# Can effective fundraising ever be unethical?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/08/08/can-effective-fundraising-ever-be-unethical/
- Published: 2013-08-08T14:10:01+01:00
- Author: Kevin Baughen

**Does the end always justify the means?  Does innovation always lead to an improvement?
Today’s blog is an open question around a service I’m sure many of you have come
across this year – as I have recently.  Here’s the story…**

 A few entrepreneurial groups have started to work with funeral directors across
the UK to look after some of the administration around in-memoriam giving.  The 
companies engage directly with funeral directors to take moneys collected at services
or in lieu of flowers and promise to deal directly with the charities concerned,
saving the funeral directors time.

There is no charge to the funeral directors for this service so it’s relatively 
simple to see the appeal of passing all of the administration around dealing with
charities to a third party.

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The companies then contact the charities concerned and offer to send the money collected
minus a fee – some offering [Gift Aid](https://fundraising.co.uk/tag/gift-aid/) 
services (although I’m not sure how this is achieved given the anonymous nature 
of funeral donations) and suggesting that the fee comes out of that extra amount.

The charity can’t send a thank you and receipts to the family (as they would with
direct relationships with funeral directors) or manage their records efficiently
for future activity because the money arrives anonymously.  There is also no direct
link to the funeral directors or the families so no idea of exactly how much has
been collected.

Perhaps the key factor is that the donor doesn’t know their donation is reaching
the desired charity minus a fee.  Perhaps this doesn’t matter to some, but I wonder…

In one instance related to me by a practising fundraiser, the charity was told that
they would pretty much have to deal with this particular organisation as they had
hundreds of funeral directors signed up with more to follow.

So, the ROI is great.  The administration burden on charities is low and the funeral
directors have perhaps a more simple process for handing over collections.  But 
is it ethical for this innovation to hide from donors that their donation isn’t 
going to the cause in its entirety?

Do please [register your thoughts on the poll](http://bottomlineideas.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/can-effective-fundraising-ever-be-unethical/)
and we’ll share the findings with our readers.

 * **[Top up payments controversy hits donations](https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/12/02/top-payments-controversy-hits-donations/)**(
   2 December 2013)
 * **[Will the charity recipient of the UKIP Calypso donation reveal itself?](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/04/04/will-the-charity-recipient-of-the-ukip-calypso-donation-reveal-itself/)**(
   4 April 2015)
 * **[Fundraisers do need to explain and justify how they fundraise](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/06/12/fundraisers-do-need-to-explain-and-justify-how-they-fundraise/)**(
   12 June 2015)

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