The Great and the Good showcase
Welcome to SOFII's showcase of ‘The great and the good’
Welcome to SOFII’s special, most reverent, most silent hall, wherein we display for the edification and enlightenment of all who care to enter profiles of those rare individuals, living and otherwise, whom we have selected as fundraising’s great and good.
Broadcaster Alistair Cooke (of Letter from America fame) described the term as follows: ‘The great and the good,’ he opined, ‘is a happy phrase that takes in a general appreciation of some people who are great at one thing and other people whose character is the fascinating thing about them.’ But Al’s definition might not be deemed good enough for everyone. The Phrasefinder website carries the following question, from someone called David, ‘Does anyone know,’ David asks, ‘the origin of “the great and the good”?’ He goes on to note that, ‘in its current use it usually refers to groups of persons who may be considered to be of some eminence, though more frequently nothing more than celebrity, and it almost never carries any implication of virtue.’
For SOFII, our definition is all the above and a bit more. To be included in SOFII’s hall of fame, to be awarded the accolade of worthy of inclusion within ‘The great and the good’ exhibit, candidates must be someone that fundraisers everywhere should know about and appreciate, because of some unique, substantial and valuable contribution to our field or to the advancement of the fundraising profession or voluntary (nonprofit) sector activity generally.
On that understanding we present our early candidates...
View this exhibit.Howard Luck Gossage – the ‘mad man’ who changed the world
A new addition to SOFII’s showcase on the great and the good: Howard Gossage. Never heard of him? Well, according to just one quote in this great article he‘…is the Velvet Underground to Ogilvy’s Beatles and Bernbach’s Stones.’ Find out more here.
View this exhibit.Kay Sprinkel Grace: America's doyenne of board excellence and mission development.
Kay Sprinkel Grace is a dreamer, a big picture fundraiser. This, along with her special way with words, has made her one of the great fundraisers of our time.
Kay says, ‘A lot of people get bogged down in the minutia because, every day, they’re trying to make ends meet, or trying to exceed their goals. I can come in and say, take a deep breath, let’s imagine we’re at 30,000 feet looking down on this. It looks a whole lot different from 30,000 feet.’
A profile of Mal Warwick: America’s genial guru of fundraising direct mail
Harold Sumption, Guy Stringer, CBE and Sir Leslie Kirkley, CBE
A profile of Britain’s founding fathers of modern fundraising
A dangerous thing, nostalgia. It sweetens memory, it clouds vision. Was everything really better back then or were we just younger and more positive?
I’m trying to put it aside in writing about three titans of British fundraising. They formed an intriguing trio whose collective achievements created the business in which we all now work. And they were different from their successors. They were ‘good’ men, fuelled by a quiet zeal to make the world a slightly better place.
View this exhibit.UK fundraising’s premier wordsmith: George Smith
The master of asking properly and using words wisely.
View this exhibit.A profile of Steve Thomas: The fundraising pioneer in Canada.
We’re very pleased to be adding Steve Thomas to our showcase of great and good fundraisers. He's been described as both the ‘Guru’ and the ‘Godfather’ of Canadian fundraising.
View this exhibit.
