Bad practice in fundraising was driven by high budget demands and short-term thinking from trustees, and a "schism" now exists between fundraisers and the rest of the sector, an audience of fundraisers heard last week.

Alan Clayton (pictured), who was speaking at the Revolutionise lecture in London on Friday, admitted that bad practice had been taking place but said that fundraisers have been put under increasing pressure to raise more money more quickly.

“The general consensus in the sector is that there has been some bad practice which has damaged us all. I refuse however to just put that out there, I need to caveat it in terms of individual giving that there’s been some desperation.

“Increasingly high budget demands from trustees and finance departments coupled with a market that has become increasingly saturated with short-term thinking and more and more pressure heaped on fundraisers for short term results which has pushed them harder. In some cases it has gone too far.”

Clayton said that now fundraisers must simply apologise for what has happened and tell the public that it won’t happen again: “Now we can either play the blame game, shout at one another or we can just do the best thing and say ‘mea culpa, I’m really sorry, I won’t do it again.’”

The creative director of fundraising consultancy Revolutionise also said that the sector is generally of the opinion that the proposed Fundraising Preference Service is “way over the top” and is concerned that its implementation could see existing donors use it in “a fit of anger”.

“Are we really going to legislate against people healing themselves? Will one hit of a ‘reset button’ in a fit of anger at a mailing someone didn’t like really mean they can’t have the opportunity to heal themselves the next time a trauma enters there life? Giving is not a preference, giving is a need.”

“The proposed FPS is way over the top. How can someone who has been taking great personal success and satisfaction from giving, hit a ‘reset button’ and cut themselves off from all of that, just because they got some horribly important premium pack from an organisation not even based in the UK. How could that possibly be right?”

As the sector moves forward, Clayton said that senior fundraisers must protect young fundraisers coming through and that the “schism” between fundraising departments and the rest of the charity sector must be healed.

“We must reclaim fundraising. We have to get our organisations behind us. There has been a bit of a schism which has developed in the sector. Whether through distaste or through deliberate obfuscation, fundraising has become something that a few organisations are a little embarrassed about. Something that some organisations maybe find a little distasteful.

“The best fundraisers and the best fundraising departments - those who consistently raise the most money over three, five, ten years - spend half of their time making their organisation fundraisable. We can only do our best work and get the best results when our organisations senior members are behind us 100 per cent.”

Clayton also said that, due to the Institute of Fundraising’s silence during the summer, he “seriously considered whether it was worth it to remain a member” of the body. Clayton clarified however that he was still a “proud member” of the IoF.