Thursday 9 December 2010

Free Banking for Charities - Join the campaign now!

At the launch yesterday when Paul Hunt (sic) minister for the DCMS announced their "new" Philanthropy Strategy yesterday which, rhetoric aside, is about an £80m matched funding programme for the arts. Whilst matched funding is very welcome and certainly worked for higher education Lord Myners had the temerity to point out that it's not new money and back end loaded over four years.

More interestly, I thought, he went on to ask,"what have the bankers ever done for us?" and suggested that free banking, for charities, would be a start! What a great idea. Corporates want to do gifts in kind and banksters want some good PR so what could be easier than free banking for charities? They charge us an arm and a leg for services that could be free. Charities don't usually run overdrafts and tend to have reserves simply on deposit with their main banks anyway. Join the campaign today, simply add a supporting comment and lets see what happens. Simples!

Tuesday 7 December 2010

The 50 best fundraising blogs

Grumpily but unsurprisingly the agofwks blog didn't rank in the top 50 according to the america guide to schools reported by Howard Lake. There again this is less about how to do it and much more about why to do it better.

Have you caught the report of the Funding Commission yet?(Do read the whole report or at least the summary on the NCVO site). Great launch last night with Stuart Etherington, Richard Gutch, Fiona Ellis and many of the sector's luminaries. Here's the digested read for 12 really doable recommendations that we in the sector can begin to address!

1. Civil Society Organisations have got to step up to the mark. With £100m for transition and possible £3bn loss in April, partnerships, mergers and better value are top of the agenda.

2. Funders have got to make better use of existing resources. Doing less things better and doing smart things smarter is the name of the game.

3. Launch the better asking campaign. Music to my tired old ears. Let's JFDI!

4. Government has got to stop the rhetoric and fund some real long term change. That way avoids the current cognative dissonance.

Let us know what you make of the report and whether you intend to join in.