Just 5 per cent of fundraisers ‘had long-term plan to work as a fundraiser’

08 Nov 2017 News

Just 5 per cent of fundraisers had a “long-term plan to work as a fundraiser”, while over 40 per cent of fundraisers “fell into” the job, according to new research into fundraising.

The new data comes from surveys undertaken by Beth Breeze as part of the research for her new book The New Fundraisers – Who organises charitable giving in contemporary society? Breeze’s research showed that the majority of fundraisers who responded to her survey, 44 per cent of ‘general’ fundraisers and 52 per cent of those who had raised £1m or more from a single donation, had “fallen into” the profession.

A further 36 per cent of ‘million pound askers’ and 42 per cent of general fundraisers said they came into fundraising “gradually through related professional and volunteering roles”.

Breeze’s research was conducted through an online survey which ran for three months in 2014. It received 1,243 responses from amongst the Institute of Fundraising’s individual members.

The research also found that fundraisers were predominantly female, with 77 per cent of respondents identifying as such. The research also found that ‘million pound askers’ – those who had raised £1m or more from a single donation – were also nearly twice as likely to be female as male, 64 per cent to just 36 per cent.

In an article written for Fundraising Magazine, Breeze said the data “shows that fundraisers often have formative experience of helping behaviour, high levels of generalised trust, and a greater predilection for gift-giving to loved ones”.  

Dr Beth Breeze is the director of the Centre for Philanthropy, at the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research. This data was taken from a wider article she wrote for the November issue of Fundraising Magazine which in itself was adapted from The New Fundraisers - Who organises charitable giving in contemporary society?​​​​​​

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