Last week I had the pleasure of joining my friend and former student Michael Chatman on his weekly radio show, The Michael Chatman Giving Show. It was great to discuss some of the monumental changes facing the philanthropic sector and explore some of the ways charities can make these changes work for them rather than against them.

For those didn't get the chance to listen to the show live, Click here to download an .mp3 of the episode. 

Enjoy!

There is a belief that you need passion for the cause to be a good fundraiser. That in order to effectively and successfully raise money, you must love, live, and breathe the cause. It is espoused as advice from senior managers in non profits, taught to fundraising students by their teachers and increasingly included in job ads: “must demonstrate passion and dedication to [insert organization name here].”

The Australian National Refugee Week 2010 started on June 20^th. A video was launched by the Australian Red Cross in association with MTV Australia “to raise awareness about the discriminatory labels sometimes placed on refugees and asylum seekers in Australia”. The idea is to show how quickly we can “label” people. The video is short, has no special effects and is uncomfortably effective. 

We’re almost out of the group stages, but still we have a couple more weeks ahead of us. From Toronto to London, from Paris to Mexico, you can hear the cacophony of the vuvuzelas bursting from TV screens across the planet...

“Nearly  40.000 are homeless in NYC. And no one cares.” Oh for **** sake! If you judge them by their fundraising and communication, it feels like homeless charities in developed countries are facing pretty much the same challenges, wherever they are. They all seem to be following the same logic, which goes something like this: Homelessness is intolerable. Seeing a person living out in the streets, often in distress and clearly in discomfort, is just not an option in a civilized and developed society.