This is a post about how excited I am. There probably isn't much that you can put to practical use right now, but it is a forerunner to something so useful you won't know what's hit you. So on we go...
I've had a really good week. It hasn't involved any sleep particularly, but it's been very, very good nonetheless.
A social fundraising project that is the culmination of somewhere between a year's and nine or ten years' (depending on how you view cause and effect) work and learnings comes together in its first fantastic incarnation on Monday.
Because it's been a steady learning curve and hasn't happened over night, you (not you sat there, but the universal "you") might easily not appreciate all that has gone into it. But sitting where I am right now, at my desk on Bluefrog's first floor (metaphorically, that is - it's Saturday and I'm actually sprawled inelegantly enough on the living room rug), I can feel pretty satisfied looking at what I know everyone has fed into this project and over just how long. And, for my own satisfaction, I have found the first project to use what I've worked on and learnt over the last 7-ish years - not just scraps of it here and there, but with an integrated outlook. We've plugged what we know between us into what happens next. (There are many, many more contributors, but I'll save that for later...)
So all of this has been going on in the background, these cogs have been at work behind the scenes, and this was, finally, the week when I got to start talking to social fundraising teams and managers about it. And that is why my week has been great. Because there is nothing (again, no thing) like talking to truly talented fundraisers about a truly amazing campaign. And here's the bit that gives me the skip in my step - By that, I don't only mean the amazing work of the charity whose campaign it is, but I also mean a new thing: actual factual, truly amazing, tailored, targeted, clever and thoughtful strategy, specifically for this social fundraising campaign.
Running workshops this week, I have been genuinely impressed by the fundraisers I've worked with and feel lucky to have them as part of the campaign. I've been left even more inspired than I was before. (Thanks, if any of them are reading!)
That's all I can say right now, but more to follow about the other fantastic people who have worked on the run up to this, who will work on it ongoing and, of course, how it actually goes. Nothing is perfect and there will be more learning, refining, changing, improving (because that's fundraising, as far as I'm concerned), but right now:
I. Am. Excited.
Brave new world V.1 starts Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 10:30am.
At 5:30pm of the same date, you will likely find me tweeting contently from a quiet corner, pint of good beer in hand. Or, if there is any justice in the world, pint of good West Country cider in hand.
