Same old same old

I was re-re-re-reading George Smith’s book the other day. ‘Asking Properly: The Art of Creative Fundraising.’

Written in 1996, he spends a fair chunk of it decrying the shabby state of fundraising.

The unconvincing, hackneyed copy. The tired techniques. The insular thinking.

He even deplored the fact that he and other fundraising luminaries were being lauded as gurus. Because it meant their every musing was slavishly followed and infinitely repeated. Without anyone bothering to do any thinking of their own.

Mind you. That was then. Surely, all these years later, things have moved on considerably?

Ha.

In fact, when you read the book, it’s depressingly clear that all the stuff he considered old hat back in 1996 is still being trotted out today.

There’s just an awful lot more of it. And a lot of it is awful.

But. There are some bright beacons of hope. There’s some really wonderful, exciting, captivating stuff being done too. Stuff that the fundraising sector can be very proud of. Stuff that shows us the way to a brave, bold, brilliant future.

Perhaps together, you and I could look at today's fundraising and sort the fertile from the feckless.

The fab from the flab.

The feisty from the fusty.

It won’t, I promise, always be this alliterative.

But it will, I hope, always be a fecund experience for the both of us.