# Fundraisers must put aside personal prejudice to understand donors' motivation

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/08/21/fundraisers-must-put-aside-personal-prejudice-understand-donors039-motivation/
- Published: 2007-08-21T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Fundraisers need to put aside their personal prejudices about why people should 
give to charity and look at why people give in the first place, delegates to the
International Fundraising Congress in Holland in October will hear.
In a session
on donor motivation, managing director of Cascaid, Alan Clayton will say that many
fundraisers act unprofessionally if they do not try to understand this basic question.

The reason for giving is at the root of every communication we should produce, 
Clayton will tell delegates. So why is the answer to this question at best simplified,
and at worst avoided in so many conversations and at so many conventions?

Worse is when somebody chooses to argue that ‘why someone does give’ is not as important
as ‘why someone should give’, which reduced the debate to a subjective rant rather
than an empirical marketing study, says Clayton, who has made donor motivation 
his specialism.

## Advertisement

In his session – ‘Science, religion and emotion: the real reasons why people give’–
Clayton will say there is no one single model of donor motivations, and that possible
models of giving will encompass matters of evolutionary biology, religious imperaties
and philanthropic duty.

Session highlights for the 27th IFC, organised by the Resource Alliance and being
held in the Netherlands from 23-26 October include

• Examining global giving trends among children and young people

• The importance of benchmarking for non-profits

• Trends in European grantmaking

• Understanding global fundraising markets

• The potential of long-form DRTV

 * **[Friel Homes Gives a Little TLC](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/08/24/friel-homes-gives-little-tlc/)**(
   24 August 2007)
 * **[Five projects across UK to benefit from Abbey funding](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/08/24/five-projects-across-uk-benefit-abbey-funding/)**(
   24 August 2007)
 * **[Eclipse chooses Vitalise as Charity of the Year](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/08/25/eclipse-chooses-vitalise-charity-year/)**(
   25 August 2007)