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Fundraising New Zealand is a
good value publication

The beginning of the working year is a good time to review your memberships, your subscriptions and your professional development plans.

The key conferences you want to consider are those associated with your memberships - the FINZ conference for example is in May. The Australasian Sponsorship Conference is in October. Don't forget that your software supplier may have a conference and your own charitable sector may have a conference. You may want to bone up on a particular knowledge area - social media for example and there may be a relevant conference associated with it. To get a freebie attendance at a privately run conference you simply have to ask. Another way of getting a freebie is to offer yourself as a speaker. Not only does this mean free attendance, it also looks great on your cv.

Memberships are also important for the cv. Always use your memberships on your card, your signature etc. If you are torn between which memberships are most relevant to you, consider which ones your employer will pay for, and which ones you should pay for yourself. Have a look at the benefits and look at value for money. Make the most of all the offerings. Some societies offer free mentoring and coaching. Take advantage of all the benefits.

Subscriptions are often undervalued. Some memberships will include a magazine or access to e-news. Make it a point each month to spend an hour or two refreshing your knowledge by reading a few magazines, subscribing to a few blogs and sharing your own knowledge by reciprocating. If you are planning to undertake the CFRE qualification you will need to show that you are well read in your area of expertise and that you actively share your knowledge with others.

For your professional development, hopefully you have negotiated a budget for this. Firstly consider what you need to achieve, and then have a look at the offerings by reputable providers. The consider the pricing - what works for your budget. Sometimes it can make more sense to get a few hours of one on one coaching rather than a full day course. In some cases you may want to have your whole team trained. Most trainers work on a daily basis. You can hire them for a whole day, and then you can set the agenda.

An hour doing your planning now can ensure you spend your budget wisely. Otherwise you may spend all your budget on one activity only to find the most important conference is being held at the end of the year.

Don't believe everything you read!

It's now the morning of the first day of the year and my resolution is to start blogging. Since I resigned from my long standing role producing Fundraising New Zealand and Sponsorship Profile I've become a little rusty with my regular writing. I have managed to contribute to a blog through Blackbaud Pacific for a few monthsand contribute a few articles to Fundraising New Zealand, but now it's time to start my own commentating.

During the holidays it's obvious that the newspapers will rely on some old news but the article I saw on the Charities Commission in the Dominion Post took the biscuit. The reporter had clearly scored a real coup. A new website was about to make it easy for the public to find out more about charities and their operations. For those of us working in the fundraising and sponsorship sector, we know that the Charities Commission website is at least three years old and has been showing us data about charities for the last three financial years.

What is more newsworthy about the Charities Commission is the sad news that the independent body is about to become part of Internal Affairs, lose its independence and probably lose its expertise. Happily, before that happens they have recently (about six months ago) launched a really useful tool - the ability to search the database in a complex manner. The information allows us to put paid to nonsense comments from the public about the state of philanthropy in this country, and allows us to review the fundraising successes or otherwise of charities. There is now three years of information which allows us to see whether trends are developing. I foresee a new opportunity for researchers, for fundraising specialists and people like me to take fundraising from an art to a science!

Sponsorship Today

As I head off for a sports sponsorship conference in Melbourne tomorrow, it's with some trepidation. Although I'm a mature woman and have been commentating on sponsorship for over 12 years, I'm not too savvy on the sports side. I tend to deal more with the good corporate citizen stuff with non profits and on the public relations side.



But what is it that I'm missing? Okay I don't know the rules of the sports games, but how much do I know about music, and I wouldn't bat an eyelid about advising the symphony orchestra on sponsorship.



All sponsorship is about relationships, communication, marketing and brand building. I know about all of those things so why should I be nervous about the sports field?



Okay I'm feeling more confident. No one in Australasia has written more about sponsorship than me - and I've been producing 8 pages of monthly commentary for my publication alone - http://www.foresee.co.nz, Sponsorship Profile, for 12 years. That's not counting all the rest of my writing around fundraising. I've presented courses on sponsorship and I have authored a book on sponsorship.



So just because I don't spend every weekend glued to the tv doesn't mean I won't be a good adviser on sports sponsorship - bring on the conference!