Institute moots new 'Right to Ask' umbrella brand for all fundraising policy 9

Fundraising | Tania Mason | 20 Jan 2010

Topics: Communications | Individual giving | Campaigns

The Institute of Fundraising is mustering support for a sector-wide public-facing campaign that will reinforce the message that fundraisers have every right to ask for money on behalf of beneficiaries.

The campaign, provisionally called ‘Right to Ask’, will seek to overcome the opposition to fundraising that exists in some quarters, and to give fundraisers themselves more confidence to request donations in all situations.

Lindsay Boswell, Institute chief executive (pictured), explained: “We hear all the time about people’s rights not be telephoned at home, not to be approached in the street by face-to-face fundraisers, not to be sent direct mail. The whole of Bedfordshire is now a no-cold-calling zone.

“So there are all these barriers to fundraising, and we want to remind fundraisers that actually, they shouldn’t be ashamed to ask, and in fact on behalf of their beneficiaries, they have every right to ask.”

He said one of the prime audiences for the campaign is the sector itself, particularly trustees and service delivery staff who don’t always understand how essential fundraising is.

“They often tend to view it as a necessary evil, when it is so much more than that. We hope that this campaign will give fundraisers the confidence to have that conversation with service delivery people and to say to them that on behalf of our beneficiaries, we have a right to ask.”

The ‘Right to Ask’ could become the overarching brand for all the Institute’s policy work, Boswell said, on issues as diverse as telephone fundraising, data protection, face-to-face fundraising and direct mail. A logo will be created that can be applied to all materials and some soundbites will be written that fundraisers can use to defend their work when they are challenged.

Other umbrella bodies expressed interest

But it could be rolled out even further, as the Institute is discussing the concept with the Fundraising Standards Board and the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, both of whom have said they are keen to explore the idea further. Boswell said it could be useful to other bodies too, such as the Association of Charity Shops.

The campaign is being devised with the help of the Institute’s trustees and its policy advisory board, which is comprised of senior fundraisers from member charities. They are currently drawing up the objectives of the campaign and working out how it will manifest itself.

The Institute expects to launch Right to Ask in April.

Institute moots new 'Right to Ask' umbrella brand for all fundraising policy

Organisation: Association of Charity Shops | Institute of Fundraising | The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA)
People: Lindsay Boswell

Comments

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Stephen George
Chairman
29 Jan 2010

This is long overdue. Whilst we need to ensure that we remain respectful, professional and appropriate in the way we ask we absolutely need to assert a "right" to ask and that it is, also "right" as in correct, for us to ask - they are both dimensions that we should champion. There is a weird tendancy lately for some in the sector to misunderstand fundraising - and where that gains traction the relationship with the public may become more distant. We all are in trouble if that happens so this is an opportunity we should take - together.

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Gordon Michie
Director of Development
29 Jan 2010

Fundraisers have every right to ask and not to be apologetic about it. That said, we need to balance this need by respecting the public’s wishes and acting within the scope of the law. But, this doesn’t mean that we can’t challenge fundraising regulations as the world moves on. Times change and many fundraising restrictions need to be looked again. When it comes to the telephone preference service in particular, this regulation has imposed a huge restriction on fundraising and there remains ambiguity about when charities can call supporters. This, amongst other areas, certainly needs to be revisited.

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C Allen
none
22 Jan 2010

It is right to ask. But who is it right to ask?

I bear in mind music royalties and some assumptions that all charities should be exempt. But the royalties are private income and not public revenue.

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Stephen Elsden
Chief executive
21 Jan 2010

Lindsay,

I carefully worded my earlier comment as I was unsure what you had actually said and how it was put across. That aside, as you say, I am a former trustee of the Institute and a supporter of the same for some 20 years, and I respect and appreciate all the Institute does to promote fundraising standards. As long as those standards and practices stay within the current law and consumer protection methods, I am content, and I'm sure the Standards Committee and your esteemed chairman would have it no other way.

What still rankles somewhat, not from your comments, but more generally through recent online reporting and debates, is a growing arrogance among some fundraisers and agencies, a seeming belief that ours is a moral high ground bar none. Fundraising should be passionate, creative and compelling, but it should never be hectoring, aggressive or arrogant.

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Adrian Beney
Partner
21 Jan 2010

Well done Lindsay. I think this is long overdue. How many of us when asked what we do for a living have wondered whether to be almost apologetic about our job. One charity I am working with at the moment has a "Friends" organisation whose committee is explicit in its opposition to fundraising.

As for TPS etc, in many countries (e.g. Canada) charities are treated differently from for-profit organisations in respect of mail and telephone opt out services. This is good model, in my view - one we could argue for in the EU context.

So I agree with the Institute, we need to reclaim and reassert the inherent "good" about asking people to support a cause we believe in. We should be never be ashamed of it, and should never be forced to be apologetic about it.

It is, after all, Right to Ask.

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Lindsay Boswell
CEO
20 Jan 2010

I think that Stephen has made a massive leap from my words to the assumption that I would in any way be suggesting breaking either the law or best practice. As an ex-trustee of the Institute he knows that the IoF exists to drive up standards of fundraising so that Mike Coward can make the choices to not be disturbed in the evening. Mike's words about wanting fundraising carried out sensitively and thoughtfully are spot on! We are all in exactly the same place and want sustainable fundraising, achieving the highest possible standards.

That said I know from considerable feedback from our membership that many struggle to get fundraising understood and for boards and service delivery staff to properly value fundraising as the way of connecting donors with beneficiaries and allowing them to do something extraordinary. At the same time the work that the PFRA have done around no cold calling zones shows than an initiative that was about protecting small pockets of the most venerable in our society has now spread beyond recognition.

An an EU level there are conversations about restricting mail, data and telephone usage and the point I was making is that don't fundraisers also have a right, on behalf of beneficiaries to ask potential donors to do something extraordinary?

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Mike Coward
CEO
20 Jan 2010

As a CEO, I am proud of my fundraising team, which has just had its most successful year ever. I agree totally with Stephen Elsden that they should not be ashamed of their work.

None of us in the charity sector should be in any doubt that without fundraising we could not deliver the services we do.

That said, I believe that fundraising has to be carried out sensitively and thoughtfully. A 'right to ask' has to be balanced by a right to privacy and a right to say no. This does not stop the sector from campaigning hard and persuasively for its various causes, but in my experience, irritating phone calls and unwelcome knocks at the door (usually as one is about to sit down to dinner) only serve to alienate.

I have to confess to living in Bedforshire and subscribing to the TPS and enjoy the freedom to eat a hot meal without interruption and without dampening my passion for the work that charities do. It is hard enough to raise money without risking our support from the public.

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Elena Joseph
Head of New Projects/Charity Liaison
20 Jan 2010

I find it terribly frustrating that we, as professional fundraisers, are asked by our charity clients to visit companies and ask employees if they would like to give to charity via their pay but that charities themselves, many of them large employers, do not think it is appropriate to ask their own workforce if they would like to give in this way (to the charity of their choice). It isn't as if they aren't paid employees like everybody else.

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Stephen Elsden
Chief executive
20 Jan 2010

Fundraisers should be proud of their profession, and none of us who ask regularly for money for our organisations should be ashamed or embarrassed to do so.

But I am concerned by Lindsay's comments quoted above which seem to suggest that the 'right to ask' is beyond the reach of the law. It is not. The Telephone Preference Service and the Mailing Preference Service are sacronsanct, and if someone has requested no phone calls, or no direct mail, no charity will endear themselves to the individual if they choose to ignore those preferences.

I also wonder, in the current climate, how cost-effective a public campaign on this issue will be. My own organisation would be better supported by a public campaign to promote gift aid, which would do much to boost income without requiring a material increase in the cost of donations to individuals.

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