Ignore all gurus. Read fewer fundraising blogs. (Yes, including this one).

I really recommend this from The Sell! Sell! Blog. We Might Not Need Mail Rooms Any More, But We Really Need Mail Rooms.

Not least because it includes the following passage, (swop advertising for fundraising and you will see where I'm coming from)...

But there's a problem isn't there? Mailrooms in agencies have all but died out. We don't have one here. We've never had one, but then again we're a tiny company, which is a rarity in the business. But mail rooms are even dying out in the big and very big agencies.

So what happens next? Imagine advertising without all the people who worked their way up from the bottom. This is the problem that the business faces at the moment. There are precious few ways for industrious, inquisitive, smart and hard-working people who left school at 16 to work their way into the business.

And Jesus, the business needs them now more than ever. It's swamped with nice middle-class university educated people. And there's nothing wrong with them individually. But there is a problem with them as a whole. Advertising has become too nice and too middle-class, too polite and too intellectual.

The industry needs to be challenged. We need more variety of people, more trouble-makers, more people who aren't afraid to speak up, more people who don't treat the job like the civil-service or an intellectual exercise.

Looking around our sector, it all looks the same. 

Similar people working in the same way with very little challenge to the status quo. 

Everything is very polite, radical change to what we do and how we think feels a long way off. And that radical change is more likely to be something that we react to rather than create.

This is not how it's meant to be. So it's our responsibility to change it. Starting today.

Try something new.

Take an alternative viewpoint.

Recruit staff from a different sector.

Steal an idea from the commercial world.

Stop thinking that we are different.

Challenge the most senior voice in the room.

Take digital seriously.

Stop pretending you know what you're doing.

Ignore all gurus. 

Read fewer fundraising blogs. (Yes, including this one).

Read more technology blogs.

Stop being so dismissive of the brand team.

Stop thinking that you are the audience.

Start with a blank piece of paper.

If you dream data we want to talk to you...

Want to come and build brilliant SMS fundraising campaigns?

Open Fundraising is looking for a Processor to join our busy mobile team.

You'll be responsible for the creation and maintenance of all our SMS services, setting up services using our SMS management systems and processing all associated data.

You'll be joining a dynamic team working with brilliant clients on some amazing projects so you'll need to be proactive, enthusiastic and passionate about SMS and mobile technology with a willingness to 'get stuck in'.

We need someone with experience working with relational databases/SQL, acute attention to detail, proficient developing technical solutions and comfortable handling large datasets.

If you have experience building journeys on SMS or telephone dialler systems that would be a bonus but we can provide training if not.

This really is a fantastic opportunity for someone who wants to be part of something exciting from the beginning. As the mobile team develops, so will you and your career.

If this sounds like it could be you, please email for a job description. For the right person we will pay up to £35K.

CLOSING DATE: 10am Monday 22 July.

A Jedi Knight and an account manager walk into a bar....

In the excitement caused by getting a thank you from UNICEF delivered by Obi-Wan Kenobi. I didn't communicate the closing date for my account manager role!

So here is the ad again. And right down the bottom is the closing date. I've had some brilliant applications, but if you're reading this and wondering whether or not to apply. Do it. Go on, apply. What's the worst that could happen? I can promise you that you will get to work on projects that generate thank you videos from film stars. Well you might. Anyway, that ad...

Want to come and work on some ground breaking mobile projects for an incredible set of clients?

The mobile team at Open Fundraising is very new but we’ve already worked on some really exciting projects and there is a huge appetite from charities for us to do much more.

In the last month we’ve created mobile-based welcome programmes for donors, been heavily involved in charity SMS activity in response to the crisis in East Africa and talked to lots of charities on how they can fuse SMS and mobile internet with more traditional channels to find new supporters. It’s been a bit busy.

The clients we’re working with include UNICEF, WWF, Christian Aid, NSPCC and CRUK. And we’re talking to a whole lot more.

We need someone who is happy to get stuck into anything that needs doing, but principally the role is to prove account management support and project manage the production of mobile web sites and SMS campaigns.

You’ll need to tick most of the boxes in the following areas:

• Understand the fundamentals of fundraising.
• Be passionate about new technology, the web and mobile.
• Be able to manage multiple projects whilst remaining calm.
• Have experience of project managing marketing/fundraising projects in a creative environment as well as with external partners.
• Have excellent client servicing skills.
• Have experience working on digital projects (experience with mobile would be brilliant but isn’t essential).
• Thrive when working in a fast paced environment.
• Happy to turn their hand to anything in order to make sure that the project gets done.
• Have an opinion and be comfortable expressing it on how mobile can be used to help the charities we work with, recruit, keep, engage and inspire their supporters.

This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of something exciting from the very beginning and help shape the direction of a team that is at the leading edge of using mobile to inspire people to take action to change the world.

If this sounds like you, send an email introducing yourself, explaining why you are perfect for the job, with your CV and current salary details. If you'd rather speak to me before applying you can find me on Twitter and Linkedin so feel free to make contact that way.

CLOSING DATE: Please send me your application by 10am on Monday 22 August.

I'm recruiting at Open Mobile... want to come and work with me?

Account Manager with awesome project management skills needed.

Want to come and work on some ground breaking mobile projects for an incredible set of clients?

The mobile team at Open Fundraising is very new but we’ve already worked on some really exciting projects and there is a huge appetite from charities for us to do much more.

In the last month we’ve created mobile-based welcome programmes for donors, been heavily involved in charity SMS activity in response to the crisis in East Africa and talked to lots of charities on how they can fuse SMS and mobile internet with more traditional channels to find new supporters. It’s been a bit busy.

The clients we’re working with include UNICEF, WWF, Christian Aid, NSPCC and CRUK. And we’re talking to a whole lot more.

We need someone who is happy to get stuck into anything that needs doing, but principally the role is to prove account management support and project manage the production of mobile web sites and SMS campaigns.

You’ll need to tick most of the boxes in the following areas:

• Understand the fundamentals of fundraising.
• Be passionate about new technology, the web and mobile.
• Be able to manage multiple projects whilst remaining calm.
• Have experience of project managing marketing/fundraising projects in a creative environment as well as with external partners.
• Have excellent client servicing skills.
• Have experience working on digital projects (experience with mobile would be brilliant but isn’t essential).
• Thrive when working in a fast paced environment.
• Happy to turn their hand to anything in order to make sure that the project gets done.
• Have an opinion and be comfortable expressing it on how mobile can be used to help the charities we work with, recruit, keep, engage and inspire their supporters.

This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of something exciting from the very beginning and help shape the direction of a team that is at the leading edge of using mobile to inspire people to take action to change the world. 

And you might get a thank you video from Ewan McGregor!

If this sounds like you, send an email introducing yourself, explaining why you are perfect for the job, with your CV and current salary details. If you'd rather speak to me before applying you can find me on Twitter and Linkedin so feel free to make contact that way.


CLOSING DATE: Please send me your application by 10am on Monday 22 August.