Crikey, it was 2009 when I started this blog?  What happened?  Moved house, two kids, and the best uplift in business that we've had in years, that's what happened!

Then, a couple of weeks ago, a birthday.  One of those significant ones, where the first number changes.

I didn't like this idea, really, I didn't.  It got worse. We're starting a football team at Holy Trinity, so off I go to buy my first pair of boots in a very long time.  Down to Sports Direct and a explain to a kindly sales assistant that I'll be starting to play again for the first time in years.

He looks at me, studied, and then says, "You can get boots in all kinds of colours these days, but if you haven't played for a while, no harm to you, but get black ones."

Then it struck me, on a Sunday morning, when our vicar at Holy Trinity, Neal Barnes, was going on about growth and displaying his vegetables, that maybe things had grown in a good way.

At 50, I have a settled family life, two fabulous little girls, and work-wise, in the past year I've achieved more than I have in years. I've seen income grow at the Gurkha Welfare Trust, we've helped re-vamp direct marketing and launch online fundraising at the Thai Children's Trust, given East Anglian Air Ambulance a phenomenal start to individual donor recruitment, and taken Emmanuel College Cambridge's annual fund appeal online as well as on paper.  I've become Development Director at Holy Trinity; a chance to restore a wonderful 13th century church, and do things that could transform a city. That's thrilling.

Things are good.  In fact, they've never been so good.  I don't mean that to sound complacent.  Each and every client presents challenges, but that's why it's so good.  Being a father is the biggest challenge of all (quote from my big brother, "If you think you're doing it all right, then you really don't know what's going on").  So it's not easy, and it shouldn't be.  It's the challenges that inspire.  And it's good.

So.  50.  Not bad.  Even if I did nearly die after about 10 minutes of Holy Trinity United's first training session.

Corpus Christi's disqualification reveals a University Challenge for Development Fundraisers

Corpus Christi College have been stripped of this year's University Challenge title because one member of the team, Sam Kay, whilst a student when the competition started, was not when it ended. He couldn't find funding for his Chemistry PhD, and instead became a trainee accountant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The decision was the right one, of course, however sad one feels, especially for Gail Trimble, who scored a high proportion of Corpus Christi's points, and was amongst the most remarkable contestants ever to appear in the competition.

However, what drew my eye was some of the comments left on the BBC 'Have Your Say' message board about the matter.

Martin Mantis, describing himself as a 'Cambridge man' queries "why was this young man refused a PHD grant, bean counters are ten-a-penny, high level research chemists are valuable!"

Patricia Leiper asks, "I wonder why Sam Kay could not fund his education?"

April Showers says, "The most shocking aspect of this is that Sam, a chemist, could not secure funding for his PhD and so is now working as a number cruncher."

These struck me because, when we have worked at Oxford and Cambridge, again and again I have heard about the shortage of funding for graduate studentships. It's the funding gap I hear about most frequently. Each year, every College in Oxford and Cambridge loses out on high quality postgraduates because, simply, the funding isn't there. Some, like Sam Kay, take an entirely different course, whilst others go to where funding is available - usually in the USA.

The implications are clear: the USA accumulates more fine academics and researchers,whilst the UK increasingly becomes the place where good ideas happen but can't be developed.

However, the tone of the comments on the BBC's 'Have Your Say' would suggest that, generally, people don't know about it. I'm just guessing, but I imagine that the majority of those commenting on this issue will be graduates, and many, like Mr Mantis, will be Oxbridge graduates. The very fact that they chose to get involved in this issue suggests that they care about universities.

In other words, they are the very people whom we need to know about the lack of funding for graduate studentships.

To me, the whole affair highlights how much work we have to do in the Development sector. Yes, we have fundraising successes, particularly at Oxbridge. But have we done enough to brand our campaigns? If we really got the message out to the right people, how much better could we do?

Unexpected pleasure

On Saturday we took our friends Phil and Julia along to see Beverley Minster, the glorious church at the centre of our local town. Since moving up here in September we hadn't ventured in. Perhaps there was some subconscious resentment: we spent the night before Rachael's job interview within earshot of the bells, which chimed every 15 minutes throughout the night. Rachael went to her job interview made alert by several cans of Red Bull: we think the panel may have been too frightened not to appoint her.

Anyhow, we learnt that dropping into the Cathedral ought to have been the first thing we did. It's quite glorious; such an unexpected treat in a small town. If course, Beverley wasn't always such a quiet little place. In the 13th century when the Cathedral was built, Beverley was the 11th largest town in England, a centre of the international wool trade.

Julia engaged in conversation with a verger, who blossomed with enthusiasm, and armed with his torch began pointing out the most wonderful architectural detail. Our guide has a particular interest in the signatures that stone masons left in the walls, and is currently cataloguing them - a life's work. He knows nothing personally of each mason, but from their marks, he can identify each individual, and learn how the church was built and when. That, then, tells us much about the economic conditions of the time.

As does its graffiti. Etched into the stone are the marks of hundreds of years of informative vandalism, from 13th century monks to Civil War soldiers, to the lout they had to throw out last week. All tell a story.

The detailed masonry that has survived is quite extraordinary. Beverley Minster's beauty was twice protected: firstly from Roundhead iconoclasts, reputedly because Cromwell's General Fairfax had some personal connection and ordered that it be not touched, and then, because of its rural location, the stonework has not felt the ravages of more modern eroding pollution.

What a gem to have just down the road from where I now sit.

Remembering why I'm a fundraiser

Let's be honest, sometimes, just like in any job, what we do as fundraisers gets to be a grind. Last night I was reminded why I'm in this business, and it was a real refresher.

I've volunteered as part of a local initiative to build an Emmaus community for homeless people in Hull. Over the next couple of years we'll need to raise maybe £3 million to create a place that offers anybody in need who'll put in some effort a home, dignity, friendship and support, and meaningful work. I've been involved with Emmaus one way or another for about six years now, and it's a fabulous charity - I think it offers the best model for dealing with homelessness bar none.

Anyway, our group in Hull is just getting started. I'm heading up of the fundraising task group. Last night was our Annual General Meeting, and it was only the second time I'd met most of the group.

I found myself amongst a bunch of genuinely enthusiastic people, who care about what they're doing, and care about the people we're doing it for. Isn't that why I went into fundraising in the first place?

Martyn Davies, the chair of Emmaus UK, came along and told us about how he'd helped start Emmaus Sheffield, and the inspiring generosity he had encountered along the way.

We've got a multi-talented group: a former Chief Executive of a multi-national, a former senior police officer, an almost legendary former leader of Hull City Council, and so on. You could see straight away how our various abilities are going to mesh together: with the enthusiasm there's a sense of focus and teamwork.

Raising £3 million from scratch isn't easy, least of all in the current climate. But last night I left enthused and confident.

And it's a feeling I brought in to the office with me today.

Totally up the pole

I am going thinking of creating a section on the blog called "Didn't think it through" or "Car Crash Decisions" or something like that. In fact, all suggestions for a title are welcome.

The first entrants will be this lot http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7859239.stm at a school in Devon, who brought in a troupe of pole dancers to perform for the students, aged 14 up.

It may be that, as Mrs Sam Remmer from Art of Dance says, "Pole dancing is appropriate for young teenagers at school as it is a mix of dance moves and gymnastics and is excellent for fitness."

But there are times, and this is one of them, when you wonder why nobody took an extra second to think, "You know what? This could cause a lot of trouble we don't need."

Maybe there's a new respectability to pole dancing. Maybe, even, we'll see it at the 2012 Olympics - given their proximity to Essex I can think of no better opportunity to untroduce it as a competitive event.

But why didn't somebody at South Devon College in Paignton realise what they were letting themselves in for?

It's digital - i dispels doubt

In December 2007 the BBC's new-fangled iplayer received 3.5 million requests to download or view programmes. In December 2008 that figure had grown to 41 milllion.

That's how much digital media are growing, and it's why, if you haven't started yet, you need a digital marketing strategy.

And before you ask, yes, it is your target market who are using the web. In fact, it's everybody's target market. When, with Nurtural, we survey University alumni we ask what their preferred medium us for receiving communications from their alma mater. Between 75% and 85%, right across the age range, say email.

My co-director tells of sitting on a train listening to a group of older women discussing needle point. The interesting thing is that a main topic of discussion was which websites to go to to download the best patterns.

But let's get a few things straight. Digital hasn't replaced other media it's added to them. Digital hasn't killed print any more than video killed the radio star. Direct mail is still highly responsive, telemarketing still has its place, and just last week I saw an excellent set of results that showed we can still recruit donors off page at a profit - even for quite difficult causes.

And that means that 'having a digital strategy' doesn't mean keeping your website up to date and sending out an e-newsletter once a quarter. What it does mean is planned, sequenced, targetted communications.

As such, it offers us the greatest opportunity I've ever seen in my marketing career.

Digital offers the opportunity of relatively frequent, relatively low cost communications with supporters, and if it's permission based, people love it. Frankly, it's God's gift to the marketer in a recession. On a limted budget, you can retain contact and loyalty at a time when limiting the budget and retaining loyalty are more important things to do than ever before.

Use it cleverly, and when you send direct mail, or telephone, or meet up, you'll have all the more success, because you've laid the foundations properly. In fact, it's not a really a 'digital strategy' at all, it's a strategy that contains digital.

Matched funding....how's it going?

Great was the celebration at the anouncement of matched funding for University donations. At Gilliland Direct Marketing and Nurtural we found ourselves producing appeals that were engineered to capitalise on it. Some Universities even created their own matched funding brands - good move we thought.

But suddenly it's all gone quiet.

So, was it a flash in the pan? Has matched funding led to increased giving, in so far as you can tell? How are you planning to keep up the matched funding momentum?

DEC - Are the BBC and Sky obliged?

A few topics to get us going....and let's start with this one. I don't stand quite where you might expect me to on this one.

The most valuable asset possessed by any broadcaster is its editorial independence. That means, quite simply, that the broadcaster chooses what to broadcast, and others do not. I've been in fundrasing long enough to remember when the DEC felt themselves very privileged to get BBC coverage for their appeals. Now, they demand it. Doesn't that smack a little of arrogance; the DEC is, after all, simply a group of charities, nothing more, nothing less?

I wonder if, perhaps, the root of this problem is that the DEC was ill-advised to choose Gaza as the subject of one of its appeals. The DEC was created as a non-competitive consortium of aid agencies, who would appeal together when a need arose that required immediate intervention, presented great financial need, and was too large to be dealt with by any individual agency. A major famine, a huge earthquake or other natural disaster - like the 2004 tsunami for example.

Terrible as the suffering is in Gaza, does it really fall into that category? Aid agencies are there already, they will continue to work there, and they probably have the capacity to each raise what they need to do so. The need may be great, but is it any greater than, for example the needs of children in Thailand, who are cared for by the Thai Childrens Trust , or are the abuses in Gaza worse than the ongoing horrors in Iran, Burma and Zimbabwe, where people are helped by Prisoners of Conscience (both of whom are Gilliland clients). Should they, too, therefore, be contacting the BBC and Sky and demanding airtime?

Indeed, it might be argued that by choosing this particular issue as a DEC appeal, the Committee naively put the BBC and Sky in an invidious position. It's pretty obvious that such an appeal will be seen by many to have a political context. In running it or not, the BBC and Sky were damned if they did and damned if they didn't.

In creating an appeal that the broadcasters felt they could not broadcast, the DEC have set a precedent. Previously, every DEC appeal was covered. Now one has been missed, so the obligation has broken. More than that, if I were the man at Auntie who has to decide on such things, I'd be feeling a good deal less well disposed towards the DEC than I was a week ago.

By choosing Gaza, have the DEC both devalued themselves, and made the coverage of the next, even greater, humanitarian need that much less likely?

A new blog!

This is an entirely new blog. I hope that, over time, it'll be a place for friends and colleagues to discuss fundraising, politics, creativity, places we've been. things we've seen, or whatever comes up. Join in, post, enjoy yourself. And hopefully we'll all be a bit better informed.