A postcard from Sydney: what we learned from working with Australian nonprofits for 2 weeks
- Richard Spencer
- Mar 6
- 4 min read
Last month, as you may have seen on LinkedIn, Roger and I hopped on a flight over to Australia.
No, we weren’t desperately seeking some winter sunshine - we’d been invited to run a couple of sessions on Supporter Experience (SX) at the Fundraising Institute Australia’s 2025 Conference in Sydney.
It was our first time attending, and we felt privileged to be invited to share our insights and lessons with over 1,200 Australian fundraising professionals.
We met A LOT of people. And we learnt something from everyone we met. There are too many to list (and thank!), but speaking for both of us, Roger and I are truly grateful for the welcome we received and the enthusiasm for our work.
If you’re reading this and you’re of those people – thank you again, and we will hopefully see you again (online or in person) very soon!
It’s been a few days now since returning to Blighty, and the jet lag has just about worn off, so here are a few reflections on our experiences of talking about SX with nonprofits on the other side of the globe:
The motivations and inspirations for Australian supporters are the same as in the UK.
And by ‘the same’, we don’t just mean a common goal of meaningful, positive impact – although this is also true.
No matter which nonprofit we spoke to, it was clear that the things which matter to their supporters - that inspire them to keep supporting, to give more and to help in more ways - are the same things we hear about at home.
Those good feelings, which inspire Australians to continue supporting their nonprofits, are the same as the good feelings we’ve measured and diagnosed in other countries. Feeling part of a community, feeling hopeful for a better future, feeling like their values are being upheld through their support – all of these and more were mentioned.
And what’s more (and this has got Roger and Anton really excited) - this phenomenon is amplified further when looking at specific sectors. For example, a cancer charity supporter in the UK will be motivated and inspired by the very same things as a cancer charity supporter in Australia.
This could be a fascinating new avenue of research for our team, as we continue to expand our work in this area. Watch this space!
“A cancer charity supporter in the UK will be motivated and inspired by the very same things as a cancer charity supporter in Australia.”
The key challenges to improving SX are the same…
One of my personal highlights was being able to chat with so many different professionals across the sector. Nonprofit leaders and chief executives, supporter care officers, digital storytellers, retention executives and brand evangelists… If you can think of a job title, or an area of responsibility, we probably spoke to them.
But one thing united every single person: they all talked about the same challenges.
We heard about working in silos, and not being able to manage relationships with ‘complete’ supporters. We heard that it is difficult to get buy-in to improve SX when the organisation is focused on in-year, financial returns on investment (combined with those pesky silos).
"One thing united every single person: they all talked about the same challenges."
Even the same distractions exist in Australia as we hear about from our UK partners. Does a new CRM project, brand refresh or organisational restructure sound familiar? All of these are challenges on the way to focussing on SX excellence. You are not alone!
...and the solution can be the same.
However, this means that the solutions can be shared across the globe, too.
There were some common areas where we felt there was progress being made, and sometimes more quickly than in other territories. Where we found success, there were a number of the same key factors at play.
The first was not to overcomplicate SX; start small, start simple and quite simply, just start something! The adage of ‘perfect is the enemy of the good’ was clear here: those who wait for perfection will, ultimately, risk missing out on the opportunities already available to start improving their supporter experience.
Most importantly, we felt there was a genuine willingness and commitment to getting the essentials in place. And the first step of this is a quick and simple measure of your supporter experience. This provides a strong starting point, and a direct route to overcoming some of those challenges and barriers.
Stuck working in silos? Measure your experience to find out how these silos may affect your supporters. Starting a rebrand? Measure the experience before - and then after - to track its impact!
"Start small, start simple and quite simply, just start something!"
So, there we have it. Two weeks of richly rewarding conversations, wrapped up in just a few paragraphs.
In a lot of ways, this trip felt like we were ‘coming home’. Roger and I found ourselves part of a caring community, who deeply value the supporter experience and the role that loyalty has to play in harnessing its long-term fundraising potential.
We’ve started new friendships, strengthened existing ones, and put the foundations in place for helping Australian and New Zealand organisations to progress rapidly on their own supporter experience journeys.
Until next year!
Richard
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