# Sector PR executive proposes new PR in fundraising SIG for Institute

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/11/20/sector-pr-executive-proposes-new-pr-fundraising-sig-institute/
- Published: 2006-11-20T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

PR director Ian MacQuillin is seeking support for a special interest group for those
who work in PR in fundraising.
He says the group will be open to PR officers especially,
but really anyone who has a stake in how fundraisers and fundraising present themselves
and itself to the public through the media. Fundraisers themselves are often seen
as PR ambassadors for their organisations after all and need to be aware of the 
issues surrounding fundraising PR.

He told Third Sector: As a member of the IoF, I want there to be a group within 
my own institute, discussing communications issues. I don’t want to be a member 
of two institutes. Last year chair of the Institute Joe Saxton announced plans 
to create an Institute of Charity Communicators, which is still to be launched.

MacQuillin said: There are, of course, communications issues that relate to all 
charity communications, but the areas of charity communications that cause the most
controversy are related to fundraising. There’s negative press around face-to-face
and how charities should respond to that; whether it should be proactive or reactive;
offensive or defensive.

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There’s how you communicate how much of a donation goes on admin and fundraising
and how charities play off against each other by playing down how much they actually
do spend no admin, as the recent media interest in the Intelligent Giving allegations
about Children in Need’s admin costs shows.

Compared to the occasional furore over a piece of awareness raising advertising 
that has gone wide of the mark and alienated supporters, I can’t think of any form
of charity communications that has the potential to generate such controversial 
issues as fundraising communications does.

MacQuillin said it is essential that these issues are discussed by a group of people
who work in fundraising and it makes a lot of sense to have fundraisers and those
who communicate fundraising to have their own special interest group.

Anyone interested in joining should contact [ia*@*********co.uk](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/mailto:ia*@*********co.uk?subject=PR SIG).

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