Good Manners

There are times when we are tempted to believe that Good Manners are a thing of the past and some younger people almost expect to be responded too automatically.  If you are a user of public transport, when was the last time that you saw a younger person stand up for a more mature person?

A number of years ago I was at a Fundraising Conference and a Catholic priest was talking about fundraising at the Catholic School where he was Headmaster.  He indicated that the school did not have the best of profiles in the local area and so did something that was a little bit out of left field.  It was a private school and part of the uniform was a Boater Hat which the students were not keen on, but he insisted that when they acknowledged people they knew in the street that they would 'doff' their hot as a sign of respect.  It was quite humorous to here him describe a whole group of students crossing the School Crossing and doffing their hats to the drivers who had been held up for this group of Boater Hat clad students.

Not only did the people of the local area change their perception of the school but the attitude that it generated positively affected all the other aspects of the school including the fundraising.

Its not rocket science but simple things can really make a real difference.

Its the small things that count

A couple of years ago my wife and I did the amazing trip from Melbourne to Cairns and then back to Melbourne through  outback Queensland and New South Wales.  It was a wonderful experience and we did a lot of things on the way and the way back and we (my wife and I) made some fantastic memories.  There was snorkeling and a visit to the 'Cathedral Tree', driving through Sydney traffic at peak hour, and so much more it was just wonderful.

However when we returned one of the things that stood out in our mind was the toilets that we found in outback Australia.  It might sound strange but they are an absolutely vital requirement that no one can do with out.  What we found was that people would have a bit of a chuckle when we told them; but they were all clean well stocked with the necessities and obviously well looked after.

Imagine my surprise when I read the great Tom Peter's Blog when he was talking about the same thing.  readhttp://www.tompeters.com/pdfs/TLBT_section1.pdf and you will see what I mean.

I am tempted to see this, not necessarily as toilet humour but more about getting the simple and basic things right in the first place.

Fundraising is now a major profession and a great deal of effort is expended in attracting the Donor Dollar, however are we taking care of the basics?

I received a letter today from an organisation that I support and there at the top of the letter 'Peter' was crossed out and 'Fletch' was written, because the person knew that is what I prefer; it was personally signed and there were about 30 words, personally for me, at the end of the letter.

Was I impressed?

Will I continue to support this organisation?

Its a 'no brainer', of course I will.

How clean are your organisations toilets, are your letters personalized; are they prompt; do they make you want to give again?

So much of what we do is not rocket science, so we need to master the art of the bleeding obvious, as one of my UK friends so quaintly put it.

From Little Acorns ......

 A number of years ago I presented at a conference and as usual I had a good time.  I am never sure how it is going to go down with the delegates but mostly if I feel good about it then they too pick up on that and have a good time.  This particular conference I must have said something like the heading of this blogsite.  Later someone who was researching me, for some vague reason, rang me a told me that they had just found a presentation on the web that started "Peter Fletcher says Fundraising is not Rocket Science, ....."  Now I am not sure that I actually said it but I am sure it was right, it sounds like the sort of thing that I would say and I also happen to believe it.

There are a lot of technical disciplines involved in fundraising and too many people think that we need to be good at them to be successful as fundraisers.  This is not the case and it is too easy to forget the simple and sensible things that we need to do that will have a return on our involvement as fundraisers.

Robert Fulghum who is one of my heroes said  "Think what a better world it would be if we all; the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. 


And it is still true, no matter how old you are-when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together." 

 Robert Fulghum (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten)

I hope that I can collect some of these attitudes for fundraising.  Yes:  I do support the fact that we need to be better at what we do, (the technicalities) but I support more the basic premise that we need to be authentic individuals committed to our organisations and the individuals who support them.  Let us never forget that our donors are living breathing miracles, just like us. and that we should treat them the way that we would like to be treated.