Alan Clayton will lead a research project into donor motivations as part of an Institute of Fundraising initiative to encourage more people to give, it has been announced today.

Clayton has a long history in agency work, most recently as director of innovation at The Good Agency, and is now a co-namesake of consultancy Clayton Burnett.  He was approached by the Institute's Policy Advisory Board chair Mark Astarita to conduct research as part of what is being called the ‘Greater Good Project’. The Institute stresses that this initiative is not related to or replacing the mooted Right to Ask campaign.

Astarita said: “The Right to Ask is a policy and political initiative which is the day job of people at the Institute and other partner organisations. The Greater Good Project is a much wider, longer-term project to get more of the public on our side.”

For starters Clayton will conduct a feasibility study into what work is needed to motivate people to give to charity, a study he is due to present to the Institute at the end of this month. He will then lead a working party charged with implementing the proposals.

With the government keen on emphasising volunteering, Clayton said his project aims to ensure that donating remains the most common interaction between a member of the public and a charity. "The Greater Good Project will ensure that making a donation maintains its position as the easiest and most exciting option for the consumer who is shopping around for a good thing to do,” he said.


“We need to tap into the cultural changes that are going on around us and adapt our campaigning and visioning, as a sector, to these cultural changes. And to do this without alienating our core audiences. It’s quite a challenge.”