Read on for the full text of Institute of Fundraising chair Mark Astarita's no-holds-barred speech at last night's National Awards dinner.

Good evening everyone and welcome to the Institute of Fundraising’s National Awards dinner.

Tonight is about celebrating some of the best fundraising and fundraisers in the world. UK fundraising rocks and what you do changes the world for the better. So thank you for all that you do, from those that benefit from your asking but can’t look you in the eye tonight to thank you.

Hey - give me a platform and I am going to nick a few moments to celebrate some of the Institute’s successes over the last year: and feel free to cheer them because they have been hard won.

We have grown our individual membership to over 5,500 – up 6 per cent on last year.
 
We now have 360 charities who are members and who between them raise an amazing £6bn.

We have over 100 corporate supporters – more than ever before.

This massive membership and support is the essential ingredient  for us to grow our impact. Amongst other things...

It has helped you turn 28 codes of fundraising practice into a single digital Code of Fundraising Practice - that is the self, yes you, in self regulation - thousands of volunteer hours giving us all the best standards money can’t buy.

It has helped us give you a voice and achieve influence on the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme; submission of online gift aid and Charities Act Review - and it got me a chance to have a good old row on the phone with Hodgson!

Our national, regional and special interest groups supported over 6,000 fundraisers through over 200 conferences and events.

The combination of our conferences, our Academy training and qualifications programme, and Convention reached over 10,000 fundraisers.   

And it has helped us invest in a new Advanced Diploma in Fundraising which will be launched early next year.

And for the first time this year the IoF also recognised the efforts of corporate partners and suppliers who work with fundraisers to provide additional inspiration, expertise and support at the Partners In Fundraising Awards.  You know I was touched by the number of fundraising company leaders who thanked me for thanking them at that awards dinner for all that they do, the millions of pounds they help us raise and the risks they often take.  

So to every company that helps a charity here tonight raise lots - we love you all don’t we!

Nominations for next year are now open for those awards so nominate the companies you love.

You know over the last year I’ve been absolutely struck by how tough it is out there.

Public sector funding is decreasing; the economy has been struggling; people’s disposable income is becoming tighter yet charities’ fundraised income as a whole has probably for many remained flat but for more than a few it has continued to grow.  

I suspect most of you in this room grew your like-for-like fundraising last year like I did and like me have one plan in mind more of the same with fundraising the only game in town.  
How many finance directors or CEOs are cutting their fundraisers' targets - frankly, have they ever?

You all - volunteers or professional fundraisers - inspire people to give and to give again and to give more.

We all in turn give anyone that cares to engage with us the chance to do something amazing. That is a wonderful gift both to donors and the causes we support.

I said earlier, if we want people to give then you are all going to have to ask more and if we are to ask for more and get more civic engagement or Big Society or whatever you want to call it - we need an positive environment in which to fundraise.

I am getting pretty sick of the fact that it is the fundraisers of this country in this room tonight who seem to be constantly in the firing line and every time we rush out of the trenches defending our right to ask, every other charity leader happy to take the cash has run for the hills with their petticoats showing.

Since when have they become such cowards? 

Where are the CEOs, and trustees, where are the politicians, church leaders and opinion-formers standing up for great fundraising and calling upon us all to be a damn sight more generous in the face of increasing poverty on our doorstep or the harsh reality facing many of your charities.  Do we have to set up a Charity Defence Council as they have in the USA?

I said last year I would be a gladiator for fundraising and fundraisers everywhere but why are the rest of our charity community sitting in the Coliseum silently watching the lions take chunks out of us.

If you want more giving, as we surely all do, this sector who all too often looks down their noses at their fundraisers better start loving us and the fundraising we do….. or we will go on strike …….not with our feet but with our passion, our energy and our bloody-minded good humour every time someone says no to us.  

If our charity leaders don’t give a fig about what we do why the hell should we.  

I have spent the last two years in hundreds of meetings, writing papers, challenging ministers, head-banging with regulators and wannabes who gave once or twice and are now an expert in giving and you know what not an extra penny has been raised because of it all.  We might have prevented a few disasters, from tax caps to national exemptions, but raised more? Got the nation giving more? Nope. If we have it passed me by.

So bloodied maybe I am, but bring it on I say, for one thing is for sure - UK fundraisers are not cowards and we will not let down those who depend on us whatever it costs. It would just be nice for a few others to take the strain and start pulling the train too.  

So tonight’s headline from me to them is: If you spend it you should be bloody proud of those that raise it.

I know my CEO’s proud of his fundraisers and I bet many of tonight’s winners' bosses are too, but too many of our leaders don’t get it, don’t care enough about it, don’t shout about it, and frankly see us as nothing more than a necessary evil. 

Once upon a time, before a welfare state, if you did not raise it.. it did not happen!  Dr Barnardo did not wait for the next government spending round, he went out and asked and asked again.  I don’t want to see a return to a time gone by, but surely we can all do better than we are now.