All charities, even the smallest, start with fundraising. People see a need, want to do something about it – something big or something close to them like supporting a hospice or fixing the playground – and they start by raising money to do it.
A lot of fundraising is still done like that, by volunteers. I’ve been a fundraiser for 20 years working with a number of charities, but little has been more satisfying than the £50,000 I’ve helped raise, as a volunteer, for a community campaign in Oxford. However, the world of fundraising has changed dramatically in that time.
Technology has sped things up, reduced costs, made it easier to reach more people, and as importantly to feed back and engage them, even in real time. More people support charities because more have been presented with the opportunity to do so. There’s more charity fundraising activity, more competition. That also means there’s some pubic disquiet about different fundraising techniques. Of course they work and they are a cost-effective way to engage a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean fundraisers aren’t conscious of the issues and striving to do better. Different activities come in and out of fashion as their performance and cost-effectiveness changes. And overall, an awful lot more money is being raised that does good in the world.
Things have moved on a bit from when fundraising appeals were deliberately designed to look as home-spun as possible for that from-the-kitchen typewriter look, though people still imagine charities as cosy amateurs with issues like admin costs and salaries jar. Of course, for the majority of charities, local and volunteer-run, a lot of that still happens.
Some things stay the same. It’s still about people, relationships, engaging people in the cause and moving them to support it. Fundraisers are always anxious about renewing their ‘aging’ pool of supporters – it seems to be a perennial thing, which confirms giving is more a stage of life thing than a generational thing. The public doesn’t think or care too much about how charities work, but just want to know they make a difference to the cause. So they want to know the money gets there. Fundraising costs money, but it raises a hell of a lot more, and charities wouldn’t spend it if it didn’t. It’s an investment that allows charities to do more good.
Fundraising today is more professional. It has to be. Fundraisers need to be the best they can be. The challenge with kitchen-table fundraising is that everyone makes it up as they go along – though even that is simpler and smarter with the help of peer-to-peer giving sites. Charities running large operations funding health research, services for the vulnerable and more, need and employ expert staff in these fields and like everyone else, have to be responsible employers. More importantly, they want their services to be secure and stable in the future, they want to be able to plan ahead with greater certainty about their income. Pressure on fundraisers to deliver is immense.
On the face of it, fundraising should be a cut-throat competitive business. But surprisingly enough, it isn’t. There isn’t another aspect of charity work where you find as much sharing and support between colleagues in different organisations. The Institute of Fundraising annual National Fundraising Convention next month is the pinnacle of that: three days of training, insight, learning the basics and lessons from the past, getting inspired, and yes, networking in the bar.
It only takes putting one small but great idea into practice to raise more money than the cost of the ticket. The return on investment is huge. All fundraisers have an eye on that. But it’s not all money: fundraisers are a passionate bunch, they care about their causes and they care about their supporters.
I went to my first National Fundraising Convention in 2000. I presented something a year later and have done so ever since. I have made friends I trust, can ask for help from, and share ideas with. Everything I know as a fundraiser I learnt from others. That’s why I’m delighted and humbled to be a proud volunteer on the convention board, where we organise the content and recruit volunteer speakers – all expert fundraisers in their fields. The National Fundraising Convention is organised for fundraisers, by fundraisers. It’s the fundraiser’s circle of life. As Hector tells his students in The History Boys, “Pass it on, that’s the game I wanted you to learn. Pass it on.”
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