Author: Sezayi Arslan

At Briggs+Walker, we focus on one goal: making field marketing smarter with software that empowers F2F fundraisers and field sales agents to excel in every interaction. With deep roots in the industry, we’ve spent years working closely with agencies, fundraisers, and users to understand their needs and develop solutions that truly make a difference. Having come from the field marketing world ourselves, we’ve seen firsthand the challenges and rewards of this work—and how important it is to stay connected to the people who use our tools every day.

Still, the landscape is always evolving, and it’s been a few years since I was last out in the field. That’s why I decided to spend a day as a street fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders in Amsterdam. My goal wasn’t to relearn the basics, but to gain fresh insights into the day-to-day experiences of fundraisers, see how our software performs in real-time, and uncover opportunities to make it even better.

Stepping into the role of a fundraiser

From the moment I stepped into the Amsterdam office of Doctors without Borders, I could feel the energy and focus as everyone prepared for the day ahead. I met Jainaba, the branch manager, and Melvin, who works with the in-house fundraising team. They gave me a clear picture of their daily work—recruiting, planning, training, and keeping the team motivated..

Hitting the streets with the team

Our team’s shift started with a pep talk around 3 PM, led by the sales coach Sam. The mood was positive, and even though I had done some fundraising back in my student days, I was feeling a mix of excitement and nerves. It had been years since I’d hit the streets, and this time, I wasn’t just representing a cause—I was also using the software I help bring to market.

Young, enthusiastic fundraisers were gathered, sharing stories and preparing for the shift ahead. Equipped with a tablet, I had everything I needed at my fingertips: fundraising goals, training notes, and real-time data. It was an interesting experience to see the software in action in a real-life setting, where time and accuracy matter. Walking out to the assigned neighbourhood I knew I had limited time to make a meaningful connection and hopefully, get at least one sign-up.

The challenge of connecting with strangers

As we walked through the streets, I quickly remembered the reality of door-to-door fundraising. I knocked on door after door, meeting people who were busy, uninterested, or simply not home. It’s easy to feel discouraged with each polite decline, but I kept reminding myself to stay positive and keep going. I’m competitive by nature, so every “no” was just a nudge to try a little harder at the next door.

After every conversation, I tweaked my pitch. I realised that the key to connecting with potential donors is to listen to people’s stories and to share my own motivations. Instead of focusing solely on facts, I talked about why I believe in the cause and what made it personally meaningful. Speaking from the heart and finding common ground with people is in my opinion what is crucial to get people engaged.

A success story with new insights

After a dozen of no’s, I finally met a woman who was open to talking and genuinely interested in the mission of Doctors Without Borders. Her friendly dog trotted over as we exchanged introductions. We had a sincere conversation, discussing the importance of the organisation’s work, and by the end, she decided to sign up as a donor. It was a small victory, but a powerful reminder of why this work is so important. There’s nothing quite like seeing someone connect with a cause and make a commitment to support it.

Using Briggs+Walker software in this real-world environment gave me valuable insights. I appreciated the simplicity, and for the most part, it worked flawlessly, making it easy to enter data accurately on the spot. However, there were a few minor areas for improvement that I noted for our development team—small tweaks that could make the interface even more intuitive for fundraisers on the move.

Reflecting on the experience

At the end of the day, I left with a renewed respect for the work of street fundraisers and a deeper understanding of what our software needs to do to support them. Enabling fundraisers to focus on the human side of their work, connecting with people and inspiring them to contribute to a cause is a very important aspect of creating long-lasting donor ships. This experience was a reminder that to create the best tools for our clients, we need to understand their daily challenges, motivations. Moving forward, I’m more committed than ever to ensuring our software to support the powerful human connections that are at the core of face-to-face fundraising.

At the opening of the International Fundraising Conference, Mar Garcia, Director of the European Center for Digital Action, captured the audience’s attention with a frank acknowledgment of today’s crises. In her words, “We live in a historic moment of precariousness, fear, and perplexity.” In what she describes as a time of “poly-crisis,” where global issues like climate change, economic inequality, and democratic erosion intertwine, Garcia called on leaders and citizens to redefine hope and take responsive action.

Recognizing the complexities of a “Poly-Crisis” world

Garcia began by laying bare the reality of our “poly-crisis” era. She discussed how today’s compounding issues—like climate change, poverty, and war—require urgent, coordinated action. In citing the widening income gap, escalating conflicts, and unprecedented environmental threats, Garcia pointed to how each crisis feeds into others, creating a complex, destabilizing environment. “Our time can be defined as one of poly-crisis and perma-crisis,” she noted, urging the audience to recognize the scale of today’s challenges as a call for proactive, compassionate leadership.

“Our time can be defined as one of poly-crisis and perma-crisis,”

Challenging the rise of division and populism

Garcia identified the growth of far-right populist movements as a response to people’s fears and disillusionment. These movements, she explained, use simplified narratives to tap into frustrations and shift blame toward marginalized groups. Far-right leaders, Garcia observed, are gaining traction by offering reactionary solutions based on exclusion, nation-first rhetoric, and nostalgia for an idealized past. To counter this, Garcia emphasized that progressives need to engage with empathy, responding to legitimate concerns with genuine solutions rather than dismissing them outright.

She urged her audience to avoid minimizing people’s fears and instead listen and address these anxieties constructively. “If progressives don’t address people’s concerns,” she warned, “the void will be filled by divisive voices.” This requires offering actionable policies that reflect the diverse, interconnected reality of society today.

Embracing a future-oriented vision of radical Hope

For Garcia, hope is more than simple optimism; it’s a purposeful, radical choice to believe in and work toward a better future. She referenced Nelson Mandela, asserting that “hope should be an engine of change,” empowering people to act even when confronted with seemingly insurmountable challenges. Garcia described “radical hope” as an active force that can help humanity face and ultimately transcend the issues it confronts. She encouraged the audience to avoid both reactionary nostalgia and defeatism, instead embracing hope as a guide for creating meaningful change.

In Garcia’s view, hope is essential to overcoming crises, fostering the resilience needed to navigate uncertainty, and inspiring collective action for an inclusive future.

A call for feminist solidarity and a redefinition of progress

In her concluding remarks, Garcia emphasized the feminist movement as a powerful, ongoing revolution that challenges norms and drives social justice. She argued that the fight for gender equality is foundational to a progressive vision of society, one in which cultural models of domination give way to shared empowerment. Citing Flora Tristan, she noted, “The level of civilization in any society is in proportion to the freedom women enjoy.” Garcia encouraged everyone—regardless of gender—to stand as pillars in this struggle, underscoring that the success of one group uplifts the whole of society.

“Today’s crises demand that leaders, activists, and individuals alike come together in hope, empathy, and action. Embracing radical hope, fostering responsive and empathetic dialogue, and upholding feminist solidarity are all essential steps to navigate today’s challenges and lay the foundation for an inclusive, sustainable, and equitable future.”

Inspiring a path forward: Collective action and engagement

Garcia’s keynote left attendees with a clear call to action. She urged those in attendance to become proactive participants in the reformation of societal values and to address public anxieties empathetically. For Garcia, it’s not enough to talk about change; real transformation requires active involvement. She emphasized the importance of creating pathways for engagement—whether by signing a petition, supporting a cause, or initiating meaningful conversations within communities.

A united front through radical hope, action, and solidarity

Mar Garcia’s keynote set a powerful tone for the conference. Her message was clear: today’s crises demand that leaders, activists, and individuals alike come together in hope, empathy, and action. Embracing radical hope, fostering responsive and empathetic dialogue, and upholding feminist solidarity are all essential steps to navigate today’s challenges and lay the foundation for an inclusive, sustainable, and equitable future.

Why AI Matters in Modern fundraising? AI is rapidly becoming an essential tool for fundraisers, offering data-driven ways to personalize and optimize outreach. At IFC2024, Josh Hirsch’s “AI for Good” workshop explored the practical applications of AI in enhancing donor engagement, personalizing communications, and maintaining ethical standards. Here are the top five insights from his session to integrate into your fundraising strategy.

1. Streamlining Workflows

AI-driven tools are transforming how fundraisers handle administrative tasks, freeing up valuable time for strategic and donor-focused activities. Josh Hirsch highlighted how tools like Copilot can summarize key data from previous interactions, making it easier to prepare for upcoming meetings. For instance, an AI tool can quickly pull insights from six months of emails with a specific donor, then create an agenda, PowerPoint presentation, and an Excel spreadsheet with relevant KPIs—all based on past exchanges. This kind of automation allows fundraisers to spend less time on routine tasks and more on fostering donor relationships and crafting targeted strategies.

2. Using Sentiment Analysis to Deepen Donor Relationships

Sentiment analysis was another focal point, as it allows fundraisers to gauge the emotions in donor communications, social media interactions, and survey feedback. Tools like ChatGPT can instantly analyze text for sentiment, categorizing responses as positive, neutral, or negative. This insight enables fundraisers to tailor their follow-ups, addressing concerns directly or reinforcing positive engagement. Hirsch pointed out that sentiment analysis helps fundraisers understand donor attitudes at scale, leading to more empathetic and effective communication. Want to learn more? Have a listen to his podcast series.

“The goal of sentiment analysis is to understand and interpret the underlying emotions conveyed in communication… whether it be social media posts, survey emails, or other forms of community feedback.”

 

3. Personalizing Campaigns with Emotional Resonance

AI’s ability to tailor messaging is invaluable for creating donor-specific content. Hirsch demonstrated how AI tools can help fundraisers experiment with different tones and images to evoke desired emotions, like empathy or urgency, in donor appeals. By reverse engineering emotions using sentiment analysis, fundraisers can customize campaigns to fit the unique motivations and preferences of different donor segments, thereby enhancing the impact of their outreach.

“It’s not just about getting the message out there; it’s about creating an emotional connection… We want donors to feel empathy, urgency, or even joy, depending on the campaign.”

 

4. Building Ethical AI Policies to Ensure Responsible Use

Hirsch emphasized the importance of ethical AI policies, particularly concerning data privacy and transparency. As organizations adopt AI for sentiment analysis and content creation, clear guidelines are essential to protect donor data and maintain trust. He suggested developing an AI usage policy that includes privacy and accountability sections, regularly updated to stay aligned with evolving data laws like GDPR. An AI policy helps fundraisers harness AI’s capabilities while safeguarding donor relationships and ensuring compliance.

5. Training Custom AI Models for Continual Improvement

AI is most powerful when it continuously adapts to your organization’s data and goals. Hirsch highlighted the advantages of training AI models like ChatGPT to reflect an organization’s voice and brand, which improves content accuracy and relevance. By feeding tools like ChatGPT with past campaign data, donor profiles, and successful appeals, fundraisers can create an AI “brain” that supports more personalized, efficient, and insightful donor communications.

Josh Hirsch’s workshop at IFC2024 showcased the potential of AI to revolutionize fundraising strategies, from personalized outreach to streamlined administration. By integrating tools like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT, fundraisers can enhance efficiency, deepen donor connections, and ensure ethical AI practices. Embracing these insights enables fundraisers to navigate the future of philanthropy with innovation and integrity. 

Read other posts on face-to-face fundraising trends and insights here.

Successful field marketing relies on meaningful person-to-person connections. While most marketing efforts have gone digital and with more creative gigs getting automated by the day, one-to-one conversations and moments of genuine human interaction continue to set field marketing apart. That doesn’t mean the job (or the entire industry) is software-agnostic.

Field marketing agencies need the right strategies and the right software solutions for registering new clients and subscribers, planning where teams go, managing contracts and payments, staying compliant with government rules and regulations, and other critical functions. All these features need to interact seamlessly to not avoid compromising the enormous amount of data agents and agencies deal with.

The trick here is finding the best software tools to handle all these tasks without causing friction for the human side of the equation. This article unpacks what to look for in field marketing software and why it matters. 

Why finding the right field marketing software matters

Field marketing is a challenging and intensive gig. Finding the right people to send out into the field and managing such a dynamic workforce is a feat for agencies. Regarding the agents, it’s no easy task to fix in one spot and pitch to passersby for many hours, especially with the high churn rate of potential subscribers and/or customers. 

Great field marketing software can make the process easier for people in the field and those managing these teams. There are many software tools that can manage schedules, optimize route planning, store subscriber information, and more, but not all software is developed equally. The right software suite can seamlessly automate tasks that detract from the topline mission of field marketing: connecting with people and getting them to subscribe or convert. 

Think about the ideal field marketing interaction. A field agent approaches a potential client to make their pitch. Their charm and sales acumen amplify the pitch, convincing the person on the other end to subscribe or donate. The entire interaction is seamless and even a delight for the newly minted client. 

Now imagine that the software tool the agent is using wasn’t designed to follow (or direct) the proven sales flow. Field marketing is about capturing people’s attention on the street, door-to-door, or at an event, so any friction can break the spell and cause people to find a reason to churn.  A poorly designed form or minor technical glitch creates friction you want to avoid.

The right software suite can seamlessly automate tasks that detract from the topline mission of field marketing: connecting with people and getting them to subscribe or convert. 

 

Let’s talk about what great field marketing software should do.

Great FM software should prioritize a proven workflow

When choosing the software tools (or entire suite) for your field marketing agency, the first thing to look for is simplicity. Each software tool should complement the field marketer’s journey via straightforward processes and minimal opportunities for deviation. Tools should also take an agent through a single process with no possible loopholes. 

Field marketing agencies hire a ton of new employees each year and churn nearly half of them. Agencies tend to hire students or graduates with little to no work experience. So, software tools must be easy to pick up, or you’ll waste valuable time training wave after wave of employees, only to have them disappear with that knowledge.

The tools should be simple and easy to use and direct agents through a proven workflow without any potential loopholes. 

You can imagine that field agents who have to repeat the same pitch in the same spot for many hours may relish the chance to find workarounds, and while personalization can make for great agents, you want to prioritize a workflow that you know works. The right software can help without making the agent feel too boxed in. 

Great FM software takes you where you need to go

A huge part of field marketing is mapping out the best and most efficient routes for agencies. It can be discouraging for an agent to trudge through a neighborhood filled with people who’ve already responded negatively to a fellow field agent or similar pitch. 

Another factor to keep in mind is that field marketing agencies operate in a competitive landscape. Other agencies and agents are vying for sales and signups in the same areas as you. 

As different agencies compete for the attention of the same prospective customers and donors, you need software tools that keep track of what’s happening alongside your agency’s activities to avoid knocking on the same doors too often or having negative face-to-face experiences. 

The best field marketing software helps agencies pinpoint business potential and defines the optimal areas for agents.  

Great FM software accelerates training and education

In many countries and markets (especially The Netherlands), field marketing involves a lot of students, graduates, and young people who may be entering the job market for the first time. 

Given how many people churn from year to year, you don’t want to waste time getting new hires up to speed on processes and best practices. If it takes three months to teach a fresh field marketer the ropes and they only stay on for a year, the return in value is only nine months.

The best field marketing software must be easy to pick up and use without extensive training. Not only should the tools be intuitive and match the right flows, but they should also be easy to explain.

Features like well-planned awards for certain tasks and milestones, smart and actionable tips, and onboard presentation materials can set agents up for better job performance and in-the-field success. 

Great FM software comes from people who’ve been where you are now

Success in field marketing owes very little to any given special software feature. Instead, the best software blends into the background and optimizes all human-centered tasks. Flashy features or overcomplicated language can disrupt the marketing process. 

For instance, imagine an agent in the middle of a pitch convincing a prospective client to subscribe who seemed hesitant to offer up their personal information. If the fields for inputting personal and financial information are complicated, it might cause friction. 

Tools should have conversational language that mirrors the in-person experience and be equipped with typo checkers, especially for longer bits of information. Having a software developer that gets all the steps in a fluent customer journey helps create software that seamlessly fits in. 

Great FM software is compliant and gets the most out of your data 

Field marketing involves a vast amount of data, including the best routes for agents, agent performance, the financial prognosis of the agency, and a whole lot more. The best software tools make it easy to store and organize this data and leverage it to improve your processes continually. 

More important than focusing on specific functionality, your field marketing software must have up-to-date security certifications like ISO27001 and ISO27701, especially when working with sensitive personal data. Compliance with the latest regulations concerning capturing and storing data is required. 

While this may ramp up the price tag, investing in fully compliant software is much safer and engenders trust in potential clients, donors, and subscribers.  Your clients want to know that their data is secure. Being ISO/GDPR certified gives you the security you need and the competitive edge to boot. 

At the same time, you don’t want software that may work in any connectivity situation but asks for too much data from the potential customer or donor. There are web services for that kind of follow-up, so in-the-field tools should ask for only the required information (and have real-time validation built-in to inform agents if people input incorrect information). 

Finally, optimized software tools should leverage historical subscriber and social data to make it easier for agencies and their agents to target promising neighborhoods and work in the best locations for their products and subscriptions. 

Great FM software integrates with other tools

At the end of the day, the best software tools all integrate. All the tasks required to run successful field marketing operations should fall under one software suite with tools that use the same data. 

Your optimal software suite should have tools to handle project management, hiring, accounting, invoicing, and everything in between. Optimally, software should come with tools to analyze and report on performance so that you can make better data-driven decisions about your campaigns and broader business goals and outcomes. 

Most importantly, data should integrate with every tool in one unified suite and strengthen omnichannel customer acquisition, nurturing, and lasting support. 

In today’s digital age, personal data is an incredibly important asset. Collecting, storing and sharing data is a major part of many businesses. This is especially true for companies that rely on Field Marketing software to manage their field sales, fundraising and marketing efforts. Field marketing software is used to manage, track, and analyse data related to customer interactions, marketing campaigns, and sales performance. As a result, it is essential that these systems are designed to protect the privacy and security of customer data.

The highest standard in data security and privacy protection

This is why we’re very happy to announce that Briggs+Walker received the ISO27701 certification on top of the ISO27001 certification. ISO 27701 is an international standard that provides guidelines for implementing and maintaining a privacy information management system within an organisation. With this certification we comply with the strict regulations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ISO data privacy requirements.

Why does ISO27701 certification matter?

With the rise of data breaches and privacy concerns, customers are becoming increasingly concerned about the security of their personal data. By obtaining ISO 27701 certification, a company shows that it is taking the necessary steps to protect personal data.

Data security and privacy protection

Our Field marketing software is used by organisations to schedule and manage data for running field- marketing, sales and fundraising campaigns. This data often includes personal information such as names, addresses, and email addresses, as well as financial information such as bank account information. If this information were to fall into the wrong hands, it could be used for fraudulent or malicious purposes, resulting in serious harm to individuals and businesses alike. Although Briggs+Walker is a data processor and not a controller, we make sure everything we do is focused on client data protection. As such, we are utmost committed to having the most robust security and privacy measures in place to protect this data.

Comply with all regulatory requirements

Furthermore with the ISO 27701 certification we meet the most strict regulatory requirements. Many countries have laws in place that require organisations to protect personal data and to disclose data breaches. Companies that fail to protect customer data can be held liable for any damages that result from the breach. This can include financial losses, as well as legal fees and penalties. Additionally, a data breach can result in damage to a company’s reputation, which can lead to a loss of customers and revenue. ISO 27701 provides a framework for compliance with these laws, and can help businesses within Field Sales, Marketing and Fundraising to avoid costly penalties for non-compliance.

Read more on our Data Security and Privacy Protection.