Fundraisers are the real trailblazers when it comes to personalisation, says Edward Wyatt

Across the board the economic downturn has stoked the competition for customers into frenzy. All of a sudden dusty corporate mammoths have morphed into the consumer’s best mate.

The old boys’ clubs, which in the past would not have given a second thought to your loyalty, are now championing your right to good value and the very best customer service. It makes the aspirational brands like John Lewis and M&S seem a little less standout.

The next natural step in this fight for footfall is to get personal. The staff at Starbucks have recently started asking for your name as they take your order, scribbling it on your cup which is then filled with your coffee of choice.

It is at that feel-good, life-affirming, everything-is-right-with-society moment when the server turns to the huddle of customers congregated in expectation by the sugar and napkins and calls out “Tom”, “Rachel”, “Beth” or whatever the scribble on the cup reads that you are hooked, firmly committed to the loving bosom of your new corporate buddy.

Fundraisers reading this will be thinking that this is nothing new. Well done to Starbucks and all that, but fundraisers were making it personal when Starbucks was still a solo back alley coffee house in rainy Seattle.

Lagging behind?

It seems to be en vogue at the moment for voluntary sector organisations to be more corporate in the way they work. ‘Corporate’ has somehow become a byword for efficiency, professionalism and success. It seems it is something that all sectors – arts, tourism, manufacturing, voluntary, retail etc – should now aspire to.

This makes it sound very much like we are a sector that follows rather than leads. To the sector’s workforce and customers (donors and beneficiaries) it makes us feel like we are behind and that we need to catch up.

Of course there are things we can all learn from other sectors, but hold on a minute. We are the sector that is teaching others, like Starbucks, how to engage with a customer and how to treat them like an individual – an actual person, with opinions and feelings. Where corporates see a transaction, we see a relationship.

All the right words

For an organisation, knowing how and when to talk to an individual is an incredible skill. Unfortunately we, as consumers, experience more bad execution on a day-to-day basis than good. It’s little wonder the public are wary when a corporate giant bounds up to them via a billboard, direct mail or telemarketing call and acts all matey.

Again, the corporates are taking their lead from fundraisers. And they are learning, bit by bit, to be genuine, honest and frank rather than slippery and dismissive.

It is clear that the voluntary sector is leading in many ways, but can we go further? Commercial participation, corporate social responsibility and social, economical and environmental seals of approval (such as Fairtrade, RSPCA welfare standards and the Rainforest Alliance) are making sure that the roles of the charity and the expectations on the corporates are becoming fixed at the hip. The sector lines are blurring.

A few reservations

It is of course a good thing that the private sector wants to get involved. But I do have one or two worries. What happens if the public become cynical with a company’s charitable sector involvement? What if they are already cynical? What if the big companies lose interest once the economic crisis is resolved and it becomes easier to find customers again?

Perhaps I’m worrying unnecessarily. However, the voluntary sector must stay in control. We must continue to lead, push our agenda, use our expertise and represent the interests of our customers.

After all, the voluntary sector and fundraising in particular specialises in sustainability and consistency. Another thing we lead the private sector in.

Ed Wyatt is policy officer at the Institute of Fundraising

This article first appeared in The Fundraiser magazine, Issue 21, September 2012