First of hopefully many posts

I've been a reluctant and mostly lazy blogger. Most previous attempts have only added to the infospace garbage pile but fortunately have not exceeded two posts. Hopefully I'll fare a little better with this attempt.

Why start this blog - I'd been getting a number of requests from smaller non-profits to assist in their fundraising attempts and unfortunately have had to turn them down on account of a somewhat busy schedule and I also didnt think I was qualified enough to give gyan!Ok ok..the last bit is a bit of a lie :D

However of late, I've been somewhat pissed off by the fact that some real clowns have been trying to pass off as fundraising experts and in the bargain ripping off organisations of hard-to-come-by funds! So i thought it best to share a little of what I've accumulated over the last few years thanks to my work at CRY and Save the Children. But its not just these two organisations - there's a whole bunch of donors, vendors, corporates, blogs and of course a gamut of civil society orgns that have taught me a thing or two. I just can't resist adding this one significant contributor to my education - the church as a marketing organisation- which started penetrating Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns even before they had acquired that status; and were customising their pitch and talking the native languages way before Unilever discovered the potential of localisation!

I'm writing in the hope that there are people interested in fundraising and will find this useful. It would be even better if this becomes an interactive space for sharing of ideas.

Thank u.