For the third year in a row, the British Red Cross director of fundraising Mark Astarita has been voted the most influential person in fundraising.
In his last year as chair of the Institute of Fundraising Astarita has again taken the top spot in Fundraising Magazine’s '50 Most Influential People in Fundraising' poll by a sizeable margin.
Macmillan Cancer Support’s director of fundraising, Lynda Thomas shot up the ranking from 25th spot last year to come second this year. Incoming IoF chair and director of fundraising at Cancer Research UK, Richard Taylor came third, up from ninth place last year.
Stephen Sutton, who raised an inspirational £4.2m for the Teenage Cancer Trust, came fifth. Before he died in May, he was told he had been nominated for an MBE in recognition of his fundraising, news he described as “awesome”.
The number of women making it into the top 50 was down from 19 in 2013 to 16 this year.
This year’s top ten Most Influential, according to Fundraising readers, are as follows:
- Mark Astarita, British Red Cross
- Lynda Thomas, Macmillan Cancer Support
- Richard Taylor, Cancer Research UK
- Richard Radcliffe, Radcliffe Consulting
- Stephen Sutton, blogger and fundraiser
- Catherine Miles, Anthony Nolan
- Tanya Steele, Save the Children
- Liz Tait, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home
- Rob Cope, Remember a Charity
- Joe Saxton, nfpSynergy
Subscribers can see the full list here.
More than 400 people took part in this year's poll.
