About Us
A group of international fundraising professionals working exclusively in the not-for-profit sector, we are passionate about what we do and the causes we work for.
Everything we do is driven by applied data and backed up by our many combined years’ experience. We act on the facts before us to make decisions, not intuition.
Our creative work is based on our experience, past results, strong propositional work and simple and clear messaging. Too often “creative” people are over-complicating packages that should be direct and straight forward. Our team of copy writing and design specialists all have many years’ of working with leading UK and international charities and are led by well-known creative director, Jeff Brooks.
Arguably we have the best analytics toolbox in the fundraising world, guided by one of the leading fundraising strategists, Jon van Wyk, and his team.
Stephen Butler – Principal
Stephen has spent most of his life (it seems) in the world of individual donor fundraising with charity brands from National Trust to Oxfam, from WaterAid to WSPA not to mention at least 35 other charities. As a direct marketing specialist, he brings a wealth of creative and analytical experience to bear on his insight for clients.
Passionate about smashing some of the sacred cows not to mention the myths of fundraising that are accepted as gospel, Stephen uses actual case studies to support his points of view.
Stephen also loves the aspects of fundraising that are often ignored: the change management issues; organisational structure; online and offline integration; internal silos and communications; working with the leaders; and looking at things from a different viewpoint.
Jon van Wyk – Scientist / Strategist
What gets Jon up in the morning is his desire to understand the greatest force for good on earth: donors. Over his twenty-five years in the business, Jon has developed a powerful analytical toolbox for understanding donor behaviour – all with the end goal of helping organisations achieve their goals.
Jon has a nose for marketing opportunity. His research and analysis led World Vision US into the lucrative Hispanic market. He also pioneered donor preference and new donor bonding strategies. Organisations of all sizes reap benefits as he uncovers their golden trends.
Working alongside Stephen and Jeff – two career-long colleagues – keeps Jon’s work practical, but never earth-bound.
Jeff Brooks - Creative Guru
In his nearly 25 years in fundraising, Jeff has been honoured to work with charities ranging from homeless shelters to cancer hospitals, from international relief to religious organisations. He’s seen the power of excellent writing and design to move donors to support good causes.
He believes three things about fundraising:
- Great fundraising creative should look like magic, but be built on science.
- It’s not what we like that matters, it’s what donors respond to.
- Donors don’t give because a charity is great; they give because they are great.
Jeff loves working with charities that are passionate about their cause and committed to fundraising. He blogs at www.futurefundraisingnow.com
