Integrated fundraising: is it all it's cracked up to be?
Howard Lake | 5 October 2006 | News
The Institute of Fundraising London branch’s conference this week focused on integrated fundraising, what it means and how it works.
Opening plenary speaker Alan Clayton of Cascaid wasn’t sure it was really what people wanted. He said he began thinking integration is a cool word, signifying joined-up thinking and communication. One person had suggested that it may just mean that events fundraisers spoke to the direct marketing team from time to time.
On the downside it’s a scary thing, Clayton said. It stops things happening and involves taking something small that might be very doable and making it more complicated.
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For an organisation it means integration between various departments -fundraising, finance, campaigns, communications – but, he said There is probably more chance of stamping out Aids and curing malaria than achieving integration between fundraising and finance departments.
Where fundraising started as a really ‘integrated’ thing, we’ve spent the last 20 years doing the exact opposite of integrating, Clayton said, with the move towards segmentation. Can we break down the silos that have been set up and reintegrate, or is it too big a job?
Other speakers at the event included researcher Robin Jones of Milestone Research, director of fundraising at Sue Ryder Care Eric Grounds and Kevin Kibble, managing director of Fundraising Initiatives.
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.