If you walk the walk, you need to talk the talk..

I can often be critical of myself for behaving in a way that I wouldn't espouse others, including my clients, to behave.

Like sometimes being ultra conservative when I believe in taking calculated risks.

So I was thrilled to see a great example of feeding back where my money had gone from The Fundraisers Fund when I checked my emails this morning. You will remember I posted about this brilliant idea a couple of weeks back. Fundraisers helping fellow fundraisers to receive the training and development they need.

The email thanked me for my monthly/regular gift and then went on to say...

"Here’s the proof that the Fundraisers Fund works. And that your money will too.

Bursary recipient case study, India:

"I am Sudeshna Mukherjee. When I received a bursary I was National Coordinator for Resources at Make-a-Wish Foundation in Mumbai, India. I had no fundraising experience when I took on a fundraising role and had to rely solely on my natural instincts.

"I gained my first taste of professional training when I attended the fundraising foundation course offered by the SP Jain Institute of Management in Mumbai in conjunction with Resource Alliance in 2007. Then, thanks to the Fundraisers Fund, I won a bursary place at the International Workshop on Resource Mobilisation (IWRM) in Kuala Lumpur in 2008.

"The key thing I learned at the IWRM was the importance of telling powerful stories. As a result I completely redesigned my pitch to corporate donors, putting at the forefront real stories about the children that my foundation helps rather than focusing on the funding needs of the foundation. I saw immediate results, securing a major new corporate partner within weeks of my return to India."

Here is why this is a brilliant example of donor engagement:

1 I got told how my money was making a difference
2 It was told using a real story, with tangible results.
3 It was done quickly. Just 2 weeks after I set up my gift.

Hats off to he team at The Fundraisers Fund. You guys really are talking the talk.

Jonathon