# Rogare project examines ethics of legacy fundraising during emergencies

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/06/26/rogare-project-examines-ethics-of-legacy-fundraising-during-emergencies/
- Published: 2020-06-26T09:15:53+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**The question of whether it is ethical to conduct legacy fundraising during a pandemic
and other emergencies has been explored in a new project by Rogare.**

[Rogare’s project](https://www.rogare.net/legacy-ethics) explored the ethical challenges
and issues involved in all emergencies that are likely to result in severe loss 
of life, including the current pandemic and aims to help fundraisers navigate them.

To do so, it worked to differentiate these from the usual ethical challenges and
dilemmas faced by legacy fundraisers, and analysed them through the lenses of existing
theories of fundraising ethics before recommending possible resolutions.

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

On its website, Rogare explains that the project team classified the various arguments
into two question sets.

The first looked at areas including the consideration of people in vulnerable circumstances,
communicating about a death-related subject at a time when thoughts of mortality
were high, and public perceptions around the appropriateness. The second set included
issues such as the possibility of people making legacy decisions in a hurry, the
risk of short-term offence leading to long-term detriment to legacy giving, and 
the importance of offering a convenient way to give when other options might not
be available.

## Trustism, donorcentrism and rights balancing

The project team then examined each set of questions through the lenses of trustism(
fundraising is ethical when it maintains and protects public trust), Donorcentrism(
fundraising is ethical when it gives priority to what the donor wants or needs),
and Rights Balancing (fundraising is ethical when it balances the duty of fundraisers
to ask for support with the donor’s right not to be subject to undue pressure to
give).

The team concluded that many of the ethical dilemmas considered were about poor 
legacy fundraising practice or situations that also affect day-to-day legacy fundraising,
both of which could be amplified during a time of emergency.

As such, it stresses the importance of drawing on effective legacy fundraising practice
and being sensitive to the situation the organisation is fundraising in.

It also recommends careful consideration of the organisation’s overarching approach
to the ethics of legacy fundraising, and suggests creating an ethical values statement
that could be reviewed during challenging times to ensure that the thinking behind
it hadn’t changed.

Of the three lenses it used in its exploration of the ethical issues, it believes
that Rights Balancing provides the most sound approach because it takes into account
donor wellbeing and the needs of the organisation’s beneficiaries.

Practising Rights Balancing can also, it says, bring the organisation’s plans into
sharper focus to provide a clearer course of action, and this frame also suggests
that inaction could be more problematic than sensitive action, because of the potential
detrimental impact on the organisation’s beneficiaries.

The full whitepaper is available from [Rogare’s site](https://www.rogare.net/legacy-ethics).

 * **[Rogare highlights fundraisers’ academic research and its practical applications](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/07/28/rogare-highlights-fundraisers-academic-research-and-its-practical-applications/)(
   28 July 2021)**