Dear SOFII user,

Fundraisers always prosper when they focus less on the money that people send in and more on the people who are sending it.  As a fundraiser, you’ll get better at your job and get more out of life when you deliver what your donors want rather than chasing after what you want for yourself or your cause.

Focusing on fundraising as it should be

All fundraisers aspire to a world where donors enjoy being donors, where they feel inspired, empowered and enriched with meaning, fulfilment and a clear sense of tangible achievement and appreciation of the difference they make. Last year the Commission on the Donor Experience (CDE) delivered their 28 project reports and 526 recommendations supported by more than 250 case histories of donor-centred fundraising. Now SOFII presents an exclusive preview of the key, transformational content from that gargantuan body of work, in a series of lectures delivered in Amsterdam in late 2017 by CDE co-founder Ken Burnett. This unique event was filmed and now edited highlights from the film are here for you, for free, live on SOFII now. Please click on the active links below. 

Please also see the 6Ps document, a summary of CDE’s main findings, which is downloadable here.

What's Reinier got to say to SOFII users? Click here

SOFII’s special video series focuses on fundraising as it should be, while recognising what goes so badly wrong when it falls short. The ‘Lightbulb Moments’ series has built into a template for fundraising change, a handy, permanent reference guide for you and all your colleagues on how to do donor relationship development properly in the new era of responsible fundraising.

Click here for The Botton Village story: the cradle of relationship fundraising. Plus here for an introduction to the lightbulb moments. Then follow the links below for all 32 LBMs plus 12 ‘context’ videos that will help to set the content in context. For best effect, watch the videos on ‘full screen’. And please add your comments and share with your colleagues. Thank you.

With every good wish for your happy, successful fundraising,

The SOFII team

The 44 films in this video series collectively illustrate how great fundraising can be, what happens when it goes badly wrong and how, in ways large and small, fundraisers can work together to transform the culture of fundraising, for good.

Mostly the videos in this series are really short, so you can quickly build a detailed, practical, easy-to-access picture of why and how fundraising should change. Then you can start planning your part in making the dream of truly donor-based fundraising come true, in your organisation and across the fundraising sector.

12 explanatory seminar segments that set the context for these lightbulb moments 

01. The cradle of relationship fundraising: The Botton Village story. 20.08 minutes.

02. An introduction to the lightbulb moments. 4.01 minutes.

03. About the Commission on the Donor Experience. What did the Commission on the Donor Experience achieve? The 6Ps, 7 principles and 12 pillars of change. 7.48 minutes.

04. What happens next? A caution, CDE, SOFII and the way forward. 5.53 minutes.

05. Meeting Etta: a short story that shows fundraising can be great. 4.06 minutes.

06. Three definitions of fundraising. How fundraising is evolving – and has some way yet to go. 3.04 minutes

07. Fundraising problems and how we’ll solve them. 12.14 minutes

08. What really went wrong. And why these problems won’t just go away. 12.24 minutes

09. Empathy and rapport. The fundraiser’s secret weapons. More lessons with mother. 9.06 minutes

010. How bad fundraising can get, plus 28 antidotes to make it better. 2.59 minutes

011. How fundraisers killed their golden goose.

012. Questions and answers session.

The 32 lightbulb moments