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Charities taking over fundraising 1

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 17 Mar 2010

In the dreamy world of the great unwashed, fundraising is an activity charities undertake at zero cost, run by an army of passionate volunteers and which is conducted in a way that most suits the personal tastes and habits of each individual member of the public.

The concept of a professional and profitable fundraising industry is barely recognised by the public and when it is, such as in the fateful case of Dan Pallotta’s US agency, some kind of backlash or at least discomfort from individual donors (or those who profess they “would give if…”) is still, it must be said, rather inevitable.

And so it is interesting to see a number of charities start taking on fundraising as a trading activity. The troubled BmyCharity fundraising website is to start life anew as a trading arm of Help for Heroes, while today Aspinall Foundation’s trading arm AAP Fundraising announces it has secured Save the Children as its first client.

Given that donating is an exercise in feeling that one is doing good, and the public’s on-again, off-again obsession with overheads as the primary indicator of a charity’s worth, these companies could well end up having a competitive edge when it comes to telling donors where their money is going and securing charity clients who want to prevent donor discomfort at the thought their money is going to fund the evil private sphere.

This competitive edge will be stropped all the sharper come September 1, when charities will be let off the leash and able to compare themselves to others in their advertising. Whether and how charities run with this new freedom will be very interesting indeed.

The riposte “but all our profits go back into charity” is a powerful one. It is not, however, a substitute for quality fundraising. JustGiving may prompt grumblings in the sector for their profits and charges, but that has not stopped the public from using the site. This is likely a result of the fact that people are first and foremost supporting their friends on the sponsorship site, but the fact that BmyCharity was forced to fold after making quite a song and dance about making its service free is a powerful example. Hearts are not won by where the profits end up alone.

But with charities inevitably looking to diversify income streams, and with their often significant in-house knowledge about profitable fundraising, I would be surprised if more organisations don't start thinking about how to making their fundraising work on two fronts.

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Directory: Help for Heroes | JustGiving