#charityfail

[conniesrambles]

💥 The Stupid is Coming... and it's time to stop it. I've watched too many well-meaning charities make world-class, utterly avoidable, administrative disasters. Failures that put funding at risk and trustees in legal hot water. I'm calling time on pretending everything is fine. For the next 40 weeks, starting next Friday, I'm pulling back the curtain on the 40 Epic Fails that silently kill charities. We're cutting through the noise and tackling the four pillars of catastrophe: 🏛️ Governance Fails: The 'Ghost Board' and 'Ancient Rulebook.' 💰 Finance Fails: The 'Trust Me' Treasurer and the 'Rainy Day Illusion.' ⚙️ Operations Fails: The 'My Head Only' Manual and missing checks. 📣 Marketing Fails: The 'Ultimate Fail' of a broken donation page. We're starting with a mandatory compliance issue that could literally save you from a criminal offence: The Unverified Trustee. If your charity is a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee, you need to read this immediately. Stop running on optimism and out-of-date policies. Share this with every trustee and treasurer you know. The messy middle is about to get a lot clearer. #charity #nonprofit #governance #trustee #compliance #riskmanagement #charityfail #TheArtOfStupidity #NonprofitLeadership

💥 Get Ready for the Catastrophe: The Art of Stupidity's 40-Week Charity Fails Masterclass

[clarityio-blog]

Donating $2 to The Smith Family

Our Experiment: Donate $2 online to a bunch of charities and record the results.

Case study: The Smith Family.

One of the largest Australian charities. Deals with education support for disadvantaged children, all the way from preschool level to graduate studies. Tries to involve parents & families in the process, including financial and material assistance. At any given time can count on almost 8,000 volunteers nationally.

The online donation experience

I've got to say, was an average experience. Not a pretty site, though no stand-out catches like overzealous data validation. That said, if you get something wrong in the form it forgets all your details. Hmmm, that's not much fun. Twice.

Snail mail:

Received snail mail exactly one week later, so I'm guessing it's automated.

Highlight: Mail wasn't personalised, and had a "change of address" form... incase I've moved house in the week since the donation?

Highlight 2: Yay! I got a 3-page full colour booklet about maintaining privacy. That was in the same envelope with a printed form asking for my personal information, credit card details and signature. That's got to be good for privacy right?

Facts and figures:

Time it took to donate: 5 minutes

Fields in online form: 22 (!!!)

Snail mail: Automated, asks for printed credit card details :(

Overall feeling: Weak

[clarityio-blog]

Donating $2 to Watsi

Our Experiment: Donate $2 online to a bunch of charities and record the results.

Case study: Watsi.

An attempt to make giving better - more transparent, more personalised, more impact. Has just gotten backing from Y Combinator, its first non-profit project. Potentially a big thing to follow.

The online donation experience

I really like Watsi. Not only was the user experience great, it was fast, pretty, and 'felt good' in all those intangible ways (except the nasty PayPal look and feel). Their social call-to-action was also great. It was there for one, and I actually felt compelled to share what I'd done! Watsi know how to do donation online.

The form:

Snail mail: none yet. Yay!

Facts and figures:

Time it took to donate: 45 seconds

Fields in online form: 4

Snail mail: None

Overall feeling: Awesome

[clarityio-blog]

Donating $2 to The Fred Hollows Foundation

Our Experiment: Donate $2 online to a bunch of charities and record the results.

Case study: The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Pioneered affordable eye surgery for those living in poverty. Operates in 19 countries throughout the developing world. Over one million people are able to see because of their work. 

Online donation experience

An ok site, great on not trying to capture my info - but a jarring pop-out into PayPal made for an unfortunate experience. Quick yes, but quick and nasty.

The form

Snail mail

Received snail mail about two weeks later.

Highlight: Mail was personalised, but thanking me for my 'generous' donation of two bucks broke whatever personal connection gained.

Highlight 2: This cool little plastic card made me feel good for the work they do, but you wonder how much that cost them... one plastic card or an email saying "We were going to send you a plastic card via the post, but instead performed an extra surgery on your behalf"? I'd choose the email any day.

Facts and Figures:

Time it took to donate: 5 minutes

Fields in online form: 24 (!!)

Snail mail: High quality print, automated send

Overall feeling: Weak

[clarityio-blog]

Donating $2 to The Salvation Army

Our Experiment: Donate $2 online to a bunch of charities and record the results.

Case study: The Salvation Army.

One of the world's largest Christian welfare mobs. Reach in 124 countries. 8.5K staff. Heavy hitters. Notorious recently for slamming gay marriage.

Online donation experience

Ok, so the Salvos site isn't much to look at. That said, it's pretty quick and clean - no mandatory phone number silliness either, so that's nice. 

The form

Snail mail

A timely 2 weeks later and here's my big bundle of paper! Not cool...

Highlight: The usual letter and paper donation form arrive together (despite the fact I gave online), but the interesting feature here is the card pocket that it all came in. High GSM, high cost - no value to me, the end user... no thanks?

Facts and Figures:

Time it took to donate: 4 minutes

Fields in online form: 18 (!!)

Snail mail: High quality print, automated send

Overall feeling: Not awesome