Author Tells Fundraisers to Be "Choosy"
Ken Burnett is a well-known expert on fundraising and in this book he has employed the essence of Zen. A hallmark of Zen is "koans" or little parables that teach through stories, examples, and riddles.
Burnett doesn't make us solve any riddles, thankfully, but he does capture the heartfelt and wise quality of Zen with his little parables drawn from his own vast experience.
These bits of wisdom don't seem obvious until you read them, and then they do seem very obvious making you wonder why you didn't think of that.
For instance, Burnett suggests that since we, as fundraisers, do not have unlimited resources, we must be choosy. He suggests that we focus on donors who really count. And who are those? A "real donor," for Burnett, is someone who has given repeatedly over time. People who have only given once are "responders," and not yet donors.
Burnett would use his resources to "ask fewer people for more money for better reasons."
How commonsensical but profound is that? Such is the essence of Zen, and of Burnett's book.
We loved this little book so much that we had to restrain ourselves from reprinting the whole thing right here. Instead, we've adapted some of Burnett's tips and prepared a review of the book:
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