# Major donors 'under-represented group' in the City

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/07/07/major-donors-039underrepresented-group039-city/
- Published: 2011-07-07T11:57:44+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Major donors are an “under-represented group, particularly in the City”, philanthropist
Melanie Edge told delegates at the IoF National Convention this week.

 

“Apart from [to] religious organisations, they tend not to give as much as they 
could,” she said, referring to high-income earners who do not rely on inherited 
wealth. “There is no culture of giving there. You won’t get people who will give
you millions, but they could give you thousands a year.”

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She also said she thought that thank you letters were “overdone”. “Whenever you 
send anything to anyone you get a thank you letter,” she said. “There should be 
a box I can tick to say I don’t want a thank you letter.”

 

Fellow philanthropist and architect and town planner Terrence O’Rourke said he doesn’t
like the term ‘philanthropy’. “It gets in the way,” he said. To most people it means
very wealthy people giving away vast sums of money they don’t necessarily deserve
in the first place. But really it means anyone, anywhere, giving anything – money
or time.”

 

He also said that charities still often get their approach to major donors wrong.“
The secret of doing things really well is to go to potential donors with specific
projects and clear objectives you think people will be interested in. There is often
a mismatch between what philanthropists want and organisations’ view of what philanthropists
expect.

 

“There are very few organisations that need money who really understand the expectations
of philanthropists,” he said.

 

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