# Who is responsible for the ‘current crisis’ in fundraising in the UK?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/07/20/who-is-responsible-for-the-current-crisis-in-fundraising-in-the-uk/
- Published: 2015-07-20T14:50:59+01:00
- Author: Giles Pegram CBE

Fundraising is at a crossroads. Since Ken Burnett’s ‘Relationship Fundraising’ was
published twenty-four years ago, we have all professed to be relationship fundraisers,
but my view is that don’t have a great track record of making that a reality. (I
am working with Ken on what we can do to change that.)

I say this with some experience. I first got involved in fundraising when I was 
ten. Apart from the side issue of ‘A’ levels and a degree in Logic, I have been 
a full time fundraiser for my whole life.

Either we are ignoring bad practice in fundraising, or we are colluding with bad
practice. The [expose by the Daily Mail](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/2015/06/08/mail-on-sundays-headlines-are-fundraisers-getting-it-wrong/)
put us in defensive mode, but we should be working together to make that bad practice
unacceptable. How many of us go into meetings with our staff and agencies, talking
about how we can maximise income? Some people respond by writing fifteen ‘asks’ 
in the first page of an appeal letter to donors. “It tested well against our ‘banker’
control.” But how did donors feel as a result of the mailing. How does it affect
their likelihood of making another gift? We don’t know, and so we perpetuate the
idea that we ‘churn and burn’ our donor file. It produces results, which make our
ADs, CEOs and trustees happy. Now that stewardship is all the rage, we might put
a couple of non-ask mailings into the ‘supporter journey. But fundraising is about
asking. Hard.

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However much we might have found the Daily Mail articles distasteful, personal, 
and vindictive, they illustrate that part of fundraising is fundamentally rotten.
If I were an appeals director of one of the charities implicated by the recent articles,
I would have done what one major appeal director did. I would suspend all external
TFR agencies until I was sure they were working in a donor centred way. And then
apply the ‘Daily Mail’ test to all of our fundraising.

> There is a litmus test. ‘Did the donor feel better as a result of the communication,
> than they did before it?’

Every letter, email, newsletter, telephone call should move the relationship on.
There are far too many fundraising managers carrying whole books of spreadsheets
under their arms, rather than letters of inspiration from donors. And there are 
too many fundraisers who are responding to the call: “are we on budget?” There is
little focus on the donor experience.

There is a fundamental dichotomy. We believe that our fundraising should be donor
focussed, but in practice we are judged by our monthly performance against budget.
That is an oxymoron, a contradiction in itself.

> Fundraisers want to be donor focussed, but their bosses want results. The very
> walls of our offices whisper ‘budgets’.

So who is responsible for the current crisis? Not the fundraiser working to two 
incompatible tasks.

> The real responsibility lies with CEOs and trustees who have created this oxymoron,
> don’t understand fundraising, and perpetuate the contradiction between monthly
> income, and long term donor relationships, which are proven to increase life-time
> value.

I don’t think that CEOs and trustees are aware that short term targets are at odds
with cultivating life-time relationships. Nor do they see themselves as responsible
for the current media storm. They are wrong.

The focus of the current media storm should not be directed at fundraisers. It should
be directed at the CEOs, FDs and trustees, who see fundraising as an income generating
machine, and focus on monthly targets. If they are from a commercial background 
they would see this immediately, but they put their business sense on hold when 
they consider their role as a charity trustee.

Our sector needs to take a long look at fundraisers and fundraising through the 
eyes of the donor, to ask what donors want and what is most likely to inspire them
to give over a long period. And this shouldn’t be the sole responsibility of fundraising.
It should also challenge CEOs, FDs and trustees.

Appeals directors should be working with CEOs to create a common strategy for the
donor experience. Fundraisers should have clear objectives. With long term objectives
having the same weight as short term ones.

> CEOs and trustees need to recognise that donors need to be seen as partners, not
> an ATM.

 

_Copyright **Giles Pegram CBE** 19/vii/2015._

 * **[Who is a fundraiser (and who is going to save fundraising)?](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/08/04/who-is-a-fundraiser-and-who-is-going-to-save-fundraising/)**(
   4 August 2015)
 * **[What do we do now to reassure our donors?](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/08/11/what-do-we-do-now-to-reassure-our-donors/)**(
   11 August 2015)
 * **[17 national charity CEOs commit to higher standards in fundraising](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/09/08/17-national-charity-ceos-commit-to-higher-standards-in-fundraising/)**(
   8 September 2015)