Fundraising is misunderstood by board members and senior leadership teams in many charities, the head of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIOF) said this week.
Speaking at its Fundraising Convention yesterday, CIOF chief executive Katie Docherty said some charities were mistakenly reducing their fundraising spend “because the return on investment for fundraising takes longer”.
“There’s the ongoing problem that fundraising is seen as a cost to each charity rather than something that should be invested in,” she told the event in London.
“So, when budgets are tight, fundraising is a spend that is easier to cut than frontline services, even though it's a mechanism that drives future income.
“It becomes a really short-term decision, [because] the return on investment takes time. Now, I know there is nothing that a charity can spend money on that will provide a greater return on investment than fundraising, but boards and senior leaders just don't see that.”
Fundraisers encouraged to become trustees
Docherty advised fundraisers to become charity trustees themselves, saying that it was “the best thing [they] can possibly do” to overcome a lack of board-level understanding.
“Most boards do not have fundraisers on them, and most boards do not understand fundraising,” she said.
Docherty said that the organisations where finance and funding are partners and are “thriving and succeeding and growing”.
She praised charities in which “the senior leadership team and the trustees understand fundraising is a frontline service and is critical to the growth and development of their charity, as any other part”.
Docherty said that more charity boards should view fundraising as a “strategic investment” rather than a cost, and therefore must “change their time frames” for conceptualising what “good” fundraising looks like.
Her remarks came after the membership body vowed last year to “change perceptions” of fundraising as part of its 10-year strategy, saying at last year’s convention that the profession was frequently “misunderstood and underfunded”.
CIOF also vowed to lead a sector-wide effort to educate people including trustees and policymakers while advocating for more investment in fundraising, with a goal to “measurably increase the value and understanding of fundraisers’ contributions” within a decade.
Call for ‘fundamental step-change’ to boost philanthropy
Meanwhile, CIOF today published part two of its Philanthropy 2035 research project.
Despite recent efforts to increase giving by wealthy donors from the government and Charity Commission, the report says many charities lack the skills, confidence and resources needed to adopt new technologies that could improve fundraising efficiency and supporter engagement.
It also says charities reported a lack of buy-in and investment from boards and senior leadership teams, limiting their ability to provide the personalised and tailored donor experiences needed to build long-term, trusted partnerships.
Claire Stanley, director of policy and communications at the CIOF, said: “Amidst a challenging and evolving giving landscape, it is positive to see opportunities to grow high-net worth giving.
“Many of the challenges fundraisers and charity leaders shared with us, however, are deep-rooted in the sector and will need a fundamental step-change in how boards see, understand and support fundraising.”
