Fundraising veteran Tony Elischer has called for an overhaul of the way fundraising is practised and measured in a theatrical opening plenary at the Institute of Fundraising's 30th National Convention today.
 
Elischer, who has in the past strongly advocated a 360-degree view of supporters, told the audience of fundraisers that the sector is too "fixated on ROIs".

"We should measure the softer stuff," he said. Return on investment should be replaced by considering the ROIR - 'return on investment in relationships'.
 
Elischer said that charities have to come to terms with a world in which fundraising does not always immediately result in a financial transaction.
 
Charging across the stage and audience with characteristic volume and enthusiasm, he waited until the end of his plenary to put forward his new theory: "Fundraising without fundraising".
 
"That's a really big departure for me, and I'm not that sure that I'm comfortable with it," he said. However, he argued that the time has come to reassess the priorities of fundraising.
 
"We need to find a new zen," he said.
 
Declaring himself to "hate the word 'recruitment'", Elischer said: "I don't want to recruit donors. I want to inspire them." He then charged that fundraisers should seek to inspire without always expecting money to change hands within a set period of time.

Fundraising has got harder

In tracking back the changes in fundraising over the 30 years since the Institute of Fundraising was established, Elischer said the entire environment in which fundraisers operate has changed. Contemporary fundraisers must now deal in multi-channel communications that could barely be imagined back in the early 1980s.
 
Of the 1983 fundraising landscape Elischer, who was a fundraiser then, said: "It was a damn sight easier... it was pretty straightforward.

"It's not simple anymore," he added. "I find it exciting, but it also scares the hell out of me, every day."