Our weekly round-up of interesting and outlandish information, collected from the corners of the charity sector.

A cup of tea and a nice hot bath

So it appears some charities think fundraising needs an identity change, according to Alan Clayton, the fundraising guru. Clayton delivered a long lecture on this subject (and many, many others) earlier this week, telling fundraisers than if anyone tries to rebrand them they should say “No, thank you!” in a firm voice and, if necessary, set off an alarm.

The creeping doom of renaming has already begun, though. RNLI, for example, have rebranded their fundraising director as the director of lifesaving.

Certainly the fundraising profession could conceivably be in need of a brand refresh. Perhaps it should take a leaf out of others’ books, and just call fundraising something else – something with no negative connotations.

“Unicorn herding”, perhaps. After all, no one has ever accused a unicorn of pestering them unnecessarily on the street. Or perhaps, in an effort to really endear fundraisers to the British public, we should in future call fundraising “a cup of tea and a nice hot bath”.

Beard of the year

So Rob Wilson, minister for civil society, is in the running for the top job in Westminster. No, not the little-regarded office of prime minister, but the much-craved title of Parliamentary beard of the year.

Wilson, after much time being clean-shaven, has recently cultivated some chin fuzz, and he’s been rewarded with a place on the Beard Liberation Front’s shortlist as a result. Voting closes today, so by the time you read this you may or may not be able to back him for the title.

The current holder of the title is none other than Jeremy Corbyn, much maligned in some quarters for his scruffy leftist beard.

Diary was busy hoping that someone who looks a bit more like Brian Blessed would win it when an idea occurred - an idea which this column had never previously considered, but now cannot get from its head – an idea with all the memetic power of religion, homeopathy and One Direction.

Isn’t Rob Wilson’s beard a bit similar to Jeremy Corbyn’s? Isn’t his beard a bit… whisper it… socialist?

Hate Donald Trump? Hint: you're not alone

It must be nice to be Donald Trump. At least you know where you stand with everyone in the UK. No one over here can stand you, except maybe Katie Hopkins, and you know it. If we weren’t so busy being attacked on the street daily by Muslims, we’d have probably organised a petition to ban you from the country.

What’s that, you say? Those pesky Muslims aren’t all that threatening. We have organised a petition? Approximately one in every hundred British citizens has signed it? Wow, Donald, we really don’t like you, do we.

Incidentally, if you look at this handy interactive map, you can find out which part of the UK hates Donald Trump the most.

Anyway, this column is nominally about charity, so Diary was struggling to find a reason to get involved in the Trump-bashing. Then we discovered this. Not only in Donald Trump a pillock, he’s also apparently just about the least charitable billionaire in the world.

Life is too short to drink bad wine.

Among the many points made in his valedictory lecture by Gareth Morgan, the outgoing charity academic, was that charities which serve better plonk at meetings get more donations. There’s academic evidence, apparently, but more testing is needed.

Diary is willing to volunteer.

Still a bit small

So charities now need to write opt-out messages on marketing communications in size ten font. That’s progress, we suppose. But it’s still bloody small.

Diary is not sure that’s going quite far enough.