On Monday, in his No More Mr Nice Guy rant (to which I subscribe) about the inadequacies of present day fundraising, Roger let slip just how long we’ve been at this business … 41 years.
And we know many of you are thinking of us as, well, old farts … but are just too polite to say so.
From Dilbert, how does this resonate … ?
Modem? How modern! We’re even older.
The first segmentation tool we used was a deck of large-sized index cards, one for each donor, with pertinent data points represented by holes punched around the edges of the cards. By sticking a giant rod (think: knitting needle) through the pertinent hole in the deck (e.g., the hole #24 representing “gave over $100″) and lifting out whichever cards were captured, you segmented the file.
Beat that!
Roger will be fundraising even when he needs a walker and must hang his iPad and iPhone on a cord around his neck. I’ll be following with the knitting needles.
United in believing that while the tools and channels of fundraising change, the underlying human motivations do not.
Tom
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Dear Tom and Roger
Just wanted to say a huge thanks for all the effort that you put into getting out your daily blog. I read it first thing every morning and find it inspires and motivates me to keep pushing up the bar! The Fundraising community in Cape Town and South Africa is relatively small compared to Europe and the US and there isn’t the same kind of respect for fundraisers within the NGO sector. You make me feel part of a bigger, global family and I thank you for this.
Best wishes
Sarah
Aren’t we all … but the good basics of fundraising still count no matter what your age … and sometimes that gets overlooked when folks start looking at the next new and exciting idea or product
Truly marvelous.
I believe by the time Roger is using a walker, you will not be anywhere near knitting needles…at the nursing home they keep you away from sharp objects.
How do I “like” this?
I carried a big pink suitcase around cities of the Midwest filled with pledge cards for Cornell Phonathons. It embarrased my colleagues but it was never lost.
We seem to have a culture that looks at the world around them as the other side: “Us vs. Them”. I think power of experience is extraordinary. I also think that there are equally powerful young/er minds out there with skills, experience and a perspective that should be heard.
Perhaps someday both “sides” will spend less time devaluing the other “side” and instead invest that energy in doing great things.
Laurie has it right…it’s about the application of the 30 (or 40) year experience to new channels that will win the day. It’s difficult to think like those 20 years younger; but we can sure leverage one another’s knowledge and together improve our results.
Too funny! Just when you feel like a hampster on a wheel trying to keep up with all the changes, Tom and Roger break it down for you to a realistic view that is attainable still.
I remember using those knitting needles!
And learning how to keypunch, and the first time an IBM selectric was used on a timeshare main frame. It was so cool! No more keypunching cards.
But now someone will have to wring my little laptop PC and wireless Lan from my cold dead hands, or whatever tech comes our way in the future!