Jon Duschinsky

Fundraisers do the greatest job in the world. They transform capital for good and help people make the world a better place. But to maximize their impact, they need to take advantage of changes in the way people are mobilized and the plethora of tools now at their fingertips.

“As a fundraiser, you need to be smarter than your brain.” — Jon Duschinsky, founder of Paris-based Bethechange Consulting, speaking in his session, “Breaking Out of Your Creative Comfort Zone,” at the 2008 Bridge Conference in Washington, D.C., last month.

Being wrong just might be the rightest thing you ever do. So says Jon Duschinsky, founder of Paris-based Bethechange Consulting. In his session, “Breaking Out of Your Creative Comfort Zone,” at the 2008 Bridge Conference in Washington, D.C., last month, Duschinsky said turning things upside down and not being afraid of making mistakes can put fundraisers on a new road to success. “Think about preparation for your next board meeting. Who’s prepared to make a mistake? The culture now is it’s not OK to be wrong,” Duschinsky said. “We get educated out of our creativity. It’s time to change.” Organizations should be investing

“Figure out who you are, and challenge it. It’s a scary world out there. But step out of your comfort zone, because tomorrow may be too late.” — Jon Duschinsky, founder of Paris-based Bethechange Consulting, at his session, “Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone,” at the 2008 Bridge Conference in Washington, D.C., last week.

[Jon Duschinsky is the director of Ressources non profit, a fundraising consultancy based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. At the 27th International Fundraising Congress, which took place in the Netherlands last week, he presented a session titled Funky Fundraising Failures, in which fundraisers from around the world talked about their professional non-successes. Here, he shares the top three lessons learned from that session.] 1. Check, then check again. The most common mistakes are the ones we miss through simple lack of checking. At the Funky Fundraising Failures session, fundraisers from around the world shared stories about how a small error, a moment of inattention, had caused