Session: Silo Killer (Qu’est-ce que c’est) - Individual giving in a post direct mail age

Direct mail is dead. Meta is screwing with you. Media channels have fragmented. No-one answers the phone anymore. Opt-outs are through the roof.

Individual giving has become more challenging than ever, at the very moment that we need it most. 

In this session, Damian O'Broin and Jan Rane will talk about how direct mail has changed - for good and for bad - what really works to inspire donors, why direct mail is never enough on its own, why we need to move from obsessing about a channel to focusing on our supporters and the relationship (or lack of relationship) we have with them, and why there’s more to life than direct response. 

Crucially, we'll also talk about why you need your entire fundraising team - and your entire organisation - working together on this.

We’ll share examples of how direct mail can work, how digital can enhance donor experience and how it all comes back to the supporter.

And how this all connects to the real endgame - legacies. 

Damian O'Broin

Damian is an internationally recognised expert in fundraising with over 25 years’ experience in fundraising, nonprofit communications and campaigning. Damian set-up Ask Direct to inspire more people to take action for the causes they care about, because we’ll only get a better world if people give their time, money and voice to build it.

At Ask Direct he is responsible for leading and inspiring the team of talented fundraisers and creatives to produce their brilliant work. He leads the Insight function in Ask Direct, using data, theory, real-world experience and international best practice to illuminate creative solutions to clients’ challenges.

Damian is an in-demand speaker at fundraising conferences and events worldwide. In recent years he’s spoken in Belfast, Helsinki, Newcastle, Glasgow, London, Oslo, Berlin, Toronto, the International Fundraising Congress in The Netherlands and at Ask Direct’s own Fundraising Summer School.

He was a member of the Fundraising Strategy Group for the Together For Yes campaign and jointly led the fundraising for President Michael D Higgins re-election campaign. He is a former Deputy President of USI and a former Chair of Friends of the Earth.

He has a B.Sc in Applied Science from University of Dublin, a Graduate Diploma in Media Studies from DIT and a Masters in Equality Studies from UCD and has recently completed an MBA Essentials with the London School of Economics. He is a member of the Institute of Fundraising, a member of the Institute of Directors and sits on the boards of Rogare and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.