116 years later, we are still annoying

Oscar Wilde Hello friends! What a summer I’ve had. I haven’t actually been away ever since my last posting but you know how this time of year is… I hope your summer was relaxing and that you are tackling your fall fundraising with a feeling of refreshment.

I’m excited! I can’t quite say why, except maybe my time off really did its job. Lake Anne was wonderful. And my first (but not last) trip to Burning Man was amazing! I might blog about it from the perspective of Masterful Management of an Insane Special Event Involving 45,000 Unusual People and Lots of Fire.

Meanwhile, here’s something my partner Andy came across whilst doing some summer reading.

Have people been really complaining of donor fatigue since 1891? The answer is yes.

From The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde:

‘Humph! Tell your Aunt Agatha, Harry, not to bother me anymore with her charity appeals. I am sick of them. Why, the good woman thinks I have nothing to do but write cheques for her silly fads.’

‘All right, Uncle George, I’ll tell her, but it won’t have any effect. Philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. It is their distinguishing characteristic.’

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Quotations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.

2 Responses to “116 years later, we are still annoying”

  1. Sherri Garrity Says:
    September 12th, 2007 at 7:23 am

    Hello Andrea. Great reference. It proves that fundraising isn\’t an \”emerging profession\” – one of my personal pet peeves.

  2. Andrea Seale Says:
    September 12th, 2007 at 1:34 pm

    Thanks for the comment! I love finding these old references to fundraising. And to see how little things have changed.

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