Who you gonna call?

Howard Lake | 24 May 2006 | Blogs

I’m in a bit of a quandary. I never joined the Institute of Fundraising while I was editor of Professional Fundraising because I considered it would be conflict of interest. I always felt that if I felt it was right to criticise the institute then I should be able to do it without being accused of having a pop at a body of which I was a member. By the same token, not joining meant that if PF praised or defended the IoF, no-one could say that it was because the editor was a member.

However, now I don’t need the visible editorial independence of the Fourth Estate behind me (like justice, editorial independence must be seen to be done), and I am a supplier to the fundraising sector, I have decided to join the Institute of Fundraising and wear my membership proudly.

Or shall I:

Perhaps I should join a different professional body, one more relevant to my job. I could join the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. But I’m already a member of the National Union of Journalists and they have a PR branch – I just have to swap over.

Or maybe I should join the Institute of Charity Communications. I am, after all, a charity communicator. Yes, that’s it, I’ll join the ICC instead. BTW, in case they don’t already know, ICC also stands for International Cricket Council, just at the Regulation of Fundraising Unit’s (as it was originally called) initials also stood for Rugby Football Union – what is it with the sporting/charity synergy of these TLAs?

So, instead of the IoF, I’ll join the ICC (or IoCC?).

But before I authorise my direct debit, let’s check what it is the ICC does that the IoF cannot? In other words, what’s the need for the ICC? I’m not really sure there is one. When people talk about issues around charity communications, what they are really talking about is fundraising. As fundraising is the area of charity activity with which the public most regularly come into contact, it’s the one that is the most likely to generate complaints and controversy. And as such, communications issues around it need to be handled with care, tact and expert knowledge.

Do other areas of charity communications give rise to similar issues? Granted, some awareness raising schemes are pretty controversial and hard-hitting (Barnardo’s’ cockroach for instance, or BHF’s fatty cigarette). And I guess you could argue that they raise questions of charities’ roles and responsibilities in communicating these messages.

But the other areas? Supporter communications and newsletters? Lobbying? Policy work? In-house communications (magazines, intranet etc)? What issues specific to charities do these roles raise that can only be dealt with through a specialist Institute of Charity Communications? And what does general charity PR do that isn’t catered for by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations?

I really am not sure.

Communicating the issues around fundraising however, is where the major challenges lies. Only this week, F2F has yet again been on the receiving end of some crap I-journalism in The Times while charity consultants got a pasting in the Observer for deigning to charge charities for the training they provide.

Then there are questions of: fundraisers’ salaries; pens in mailpacks and other junk mail; how much money reaches the cause; chuggers; how much is spent on fundraising; should you pay for someone’s holiday down the Amazon just because they are raising money?; challenger eventers destroying the countryside; chuggers again; telephone fundraising just as you’re sitting down to Eastenders; and finally, more chuggers.

Apart from controversial awareness raising campaigns, the only issue of concern that doesn’t in some way relate to fundraising is fat cat salaries. You never see a Times columnist moaning how disgusted she was that a supporter magazine used a typeface that went out of fashion in the 90s. Actually this is a serious point. Media sections of newspapers do look at publishing issues and trends – just never charity publishing.

Nope, it’s all about fundraising.

And because fundraising is the real communications challenge for the charity sector, I don’t know why the ICC wasn’t simply convened as a special interest group of the IoF.

So I think, all things considered and as I’m in fundraising PR, I’ll be joining the Institute of Fundraising. And once I’m a member, I’ll be looking to start a Fundraising PR special interest group.

Anyone with me?

Next time – self-regulation.

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.