Clayton: ‘Stop apologising for fundraising’3

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 22 Oct 2012

Fundraisers have been told to stand up for their profession and stop apologising for asking people to give, in a heated speech in Holland last week.

Fundraising grandee Alan Clayton attempted to rouse a conference-weary crowd on Friday morning, the last day of the annual International Fundraising Congress in Holland. In a talk about emotional fundraising, Clayton said that fundraisers merely enabled people to experience the “exquisite joy of giving” and should be proud of their profession.

“We are not the bad guys,” said Clayton. “We live in an age where we do a lot of apologising for our trade.

“Apologising for fundraising is almost saying we’re beggars and really sorry for interrupting your perfect life.”

The Clayton Burnett co-founder and conference regular said that an apologetic approach to fundraising limited its ability to do good work. Speaking specifically on the British experience, he complained: “We’re trying to regulate face-to-face fundraising instead of trying to take it to the extreme.”

Echoing the sentiments heard across the globe, and most prominently by author Dan Palotta, Clayton said that fundraisers should never apologise for taking a salary, but rather that “everyone should be paid for fundraising”. He also criticised charities which focus too much on attractive admin spending ratios, claiming that a low ‘overhead’ ratio indicated that an organisation was not investing in its long term future.

“People need to give,” said Clayton. “People complain about fundraising because they do not like saying no. It’s our job for them to say no and feel bad about it, because then they will eventually say yes.”

Who's Who: Alan Clayton

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Danielle Atkinson
Head of Digital & Individual Giving
Merlin
24 Oct 2012

I agree with Alan. This reminds me very much of a speech I saw Mark Astarita give on a similar subject. I can still remember it. I wrote a lot of it down, and I often look back to it when I need inspiration.

He said: "We must never forget that giving help, either food, money, aid or shelter is a basic human instinct. It is the cornerstone of civilisation. It’s what sets apart the human race. The selfless act that may or may not be reciprocated is the most positive, inspiring facet of human nature. We as fundraisers nurture that, we cultivate it, we promote it, we give people the chance to take humanitarian actions every day. We provide the vehicle by which everyone can make a difference. My old boss used to say to me ‘Mark, never ever ever feel guilty for asking because you’re giving donors the chance to give, the chance to make a difference, and when they do give they will feel better for it, they will be grateful to us for giving them the chance to have done it’. The job of fundraisers is always to inspire even in the face of the worst possible catastrophes...I give people the chance to save lives. What can be more positive than that I love the fact that there are people alive today because of what I did yesterday. That’s why I love my job and that’s why you should all want my job."

We should never feel guilty and we should never apologise.

[Reply]

Alan Clayton
23 Oct 2012

Oh dear, that line does not look great out of context. The entire seminar was about how to make people feel good - the joy of giving. The context of the last line was 'If the majority of people give, and we make them feel good, then the minority who grumble will eventually see the light, and want to feel good, too.'

[Reply]

James Smith
22 Oct 2012

What an unpleasant approach to take and one that is bound to backfire in the longer term. Provocative, maybe, ineffective, definitely.

[Reply]

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