# The Field By The River: Uncovering the Nature of French Country Life

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/books/field-by-the-river-ken-burnett/
- Published: 2008-08-01T14:15:55+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**After a chance encounter with a kingfisher in the field adjoining his Breton home,
fundraising expert Ken Burnett realises that despite having lived in a quaint French
hamlet for the past thirteen years, encircled by farmland, he knows next to nothing
about his surroundings. **
He resolves to examine nature’s little wonders more closely,
and a twelve-month study of his field reveal all manner of wildlife, from foxes 
to wild flowers, mushrooms to moorhens. Ken discovers that this unassuming patch
of land is as bursting with life as any major city. It is an enchanting work that
celebrates the fragile ecosystem to be found if we only take the time to part the
leaves, look under the mosses or overturn a stone.

Ken Burnett is a writer, communicator and inspirational speaker. He is author of
several influential books on donor development and communication, including Relationship
Fundraising, the Zen of Fundraising, Tiny Essentials of an Effective Volunteer Board
and the recently published Storytelling Can Change the World, all available at [Whitelion Press](http://www.whitelionpress.com).

Chairman of Trustees at ActionAid from 1998 to 2003, Ken began his fundraising career
with that charity in 1977 and since has been a leading fundraising strategist in
the UK and around the world. He is co-founder (with his late wife, Marie) and managing
trustee for SOFII, the Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration, a former
independent trustee of the Disasters Emergency Committee, trustee of The World Land
Trust and until recently was a commissioner on the UK’s Commission for the Voluntary
Sector and Ageing.

In July 2015 Ken was invited as plenary guest speaker at the 1st China Fundraising
Conference in Beijing – the only non-Chinese speaker at this event.

Also in 2015 he co-founded the [Commission on the Donor Experience](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/10/01/commission-on-the-donor-experience-to-put-donors-back-at-the-heart-of-fundraising/)
with the aim of putting the donor, rather than fundraisers’ targets, at the heart
of fundraising strategies in the belief that this will be more productive and sustainable
for both causes and donors, long term.

## More books by Ken Burnett

[Storytelling can change the world](https://fundraising.co.uk/books/storytelling-can-change-the-world/)