Comments on: Opening the door to outside influence http://www.thinkcs.org/2009/10/why-the-closed-door/ We are currently in BETA (please don't panic) Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:16:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Matt Ide http://www.thinkcs.org/2009/10/why-the-closed-door/comment-page-1/#comment-60 Matt Ide Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:06:15 +0000 http://www.thinkcs.org/?p=1260#comment-60 I totally agree. As a prospect researcher we have one foot very firmly in the for-profit world when dealing with things like wealth and profiling, so it's important for prospect researchers to understand things like how businesses work, salaries, corporate giving etc. As a member of the IoF's Researchers in Fundraising committee, we try to always have at least one 'outside' speaker to give a conference perspective. This year we have Martin Tomkinson, an investigative financial journalist who has previously worked on the Sunday Times Rich List. If we continue to focus internally, not only do people often get bored hearing the same things, but we aren't giving ourselves the opportunity to learn new things and new perspectives. This is increasingly important because the charity sector is being challenged to take on board more and more business-oriented methods to be successful, particularly with regards to philanthropy and individual giving. I totally agree. As a prospect researcher we have one foot very firmly in the for-profit world when dealing with things like wealth and profiling, so it’s important for prospect researchers to understand things like how businesses work, salaries, corporate giving etc. As a member of the IoF’s Researchers in Fundraising committee, we try to always have at least one ‘outside’ speaker to give a conference perspective. This year we have Martin Tomkinson, an investigative financial journalist who has previously worked on the Sunday Times Rich List. If we continue to focus internally, not only do people often get bored hearing the same things, but we aren’t giving ourselves the opportunity to learn new things and new perspectives. This is increasingly important because the charity sector is being challenged to take on board more and more business-oriented methods to be successful, particularly with regards to philanthropy and individual giving.

]]> By: Howard Lake http://www.thinkcs.org/2009/10/why-the-closed-door/comment-page-1/#comment-59 Howard Lake Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:31:18 +0000 http://www.thinkcs.org/?p=1260#comment-59 You're right, Della, and I agree it's not healthy for the sector. Equally, I'd quite like to see leading charity sector staff getting invited to speak at for-profit industry seminars and conferences. I fear that the parochialism is not restricted to the charity sector. Your post caught my eye because it was earlier today that I decided to do something about this in my area of work: I have just arranged to run some joint Twitter training courses with another speaker whose focus is exclusively on the for-profit commercial sector. I'm hoping that our two different approaches will yield some valuable lessons for the charity staff that will attend. Our challenge then is to sell the same approach to the commercial sector. I wonder how that will go down. You’re right, Della, and I agree it’s not healthy for the sector. Equally, I’d quite like to see leading charity sector staff getting invited to speak at for-profit industry seminars and conferences. I fear that the parochialism is not restricted to the charity sector.

Your post caught my eye because it was earlier today that I decided to do something about this in my area of work: I have just arranged to run some joint Twitter training courses with another speaker whose focus is exclusively on the for-profit commercial sector. I’m hoping that our two different approaches will yield some valuable lessons for the charity staff that will attend.

Our challenge then is to sell the same approach to the commercial sector. I wonder how that will go down.

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