Ken Burnett | What’s working for fundraisers. part 1

Introduction| All blogs| Archive.
2015: what’s working for fundraisers now?
And what, if we would achieve our full potential, is not? Part 1 of 5

Opinion
First in a five-part feature on the future of fundraising, from
Ken Burnett, author of Relationship Fundraising, (1992).

The first of this series appeared in November 2014 and the final part was published in mid-May 2015.

Intro
The future of fundraising.

Part 1
Why fundraising has to change.

Part 2
A fundraising Utopia.

Part 3
Some keys to
fresh fundraising success. Three mega-opportunities
for fundraisers.

Part 4
Marketing was a mistake.

Part 5
Fundraising and the rule of law.

book cover
Ken’s storytelling book (which, not entirely coincidentally, focuses many of its pages on remedies for the issues opposite) is reviewed here and here and you can buy it here.

CF cover

You can order Ken’s latest book
The essence of Campaigning Fundraising here. Please follow this link for reviews too.

I’ve recently found myself subjecting my chosen profession to a kind of personal, informal strengths and weaknesses analysis. It’s not comprehensive, but you may still find it alarming:

indictments and accolades

To the list on the right, above, we could also add one of our sector’s most valuable and useful qualities, receptiveness to the chance for change. We need that quality now, I’m sure.

Any fundraiser with a pulse will surely be feeling deeply uneasy over the malaise at the heart of fundraising under-performance, the shortcomings across our profession that seem so inevitable and epidemic. I’ve tried to set out on the left my main concerns, but to balance this and remind us why this great sector of ours is so well worth changing I’ve listed on the right some of our sector’s undoubted strengths too.

In the articles linked opposite I’ve set out to make constructive suggestions for substantially, radically altering how we do what we do so that we might transform for good the way we work and the experiences we give our donors. One thing I’m sure of is that our donors and our causes deserve better.

It’s not short, this series, and I apologise for that. Nor is it unambitious. I hope though that it’ll help you and fundraisers everywhere in the challenging, important job you do.

To follow in this special five-part feature on the future of fundraising:
Part 2. A fundraising Utopia.
Part 3. Three mega-opportunities for fundraisers.
Part 4. Marketing was a mistake.
Part 5. Fundraising and the rule of law.

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