Fundraising in an Un-united kingdom
Howard Lake | 12 November 2012 | News
In 2007 Bruce Tait gave a plenary at the IoF North West conference, predicting fundraising trends for the next five years. Some have come to fruition, others not, but he had a more than 50% success rate.
At the IoF North West conference this year, he laid out his five predictions for the next five years. The first four were
- the rise of crowd fundraising
- that most new jobs will go to fundraisers under the age of 24
- that fundraisers will work more and more on commission
- and that the media will target charities and give them a rocky time.
His fifth prediction is less certain. The end of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, should the people of Scotland in autumn 2014 vote to revoke the Act of Union and secede from the UK.
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Although this outcome is by no means certain, it would have wide-reaching effects on charities throughout the current UK. We would face increased pressure for Wales and Northern Ireland to do the same, with the potential for English regional assemblies. Without 40 Scottish Lbour MPS, we could see an almost permanent Conservative government. How many rates of Gift Aid could we be looking at? How would the media in England and Scotland differ?
None of this might happen, of course, but it could. So all charities raising money on both sides of the border should be at the very least doing a risk assessment of their fundraising. And those with 'UK' in their title maybe should be putting funds aside for a rebrand.
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.