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As things are starting to open up, looking to put plans in place to start opening up services

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Same as below. Also looking for ideas on how to manage staff worries about returning

For some reassurance that I am doing the right thing I think!

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What are the changes that will shape what you do?

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What are the changes that will shape what you do?

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Due to restrictions, we need to rethink the way we were engaging with people (one-to-one and community-based).

Similar to above - social distancing is going to limit the numbers of members that we can welcome back in the Society activities on a daily basis - even if it is reduced to 1m we will probaby only be able to fit in 8-10 members

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What are the top challenges you face now?

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What are the top challenges you face now?

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Many people have received digital equipment but many others are still and will be digitally excluded - how do we engage with those?

Find the balance between resuming activity and keeping staff safe.

Being physically able to deliver our services will be our biggest challenge on a mu

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What will you do differently from today?

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What will you do differently from today?

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Dorothy Donor has been the "typical donor" for most charities for many years. The profile of the 50+ female serial giver to charity was behind mass marketing and profiling. - But times have moved on:

Grants account for only 9.5% of the income of Scottish Charities.

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Dorothy Donor, our sector's beloved archetypal traditionalist supporter, was born before the Baby Boomers, her attitudes shaped more by our colonial past than the civil rights movements that followed it.

She has been the mainstay of the donor market for longer than most fundraisers have been working. But in five years' time, Dorothy's day will have passed, if it hasn't already. In Whatever Next? Public Engagement in 2022, we consider the key trends shaping supporters, the media, and the wider world. To thrive in 2022, you will need to understand and engage with emerging and new groups of supporters.

In 2022, Millennials, AKA Generation Y, will be turning 40, have got their kids into school, and begun the life-stage where they can enter the fundraising market in a serious way. This is where we're already seeing the biggest generational shift compared with older groups - in terms of attitudes, values and expectations. One communications director told us: "It's clear there's a difference in attitudes between over 70s and the Baby Boomer generation. That's even more true with the younger generation. They're not looking just to give. They'll volunteer, but they'll do it for their CV. There's definitely a shift towards asking: what do we get back if we give you our money or our time?"

A word of caution: just because people fit into the same age bracket, obviously it doesn't mean they'll all share the same attitudes and values. Nothing beats getting to know your own current or potential supporters.

Playing the generation game

How far should you change what you do to reflect shifting demographics? For many charities, the bedrock of your mature donor market in 2022 will continue to be the tail end of the Baby Boomers - the youngest of whom will be turning 60 by this time - and Generation X, who'll be in their late 40s and 50s.

It's likely you've already experienced changes amongst your existing supporters, from Dorothy and the Baby Boomers to more demanding and less loyal Generations X and Millennials. Your engagement approaches have probably evolved too - to a certain extent. You're bound to be doing more digital, and trying to make it pay. You've likely developed new products and increased focus on demonstrating impact. But how much has really altered in the way you communicate with and engage supporters? If not much, you are not alone; according to the communicators we spoke to, most charities still view supporters purely as 'value generators', whose role is to help you carry out your work.

By 2022, that will have to change. The squeeze being felt now by charities - between rising supporter recruitment costs and declining retention levels - are, for some, forcing a fundamental rethink about engagement approaches. For one senior manager we spoke to, this goes to the heart of his charity's strategy:

We are not seeing retention levels these days that we would have expected in the past from our traditional supporters. We are recruiting now from a broader audience, but the retention levels are much poorer. We wonder if we have the whole proposition wrong.

Many charities are still raising most of their voluntary fundraising income thanks to the generosity of older, loyal supporters - whether through cash or regular giving, or legacies. But understanding the younger end of your audience, and the relationship they want to have with charities and causes, is your best preparation for 2022. As one communications head told us:

A lot of what we need to do to get it right now will also help us bring in future supporters.

This article is an extract from Whatever Next? Public Engagement in 2022 by Sarah Fitzgerald and Eden Stanley. Download the report for free.

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Dorothy Donor, our sector's beloved archetypal traditionalist supporter, was born before the Baby Boomers, her attitudes shaped more by our colonial past than the civil rights movements that followed it. She has been the mainstay of the donor market for longer than most fundraisers have been working.

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With Covid lockdown we have flattened the curve and our responses have tended towards the ends either as innovators or as laggards.

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Customer adoption patterns are important to understanding how to market new product for adoption. Without a clear understanding of what each type of adopter values it can be difficult, if not impossible to target them through marketing.

In his book, Diffusion of Innovations (1962), Everett M Rogers the communication scholar and sociologist, describes 5 types of adopter for products and provides insight into each of those types.

The 5 Types of Adopter for New Products and Innovations

Rogers presents a social system for adopters of recent innovation; the adoption of innovation varies throughout the course of the product-life cycle as shown in the diagram above.

Let's take a look at each type and how they differ from each other:

Innovators

Innovators are the first customers to try a new product. They are, by nature, risk takers and are excited by the possibilities of new ideas and new ways of doing things. Products tend to be more expensive at their point of release (though some products do defy this trend) and as such innovators are generally wealthier than other types of adopters (though in some cases they may adopt products in a very narrow field and devote much of their financial resources to this adoption).

Innovators will often have some connection to the scientific discipline in which a new product is generated from and will tend to socialize with other innovators in their chosen product categories.

It's also important to realize that innovators are comfortable with the risks that they take. They are aware that some products that they adopt will not deliver the benefits that are promised or will fail to win mass market appeal.

Author/Copyright holder: Story Bots. Copyright terms and licence: Fair Use.

When designing for innovators it might be best to remember what Larry Marine the UI expert says; "It is far better to adapt the technology to the user than to force the user to adapt to the technology."

Early Adopters

Early adopters are the second phase of product purchasers following innovators. These tend to be the most influential people within any market space and they will often have a degree of " thought leadership" for other potential adopters. They may be very active in social media and often create reviews and other materials around new products that they strongly like or dislike.

Early adopters will normally have a reasonably high social status (which in turn enables thought leadership), reasonable access to finances (beyond those of later adopters), high levels of education and a reasonable approach to risk. However, they do not take as many risks as innovators and tend to make more reasoned decisions as to whether or not to become involved in a particular product. They will try to obtain more information than an innovator in this decision making process.

Early Majority

As a product begins to have mass market appeal, the next class of adopter to arrive is the early majority. This class of adopter is reasonably risk averse and wants to be sure that their, often more limited, resources are spent wisely on products. They are however, generally, people with better than average social status and while not thought leaders in their own right - they will often be in contact with thought leaders and use the opinions of these thought leaders when making their adoption decisions.

Author/Copyright holder: Abdul Rahman. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY 2.0

Late Majority

The late majority is rather more skeptical about product adoption than the first three classes of adopters. They tend to put their resources towards tried and tested solutions only and are risk-averse. As you might expect, in general terms, this category of adopter has less money, lower social status, and less interaction with thought leaders and innovators than the other groups of adopters. The late majority rarely offer any form of thought leadership in a field.

Laggards

Laggards are last to arrive at the adoption party and their arrival is typically a sign that a product is entering decline. Laggards value traditional methods of doing things and highly averse to change and risk. Typically laggards will have low socio-economic status and rarely seek opinions outside of their own limited social set. However, it is worth noting that in many cases laggards are older people who are less familiar with technology than younger generations and in these cases they may still have a mid-level of socio-economic status.

Note: It is important to realize that, as with any generalization, not all members of a class of adopter will conform to the general patterns of that class. There will be high-income, well-educated, risk-taking, laggards as well as low-income, poorly-educated, non-thought leader early adopters. There are also plenty of older people familiar with technology. These categories are useful for generic planning for market entry and should not be used to stereotype individuals.

Author/Copyright holder: Sigismund von Dobschütz. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-SA 3.0

How Does This Impact our Product Adoption Strategies?

If we know that the path taken for adoption runs from innovator to laggard with three stops on the way; we can seek to target our marketing accordingly to each audience.

Innovators will be the first section to be targeted. You would expect the marketing team to identify these people very early during the product development (and not following a launch). Marketing would be expected to gain the interest of these people, involve them in early user trials and generally win their support.

From a design perspective user research conducted with innovators can be very useful in developing prototypes prior to a more mass market final design.

Early adopters will be targeted following innovators, they too may be approached prior to a product launch and again emphasis will be placed on research into what this sector needs. Marketers may choose to support early adopters with additional technical insights or behind the scenes perspectives of development to encourage them to share their thoughts with those who follow their thought leadership.

The mass market release of any product must be appealing and beneficial to early adopters if it is to convince those thought leaders to support further adoption of the product.

The early majority, on the other hand, is likely to be targeted through more general marketing approaches and it is hoped that their connection with the early adopters will drive word-of-mouth sales. Designers may end up catering to the early majority through product iteration and offering improvements to the product.

The late majority, will probably arrive as product differentiation occurs and the product has established itself in a particular niche in the market. Marketing to this group is likely to be less aggressive in direct marketing and more based on special offers and promotions to incentivize a choice of one product over another in a competitive arena.

It may be completely uneconomic to target laggards with direct marketing and it is likely that by the time they adopt a product, it is going into decline, and that pricing and general awareness of the product will most likely drive adoption from this group.

The Take Away

There are 5 types of adopters for products; innovators, early adopters, the early majority, the late majority and laggards. Understanding where these fit into the product-life cycle can enable selective marketing and design activities which are focused on tapping into these adopters' specific needs. This can improve a product's chances of success.

References & Where to Learn More:

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Understanding Early Adopters and Customer Adoption Patterns

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Customer adoption patterns are important to understanding how to market new product for adoption. Without a clear understanding of what each type of adopter values it can be difficult, if not impossible to target them through marketing.

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The key to successful transitions is to begin switching to the new before you hit the decline stage of the previous curve

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Your life, career and business is always moving in cycles. These cycles can be described by the Sigmoid Curve. As a business coach, I often come across business owners, who have various problems in creating the business they want. One such issue might be that they find themselves in various stages of the Sigmoid curve and don't know how to deal with it.

The Sigmoid curve in business

The Sigmoid curve is implemented around the world and used by Fortune 500 companies, governments, political parties, etc.

* New business ventures start with a sense of determination. The curve initially declines during the learning phase, whilst we are getting the business going. The business owner may very optimistic, enthusiastic, busy and excited. They may be finance poor and learning through their mistakes, working long hours.

* Then when the business is up and running and business starts to come in, the curve rises in a period of growth and prosperity. Here the business owner has high moral, energy, seeing results and growth in the business. They may have financial and emotional return of investment.

* The product or service then reaches a point of maturity and maybe becomes out dated.

* This leads to the decline phase. Here the business owner may be in their comfort zone. "We have always done it this way." They may become dissatisfied as profits are decreasing. Have low motivation and energy as their goals don't excite them anymore. The client may have a feeling of "what is the point?"

How to avoid the Sigmoid curve

The key to sustaining a healthy business is to transform to a new curve before the current one is too far in decline. When there is the time and resources to get to the new growth curve through the initial learning phase. You may still experience a period of decline as the business goes through the new learning phase to the growth phase. The factors to success during the new growth phase will be different to the factors that lead to the previous growth phase.

"You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created the problem." - Albert Einstein.

This curve is a natural progression and it is important to consider how to stay the market leader, before changes happen and the business goes into the decline phase. The challenge is to know when to start the new curve. Many organisations will ride the growth phase, oblivious of what might happen in the future. They do not change until they get scared in the decline phase. It is important to constantly "reinvent" your offering. The best time to do this is when things are going well.

What it means to coaches

Understanding the Sigmoid curve is very useful as a coach, as you can use it to assist the client in becoming self-aware of where they are on the curve. Using powerful questioning techniques, you can assist the client in moving through their current stuck state and help them to develop action steps they need to take to move forward. Understanding this phenomena can also assist in helping the client to stay ahead of the curve. As such helping the client to avoid the potential hurt of a failing, out of date product.

I hope you found this useful and see how you might be able to use it in your own business, or helping with your clients.

If you have any issues in your business and would like to work with a business coach, then don't hesitate to contact us.

If you believe it, you can achieve it.

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Sigmoid curve | Business change cycle | Stages of business growth

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Your life, career and business is always moving in cycles. These cycles can be described by the Sigmoid Curve. As a business coach, I often come across business owners, who have various problems in creating the business they want.

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From Uganda to Congo, India to Vietnam, we will continue to see an almost identical retail experience. Despite all the above, almost all shops in the whole world will continue to be the roughly the size of a single shipping container - never much wider or deeper or higher. One outlet next to another for mile after mile.

Such shops, typically with brick walls and tin roofs, are often living rooms of families who own them, and bedrooms at night. Lit by a single light bulb, such stores have an almost identical range of products as ten or twenty other similar shops within a few hundred metres. We see clusters of clothes shops, clusters of metal working shops, clusters of furniture shops. The most important rule in retail location has always been co-opetition. And this will be as true in the slums of a megacity as on the streets of Paris or New York. Jewellers will continue to cluster, fish sellers will cluster. Retail clustering will dominate physical retail globally for the next 100 years.

Malls will take off in all emerging markets. At the same time, expect growth in top-down mass-retailing in emerging markets, despite e-commerce. Big companies will invade a completely new area where there has never been a single store a fraction of the size before. The first mall in a new area will usually be relatively informal, not air-conditioned, housing smaller shops. And then premium malls will follow, identical in many ways to malls in Europe, Singapore, Beijing and North America.

Read more: Future of Retail in Emerging Markets - Asia, Latin America, Africa - boom of chains and informal retailers - retail trends keynote speaker

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Futurist Keynote Speaker - Patrick Dixon

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Futurist Keynote Speaker Patrick Dixon: 15m unique visitors, 6m video views. Ranked one of 20 most influential business thinkers alive. Author 17 Futurist books on Future Trends. Futurist speaker and Advisor to >400 of world's largest companies. Chairman Global Change Ltd. Highly customised, very interactive, entertaining Futurist presentations, every industry, >50 nations.

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more information on starting with what you have rather than what is missing

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Asset Based Community Development (ABCD)

Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) is an approach to sustainable community-driven development. Beyond the mobilisation of a particular community, it is concerned with how to link micro-assets to the macro-environment. Asset Based Community Development's premise is that communities can drive the development process themselves by identifying and mobilizing existing, but often unrecognised assets . Thereby responding to challenges and creating local social improvement and economic development.

This page will describe ABCD through five key aspects.

1. Asset Based Approach

2. Deficit Based vs Asset Based Comparison

3. Power of Associations

4. Principles for facilitating Asset Based Community Development

5. Asset Based Community Development in Practice

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Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) - Nurture Development

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Asset Based Community Development: communities can drive development themselves by identifying and mobilizing existing, but often unrecognised, assets.

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links to the latest scottish findings on poverty and inequality

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Poverty and income inequality statistics

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Statistics and analysis relating to poverty, household income, and income inequality in Scotland.

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Leading during a pandemic is incredibly tough. People are worried and uncertain, so their brains are reacting neurologically to a high threat response. I find this acronym CARER (from Jon Pratlett) helpful in thinking about how we might lead:

Certainty – Strive to create certainty, wherever possible – even in minor ways. "When you give people any information at all, it activates the reward networks in the brain because the brain craves information. Any kind of ambiguity, on the flipside, creates a threat response."

Autonomy – At a time of uncertainty, try and offer unexpected autonomy and flexibility. Even giving people the option of choosing a time for their performance review might reduce some threat!

Relatedness (Belonging) – humans are social beings. So as leaders, “if we take a genuine interest in our people, in who they are, what’s going on at home, increases empathy and understanding and encourages effectiveness in spite of the virtual environment.”

Equity – At times of uncertainty, we need a sense of fairness in how we and others are treated. Some people will be more productive virtually, others will be less (those with home-schooling or caring responsibilities for example). Watch out for a ‘crisis of fairness’.

Recognition – Working virtually we need recognition more than ever at the moment. We need to feel appreciated and listened to. Also when giving feedback remember that people are especially sensitive right now.

As you look to the week ahead, consider what one or two things you could do differently to increase CARER amongst the people you work with.​

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Things works best when we work with people we trust. We can build trust through positive behaviours or lose trust through negative behaviours...

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Why Trust?

The simple, often overlooked fact is this: work gets done with and through people. There's nothing more impactful on people, their work, and their performance, than trust. See how trust drives critical areas of performance in the videos below.

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The simple, often overlooked fact is this: work gets done with and through people. There's nothing more impactful on people, their work, and their performance, than trust. See how trust drives critical areas of performance in the videos below.