*Beate added Lesley Pinder to the chat*
Beate
You mean…in three minutes?
?
Lesley
Um.
I thought it was 5.30 my time!
Simon
lol off to our usual start
Jen
Fucking timezones. Such a calamity. Every. Time.
John
ha
Lesley
Is it on three mins!? That’s cool too. I’ll go find somewhere to sit!
I thought I was being so good popping in an hour before so you knew I was on it
Just logging in to WhatsApp web 🙂
Beate
clever guest this one§
Lesley
I’m in!
LETS DO THIS
Beate
Ok – **chat is on**
Hello lobsters and guest lobster!
Jen
Hellllloooooo!
Lesley
Hiya pals!
John
welcome Lesley!
Lesley
I am honoured to be here
Jen
Thank you for joining us!
Simon
Lesley. Welcome.
Beate
This is the politest intro we’ve ever had
Lesley
I was about to ask if I can swear…
Beate
Fuck yes
John
fuck yes
Jen
Fuckin right you can
Beate
hahaha
Lesley
FUCK YEAH!
Ahem. Sorry mum.
Simon
Is your mum a fan of Lobster Chat?
Lesley
She will be I’m sure.
Jen
Imagine! “Lesley, what are you doing with these brutes?”
Beate
okay so enough chit chat. I invited lesley so we could talk about donor insights!
wanna tell the chatcast what it is you do?
John
i TM’d “chatcast” Beate so now you owe me $5 every time you use it
Lesley
Aye! So, I’m at Head of Supporter Experience at the British Red Cross.
Our team’s job is to help ensure our supporters have a great experience. In a nutshell!
Beate
Very Cool Title
Lesley
It is a bit. I blush whenever I say it. I feel very lucky.
Simon
Start by letting them out of the nutshell
Lesley
Oh simon.
Simon
Downhill from here
Beate
?
Simon
But still…that must be one of the most impressive fundraising titles in the UK
Jen
I actually think it’s a lovely title, and much better than some kind of officer or senior adviser which makes me think i might get arrested
Lesley
Oh cripes, I guess! It definitely feels like a huge honour and opportunity. We have the chance to do something really great I think. Which is both exciting and terrifying!
Simon
Do people forget you’re a fundraiser?
Lesley
I think sometimes people might think supporter experience isn’t about raising money as we don’t directly fundraise. But it’s EVERYTHING about raising money
And I always refer to myself as a fundraiser.
Beate
??
John
AMEN to that
Jen
Sing it sister
Beate
Lesley had my favourite slide of the whole IFC this year
Beate
I HATE THAT QUOTE!!!
Lesley
Ha!!
Beate
So much shit is justified using that quote
Your take on it was music to my ears
Simon
And I always think that if you asked the horses they would have said ‘cars’
Lesley
I hear the phrase “People say one thing and do the opposite” ALL the time to justify not ever speaking to supporters or doing research. And that quote is used all the time to back it up
Beate
That’s the difference between “insight” – using what you learn to form some kind of knowledge and “well they said so so I must blindly abide by it” ?
Jen
“Supporter Experience” anchors the conversation around the donor/volunteer/helper, not around the business end of the charity
Simon
Conversation is a key word there right? People say something intially but theres always more to it. Not the opposite. Just more
Jen
And then there’s the “well how do I measure if this works if I haven’t involved a statistician and analyst”
Lesley
When I think of insight, for me it’s about understanding what you want to find out and then working out the best way to find it out.
Sometimes your data will tell you all you need to know if it’s about how donors currently behave.
But if you want to understand how people feel about something or why they behave, you probably need to speak to them.
Jen
Insight! Love it.
Lesley
And if you want to know if something works, then you need to test it!
Insight comes from many places, not just 200 page decks from research agencies
Beate
How many donors would you say you speak to on a regular basis?
You or your team, I guess
Lesley
Not as many as I’d like!!
Jen
GOOD ANSWER
Lesley
Every month we have some sort of supporter conversations happening I guess in different forms…
Last month we used an online panel to deep dive in to how supporters felt about our 2030 vision for supporter egagement. It was three days of online discussion and activities. FASCINATING
That was 24 people giving deep emotional response.
Jen
?
John
i’d be curious to know what are some recent insights that really surprised you and your team Lesley?
like something that caught you off guard
Lesley
That piece we just did….I confess, i wondered how much our supporters would engage in a 10 year conceptual vision but they COMPLETELY got it.
And explained it back to use using such clear, concise language that connected to how it made them feel.
Jen
Wow. Goes to show you that if you are authentic and open in the way you ask people to dig in and dive in, they will!
Beate
So what is your “2030 vision for supporter engagement”?
Jen
This chatcast(TM) is restoring my faith in humanity!
John
haha
Lesley
Ha, well, that bad boy I can’t share yet as it’s part of our whole organisational ten year strategy that hasn’t quite yet been signed off yet!
But, the fact that our supporters are built in to it is so exciting, and they’ve had the chance to feed back
Jen
Ahhh the cold hand of “approvals”. Fair point.
Simon
Does much get revised/rewritten based on what supporters say?
Like how much should charities let supporters guide them?
/Tell them what to do
(Also feel like there’s a Labour party comparison we should bring up here as you’re the only British lobster)
Lesley
Our approach is to use supporter insight to guide the experience not dictate it. We tend not to ask thing like “what do you want” but more “what have you felt before” “How do you want to feel”
Jen Love
#allthefeels
John
asking donors emotional questions… imagine….
Simon
“How do you want to feel” is very heavy
Lesley
Ha, yes, there are ways of exploring that without sounding like you’re interrogating people!
I would never ask a donor “How many times do you want us to email you” or “Do you want to be thanked”.
Simon
Well that’s an interesting discussion…people often say we should be asking donors how many times they want to hear from us, which I’m not a fan of. Would love to hear your thoughts
Jen
“Without interrogating” says the Norwegian!
John
LOL
Beate
What? the Norwegian did not say that
Simon
Jesus imagine a Norwegian focus group
Jen
That’s what I was thinking
John
lol
Beate
The norwegian ONLY interrogates people.
I demand to know!
Actually, we’re all super evasive and no one wants to speak to a group so it takes forever
Simon
Norwegian focus group has no questions. It’s just someone shouting how right they are.
Jen
GOLD! Waiting for L’s brilliant answer but this is amazing.
Beate
Tss, we don’t need to shout it, we know we are so we can just softly say it.
Lesley
I’d love to get you to do some insight interviews, Beate. You’d be brilliant!
Beate
Thank you for being the nice one in this group
❤
Lesley
So, to answer your question Simon, here is how i’d approach it….
Jen
Even in the survey work we do we are always careful about asking questions we don’t want answers to. (Also helpful for parenting teenagers)
Lesley
We found out what people cared about and what inspired them. Then designed an email journey for them. Our hunch was that if the content was relevant to them and interesting, then the frequency wouldn’t matter so much.
But the only way to test that really is to send the emails! And ideally a/b test frequency
And ask for feedback in the moment, not months after!
Jen
BING POT!
Simon
*preach giff*
Lesley
How do you feel about the emails we’re sending you?
Not, how many do you think you might want
Beate
Can you say a little about hwhat kind of experiences you have for your donors today? I like that this is coming from a big charity – so often we hear “we have too many supporters to do that” from the larger ones.
Simon
I’d actually say the bigger ones seem to have just as many excuses. We have too many supporters
Lesley
Or can you remember that thing you did 12 months ago amongst all the other things you’ve done…
Well we do have our Supporter Celebration Week which we piloted this year.
That had the dual purpose of championing our supporters internally but also we had the chance to thank some amazing people.
Beate
ooh, nice
Lesley
We reaching 110.000 supporters by email, and 900 with hand written cards and 1000 or so with phone calls
So no, not all our donors. But better than none!!
Simon
Yeh that was something you said at Fundraising Everywhere that stuck…
Start somewhere
John
❤
Jen
❤ ❤
Beate
???
Simon
???
Beate
Sigh.
Lesley
I think for small orgs, or any fundraisers actually, people think you need research and insight specialists to do insight
In big orgs that means fundraisers delegate understanding supporters to researchers
And in small orgs they think they can’t do it at all
NOPE
We can ALL speak to supporters and ask good questions of them.
Simon
Like the resources scale up with the size
Jen
What a jolt of inspiration you are. Mama-to-Lesley you should be SO proud!
Beate
What’s your favourite question to ask a donor?
Simon
Oh good question
Lesley
Oh man.
So, a great one is “Can you tell me a time that a charity has delighted you.”
It tells you SO MUCH
And is often really depressing.
Jen
Oh my goddess that must be devastating…
Lesley
That’s why i was so excited by this role. I’ve heard SO MANY donors talk about how disappointed they are in different charities
It’s not good enough. And i couldn’t ever understand why they didn’t listen
Jen
And so many of us as fundraisers AND donors know and see and feel the epic disconnect
Lesley
It’s not in the least bit suprising to me that people are disollusioned
Jen
(another Brexit segue? or North American politics?)
Simon
Why is it so easy to recognise from the outside but feels so hard for insiders to change?
Lesley
Oh man Simon, that’s a topic for a whole other lobster chat!
Jen
When the Chatcast(TM) sorts that out, we’re on fire
Lesley
Also, my fave question is “Can you tell me how you feel about the Red Cross”
*insert own charity*
Beate
One thing is the financial side of all this. But on a human level, it just makes everything so much more worth it when you know you’ve made a difference to someone’s day/life ❤ That’s why we’re all fundraisers, to change the world. Small scale and big.
Lesley
And that’s why people give. Quite aside from ensuring you can give better experiences and do better fundraising, speaking to supporters is SO INSPIRING
It makes me feel better about the world.
Or should I say, They make me feel better about the world.
John
❤
Jen
?
Lesley
If fundraisers don’t ever speak to their supporters they are missing out SO HARD
Simon
Heck yes
It’s seen as such a junior role sometimes…to talk to donors
Lesley
Next year we’re going to test ‘back to the floor’ activities. So every fundraiser has to meet or speak to supporters throughout the year.
Simon
Like Undercover Boss
Beate
I love that
Lesley
It’s simple, but if you’re disconnected from your audience you won’t fundraise as well. Facts.
Simon
Wasn’t there a charity that did Undercover Boss I think? So fucking useful
Beate
My favourite activity as a fundraiser when I worked for the cancer society was whenever we had events and I could be on the streets with a collection tin and talk to people. Loved it.
Lesley
PREACH!
Get on the phone with supporter care, volunteer at an event for another team, do research calls for us. That kind of shiz
Beate
Well guys. We could do this forever.
But time flies
It’s been half an hour already!
Simon
wtf?
Lesley
Crikey!
Simon
I thought these were an hour
Beate
They’ve never been…
Jen
Norwegians…so abrupt
Lesley
I’m enjoying this insight in to your cultural idiosyncracies
Simon
Focus group has mixed answers on how long these usually are
John
lol
Lesley
Ha. Simon, how does that make you feel?
Beate
We’ll do Part Two when lesley has her Managerial Approval™ to share the 2030 plan!
Jen
And no one can hear our adorable accents!
Beate
Lobster fact time:
Simon
I accidentally private messaged Lesley a reply like a creep
Lesley
Weirdo.
Oh man, i meant to bring a Scottish Lobster fact. Sorry lobsters
Beate
once every 50 million lobsters, one is born that is half female – half male. And then they look like this!
Jen
that’s a nightmare come to life
Simon
Like you Jen
Beate
hahahha
John
HAHAHAAH
Jen
(bowing) that was amazing
John
they have lobsters in scotland?
Simon
It’s ok according to Beate all lobsters are same nationality
Jen
Oh good fucking lord. Scottish Lobsters. IMAGINE!
Lesley
As long as you don’t call Scottish lobsters english…
Beate
John would lose it if he found out about scottish lobsters
Simon
Scottish lobsters staying in the EU
Lesley
Well.
This was an experience! Thanks for having me
Simon
This has been helpful Lesley…and totes not enough time
Jen
?
Lesley
I tried to say a lot. Sorry for slow responses!
Beate
I found something special for you though! I know how you love bicycles and now lobsters…
aaaannnndddd….
Look at those!
Lesley
BA!
hahahaha
That is niche.
Simon
Lesley Prawnder
Lesley
Shit, why can’t i think of a seafood pun for Scriver?
I hate me right now
*Beate removed Lesley Pinder from the chat*
Lesley
See you all in an hour!