Share

Time for major donors to make money?

Time for major donors to make money?
Blogs

Time for major donors to make money?

Fundraising | Adrian Beney | 14 Oct 2008

Clearly many people will have lost money in recent days and weeks, but I am sure that as many of the super wealthy will not have done. And even if they have I am not sure they will all be worried. One of my colleagues interviewed a potential donor for a client about two weeks ago.  That interviewee described this current situation as "a poor man's crisis."

And he's right; if you have enough wealth to have a reasonable amount in cash  - and many of the really wealthy will do  - then now is a phenomenal buying opportunity.  Barclays is already 20% above its nadir, and is up 12.4% just today.

The rich people who will be hurting are those with lots of their wealth in assets that they can't just sell, like commercial property, and those whose wealth is still tied up in single companies whose shares have tanked recently.  Philip Green is not talking with Baugur for nothing.....

The lesson for us as fundraisers: an understanding of the nature of wealth, where it comes from, how people make it and how people hold it.  And above all to stick with potential donors through bad times as well as fair ones.  When the Korean economy faltered a few years ago the UK Universities that profitted were the ones that kept visiting and kept talking with potential donors. They took the long term view, a bit like Warren Buffet - now he knows a thing or two.....

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

  • Robust but respectful debate
  • Strongly held opinions
  • Intelligent relevant discussion
  • The sharing of relevant experiences
  • New participants

We will not publish:

  • Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
  • Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
  • The posting of contact details for yourself or others
  • Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
  • Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
  • Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
  • Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
  • The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

  • Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
  • Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
  • You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

  • Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
  • Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.

Adrian Beney

Adrian Beney is a director of More Partnership and has been in fundraising for nearly 25 years. He is a trustee of three charities - two grantmakers and one grant seeker.

Follow Adrian on Twitter @adrianbeney 

Carrot and stick

21 May 2012

Community isn't led by government, so why wait for it to tell you what to do, protests Robert Ashton....

How to resolve your pensions problem

21 May 2012

How do you solve a problem like a pension deficit? David McHattie tackles the issue.

Pursue pension change together

15 May 2012

David Davison mounts his soapbox to call for pensions reform.

Time for charities to get real about going green

24 May 2012

Charities, like businesses should be held to account over their environmental standards, says Katy Wing.

Carrot and stick

21 May 2012

Community isn't led by government, so why wait for it to tell you what to do, protests Robert Ashton....

Two tribes - when male panelists meet female campaigners

17 May 2012

Men may have ruled the political panel, but women packed the punches from the audience in the Civil Society...

emailalert