The Leprosy Mission: phial of sixpences, from the 1960s

by Ken Burnett

The product featured here captured the imagination of a 10-year-old boy who went on to work with some of the most successful fundraising organisations around the world. It’s a simple proposition and an easily usable collecting device with a clear, tangible objective and outcome.

Why should God have all the best ideas?

by Ken Burnett

Plagiarism, we all know, is the most sincere form of flattery. Why trouble to think of your own big idea, if you can steal – or, perhaps better, borrow – someone else’s?

NSPCC: the Centenary Appeal, setting the gold standard in major campaign fundraising, from 1984

by SOFII

There are few really transformational moments in fundraising history and this exhibit sets out to capture one of them. The NSPCC’s Centenary Appeal campaign in 1984 propelled fundraising practice in the UK and Europe forward in one giant leap.

Handgun Control: acquisition pack

by SOFII

The handgun debate: fundraising and campaigning communications around this issue by direct mail fundraising. Designed not just to influence opinions but also to bring in fighting funds by the sackload.

Moses raises funds for the tabernacle – c. 1,500 BC

by SOFII

This is now the oldest exhibit on SOFII (and will be, until you tell us different). It's also a surprisingly instructive fundraising case history. If you look at the detailed notes it becomes quite clear that the prophet Moses was an accomplished fundraiser who both understood his audience and appreciated the nuances of his fundraising proposition and how it would be received.

Dr Barnardo’s Homes: four fundraising greats from the distant past

by SOFII

Dr Thomas Barnardo was one of the Victorian era's great philanthropists. These archive examples of his personal fundraising style and efforts are a unique treasure for the body of fundraising knowledge and best practice.

The early Christian Church: Paul the apostle motivates his church’s donors – c. 56 AD

by SOFII

This could be the first ever appeal for regular, committed donors. In the early days of the Christian church the missionary Paul asked his supporters in the city of Corinth to set aside a small portion of their income regularly, to sustain victims of a famine and then later to support good works generally.

UK fundraising’s premier wordsmith: George Smith

by Charlotte Grimshaw

Profile by Charlotte Grimshaw.

Dishing the dirt: what people who know George think about him, here.

George Smith as others see him

by SOFII

From a former colleague who doesn't want the comments attributed. 'Elsewhere on the SOFII website there is a warm tribute to three former giants of fundraising – Sumption, Kirkley and Stringer. It speaks, among much else, of their ability to unleash the energies of their younger colleagues. What it omits to say is that its writer, George Smith, was the most energetic and imaginative of those colleagues and that he changed fundraising practice forever.

The gold standard in fundraising, part 2: exceeding expectations.

by Ken Burnett

Final part of a conversation about transformational fundraising that Giles Pegram and Redmond Mullin had recently with SOFII’s Ken Burnett.

The Harry Secombe soft sell legacy approach

by Ken Burnett

This campaign dates back to the late 1980s and was created by Burnett Associates Limited with Dennis Kingshot at the NSPCC.

The gold standard in fundraising, part 1: laying the foundations.

by Ken Burnett

Giles Pegram of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and Redmond Mullin of Redmond Mullin Limited describe how a seminal five-year fundraising campaign irrevocably transformed the fortunes of one of Britain’s top charities.