The project is being carried out in Australia and New Zealand in three phases, and will form a foundation for the ethics of school fundraising that will apply in other countries. With an expected completion date of July 2025, it is the second major project that Rogare has conducted outside the USA and UK – after its work with AFP Canada on the Canadian Fundraising Narrative.

Project objectives

The project’s objectives are to identify the ethical issues, challenges and dilemmas specific to school fundraising; adapt the ideas, theories and frameworks of professional fundraising ethics to solve these dilemmas; and devise new ways to do this if existing resources are not judged sufficient.

Rogare director Ian MacQuillin said:

“A key tenet of educational ethics is that the interests of the student should always come first, but that creates and ethical tension between the interests of any individual student and the rest of their class. This is something school fundraising needs to consider.

“It’s also been said that the ‘central dilemma’ in education ethics is the conflict between teachers – who want to do what’s best for students; and administrators who want to ensure the school runs according to standards and targets. This can lead to pressure on teachers to act unethically, for example to inflate grades. So a further consideration is whether school fundraisers are seen by teachers as part of the school administration system. Yet it is possible that there will be ethical dilemmas that pit fundraisers against the administrators and the system. These may not be dilemmas that directly involve teachers, but teachers may still be interested parties to the outcome.”

Reviewing current thinking

The first phase has been to review current thinking on secondary educational ethics to identify similarities and differences with mainstream charity fundraising ethics, and make preliminary recommendations for the further development of an ethics of fundraising for schools.

Initial thinking from this work has suggested that lenses of ethics devised for mainstream fundraising – such as Trustism, Donorcentris and Right-Balancing Fundraising Ethics – do not map directly on to the dilemmas faced by school fundraisers, suggesting that bespoke normative lenses of school fundraising ethics are needed. Anecdotal evidence collected by Rogare also suggests that donor dominance, such as influencing student enrolments, selections or outcomes, is a major ethical concern for school fundraisers.

One idea from phase 1 is that fundraising is ethical when it balances the duty of fundraisers to ask parents to provide support, with those donors’ needs and wants.

Devising ways of resolving ethical dilemmas

The second phase will see a working group of Australian and New Zealand school fundraisers collate and catalogue the types of ethical dilemmas encountered in fundraising at and for schools. This will be aided by a survey sent by network Educate Plus survey to hundreds of its members in Australia and New Zealand to uncover the types of ethical dilemmas they encounter, and what would help to resolve them.

The project team will then devise tools, guidance, and frameworks for resolving the ethical dilemmas encountered in school fundraising. These will then be made freely available to the fundraising profession by July 2025.

Phase 3 will begin during the Southern winter/Northern summer of 2025. It will consider how these ideas relate to, and/or may need to be adapted to, the needs of fundraising for Māori, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education. To achieve this, it will seek engagement and input from these communities.

The project is being supported by New Zealand fundraising consultancy and Rogare Associate Member Giving Architects, along with Precision Fundraising in Australia.

Giving Architects Director and Chief Executive Clive Pedley, part of the working group, said:

“We have been working in school fundraising environments in New Zealand and Australia for over 20 years. As opportunities for the role of giving and philanthropy in all its forms have increased, so have the demands of leaders, staff and volunteers to traverse a range of situations. This can lead to situations where there are genuine concerns about the rights and obligations of different stakeholders. Well beyond determining right and wrong, legal or otherwise, there is a need to provide an informed and suitable framework and toolkit to help those involved make ethical decisions at critical moments.”

Picture by Pixabay on Pexels

It has come to my attention that I appear to be getting on a bit.

The signs are there.

Sure, there’s the obvious ones, like the gradually increasing clusters of grey hair and the fact that I now have children who are taller than me.

But it’s when I look around a meeting and everyone appears to be half my age that it really hits home. Or having to explain my pop culture references when I’m doing presentations because most of the audience weren’t even born when Stock Aitken and Waterman were in their pomp.

And like it or not, I’m not alone in this. Lots of you are in the same boat. Or the one just behind – but we’re heading in the same direction.

So I thought I’d share some thoughts about becoming a… “more experienced fundraiser” – let’s use that phrase, why don’t we?

1. You know stuff now

The obvious advantage of having been around for a bit, is that you’ve been around for a bit. You’ve been there, seen that and done that. You’ve seen what’s worked and what hasn’t, and hopefully developed an understanding as to why.

At this stage I’ve fundraised through recessions, cost of living crises, wars, natural disasters and a global pandemic. I’ve run countless campaigns for tons of different charities across multiple channels.

I have a good sense of what will work, and what won’t. I know the tricks. I’ve done the tests. I’ve read the books and the case studies.

This knowledge is important, and in a sector where many practitioners have little or no formal fundraising training or qualifications, it’s especially so.

We have a responsibility to pass our knowledge on, to build up the skills, understanding and wisdom of the sector as a whole.

2. But you don’t know everything

The downside of experience is that it can close you off from new discoveries. It can be all too easy for those of us who’ve been around forever to be dismissive of new ideas and the people who champion them.

It’s important that we guard against our experience hardening into an unthinking mantra of This Is What Works or That Will Never Work.

I’m old enough to have tested lots of things in fundraising. I’m also old enough to have seen test results change, or indeed flip, over time.

Past results are no guarantee of future performance, as they say.

Times change. Technology changes, people change, context changes. We need to be open to change too, no matter how grey and old and experienced we are.

As John Maynard Keynes reportedly said, “when the facts change, I change my mind – what do you do sir?”

3. It’s not enough to know what works, you need to know why it works.

I think the dogmatic belief in The Right Way To Do Things stems from a misguided focus on what works, when we should be focused on why it works.

Let’s take an example from direct mail. Everyone knows that all things being equal, long letters (generally) work better than short letters. This has been tested to death across decades of direct marketing in many different sectors and countries.

Hopefully I’m stating the obvious here, but long letters don’t work better because they’re long letters. God knows I’ve read some awful long fundraising letters in my time.

Long letters work better because they address specific donor needs, and perform specific functions.

For instance:

• They allow you to address and deal with any concerns or questions that may occur to the donor while reading it.
• They give you enough room to include important persuasive content such as recognising previous support, expressing gratitude, highlighting elements of donor identity, repeating and reinforcing need, and demonstrating the difference the donor can make.
• They make it possible to use larger typefaces so older donors can more easily read it.
• And they convey a sense of importance and weight to the donor.

It is these things, rather than the fact that it’s simply ‘long’ that make it successful.

Keeping the why in mind, as technology, costs, customs and context change, allows us to adapt our wisdom to the challenges at hand.

4. Retain your old wisdom, while being open to new ideas

It’s so important that we don’t allow our thinking to calcify. There is huge potential in bringing together the wisdom and learning from decades of successful professional fundraising with the energy, drive, radicalism and new ideas of those who haven’t been burdened by our trials, tribulations and failures.

Take an example from outside fundraising – Ireland’s Repeal referendum of 2018. Together for Yes brought together experienced campaigners who had learned often painful lessons from decades of hard work, along with fired up new activists filled with passion, drive, new ideas and approaches. The result, as we know, was a huge success.

We need to do the same in our work.

Which is why the theme for The Fundraising Summer School in 2024 is:

How do we bring together fresh ideas for the future and old wisdom from the past to meet the fundraising challenges of today and tomorrow.

Over two days in Dublin from the 14 -15 of May we’ll be discussing and debating this, and hopefully inspiring hundreds of fundraisers with the ideas, examples, learnings and wisdom to raise more money for the amazing causes they represent. Hopefully I’ll see you there. Book your ticket here.

Damian O’Broin, Ask Direct

About Damian O’Broin

Damian O’Broin is the founder and managing director of fundraising and direct marketing agency Ask Direct in Ireland. He has some 30 years’ experience helping nonprofits and charities to tell their stories, recruit supporters and raise money, and is a regular speaker at conferences.

Picture by Tirachard Kumtanom on Pexels

CFRE International and ASSIF, the association for fundraising professionals working in Italy, have granted CFRE scholarships to the three most recent winners of the Italian Fundraising Award.

The Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) is the only globally-recognised, accredited certification for fundraising professionals. More than 6,800 fundraising professionals in 25 countries are currently CFREs.

The recipients of the scholarship, which funds the US$700 CFRE initial application fee for each recipient, are the winners of the Italian Fundraising Award for the last three years:

– Giovanna Bonora, former fundraiser for Bocconi University, Italian Fundraising Award Winner 2019

– Alessandra Delli Poggi, head of partnerships and new business for Cancer Research Italy, Italian Fundraising Award Winner 2018

– Roger Bergonzoli, director at Fondazione Santa Rita da Cascia, Italian Fundraising Award Winner 2017

To become a CFRE, fundraisers must meet requirements in education and professional practice and performance, in addition to agreeing to abide by the International Statement of Ethical Principles of Fundraising and successfully passing a 200-question exam.

CFRE international president and CEO Eva Aldrich, Ph.D., CAE, (CFRE, 2001-2016), said:

“CFRE International is proud to partner with ASSIF to recognise these three dedicated fundraising professionals. Becoming a CFRE demonstrates an individual’s commitment to confidence, ethics, and professionalism in fundraising. We look forward to working together with ASSIF to grow the network of CFREs in Italy.”

Philanthropic income to UK academic institutions year-on-year rose by 11% in 2017/18, from £976m to £1.08bn, secured by 100 universities.

Universities in Scotland raised the most in terms of new funds secured at more than £61.3m, while Irish universities raised more than £33m with Northern Ireland accounting for £12.7m of these new funds secured, and the Republic of Ireland for £20.2m. In Wales, the total topped £8.2m.

The report uses cluster analysis based on three-year average figures for key variables related to income, donors, costs and staffing, to group participating institutions into six clusters: Fragile, Emerging, Developing, Moderate, Established, and Elite. This year’s report shows a significant increase in fundraising levels by ‘Developing’ institutions, which have seen a 51% increase on the previous year. Meanwhile, ‘Emerging’ institutions have seen a 15% increase. The number of universities other than Oxbridge now raising £5m a year has also nearly doubled over the past ten years – from 17 to 31.

Despite significant increases in fundraising levels over the past 10 years however, the number of people who donate to their university remains fairly static – currently at 1.3%.

In addition:

– For the first time on record, the £300m threshold for new funds secured in a single year was passed by a university

– The average value of an institution’s largest pledge was £2.39m (up from £1.87m in 2016-17)

– Of the £1.08bn, total new funds from top three largest pledges contributed to £353m (£311m in 2016-17 of £976m)

– Cash income from legacies has increased by 19% (following a decrease of 11% from 2015-16 to 2016-17)

Sue Cunningham, president and CEO, Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), said:

“Philanthropy represents an increasingly vital resource for higher education, particularly in uncertain times. As funding sources for higher education are increasingly under pressure, engagement with donors has become fundamental to the success of universities.

“This philanthropic support translates into scholarships for students, investment in research, and thoughtful engagement with communities across all institutions in the survey.”

Developed to provide Rectors, Vice-Chancellors, and Pro Vice-Chancellors with an opportunity to strengthen their understanding of philanthropic fundraising and alumni engagement, the Tour has been designed to help attendees develop their strategic approach to fundraising, and their alumni engagement and advancement.

The three-day study tour will visit and explore a range of institutional settings in the UK and will enable participants to interact with UK university leaders and senior practitioners. The tour visits the universities of Nottingham, Oxford (St. Hilda’s College) and SOAS University of London (formerly The School of Oriental and African Studies), where participants will also be joined by colleagues from Nottingham Trent University, St Hilda’s College Oxford and New College Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, the University of Manchester, UCL, among others, with delegates from countries including Australia, Canada, UK, and Finland.

Anyone interested in joining the study tour should contact fbrowndy@case.org.