Seven Deadly Sins of Fundraising (taken from Harold Seymour's Designs For Fundraising, copyrighted 1966 by the McGraw-Hill Book Company, libarary of congress catalog card number 66-24469)

1.    Ad-libbing.  No study, no planning, no preparation, no consultation, no concurrence, and hence no organized and unified agreement.

2.    Panhandling.  Asking for support merely because you need the money.  No explanation; hence no motivation for thoughtful and proportionate giving.  "Any amount will be welcome" cheapens the cause and beggard the giver by putting fundraising ahead of program.)

3.    Automation.  Human equation gives way to mechanics, with role of voluntary mission abdicated to the postman and publicist.

4.    Groupism.  Opposite of universality - undemocratic, divisive, and sterile (No single group can organise a community)

5.    Averaging.  Accent on averages leads to lower standards in leadership, volunteer participation, and levels of giving.

6.    Pessmmism.  Only genuine emergencies can make fundraising assets out of gloom and despair.  More often than not we aim to low and plead rather than challenge (Whenever you let them know it isn't going well, the chances are everything will stop right there).

7.    Parsimony.  The good omelet needs enough broken eggs.  More often than not, fundraising costs are set too low.
 
 

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