# Prospecting €œabsolute antithesis€ of integrated fundraising, says Ruderham

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/07/11/prospecting-eoeabsolute-antithesise%c2%9d-integrated-fundraising-says-ruderham/
- Published: 2007-07-11T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

The new trend in ‘prospecting’ by charities to sign-up supporters to campaigns is
the absolute antithesis of integrated fundraising, delegates heard at the Institute
of Fundraising Convention yesterday.
Ruth Ruderham, head of supporter development
at Friends of the Earth said that charity prospectors approach members of the public–
on the street, door to door and at events – to ask them whether they would be prepared
to volunteer, lend their weight to campaigns, or make gifts. Bank details are not
taken, but contact details are.

Follow-up phone calls then aim to turn the signee into a donor.

In answer to a question from the floor, Ruderham said that she was so anti prospecting
because it’s not genuinely about campaigning. Citing her own example, she said 
that after signing up to a prospecting campaign, she had been called three times
in six months to ask her to become a donor, but in none of the calls was the original
campaign mentioned.

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Ruderham told delegates: This is a short-term tactic and will be succesful immediately,
but it will spread to donor fatigue. It will exhaust and disenchant donors across
the board.

Conversely, integrating fundraising will give people the advantage over others who
are being less honest, she said. It is time to use skills more broadly and with
more integrity and with fewer gimmicks.

Ruderham gave examples of how Friends of the Earth is integrating its fundraising
with volunteering and campaigning, although she pointed out that it has not been
without its problems. She said there are real obstacles, not least of which is the
transition from working within silos to blurred boundaries of functions.

However, at Crisis, an exercise to mail lapsed volunteers with a fundraising ask
had gained more than double the response of a cold mailing, demonstrating that the
traditional thinking that volunteering and fundraising don’t mix could be due for
a rethink.

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