The Ken Burnett archive
Welcome to the Ken Burnett archive! This is a repository of all the words and wisdom of SOFII’s founder, a man with over forty years’ (sorry Ken) experience in fundraising, charities and social change. Drawing on his extensive website, www.kenburnett.com and many other published sources, we’ll bring you recollections, thought pieces and case studies from a stellar career in the sector.
Commitment. And why it matters more than anything for fundraisers

by Ken Burnett
Has the argument about the value of donor commitment finally been brought to an end? Ken Burnett reports on how Roger Craver of the Agitator and his colleague Kevin Schulman have developed a way to calculate your donors’ commitment and, from this, ascribe a commitment score to each of them.
Read moreThree little words lost – the end of Make Poverty History

by Ken Burnett
The ambitious proposition explicit in the Make Poverty History campaign may not yet have succeeded in changing political agendas, far less in eradicating poverty. But it has certainly captured the public's hearts and minds.
Read moreInvesting in testing

by Ken Burnett
Has the rigorous testing regime that used to pervade in every seriously ambitious charity been allowed to slip in your organisation? Are your trustees afflicted with the ‘lowest possible acquisition cost’ mentality? You must test properly, says Ken Burnett, otherwise your prospects for innovation are reduced to a matter of random chance.
Read moreAn earlier incarnation of NSPCC’s The Children’s Friend

by Ken Burnett
Managing trustee, Ken Burnett, shares with SOFII readers how the idea for the original NSPCC supporter magazine The Children’s Friend was born. In this revealing article, Ken gives us a glimpse into how NSPCC’s most significant donor communication was developed and how it became something of a family affair – SOFII’s not just thrown together you know!
Read moreThe 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.
Read moreThe 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.
Read moreHow to grow income rapidly, at a reasonable cost, retaining donor loyalty along the way

by Ken Burnett
In Relationship Fundraising, the classic read for all fundraisers, Ken Burnett takes us carefully through the fundamentals of good fundraising. Ken reminds us that a unique relationship exists between donors and the causes they support, and shows us how to preserve and develop that relationship.
Review by Neil Sloggie.
Read moreKen Burnett’s two great stories.
by Ken Burnett
Here are two grainy, shaky but very inspiring stories; Gabriella’s new feet and The worst tourist in the world.
Read more