Innovationsinfundraising.org

Innovations in Fundraising was an academic impact project and resource. innovationsinfundraising.org was hosted as an interactive Dokuwiki.

It aimed:

To explain and promote practical fundraising innovations stemming from academic research, to encourage trials and experiments, to promote effective giving and encourage collaboration and knowledge-sharing.

A key resource was a linked interactive database of 1. relevant papers, and 2. relevant 'tools'. Our automation tools allowed us to update this content via an Airtable, integrating it into the formatted DokuWiki table.

The project is no longer being hosted. Please contact David Reinstein to request access to any of the resources (or the underlying Airtable).

I (David Reinstein) took down innovationsinfundraising.org for several reasons including:

• I didn't have time and funding to keep it updated, and I didn't want this to 'crowd out' others' work

• Hosting costs (roughly $400 per year)

• It was largely superceded (at least in my own work) by other resources and projects, including "EA Market Testing" (the present Gitbook, and linked resources)

I would consider reviving this in the future, and would be happy to join it with other maintailed resources. Please contact me if you would like to pursue this.

Key details of the Innovations in Fundraising Project (as of roughly 2017)

Director: Dr. David Reinstein, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter

Project partner: George Howlett, head of CEA Workplace Activism project

Purpose: To explain and promote practical fundraising innovations stemming from academic research, to encourage trials and experiments, to promote effective giving and encourage collaboration and knowledge-sharing

Key innovations and ideas: Give if You Win, default recognition, give more tomorrow

Funding and support: ESRC Impact Acceleration; University of Exeter; Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA)

We are partnering with: Employers, fundraisers, philanthropists, third-sector organisations

Scientific advisors and co-authors

• Psychology: Dr. Nick Fitz, Ari Kagan (Duke)

• Economics and Finance: Dr. Gerhard Riener (Dusseldorf), Dr. Paul Smeets (Maastricht)

• Statistics and Data science: Dr. Mark Kelson (Exeter)

Research and technical assistance: Katja Abramova, Janek Kretschmer. Previous contributors: Audrey Utchen, Agata Siuchinska, Samuel Dexter, Alexis Carlier, Louis Philipp Lukas, David Serero, Daisy Newbold-Harrop.

Wider project: The Innovations in Fundraising impact project aims to unlock generosity and increase the level and impact of charitable giving in the UK and abroad, while enhancing donors’ understanding and appreciation of their generosity.

IIF's key activities and resources included...

Knowledge exchange, tools

• Build Innovations in Fundraising Wiki interactive knowledge and resource base on core issues

• … including employee giving (schemes), incentive pay, philanthropy in the UK, practical fundraising research findings

• Produce reports and guidelines to explain research results, industry knowledge, and best practice to a wider audience

Engagement, innovation

• Engage banks, investment firms, fundraiser and other large employers, individually and in small groups, to discuss goals, processes, and opportunities for promoting employee giving in innovative ways, with a focus on high-impact charities

• Hold meetings and focus groups to identify the necessary requirements and potential obstacles to implementing and testing systems allowing employees to commit potential incentive pay (bonuses) to charity

(We will collaborate with CEA in organising these, and these will also incorporate CEA initiatives and priorities)

• Run pilots and controlled trials of ‘Give if You Win’ and other employee-giving innovations inside firms