The other night a colleague and I found ourselves heading out after work to the busy opening of an art exhibition in Paddington, a well heeled suburb of Sydney. 

Proceeds from some sales in the exhibition were going to one of our clients, ANTaR (Aboriginal Native Title and Reconciliation). Gary Highland, ANTaR’s always impressive chief executive, made a speech welcoming us to the event.

During his talk, he told the story of how the exhibition came to benefit his organisation’s work. He’d been at a session with his Pareto Fundraising team where they were impressing on him the importance of simply being direct and asking his potential major donors to help him deliver his important work. 

Initially nervous about asking directly, he told us he’d left the session fired up about asking for money. On the way to the station he was stopped by a face-to-face fundraiser working for a well known cancer charity here (also a client of ours!). He heard what she said, took a minute to think and replied “Thank you. I know there is a huge need for your work, but I actually lead an organisation called ANTaR and we have real needs too if we are to meet our goal of closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians”.  

 She asked more about ANTaR and by the end of the conversation told Gary that she was an artist and would organize an exhibition in aid of ANTaR’s work. Gary has since gone on to very successfully secure donations from his major donors. 

I loved the image of a simple exchange on a Sydney street turning into the event I attended on Tuesday. Such is the alchemy of fundraising – someone not afraid to share their passion about their cause meeting someone who could do something to help.