As many a long–suffering Agitator reader knows, I’ve long been a fan of the BBC. In fact, some of the tamer times of my misspent youth were devoted to listening to Neville Marriner and the chamber orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin’s-in-the–Fields.

This Trafalgar Square beauty, built in the early 18th century, is one of my favorite places. Glorious neo-baroque architecture, housing an active social ministry serving both reprobates and the pious. In short — a human zoo serving as a glorious way station on the way to heaven.

St Martin’s is open to all and that’s a very good thing, because today, a group of largely British fundraisers and creatives will gather someplace inside St. Martin’s, crack a jug or two with their confederates — and hopefully the reprobates as well — to honor a most Amazing Curmudgeon — George Smith.

My Personal Pantheon of Great Fundraising Creative Curmudgeons is limited to three. (Those offended by not being included — yet — are simply too young). My Three: Jerry Huntsinger, Denny Hatch and George Smith.

Let me explain why today I want to focus on George.

In addition to my stolen Gideon Bible, I now carry in my overnight bag a wonderful bedside book containing 30 years of dastardly, wise, cutting and simply truth-filled writings of George Smith. Lovingly and skillfully edited by Ken and Marie Burnett of White Lion Press and sponsored by the folks at THINK Consulting Solutions in the UK, his book, Up Smith Creek, is not only a must-read of great fundraising and creative advice, but a treasure to keep in your permanent collection.

Fine writing is always in short supply in fundraising, particularly in these days of e-mails, Twitter and such. AND … Fine Writing coupled with Fine Thinking is as rare as a sincere envelope salesman or sober consultant at a DMA, IFC or AFP conference.

So, as North American Agitator readers sip their morning coffee and as the rest of the Agitator community out there heads toward lunch, these are just a few of my favorite (sorry, “favourite”) morsels from George Smith’s parallel universe, neatly encapsulated in Up Smith Creek.

On the need for passion:   “I did a four-minute rant in Birmingham on the need for passion. …[My] rants are based on my fear that we are becoming technicians and not advocates, that we are measuring opportunities and not creating them, that we are beginning to settle for suits and dresses ambling around conference halls.”

From an Advert of a Mock Ransom Note for WWF:  “Give us your money or the panda gets it.”

On a changing world (written in 1992—nearly 30 years ago).  “We’ve got a newly impoverished society, we’ve got a younger generation who are going to have to build their lives via totally new economic mores, we’ve got an apparently endless recession and we can begin to talk about growth, about the end of growth through consumer spending. And in the middle of this apparently apocalyptic state of affairs, we have millions of rich people getting richer. Many of them married our mother, or fathers.”

On the value of meetings: “I always used to say that meetings were what you were doing when you weren’t working. They remain the regular ceremonial of the client/supplier relationship and a terrifying abuse of everyone’s precious time. The average fundraiser now spends most of his/her time in meetings. Everyone knows there are too many meetings, no one does anything about it. This is why commuter trains are now full of people working – they have been in meetings all day.”

Thank you, George.  Well done.

Roger

P.S.  You can – and should— order Up Smith’s Creek from White Lion Press. They not only deliver to the colonies, but their list of titles has some of the best fundraising advice available.

P.P.S.  For a quick checklist of what other classics belong in your professional library, here’s an Agitator Reading List of suggested goodies.