To see oursels as ithers see us
Michael Hodgson
MCIOF(Dip) Working with wealth holders to make meaningful and impactful gifts. Charity Trustee
It’s Burns Night, and The Bard may have a lesson for us fundraisers amongst his many works.
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
An' ev'n devotion!
Fundraisers have been given a gift, of sorts. We’ve been told how others see us – and it’s not good. It might not be how we are, and it might not be how we see ourselves, and it might be coloured by inaccurate media coverage, but nonetheless but it is how (many) others see us.
The PACAC fundraising review is here, and as we digest it, should we also consider how else we can see ourselves as others see us? I like the suggestions on NPC’s blog about a Gran test – and would suggest that this is something that not just fundraisers, but also Trustees ask themselves. (Maybe we could send DMs / make calls to Trustees so that they receive them before they are produced and rolled out to wider audiences?) First, we need to ensure that our Trustees truly understand fundraising before we can do this. (I’m sure any of us who deal with trustees regularly will have heard trustees suggest things that don’t follow fundraising codes or laws.
Trustees can take on the role of ‘critical friend’, we can implement a ‘gran test’, but as fundraisers know, to get that “giftie”, you have to ask – who else can we ask to help us better see ourselves?
( The final verse from “To a Louse”, thanks to https://www.robertburns.org/works/97.shtml )