Back to my roots?

I've just clocked that the title of this post has just a slight overtone, with connotations of race for some. Well, as that is so far off the mark of what the post is about, I'll leave it up. 

I know for most people the success of Barak Obama's fundraising strategy will be of little interest, but for those of us who cut the teeth of our early careers in fundraising it's really fascinating, for three reasons:

1. At the start of his campaign turned down a guaranteed $150m (£86m) in state funding, because state funding would limit his spending. This was a significant gamble, but I'm sure the team had good numbers to back it up. 

2. His fundraising drive is based on a beautiful synergy between proposition, message and values. Saying to people 'I'm not taking your money unless you volunteer it', is simultaneously; pro-choice (in the non-abortion use of the term), anti big-government and participative.

3. The rest of his campaign is based on large-scale participation on the ground. Yet... his fundraising campaign is also large-scale participation (the average donation in the last month has been $84 (£49), with a supporter base of 3.1m) This, again, blows away the concept that we have two types of people - those who give and those who do. Giving and doing are, increasingly, seen as two sides of the same coin.