Time for fundraising teams to get flexible?

Blogs

Time for fundraising teams to get flexible?

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 8 Jan 2013

The new year could pose the perfect opportunity to break down barriers within, muses Celina Ribeiro.

New year, fresh start. That’s what they say, isn’t it? But with the clock ticking over to 2013, how much actually has changed? It’s still cold, it remains dark, and a little bit of Christmas ham is holding out in the back of the fridge.

As for fundraising, how much will change this year? Our survey of the directors of fundraising at the top 100 charities by voluntary income seems to suggest that keeping income levels steady is the biggest priority in 2013. Not overhauls or massive growth. Keeping things afloat.

And when times are hard, innovating or risk-taking is no doubt difficult. Even taking the time out to think about why a charity does a certain thing in a certain way feels rather impossible. Impossible, perhaps; important, surely. I spoke to Cancer Research UK’s director of fundraising Richard Taylor and found a man committed to fresh thinking.

One thing stood out: fundraisers in his team are not stuck in their boxes. Corporate fundraisers might get moved to the innovation department. Legacy fundraisers might pop over to direct giving. Silos – those hulking beasts that fundraisers so often complain about – are non-existent in Taylor’s fundraising department. As a result staff are kept interested and supporters are dealt with by people who understand the many ways they might interact with the charity, and why. Fundraising people and disciplines are let fly from their pigeonholes.

Not everything about Cancer Research UK is – or should be – replicable in other charities. But this idea could work in many organisations. Perhaps in 2013, a useful resolution might be to look within the fundraising department and ask, ‘Why do we do it like this?’ Worry about the ‘how’ later.

Directory: Cancer Research UK
Who's Who: Richard Taylor | Celina Ribeiro

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.

Tags

Corporate fundraising

Celina Ribeiro is the editor of Fundraising magazine and daily contributor to CivilSociety.co.uk.

Follow Celina @Celina_Ribeiro_

Fundraising predictions for 2013

Richard Taylor on CRUK's rebrand, innovation and what's new for 2013

Directors of fundraising survey: Who's the boss?

Major donor fundraising is top opportunity for charities, say top 100 directors

Can fundraisers ever be too tenacious?

Celina Ribeiro (80) Niki May Young (35) Jonathon Grapsas (30) Michael Naidu (23) Adrian Beney (20) Andrew Scadding (20) Andrew Chaggar (17) Jonathan Waddingham (15) Suzie Who (15) Vibeka Mair (14)

Kirsty Weakley (14) David Philpott (13) Tania Mason (11) Daniel Fletcher (9) David Burrows (8) Alistair McLean (7) Robert Ashton (7) Gareth Jones (6) Beth Yorath (6) Rowena Lewis (5) Tom Eeles (5) Mark Astarita (4) Stephen Pidgeon (4) Tod Norman (4) Nick Cater (4) Alan Gosschalk (3) Tony Elischer (3) Jeremy Swain (3) Rob Dyson (3) Ingrid Marson (3) Adam Rothwell (2) Beth Breeze (2) Richard Radcliffe (2) Matthew Bowcock (2) Joe Saxton (2) Reuben Turner (2) Tris Lumley (2) John Tate (2) Garreth Spillane (2) Gordon Hunter (2) Chester Mojay-Sinclare (2) Allan Freeman (2) Lisa Clavering (2) Lindsay Boswell (1) Victoria Cook (1) David Davison (1) Bill Lewis (1) Giles Pegram (1) Jo Swinhoe (1) Derek Humphries (1) Cathy Pharoah (1) Pauline Broomhead (1) Gordon Michie (1) Chris Ingram (1) Martin Farrell (1) Matt Goody (1) Ian MacQuillin (1) Jackie Mendoza (1) Max Du Bois (1) Alan Hawkes (1) Ken Burnett (1) Ian Allsop (1) Martin Brookes (1) Tesse Akpeki (1) Anne Moynihan (1) Sara Llewellin (1) Rupert Tappin (1) Julia Unwin (1) Jessica Sklair (1) Scott Gray (1) Stephen Hammersley (1) Keith Collins (1) Liz Tait (1) Peter O'Hara (1) Debbie Attwood (1) Joanna Motion (1) Paul Marvell (1) Amanda McLean (1) Jason Suckley (1) Paul Amadi (1) Imogen Ward (1) June O'Sullivan (1) Kath Abrahams (1) Dan Corry (1) Douglas Rouse (1) Belinda Pratten (1) Jonathan Last (1) Paul Emery (1) Marcelle Speller (1) Nick Aldridge (1) Philip Spedding (1) Sir David Varney (1) Liam Barrington-Bush (1) Jeff Brooks (1) Vicki Prout (1) Dan Thompson (1) Claire Routley (1) Steven George-Hilley (1) Emma-Lynn Houghton (1) Peter Horah (1) Neelam Makhijani (1) George Matafonov (1)

Less +++ More +++