# Fundraising must professionalise for the future, says Rogare paper

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/06/22/fundraising-must-professionalise-future-says-rogare-paper/
- Published: 2017-06-22T08:30:27+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Fundraising is not a profession when assessed against accepted criteria and must
professionalise for the sake of future fundraisers, a discussion paper from Rogare
has suggested.**

 

The green paper – [_Less than my job’s worth: Is fundraising a profession and does it matter if it isn’t?_](https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/uploads/production/document/path/9/9060/Rogare_Green_Paper_-_Is_Fundraising_a_Profession.pdf)–
argues that analysis would most likely conclude that fundraising were an ‘[emerging profession](https://www.curriculosolutions.com/library/primary-programme-hub/primary-programme)’
at best, but at worst a trade little different to sales.

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The paper, authored by Rogare director Ian MacQuillin, argues that some of the areas
in which fundraising falls short are:

 

 * There is no standard body of knowledge that fundraisers are required to acquire
   before they can practise as a paid fundraiser, nor so they can continue practising
   once they have become a fundraiser.
 * Fundraisers have little ‘professional autonomy’ to act in the manner they see
   best, free from the coercion or direction of others.
 * Fundraising has little in the way of a coherent theory of professional ethics
   to underpin it.
 * In England and Wales, fundraisers do not establish or self-regulate their own
   standards – self-regulation is generally seen as a core trait of being a profession.

 

It argues that a lack of formal and professional education in fundraising is a cause
of many of these issues, stating that about 60 per cent of [IoF](http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/home/)
members do not hold a professional qualification, while 55 per cent of American 
fundraisers say they are ‘self-taught’. According to the paper, this shows a lack
of a clear career path for people to enter fundraising where they can learn the 
theories and practical skills they need.

 

McQuillin said:

 

> “The problems associated with not being seen as a profession are that fundraisers
> are treated with a lack of professional respect, and are viewed as employees who
> are told what to do, rather than specialists whose advice on matters of income
> generation is sought.”
> “With so many people ‘falling into’ fundraising by accident, the duty on current
> members of the fundraising profession is to professionalise for the benefit of
> those fundraisers who come after them so that the fundraisers of 2030 have a defined
> entry route into a recognised profession, and the status, trust and legitimacy
> that entails.”

 

A task group of Rogare’s International Advisory Panel, led by Cherian Koshy, director
of development at Des Moines Performing Arts in the USA, will now explore the issues
raised in the green paper. The task group will:

 

 1. Identify the issues affected by fundraising’s perceived lack of professional status
 2. Identify how these issues, challenges and problems would be solved were fundraising
    to professionalise
 3. Recommend whether fundraising needs to professionalise
 4. Recommend what fundraising needs to do in order to professionalise.

 

The green paper is part of Rogare’s ongoing review of fundraising’s professional
ethics. The first output from this review was last year’s white paper, which proposed
seeking to balance fundraisers’ duties to their donors with those to their beneficiaries.
According to Rogare, a decision-making framework based on this white paper is currently
being developed and will be published later this year.

 * **[Rogare report calls on fundraisers to stop copying and start questioning](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/06/30/rogare-report-calls-fundraisers-stop-copying-start-questioning/)**(
   30 June 2017)
 * **[Greater collaboration needed between Irish fundraisers, says Rogare report](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/08/24/greater-collaboration-needed-irish-fundraisers-says-rogare-report/)**(
   24 August 2017)
 * **[Rogare report reveals fundraising issues for Scotland](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/11/24/rogare-report-reveals-fundraising-issues-scotland/)**(
   24 November 2017)

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