Earlier this week the directors of the Fundraising Initiatives Group announced a decision to make 99 staff redundant. David Ainsworth says the process was badly handled.
At a time when the fundraising profession is under pressure, it’s really important for senior people in that profession to conduct themselves effectively and responsibly. It is questionable whether the Fundraising Initiatives Group passed that test earlier this week, when it made 99 people redundant.
Obviously sometimes companies go under. We all accept that. The pressure on fundraising agencies at the moment is immense: a lot of charities appear to be pulling in their horns and waiting to see which way the wind is blowing before carrying out any more campaigns. Professional suppliers – who haven’t traditionally run on large margins – must be very worried that they don’t have the cash reserves to see them through.
And that’s before you consider that some percentage of their staff are likely to be undercover reporters, waiting to catch them out in some misdeed.
Nonetheless, the language used by Fundraising Initiatives Group was not appropriate for announcing the redundancy of 99 people, none of whom have received any pay for their last month’s work.
(I’ll include their announcement in full at the bottom of this piece, so you can judge for yourself.)
The first point to mention is that redundancies don’t even feature until you’ve read 234 words of dense corporate prose.
Instead the company first announced that it had made a series of “high profile appointments in a reshuffle of its senior management team”, and that the company had completed “a full strategic review”.
The senior individuals did not mention their staff once.
Cathy Sullivan, chief executive of the group, said:
“We reached a point where we needed to look at our own direction as well as that of our clients to ensure we remain at the forefront of professional fundraising excellence into the future. The impressive senior team now in place collectively have the experience and the kind of invigorating vision we need to do that.”
While Hamish Horton, the group managing director, said:
“The Fundraising Initiatives Group is ready to be reshaped and sharpened in the next phase of its strategic growth. It’s an opportunity to overhaul the entire group, looking at core strengths, sales and acquisitions.”
He went on to talk about “a number of strategically phased changes in the coming months”. Only after this did he say that “it is regrettable that we begin our restructure journey with the necessary closure of R Fundraising”.
One of those people has been rehired, though – Gordon Michie, who ran R Fundraising, is now group client services director.
This gives the unfortunate impression that the directors have one rule for themselves, and another for their staff.
We can contrast this with the behaviour of Giusepper Iantosca, chief executive of GoGen. When GoGen went under he paid homage to his staff, and cautioned the sector to clean up its act, without mentioning himself at all:
“It is a tragedy that so many people have lost their jobs, and the directors would like to thank our fundraisers for their talent and commitment.
“We reiterate that which has been repeated across the sector over the last few months. That now is the time for considered and measured change and a united front, with input not only from charities and industry bodies/regulators, but from the agencies that interact directly with the most important people in the third sector - each and every member of the public.
“Whether we knock on doors, stop people in the street, telephone or mail them, it needs to be done in a more responsible way, with clearer guidance, more support and less pressure. It is vitally important that charities and industry bodies take more responsibility for the fundraising that happens under their watch, including that by the agencies they instruct to carry out their work.”
Out of almost 500 staff, one GoGen employee has been in touch – to tell us how badly his company was treated. In contrast, out of fewer than 100 R Fundraising staff, several have already been keen to tell us how badly the company treated them.
In short, I feel that the senior individuals of the Fundraising Initiatives Group have not sent out the kind of message the sector should support, particularly in a time when fundraising is already so clearly under the microscope, and when ethics and probity must be considered paramount in those who raise money to fund the essential work charities do.
The release in full:
Fundraising Initiatives Group announces major business restructure, following high profile appointments to Group board and full global strategic business review
- Sector names Hamish Horton, Josh Pinder, Gordon Michie appointed to Group board
- Group restructure begins with closure of R Fundraising Ltd.
The Fundraising Initiatives Group announces a major business restructure following a series of high profiles appointments in a reshuffle of its senior management team, and a full strategic review of the Group’s global business completed over the last eight weeks.
Hamish Horton, former chief executive of Valldata, joined the board two months ago as Group managing director and is working closely with founder and chief executive, Cathy Sullivan, in leading the global review and restructure.
Josh Pinder, previously founder and managing director of face-to-face agency Clear Fundraising and before that a senior manager at RSPB, is appointed director of innovation. Gordon Michie, previously a director of R Fundraising, is made Group client services director. Former chief operating officer Martin Jervis left the Group in June looking for new challenges.
In the first step of its restructure, the board has decided that current market conditions have given it no choice but to close telephone fundraising agency R Fundraising as its position has become untenable. The board announced earlier today (28th July) that it is with regret that R Fundraising Limited will shortly be taking steps to be placed into administration, with a total of 99 staff being made redundant (82 in Dunfermline and 17 in Manchester).
Cathy Sullivan, chief executive of the Fundraising Initiatives Group states, “Fundraising Initiatives has stood for fundraising quality and innovation for the last 25 years. We reached a point where we needed to look at our own direction as well as that of our clients to ensure we remain at the forefront of professional fundraising excellence into the future. The impressive senior team now in place collectively have the experience and the kind of invigorating vision we need to do that.”
Hamish Horton, group managing director says, “The Fundraising Initiatives Group is ready to be reshaped and sharpened in the next phase of its strategic growth. It’s an opportunity to overhaul the entire Group, looking at core strengths, sales and acquisitions. We will be making a number of strategically phased changes in the coming months with a focus on delivering a service offering that is driven by innovation and technology, enabling fundraising to explore new opportunities.
“At the same time, it is regrettable that we begin our restructure journey with the necessary closure of R Fundraising. We are conscious that the fundraising sector is facing change and some very difficult challenges, and with this in mind we have to make tough decisions.”
