Pidgeon on the future

Howard Lake | 1 November 2001 | News

Techniques of fundraising are distracting, argues Target Direct chairman Stephen Pidgeon in ThirdSector magazine’s review of future fundraising trends. “Some supporters will require an Internet relationship, others the telephone, others mail and so on. Ask them what they are most comfortable with, or look for the signs in their response or lack of it, and deliver it,” he says.

Techniques of fundraising are distracting, argues Target Direct chairman Stephen Pidgeon in ThirdSector magazine’s review of future fundraising trends. “Some supporters will require an Internet relationship, others the telephone, others mail and so on. Ask them what they are most comfortable with, or look for the signs in their response or lack of it, and deliver it,” he says.

Although Pidgeon has a good understanding that the Internet is an important medium but does not eclipse other media, most of the other interviewees in the survey did not mention Internet fundraising as a strategy of the future. Only Tony Elischer mentioned it, seeing it as “the inevitable answer.” He said: “the rapid growth of the Internet and e-commerce in the last twelve months will open up a whole new field of opportunities and challenges for charities.”

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.