News & Insight

8th July 2015

“Stay hungry, stay foolish”

Excellent session from Rory Sutherland, VP of Ogilvy & Mather, at the Institute of Fundraising’s National Convention yesterday. He inspired a roomful of fundraisers to “stay hungry and stay foolish”.

‘Don’t ever be happy with what you have achieved, always strive to do things better or differently’.

He used the analogy of a hive of bees where the majority of bees will always go to the same source of pollen because that’s what they know. But about 10% of bees will go elsewhere to find pollen. These rogue bees don’t always succeed but occasionally they will find a new and greater source of pollen which will sustain the hive in the long term.

It is difficult to be a rogue bee; high risk but potentially big rewards. He suggested that we:

• Make people look at the same things in a different way
• Test counterintuitive things because no one else will
• A reminder that small things can make a big difference
• Understanding human psychology and what motivates people to make the choices they do, will be increasingly important in how we approach fundraising.