42 | £230,284.65 | £5,826,766.91 |
| 2006 | £1,307,125.90 | £198,021.67 | £6,230,865.10 |
| 2007 | £1,408,187.37 | £227,720.05 | £9,611,999.41 |
| 2008 | £1,283,986.18 | £271,880.22 | £6,972,356.25 |
| 2009 | £1,271,147.86 | £177,553.15 | £6,145,689.67 |
| 2010 | £1,276,831.50 | £182,153.88 | £5,732,083.10 |
| Subtotals | £11,884,601.70 | £1,992,122.95 | £56,938,477.44 |
| Direct FR Total | £13,876,724.65 | ||
| Grand Total | £70,815,202.09 |
All this they did with an annual budget of around £350,000. If you know about these things you know that, unless your charity is about animals, kids or cancer, those are pretty amazing figures.
The man responsible is called Bill Fryer - I have known him for about 15 years.
I am biased as I'm his chairman - but the only reason I became his chairman is because he rarely - if ever - fails to beat what he is up against.
You can email me if you want to know more - or go straight to him - bill@billfryer.com.
His website is full of interesting info, too.
He's very reasonable because his agency is Warminster a few miles down from Bath - and because he never pays me any money.
Best,
Drayton
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