The most effective fundraising appeal ever?
Howard Lake | 23 June 2010 | Blogs
After a meeting with several US billionaires hosted by David Rockefeller, and including Michael Bloomberg and Opray Winfrey, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have just asked US billionaires to give half their wealth to non-profits during their lifetime or on death.
They announced the creation of The Giving Pledge see www.givingpledge.org which could see some $600bn donated if the 400 richest people in the US join. As total US giving is in the order of $300bn this is a potentially game changer for US non-profits, and the wider fundraising community.
In the UK I believe that we have been comparatively slow at organising our fundraising around very affluent volunteers and peer group pressure, preferring one-off donations and failing to excite and motivate our key donors to ask others to give or lead by example. We may believe this goes against our culture but I think our job is to change that culture, and perhaps this staggering example may help to give us the confidence we need to ask not for just for donations, but for asking itself to take place at the highest levels for the most significant sums.
John Baguley
www.internationalfundraisingconsultancy.com
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.