Here's another list of fundraising links for you to enjoy.  Happy reading!

Paul with seven principles of a good telephone fundraising script.

Kent Philanthropy ask whether we 'manage' or 'respect' our donors?

Jeff shares another stupid nonprofit ad.

Fundraising Coach with two phrases to use when asking for money.

Pamela Grow shares a free report on 'Nonprofit Email Marketing Secrets'.

Jonathon shares some of Steve Job's wisdom.

Passionate Giving on what makes a good fundraising leader and manager.

Karen Zapp on generating donor reviews.

Guidestar on fundraising asking styles.

Lucy summarises a fundraising tech conference and a new report on technology.

Advertise your problems, not just your solutions.

Kivi shares some online fundraising stats and trends.

Katya with fives ways to spark social contagion.

Andy shares 10 of the best word of mouth stories.

Dan Ariely on turning the tables - how to get people to do things they wouldn't normally do.

Tom Peters shares some videos from the Woman in Business forum. Not strictly fundraising, but some interesting thoughts and perspectives on the glass ceiling.

I've spotted these posters up in a number of pubs around London in the last few weeks and thought it was a beautifully simple and very clever fundraising campaign.  Run by the British Forces Foundation it asks people to buy returning soldiers a drink by texting to donate £3.00.

Here are five reasons why I think it will do really well.

1. It is a simple, but strong offer that many people will relate to.  Few of us would begrudge buying a returning soldier a drink.
2. It is made in the pub when you are buying a pint. So the offer is being made at a relevant time.
3. It is very simple and easy to give, so people can act immediately.
4. People are usually more generous when they've had a few pints, so you will get a few drunken texts!
5. The costs of the campaign will be minimal, so ROI will be great.  Looking at the press release, posters have been distributed by breweries.  Pubs have also been encouraged to do other fundraising as well.

Relevance is so important in fundraising and you might have the best offer in the world, but if you are asking the wrong people at the wrong time then it will utterly fail.

This campaign is bang on target and I'm sure will have done spectacularly well (imagine the follow up calls and conversion rates for DD!) and for me the campaign is a future SOFII exhibit in the making.

My last post on fundraising mastery attracted some interesting comments and tweets and made the point that you also need to make sure you are mastering the right things and don't forget the importance of innovation.

With that in mind here a couple of innovation related items that I hope will be of interest...

I wish I thought of that

I'm delighted to be one of the speakers at 'I wish I thought of that' (or as the cool kids say, 'I WI TOT') an event organised by SOFII.  The concept is beautifully simple: 22 fundraisers will each have five minutes to talk about a fundraising idea that they wished they came up with.

It should be a fantastic afternoon and I looking forward to hearing all the speakers and picking up a few ideas.

At only £25 or £50 a ticket it is a bargain and should provide you with at least two or three ideas that you can take back to your own organisation.  I hope to see you there.

Innovation in Giving Fund

The second round of this funding stream has just opened and is looking to partner with national charities to develop new ways of giving and the fundraising innovations of tomorrow. It's a shame the deadline is before IWITOT, as I'm sure some of the innovative ideas will be re-hashes and re-imaginations of past successful fundraising campaigns and methods.

However, if you've got an idea then why not give it a go - what have you got to lose?

What would you choose? Do you have any ideas of the next 'big thing'?

I'm sworn to secrecy about what I wish I'd thought of, but I'd love to hear what you would talk about. 

Similarly, if you have any innovative ideas that you would like to get off the ground then please share them.

Simply leave a comment or e-mail me - I'd love to hear from you.

The excellent Gaping Void blog recently featured the story of Jiro Ono, a Japanese sushi chef who has dedicated his life to become a master of his profession.

He does this from a tiny, 10 seater sushi restaurant in Tokyo. 

As Hugh comments:

"Why did he do it that way? Because he wasn’t inte­res­ted in money, he was inte­rested in the MASTERY of his cho­sen craft. The big­ger he made his res­tau­rant busi­ness, the less time he would have to spend on his TRUE calling, making sushi...

"He wasn’t in it for the money, he was in it because it allo­wed him to strive for perfection.

"In a world that often rewards money and office poli­tics over mas­tery, maybe more mediocre peo­ple get to drive fancy cars, live in big hou­ses and wear a lot of bling, but something is lost in the pro­cess. And we are the poo­rer for it.

"Jiro reminds us that it doesn’t have to be that way. You can achieve mas­tery, or at least aim for it, if you decide to.

"But only you can decide that, of course. Only you can decide what kind of exam­ple you want to be for your children."

How many of us are truly trying to master fundraising and not chasing the next promotion or big spending client?

Being honest, not many of us (I'd love to hear your examples of people you think are fundraising masters) and the fundraising profession is worse off for it.

It certainly made me stop and think and I'm going to try and get hold of a copy of the film to learn more about this remarkable chef.

You can watch the trailer below: