Fundraising thinktank Rogare launches gender project
Melanie May | 24 April 2019 | News
Fundraising thinktank Rogare has launched a new project on gender with the first outputs now available.
Exploring gender issues in fundraising and led by Caoileann Appleby, Strategy Director at Irish creative agency Ask Direct, the project’s objectives include identifying questions and issues for further exploration, clarifying terms, and collating and analysing existing ideas and theories, as well as initiating and developing discussions and conversations.
Rogare will publish bite-sized pieces of information from the project on its Critical Fundraising blog as and when they are completed.
The first three posts have been published, and define key terms as well as examine sexual harassment and violence. They are:
- Introducing our new project on Gender Issues in Fundraising, by Caoileann Appleby
- Gender Issues in Fundraising – Terminology 101, by Ruth Smyth and Heather Hill
- Gender Issues in Fundraising – Sexual harassment and violence, by Caoileann Appleby.
Rogare also points readers towards:
- The section on diversity by Ashley Belanger in the recently-published Critical Fundraising (USA) Report
- And the related Rogare project on donor dominance led by Heather Hill.
Future posts will look at career paths, leadership and visibility, how feminist ethics can apply to fundraising, and examine/define specific concepts as they apply to fundraising, such as the gender pay gap, donor dominance, and the process of the so-called ‘feminisation’ of a profession.
Appleby said:
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“Gender in fundraising is an issue that had been simmering for many years before the #MeToo movement and the scandals of the Presidents Club fundraising dinner and Oxfam’s safeguarding failures caused it to boil over. Now there is evidence from the USA that something like 25 per cent of female fundraisers have been subjected to sexually inappropriate behaviour.
“It is clear that as a profession we urgently need to tackle gender issues and work to improve how we protect and develop all fundraisers. Not only for our benefit, but also for our organisations and beneficiaries.”
“We are not here to give definitive answers but to raise awareness of the issues, encourage better conversations and discussions grounded in better knowledge, and help point those of us eager to enact change towards the most effective ways to do that.”
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New Rogare project will create theory & evidence knowledge bases to help fundraisers inform work
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.