On Giving Tuesday (5 May 2020), Dr Beth Breeze, Director of Kent’s Centre for Philanthropy has commented on the role of fundraisers and the perspective that 'the main reason that people give is because they were asked’. She said:
‘Charities cannot run on goodwill alone. They need money to put their charitable missions into practice, whether that is paying the telephone bill to run a helpline, paying for scientific equipment to search for cures for illness, paying qualified staff to tend to the dying, or paying for the training of volunteer lifeboat men and women. However worthy and well-known the cause, and however impressive the charity’s achievements, it will not attract donations without a concerted and organised effort to raise funds.
‘There is nothing new about charitable work costing money, but rapid growth in the number of charities seeking voluntary income has intensified competition for donations and new donors, and financial survival in this new charity landscape relies on ever more innovative and attractive fundraising campaigns. Many people from all walks of life get involved with helping to raise funds for good causes, indeed the most common form of volunteering in the UK is volunteer fundraising, but long-term sustained income relies on a cadre of trained professionals whose job is to keep good causes in business. The profession of ‘fundraiser’ has developed over the past hundred years because systematic generosity requires systematic solicitation, and there are now estimated to be around 30,000 paid fundraisers in the UK. Yet it remains a little-understood role, often subject to criticism and negative media headlines about the tactics and costs involved in raising money.
‘I conducted a three-year in-depth study of UK fundraisers and found that, despite the apparently self-explanatory job title, fundraisers do a lot more than just ‘raise funds’: they spend most of their time fostering a culture of philanthropy, framing needs to raise awareness, and facilitating volunteers to ‘make the ask’. This is hard work, and with a large proportion of the nation’s fundraisers currently furloughed, an umbrella campaign such as Giving Tuesday is a very helpful mechanism to focus attention on the ongoing need for donations during the current crisis. Many charities are currently reporting a ‘double squeeze’ of increased demand for their help yet decreased income from donations.
‘There is an assumption that giving drops because potential donors have less money or experience ‘donor fatigue’, and whilst that is certainly true in some cases, academic research has consistently supported a simple truth: If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Most donations are prompted, the main reason that people give is because they were asked, so Giving Tuesday is an important brake on ‘asking fatigue’.’
Dr Beth Breeze‘s research interests focus on philanthropy, fundraising, charitable giving and the charity sector. She works within the Centre for Philanthropy, which explores philanthropic activities, social patterns of giving and the redistributive impact of transfers from private wealth to the public good. She also has an interest in the impact of philanthropy on social policy and political processes, and vice versa.
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