Prompted by the Agitator’s piece on The Power of Reciprocity, our friend Ken Burnett checked in from the U.K. to answer our request that readers share some examples of how ‘reciprocity’ has helped their fundraising.

Ken’s example, drawn from his forthcoming book, Storytelling Can Change the World, tells of his first-ever fundraising experience and a lesson for life that’s never left him.

“The story comes from the 1950s, before television came to my home town (yes, I’m that old). To my memory, growing up in the Scottish Highlands, the world then was in black and white. I was six years old, all cardigan, balaclava (a kind of weird Scottish hat inflicted on small children) and short trousers, socks round my ankles, football in the street, jumpers for goalposts, that kind of thing…

Fundraising is fudge

“Back then my mother volunteered as area secretary for the national childcare charity Dr Barnardo’s Homes (one of the biggest UK charities for children). It was her job to dish out their distinctive ‘cottage’ collecting boxes to as many households as would take them, then after a suitable interval collect in the money.

“She did it for the orphans and the unhappy children. She was big-hearted, my mum. Twice a year she’d run an ad in the local paper and all the kids from miles around would come to our house clutching their distinctive Barnardo’s boxes to have their contents totted up. It was my job to count the coppers and odd thruppeny bits into shilling piles*.

“Lots of money! I loved it.

“But even back then there were many other worthwhile causes all competing for home collectors. So my mother hit upon a genius idea. She offered each kid bringing in a box a piece of her home-made fudge as reward.

“Now my mum made the world’s best fudge. Word spread and soon kids were queuing round the corner clutching their colourful boxes ready for emptying. I was worked twice as hard at the totting up. So I thought, a piece of fudge for you for bringing in the box, a piece of fudge for me, for counting it.

“It was only fair.

“My mother grew to be one of the top fundraisers in Scotland for Dr Barnardo’s Homes. I grew to be a rather large child, from too much fudge. But it was here that I learned the value of reciprocity. The more you give, the more you get too. And it’s surprising just how many opportunities there are for fundraisers and storytellers to give as well as get. If nothing else, the fundraiser should always leave the donor with a good story of what their support will achieve.”

*English coin of the realm, pre-decimalisation. Back then you could buy a lot for thruppence.

Our thanks and an Agitator raise to Ken.

Roger

P.S. Ken’s new book, Storytelling Can Change the World will be published on September 10^th. I’ve seen the early manuscript and it’s sure to become another fundraising classic.

Even better. If you place an advance order you’ll receive a 20% discount ($25.36 reduced to a mere $20.00 plus a small sum for shipping). Just click here to reserve your copy today.