By Joel Nicholson – LemonTree Founder

The challenges…

• At the moment, the main influence we have on the broader industry is via promoting best practice guidelines
• If history repeats itself, most organisations will continue to be driven by short term profit targets and be in contradiction to meet these more sustainable best practices
• The fundraising industry challenges has many parallels to the fight for a sustainable green planet that has been ongoing for many decades in other industries. The ray of hope for the environment is finally coming through via technology and commercial competitive advantage such as Tesla electric cars, efficient accommodation utilisation like airbnb, and recycling material businesses

The concepts…

• To sustain competitive advantage it has been proven over and over that a focus on quality builds a better customer experiences and higher rates of repeat purchases and advocacy
• The gap between commercial and NFP worlds continues to widen as NFP skill sets and overall structure are slow to adopt rapid change in areas like technology
• Data collaboration is revealing rich insight into industry practices and their broad impact on donor behaviour across the population

Actions to consider…

• Start taking on a culture of quality over quantity
• Harness the power of commercial benefits that also have the donor experience at the centre of its success. New technology and creative thinking that can be often learnt from the commercial world are good starting points. For example, the collective economy is disrupting traditional businesses due to it’s exponential efficiencies and sustainability
• Benchmark donor experience across the industry relative to your cause. The power of data collaboration with a transparency and donor centric objectives will enable this.