Dragon in the den

Duncan Bannatyne, star of BBC's Dragons' Den, popped into the office last week with his TV crew to have a look at theBigGive.org.uk and talk philanthropy with Alec Reed.

Duncan is presenting a documentary about giving amongst the rich for ITV1, and was very excited by the number and range of projects on the site. This is yet more great exposure - and high wealth feedback - for the website, and we look forward to seeing the full programme soon.

America's top donors

An interesting web discussion featuring Lorry Lokey, who has appeared on The Chronicle of Philanthropy's list of America's top donors every year since 2000.

Two of Mr Lokey's comments stood out for me:

"I am not impressed with fancy huge brochures, publications, CDs, and especially gifts. A one page letter will do along with a one or two page flyer."

"At least 99% of request made to me by mail or phone are not answered because I don't know them."

Magic Wand funding

I read an interesting article in the New York Times this Sunday discussing the balance between funding short-term projects and longer term operating support.

This ties in very neatly with the news that charities can now upload a "Magic Wand" funding proposal on theBigGive.org.uk. We define the Magic Wand as "the one greatest thing that would help support each charity".

While theBigGive.org.uk began by promoting discrete projects, we hope the Magic Wand section will give donors a chance to fund the long term operational support that can be so vital to the continuing success of the charity.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone. 2007 proved to be a huge year for philanthropy (and, coincidentally, the year of our launch!) and we are looking forward to an even more philanthropic 2008.

We have had some great feedback from high-wealth donors over the Christmas period, and a number have agreed to become Advisory Philanthropists to theBigGive.org.uk. I will have more information on this - and our first site improvements of 2008 - in later posts.

Good luck with your New Year resolutions, and all the best with your fundraising and philanthropy over the coming year!