On behalf of The Donor, thank you

Howard Lake | 17 June 2009 | Blogs

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Well knock me down with a copy of the donor’s charter, y’all did it!

I must say I was a tad late hearing that The Donor made it to number one in the Most Influential poll (slight matter of a lapsed subscription, doh!).

So, what did this vote tell us… Here are a few utterly subjective observations…

1. This new-fangled bloggy stuff works doesn’t it! One small post on this site, followed by an innocent Tweet and the snowball started rolling. Clearly, from a small idea that captures a mood, a movement can grow.

2. There’s loads of great people out there – I mean lots of those newer names on the poll. Maybe it’s merely my ignorance, but overall it was great to see many names way beyond the usual suspects.

3. Some agency types did still organize their own covert campaigns. Some didn’t.

4. Somewhat strangely, I crept into the poll at a numer 47 (thus learning that anonymity may be preferable to being damned with faint praise!).

5. My lowly listing cited my role as the Vice Chair of the Institute of Fundraising. It’s an august position, but one I haven’t held for more than 10 years. So am just off to check how ill-worded my biography is!

6. My initial blog on this site provoked a piece claiming The Beneficiary is more important than The Donor. I thought that was a fair point of view, all fundraising stemming from The Need. But the beneficiary is often an abstract entity (heritage, the environment, social justice), or maybe an animal rather than a person. And much as I’d love to see minke whales voted number one, it’s not going to happen (oh, unless we make that next year’s campaign!)

Thanks again to all who voted, to all of you whose provocative challenges got me thinking, and in particular to someone who accused me of being worthy! I wear that badge with pride.

Cheers

Derek

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.