It’s a love affair. You are passionate about your work and your organisation. And it shows.

In one of his speeches, Will Rogers said: ‘If you want to be successful, it’s pretty simple. There are only four things to keep in mind. It’s really that easy. 

One, know what you are doing. Two, love what you are doing. Three, believe in what you are doing. And, four, be passionate about it. Head over heels.’Some may think of fundraising as ‘the profession of pain’. Those few will not make it.

In one of her great novels, Rebecca West wrote: ‘Life ought to be a journey of action and adventures. Their nobility will fertilise the soul.

‘To avoid passion is death. Apathy is the deadly sin. To be successful in your work, you must abandon yourself to your passion.’

We in this business are one with Thoreau, joined together and ‘carved out of the passion of life itself.’I am certain that success is due less to years of experience than to ardour for the work; less to intelligence than zeal; less to the mechanics of the job than enthusiasm and gusto for the mission.The winner in our profession is always the one who gives body and soul, totally and unreservedly, to the joys and passion of the task.

This is the life. True living. Passion rules. If it isn’t fun, you are in the wrong profession or the wrong organisation.