The launch of ChangeStar Express At ChangeStar, we speak to lots of charities that are just starting to build individual giving programmes or whose current programmes are too small to make it viable to use an external agency or consultant. We know that our input could make a massive difference to these charities, so we’ve been … Continued

We agency Account Directors are a useful bunch, on the whole. We have enviable skills that extend beyond the wearing of a sharp suit. My Account Director role is for ChangeStar, the fundraising and social change agency, but this blog applies to AD’s in many other kinds of creative agencies too. Charities can benefit enormously … Continued

For many charities, the Christmas mailing to supporters is the most successful, and therefore the most important, fundraising appeal of the year. As a result, there can be a sense of pressure on fundraisers to ensure that the Christmas appeal is a real success. This article examines an award-winning Christmas appeal by ChangeStar in detail … Continued

Legacy fundraising is perhaps the most important area of individual giving in terms of the value it can provide to a charity. Yet, many charities – including some of the largest – fail to give it enough investment or priority in their communication plans. This could be for many reasons – from a lack of … Continued

Charismatic leader and communicator sought to drive one of the UK’s top performing charity agencies forward to a new level.   Our plans for the future ChangeStar is a fundraising and social change agency helping good causes to connect with people to do good things. For over a decade, we’ve been helping clients achieve some … Continued

Just like our charity clients, we’re getting our house in order in preparation for GDPR in May 2018, and need to write to all our contacts to make sure they want to continue hearing from us. But we want to offer some value to fundraisers, in exchange for allowing us to contact you. We’ve therefore … Continued

No charity wants to annoy its supporters – in fact most live in perpetual fear of doing so. Yet some still communicate with their supporters in ways that are likely to lead to them feeling alienated and antagonised. This quick guide helps you to avoid some of the common ways of annoying your supporters with … Continued

You don’t see many blog posts these days from the great and the good in the fundraising sector on how to convert cash donors to Direct Debit, and there’s a reason for this – it’s not easy to do. The days are gone where you could send out a Direct Debit conversion mail pack and … Continued

It’s always satisfying when a test proves your instinct to be right. It’s even more of a relief when a test proves something you’ve held to be fundamental to good practice in fundraising to be right. So the lovely folks at Blue Cross have kindly allowed me to share the results of an email test … Continued