Rogare’s first project is to ‘review and refashion’ relationship fundraising
Howard Lake | 12 January 2015 | News
Rogare, the fundraising think tank at Plymouth University’s Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy, is to embark on its first research project.
It will review and refashion the concept of ‘relationship fundraising’ to incorporate new developments in relationship marketing and the latest theories on relationship building from the fields of psychology and social psychology.
Six stage research project
The project consists of six stages:
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1) Canvass the views of senior practitioners on the definition, scope and current success of relationship fundraising techniques.
2) Collate evidence of what is currently considered best practice and case studies of success.
3) Conduct a thorough review of the academic and practitioner literature to identify theories, frameworks and ideas from the domain of relationship marketing that might be applied to fundraising.
4) Conduct a similar review of the domain of ‘relationship management’ in psychology and social psychology to identify theories, frameworks and ideas that that might be used to inform fundraising practice.
5) Based on the two literature reviews, assess the views of senior practitioners on the direction that relationship fundraising will take in the future and the challenges it must overcome.
6) Compile a final report that summarises the learning from steps 1-5 and outlines the future direction that relationship fundraising might take.
The research project is being jointly funded by US donor management software company Bloomerang and American fundraising agency Pursuant.
‘First systematic review of the concept in 20 years’
Plymouth University
Professor Adrian Sargeant, director of the Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy, said:
“This promises to be a fascinating project as it will really be the first time anyone has systematically reviewed the concept of relationship fundraising since Ken Burnett first mooted it more than 20 years ago.
“When Ken’s book Relationship Fundraising was first published in 1992, the science of relationship marketing had yet to really emerge and database technology was so poor that there were very real limitations on what could realistically be achieved…
“In the intervening years there has been an explosion of interest in the topic. Yet there is still little agreement among practitioners about what relationship fundraising actually is, and what a relationship approach might practically mean for the way in which we steward our relationships with donors”.
“Fundraisers certainly have a general sense of what it might mean as a guiding philosophy, but no idea of the theories, tools or frameworks that could be guiding their approach, nor the results that might be achieved if they did so. This Rogare project aims to provide relationship fundraising with its theoretical foundation.”
Need ‘to find true best practices’
Steven Shattuck, vice-president of marketing at Bloomerang, explained why the company was helping to fund the research:
“In the age of blogging and social media, there’s no shortage of fundraising advice, and it can be very difficult to cut through the noise to find true best practices in how fundraisers build lasting relationships with their donors. The Rogare project is so needed not only because it fills a gap, but because the scope of the research and the pedigree of its participants is unlike anything the sector has seen before.”
Project advisory panel
As a first step in this project, Rogare intends to assemble of panel of around 30 people who can assist the project by sharing their opinions (good and bad) on relationship fundraising.
In particular Rogare is looking for their definitions of relationship fundraising, details of their relationship building practice, and their thoughts on what relationship issues they are presently wrestling with, the thinking they have engaged in to manage these issues, and any lessons that have accrued as a consequence.
To be considered for this panel contact Rogare’s manager Ian MacQuillin by 23 January.
Rogare aims to deliver the final report in September 2015.
More on Rogare
- Rogare announces new project exploring how to study the history of fundraising (12 May 2021)
- Beneficiary framing examined in new Rogare paper (22 May 2018)
- Rogare’s forst project is to ‘review and refashion’ relationship fundraising (12 January 2015)
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.