What a shamble

Has anyone seen Matthew Little's article in Third Sector on research? He's done a good job at unravelling it, but the whole thing is tortuous in the extreme.

If the Office of the Third Sector had set out to design an inpenitrable process to obfuscate potential areas of really interesting research they couldn't have come close.

Is it really too much to expect that a clear research brief be prepared, with regard to NEEDS and then placed with a single provide to maximise the impact and cost effectiveness? Sadly it seems so.

Shock Horror - fundraising let down.

Oh mia culpa. I prepared two rants and, thought that I'd uploaded them over Easter but neither appeared. Firstly about arrogance and secondly about incompetance - quite appropriate really!

Lindsay Boswell is asking for responses to the Institute's consultation paper on payment by commission and/or results. Come on. Does nobody remember Hertzberg. Money is not, and never was a motivator. Lack of it is one hell of a demotivator and so peer pressure kicks in and if one person gets a bonus everyone wants one. The private sector are just relearning this painful lesson. Please, everyone lets bombard the institute with an unequivolcal no to commission linked pay.

More about Prophets and Gurus

Still smarting about the rejection notices but I'll console myself with the fact that most successful authors suffer these things at the hands of those who don't or can't understand the gold dust that they are rejecting.

Talking with a major gift fundraiser about the recession and have to agree that when your portfolio has gone from £100m to £60m you feel (relatively) poor. All the indications are that supporters are continuing to give at previous levels but it's very hard and takes much longer to get prospects to the point of solicitation. Where charities can defer asks, they probably should as asking too soon invariably results in a much smaller gift. That was, I recall exactly the probably we had back in 1992 with a large capital campaign and pressure to get the cash in.

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Perhaps being well informed just makes you grumpy. What do you think???

A prophet in his own land

Was talking with Richard Gutch, formerly head of Futurebuilders when we found ourselves having a GOM moment. I was bemoaning the fact that a paper, featuring brand new research about donor motivations to be published this summer, has been turned down by both the Institute of Fundraising and the International Fundraising Congress. Is it that I need to change my deoderant I asked Richard? Sniffing cautiously he demurred and agreed that it's all too easy to get overlooked by the bright and shiny new stuff (aka New Kids on the block). Yes I admit it there's 61 years on the clock - including successfully surviving at least three other recessions. Sometimes its hard being the proverbial prophet. Especially when you know you're right!