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Having been fundraising for nearly 25 years, mostly in Higher Education (HE) you would expect me to answer "yes" to the question "is HE a charitable cause?"
While charities have the best intentions, they are not always in the best position to solve the problems that affect the industry as a whole.
I heard once that people who love opening boxes of new stationery may have some underlying desire to steal things. So as a fundraiser it is probably dangerous to admit I love new magic markers and crisp new flipchart sheets.
A long taxi ride into a Hong Kong that is very different from the skyscrapers of ‘Central'. Arrive at the right address which, typically for Hong Kong is being refurbished and we eventually pick our way to the lift and up to the mailing house we have gone to visit.
Adam Rothwell at Intelligent Giving is calling on people to stop sponsoring charity sky dives. He reckons he's found some research that has found such events to cost (the NHS) more money than they raise (for charity).
I'm often asked what the role of editor involves and what my working week is like. Most people assume that we have a large team working on the content for both the magazine and the website, but in reality there are just two full-time staff on PF – myself and Celina Ribeiro, our reporter. I can call on two of Charity Finance magazine's reporters to write the occasional story for us, but for the most part it's just me and Celina holding the fort.
It pains me to say this, but at the time of writing it looks as if Great Britain will beat their long time foes and my nation, Australia in the medal race at the Beijing Olympics.
I am currently attending the South Asian Fundraising Workshop in Agra, India. The opening plenary just finished – presented by a chap called Don Mohanlal, CEO of the Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation. In it, he talked about the factors that make non-profits go from being good to great.
When the Fundraising Standards Board launched in February 2007, I wrote an opinion piece for The Times. In it I stated that the premise behind the scheme was sound and that once it achieved a critical mass of members, all using the ‘tick' in their communications with donors, it would indeed eventually have the desired effect of increasing public trust and confidence in fundraising.
When a man with the build of a boxer comes up to you, holds a potato in your face and tells you that “We don't do potato throwin' here”, you could be forgiven for being a little scared.
You also know that it's probably time to explain your somewhat left-of-centre fundraising techniques.
When I think about attending conferences, I think of overly air conditioned rooms, really bad coffee and processed meat sandwiches. I'm one of those people who always ducks down the street during the breaks for a hearty meal.
Never ask anyone to do something you're not prepared to do yourself. In order to ensure I understand the needs of those brave souls who challenge themselves in order to assist our fundraising, I'm doing a sponsored skydive this weekend!
I have said before that the thrill of seeing money arrive in a charity has never left me in more than 12 years working in fundraising.
I've just had my monthly mentoring sessions with Kim from the FSI. Aside from filling my head with ideas (I always end up with a massive “wish to do” list after the session!), we were discussing the current financial climate and how to manage in a recession.
We've all heard the theory that there are just six degrees of separation between every person on the planet – which is hard to get your head around when you consider that there are 6.6 billion people treading this earth. But according to an article in the Observer yesterday it is actually not far off the truth.
More about sharing your successes with your donors...
I've just returned to work after a glorious Greek adventure and had to face the inevitable desk full of post and phone messages, and an email inbox that's threatening to overflow (mostly with junk mail).