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February 11, 2025One of Sweden’s largest charities has adopted a 70-20-10 framework to ensure efficiency in its fundraising and communications department.
Patrik Nygren-Bonnier, who leads communications and fundraising at the Swedish Red Cross (Svenska Röda Korset) describes this rule in Trendrapport 2025, a collection of seven short essays on 2025 trends by charity leaders compiled by EFA member Giva Sverige.
Nygren-Bonnier writes that fundraising teams face a challenge to “adapt and utilise the changing behaviors of the target groups and their demands for more flexible forms of engagement”, in order to grow in what is a “stagnant” environment for regular private giving. He describes how his team is doing this, saying:
“Our communications and fundraising department has implemented an agile organisation for the past four years to create a faster, more flexible and more efficient organization. We talk about 70-20-10 – 70 percent continuing with what works, 20 percent developing and testing within what already works, and 10 percent doing something new; innovation.”
Current innovation includes using AI to help predict which fundraising prospects might have the highest lifetime value, Nygren-Bonnier notes. Svenska Röda Korset, he writes, is also testing whether sorting donated clothes with AI can increase the proportion of items which are sold rather than recycled to increase income for the charity.
As well as encouraging fundraisers to look closely at the various forms of data available, he warns against teams being distracted by gimmicks, saying:
“It’s very tempting to throw yourself headlong into the hunt for creative and fun activities… but for those of us who work in civil society, it’s not just about being able to engage and help in the short term sometimes. We need to be persistent and long term. That’s how we engage and help more people, and that’s how we build trust.”
The other six contributors to the Trendrapport 2025 are two university researchers, leaders of three varied Swedish charities, and Eva Aldrich, CEO of fundraising certification body CFRE International.
Charlotte Rydh, general secretary of Giva Sverige, writes in her foreword to the report:
“A common thread among the writers in Trend Report 2025 is that both organizations and professionals need to look inward and search for solutions in, and for, ourselves. It is both a challenge and a call for all of us to continuously reconsider and develop our activities to engage people from all walks of life and all ages, for a more sustainable and inclusive Sweden. Whatever we do, we cannot stand still!”