Institute of Fundraising trustees are considering whether ‘Right to give’ might be a better campaign theme for the fundraising sector than the ‘Right to ask’ concept originally proposed.

The Institute’s executive team proposed 'Right to ask' as a campaign idea to their board at the latest trustee meeting.  They want to use the phrase as the basis for a sector-wide brand that can be applied to all fundraising policy and campaigns, to reinforce the right of fundraisers to ask for money on behalf of their beneficiaries.

But chief executive Lindsay Boswell admitted that some trustees were not sold on the ‘Right to ask’ idea and thought ‘Right to give’ might be “more positive”.

However, others within the Institute and other groups that have been involved in planning the campaign, including the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, felt that ‘Right to give’ was a watering down of the initial idea and preferred to stick with the original plan.

In order to try to reach agreement, a facilitated brainstorming session has been arranged for the end of next month to thrash out the issues, agree the theme and develop the first strands of work.

Boswell said there was agreement at the meeting that the campaign needed to be an initiative that “plays into the whole of the sector”.

“It was kicked off by the Institute but the people who will help encourage the strategy and the direction of the content will be a much wider group than just the Institute,” he said.

“We genuinely need and want this to be the product of collective energy and effort, so we want to spend some time teasing out the subtleties.”