by Nick Renton AM

Some organisations are their own worst enemies.

One particular charity, a frequent fund-raiser, is heavily engaged in research relating to a common cause of early death. It also publishes useful health tips and menus for healthy living.

An author who was preparing a book aimed at a target audience that would find such information useful rang the charity concerned to request copyright permission to reprint some of its material and to get additional facts. He was promised a return telephone call from the appropriate expert. That call was never made.

The author then put his request in writing. That, too, was ignored.

RESULT: The charity lost an extremely valuable opportunity to get its information into the hands of its target audience, without any cost to the charity. It also lost the opportunity to get its name before potential donors. It thus reduced its future ability to raise funds. The readers of the book missed out on becoming better educated. There were no winners.