Week Four: Monday, October 26: What You Have Learned—Sharing Words of Wisdom
As we enter the second half of our six-week discussion of Henri Nouwen’s The Spirituality of Fund-Raising, I took a few minutes to review the long, extensive, and “rich” list of comments so many of you provided in the “Getting Started—About You” section several weeks ago. What impressed me is that many of you—from your reading of The Spirituality of Fund-Raising and other works by Henri Nouwen—have a lot to share about how Henri’s work has already impacted on your experience with fundraising … so much so that several of you have already bought multiple copies of the book to share with colleagues!
While I hope you will continue to respond to our regular “each Thursday” assignment of a specific reading, I want to ask each of you to take a few moments simply to share:
a) why you have found this particular book (and any other work by Henri) to be helpful to your understanding of fundraising and/or
b) why you would (or perhaps would not) recommend The Spirituality of Fund-Raising to others.
Based on what I read in the words of wisdom you shared when you joined the blog, this should be a rich and rewarding discussion!
- Henry
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October 28th, 2009 @ 4:13 pm
Sharon–Thank you for your thoughtful comments regarding your experience with fundraising and, more specifically, the influence of The Spirituality of Fund-Raising on how you perceive the process. I have long felt that “how we view fundraising” has a major influence (for the donor) on how they experience the process. If we (the fundraiser) views it as “ministry” then that message will be conveyed to the donor–and the donor will (usually–there are clearly exceptions!)participate in the process differently than when they sense we are “selling something” or (far worse) attempting to “take something from them”. In sum, “we convey a message” through the process and how we treat the process. To me, that is a central message that comes forth from reading Henri’s work in this book (and others as well).
Henry
October 27th, 2009 @ 9:12 pm
I appreciate that phrase “opportunity for people to join together in a common journey.” Reflecting some on all the fund-raising I’ve ever been involved in I wonder how many times both of us have been truly joined together in a common journey, how many times we were still apart and just giving out of obligation or something. It’s elevating to think of a common journey and seems like it pulls fund raising out of sort of a grimy squalor. Usually I’ve thought of fund raising as “selling something”, even of selling an idea that something needs to be done. After reading this book so far and reading this blog so far, I’m definitely going to elevate my expectations of fund raising and seek always first to be joined together in a common journey before seeking anything else. That’s the impact it’s having on me and probably other people around me will notice this difference and hopefully we’ll be Kingdom building.
October 26th, 2009 @ 4:35 pm
Given that Henri’s work has influenced not only my fundraising career but also many other areas of my life, I will begin by saying that the value of The Spirituality of Fund-Raising rests, from my perspective, in the fact that Henri presents fundraising not as a “career” or “activity” but rather as an opportunity for people to join together in a common journey. That is very appealing to me as a person. It also is appealing to me as a person who has devoted his career to fundraising. Why? Because it works! People who “approach fundraising as focused on relationship building rather than asking for money, are successful in this field.
Anyone else have thoughts to share?