Unnecessary uniqueness, needless conferences & over-engineered cats

Has 2026 hit you in the face like a bit of a wet fish?! If so, Rachel Cross is here to bring you a little chuckle and a healthy dose of inspiration to kick off the New Year...

As someone with a disdain for pointless meetings and a new kitten wreaking havoc at home, I’m very excited to bring you our latest edition of Unconventional Wisdom: a round-up of insights from great minds across the sector.

We dig deep into what some brilliant sector people are saying about the recent rise of fundraising conferences, the uniqueness trap many charities fall into, and what on earth we’re going to do with ourselves with all the time AI is going to save us. There's also a brief trip to Kyiv for the sorry tail (pun intended) of what happens when feeding stray cats becomes a logframe-driven operation.

As ever, grab a brew of your choice and let’s dive in…

What will we do with all the time AI saves us?
Written by Zoe Amar and published on Zoe Amar Digital
Efficiency: the carrot before many charity leaders’ eyes when beginning to dabble and invest in AI. Where time (and therefore, cost) saving is at the centre of this post-modern debate, Zoe explores whether a broader set of metrics needs to be considered when measuring its success in our sector – especially when 1 in 4 boards and 1 in 5 charity CEOs are reported to have poor digital skills. Zoe argues that charities viewing AI as a change programme, rather than just a productivity tool, will be the most successful long-term, and gives some helpful pointers for approaching AI in this way.

If We Don’t Know Why We’re Gathering, Maybe We Shouldn’t
Written by Haley Bash and published on Unfortunately Not a Sound Bath
Written for a US audience but with some key learning points and takeaways for us too, Haley talks about the increase of fundraising-related gatherings and conferences over the past year – likely due to the authoritarian crisis, increase in remote working, and an epidemic of loneliness. But Haley raises the question: why are we holding so many conferences? What are we seeking to achieve through them? Are we genuinely meeting with the goal of training staff, converting audiences, developing strategies and/or investing in networks? Or, are we simply seeking the comfort and familiarity of professional middle-class mobility?

The unique unimportance of uniqueness in fundraising
Podcast produced by Jeff Brooks & Steve Screen and published on Future Fundraising Now
This brief (6 minute) podcast episode brings to light a key difference between pitching to trusts and foundations and pitching to individual donors. Whereas we’re always talking about the importance of demonstrating difference in funding applications, Jeff and Steven discuss how uniqueness (i.e. filling a gap) isn’t actually something that individual donors necessarily care about when considering giving to an organisation. But, one thing is true whichever audience you’re writing for: simply describing your organisation as unique without proving it will do you no favours – especially when you’re one of a dozen charities each claiming to be so!

Can fundrais­ers tell the dif­fer­ence between AI and human-writ­ten thank you letters?
Written by Craig Linton and published by SOFII
A recent experiment challenged whether fundraisers – who are often responsible for sending thank yous – can actually tell the difference between human and AI-generated thank-you letters. You might think that fundraisers would have a keen eye for spotting an AI doozy, but interestingly, overall accuracy in detecting AI-generated content was no better than chance levels – no more than flipping a coin. Experience in the sector also made no difference. However, fundraisers were slightly better at spotting the basic ChatGPT outputs over custom-built ‘Gratitude Machine’ letters – highlighting again just how important tailored prompting and training is when working with generative AI models.

The Kyiv cat colony: A cautionary tale for the entire aid sector
Written by Elizabeth Lahiff and published by The New Humanitarian
And finally, the article you’re really here for. Elizabeth explores how a low-key, locally-driven initiative of feeding stray cats became over-engineered, plagued with systems and frameworks, and over-reliant on external resources when it was taken over by internationals. As you might expect, the results are pretty messy. What was once a neighbourhood effort, imperfect but sustainable, is now a miniature humanitarian operation complete with mission creep, dependency creation, resource misallocation, community disempowerment and “decision-making seized by whoever has the strongest WiFi and the least humility”. Oof! Some important and reflective food-for-thought.