Lost in translation: A sociological study of the role of fundraisers in mediating gift giving in non-profit organisations

Recent years have seen a significant growth in the technical literature exploring charitable giving and fundraising. However, there is little empirical research on the actual workings of the fundraising process within non-profit organisations. In this paper, the day-to-day practice of fundraising is analysed from a sociological perspective that draws on the theories of the gift proposed by Mauss ( 1954 ), Titmuss ( 1970 ), and colleagues to propose an alternative, more complex giving model to strangers. Using qualitative data drawn from 44 interviews with fundraisers and their colleagues across 14 organisations, this study examines how fundraisers build and maintain long-term giving relationships with the individuals who provide financial support to non-profit organisations. Findings suggest that the primary gift giving relationship exists not between the giver and beneficiary but rather between the giver and fundraiser. The fundraiser, in this instance, actively employs tactics of reciprocity to both secure new gifts and ensure that givers continue to support their organisation. In doing so, fundraisers construct a narrative of the donor's imagined direct connection to the beneficiary and their “good gift”. Simultaneously, the fundraiser works with colleagues to construct the idea of the caring, connected, and sacrificial donor as a means to solicit their support in maintaining the continued gifting from these supporters. The paper concludes with a consideration of the ways in which these narrative constructions are incorporated into fundraising and organisational strategies; and two implications for perceptions of the role of philanthropy and fundraising.     

The impact of brand orientation on managerial practice: a quantitative study of the UK's top 500 fundraising managers

This paper explores the impact of brand orientation on the managerial practices of fundraising managers in the top 500 UK charities and, in particular, on their ability to attract voluntary income. A series of hypotheses was tested including whether level of brand orientation is associated with different patterns of influence within charities, with the range and type of brand communicators used and with the extent to which organisational objectives are fulfilled. A key finding of the research was that high brand‐oriented fundraising managers attract significantly more voluntary income than low brand‐oriented fundraisers, but that level of brand orientation was not related to statutory income. Such findings are consistent with current theory and practice of branding in which a brand is perceived as a product or organisation plus, where the plus indicates a unique set of values which allows differentiation and hence, donor choice, within competitive environments. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

“You can try to press different emotional buttons”: The conflicts and strategies of eliciting emotions for fundraisers

In a competitive climate in which charities must increasingly rely on fundraising with the public, emotions such as hope, guilt, and fear are powerful tools that can be used strategically to secure donations or participation. This paper explores data from interviews with 23 fundraisers and voluntary sector workers, managers, and officials, to argue that decisions around how, why, and when to invest in the elicitation of emotion in fundraising are often difficult and conflicted, with some identifying a battle between ethics and effectiveness. We identify 3 key levels of conflict that must be negotiated: at the level of the charity sector, where the emotional ethics particularly of larger charities have been met with some resistance from the public and press; at the level of the organisation itself, where the ethics of representation are often a subject of conflict between fundraising and other departments such as policy; and, finally, at the experiential level of individual fundraisers themselves, who report being routinely internally conflicted around the rights and wrongs of using emotion in their work. A strategic approach to eliciting emotion emerges in the data as a useful way to address some of these areas of conflict, with fundraisers making careful “balancing” decisions about how and with whom to mobilise certain emotions at specific times.     

Community-engaged philanthropy: The role of the fundraiser in building equitable communities

In recent years, fundraisers have become increasingly focused on major gift solicitation while donors have been making larger gifts to fewer organizations. As this trend continues, some have begun to question whether major organizations and/or wealthy individuals now have too much control over the work of nonprofits and the communities they serve. While it is true that major gifts are important and can made a noticeable, positive impact, in some cases community members might see their impact as intrusive. In situations such as this, what is the “best” course of action? How should fundraisers consider, balance, and address the perspectives and rights of their organization, donors, and community members? This paper creates a framework for fundraisers as they consider not only their responsibilities to their organization and constituents, but also their responsibilities for promoting equity within their community as a whole. This paper draws on the social-ecological model, as well as concepts from intersectionality, to explore how fundraisers can increase involvement from all community members in a nonprofit's work to create a participatory and community-engaged process, with a special focus on including those who are typically marginalized, rather than maintaining a hierarchical system of power. It also draws on the theories of rights-balanced fundraising ethics, community-centric fundraising, and other ethical frameworks of fundraising and public administration to compare what is being done by fundraisers to what should be done to encourage ethical practices in fundraising. The paper is supplemented by examples of the impact of implementing (or not implementing) community engagement in fundraising practices. This paper aims to create a community-engaged philanthropy framework for fundraisers as they consider not only their responsibilities to their organization and donors, but also their responsibilities for promoting equitable distributions of power within their community. This framework provides specific guidance for fundraisers as to how they can balance these multiple (and sometimes competing) responsibilities while also keeping ethics at the forefront of their actions. It demonstrates how, by taking a community-engaged approach to their work, fundraisers are able to bring about better long-term outcomes for their organization. Specifically, the framework considers: (1) To whom are fundraisers most responsible, and to whom should fundraisers be most responsible—their nonprofit, their donors, or those being served? (2) For what rights of community members must the fundraiser account when soliciting funds, and to what extent is the fundraiser responsible for upholding these rights? (3) In what ways can an invitation from a fundraiser to make a gift also invite some level of power or control over the organization's work? (4) To what extent do fundraisers have the responsibility to maintain an equitable power balance among their constituents, including donors and those served? (5) How can fundraisers help ensure that all community members are able to participate in the organization's work to extent that they are willing and able?     

Fundraising and public relations: a comparison of programme concepts and characteristics

This study compares characteristics of successful academic unit fundraising programmes and successful public relations programmes. Using interviews and surveys it explores whether academic unit fundraisers value the roles and responsibilities that align with identified strategic‐managerial and historical‐technical characteristics in public relations, whether demographic differences affect the role perception of the fundraisers, and whether the universities provide support for programme excellence. The results indicate that the fundraising programmes exhibit most of the characteristics of successful public relations programmes and that the academic units in which these fundraisers work provide support for them to do excellent fundraising. Demographics do not affect the results significantly. The data lead to questions for further study, including: How should fundraisers balance the benefit of having donors involved in programmes they support, with the university's need to retain autonomy and set its own priorities? Do excellent fundraising programmes strengthen relationships between alumni and universities? Do alumni with stronger relationships with the university contribute more, or more often, than those with less strong relationships? Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Understanding higher education fundraisers in the United States

Since their earliest days, the U.S. higher education institutions have relied on philanthropic support to achieve their missions. What began as incidental is now a highly organized process of fundraising that accounts for tens of billions of dollars annually. As institutions' desire for private support grows, so too does the demand for successful fundraising professionals. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative analysis, this survey-based study (n = 508) of U.S. higher education fundraising personnel provides new knowledge and grounds fundraisers' position in historical and contemporary literature about fundraisers and professionalism. The findings highlight notable generational, income, and gender differences within the higher education sector and between higher education and the greater profession. The analysis shows an established knowledge-base and set of learnable skills for higher education fundraisers—which are best applied when combined with particular personal attributes. Although the latter are critically important, without full and fair attention to the former, the occupation is unlikely to garner full professional status. This study highlights, the path forward highlights the complexity of contemporary fundraising, is a reminder that fundraising is relationship- and information-driven, and indicates that select, strategic efforts can further professionalize the field. In particular, fundraisers in the education sector may have special opportunities to advance the professionalization of their occupation.     

Anticipating public expectations of humanitarian action—An ethnographic study of recruiting donors through face‐to‐face fundraising

In this article, we show how anticipating public opinion reinforces the tendencies of fundraising to work against the long‐term aims of humanitarian non‐governmental organisations through investigating the practices of face‐to‐face fundraising. The data of this qualitative analysis are based on the field notes of 45 encounters where we subjected ourselves to the fundraising performances of face‐to‐face campaigners. Furthermore, we conducted 12 semistructured interviews with fundraising and communication experts and made participant observations in the training sessions of new fundraisers and fundraising workshops. Through abductive content analysis, we show that face‐to‐face fundraising campaigns are designed to be simple and appealing rather than informative. The designers expect that audiences will not be able to digest complex information during brief encounters on the street. With advice from trainers, street fundraisers transform predesigned campaign materials into catchy, emotion‐loaded narratives. Street campaigners are also advised to echo the opinions of passers‐by. On the streets, campaigners need to establish a sense of proximity between the public and beneficiaries, (over)emphasise the agency capacities of donors, and particularise the humanitarian agenda according to the preferences of their audiences. Subsequently, our results show how anticipating public expectations sets manifold conditions for the discursive content of face‐to‐face fundraising.     

Leading and lagging indicators in fundraising management: A Canadian case study

Fundraisers, managers, and boards in the charitable sector are faced with an ongoing concern: how do they produce sustainable, predictable financial returns for their causes while minimizing the cost of fundraising? One way to address this is to improve the measurement of fundraising activities and this study asks how fundraising results should be communicated within organizations to support sustainability. This case study focuses on the fundraising program from one Canadian charity with a large, diversified fundraising program to examine how fundraisers can move beyond simple end-of-year financial ratios and implement one managerial technique, leading and lagging indicators, to improve long-term financial performance. A literature review, internal interviews, and internal document review are used to identify 81 potential leading and lagging indicators that fundraisers can use to develop a suite of indicators that fit their context, activities, and goals and to identify potential challenges with implementing indicators. The role of organizational context and characteristics in selecting an appropriate suite of indicators is also discussed.     

A thematic analysis of fundraiser characteristics in high-quality major donor fundraising relationships in US higher education

As nonprofits increasingly rely on large contributions, skillful major gift fundraisers are more important than ever. In contrast to the vast research on donor motivations, there are few examinations of fundraisers or fundraising relationships. This study responds to nonprofits' interest in understanding beneficial fundraising strategies and to the lack of empirical literature with the question: From the donor perspective, what characteristics do fundraisers demonstrate within high-quality major giving relationships? This exploratory, interview-based project used a codebook thematic analysis approach based on HEXACO personality theory to review participants' reflections about fundraisers. The 20 participating donors had given between USD$10,000 and USD$40 million to select colleges and universities in the US Midwest region. This study confirms much of what fundraisers believe to be important to major gift donors, with added nuance about the complex form of professionalism donors appreciate. The fundraiser characteristics show several dual emphases, including on field expertise and interpersonal acumen, attention to donor concerns and institutional interests, patience with the gift-making process and ability to facilitate its progression, and attention to ethical practice and empathetic interactions. The study shows the inner workings of the major giving relationship fundraising paradigm, reveals how societal perceptions of fundraisers are relevant for understanding donor preferences, and provides a framework for fundraisers to assess and enhance their interactions with major donors.     

Back to school? What the voluntary sector can learn from the education sector

Almost unnoticed by the charitable sector as a whole, a quiet revolution has transformed educational fundraising over the last decade. From a minor and wholly owned subsidiary on the periphery of the industry, the education sector has become a highly professional and successful multinational, which in some respects is now the market leader. This paper argues that the whole of the charitable sector could benefit by taking a close look at the experience of educational fundraisers, and that such an examination could have profound repercussions in the way most fundraisers treat their donors and organise their operations. Specifically, it suggests that the nature of ‘relationship fundraising’ actually means that every donor must be treated as an individual by an individual fundraiser, irrespective of the size of their gift, and that the work of a fundraising department should not work towards merely giving the impression of such treatment.     

The fundraiser's journey: A developmentally informed,grounded theory analysis

Fundraisers play a vital role in the success of nonprofit organizations, yet relatively little is known about the experiences, motivations, and thought processes that inform their career choice and development. This exploratory, cross-comparative case study of 3 fundraisers addresses this gap in the literature by examining some formative influences on fundraisers' careers, their professional growth aspirations and opportunities, and how, if at all, they engage in personal philanthropy. Results suggest that fundraisers' aptitudes, skills, and abilities may influence their career choice more than a sense of connection to the nonprofit sector or organizational mission. Further, fundraisers seek opportunities to exercise leadership at the individual, organizational, and community levels. Additionally, their personal philanthropy and social embeddedness play integral roles in their professional development. Although not large enough for generalization, these results suggest the need to study fundraisers holistically, including their psychological development and social embeddedness over time. We argue for the need to move beyond traditional marketing and public relations perspectives to explain fundraising. Instead, future studies should adopt a service-dominant logic framing that considers fundraisers as part of a larger philanthropic ecosystem. We conclude with several questions to guide future studies toward this line of inquiry.     

Using data in legacy fundraising: a practical approach

• Legacies provide a major source of income to charities, and their importance is only likely to increase with the passing on of the baby-boomer generation. Legacy fundraising is a long-term process, based on developing relationships with donors over time. Data have a key role to play in the development of these relationships, allowing legacy fundraisers to measure and track their donors, and to contribute to the development of effective fundraising strategies. This paper discusses the effective collection and use of data in legacy fundraising, from consolidating data, to analysing the results and building legacy targeting models. The authors discuss how these principles have been applied in UK-based charity, Help the Aged, in conjunction with their Data Agency, Tangible Data (formerly Talking Numbers) and to give practical advice on how they may be implemented in other organisations.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Philanthropy,social capital or strategic alliance? The involvement of senior UK business executives with the voluntary sector and implications for corporate fundraising

Although corporate fundraising is popular there has been very little discussion in the voluntary sector literature of its context. Using questionnaire data from senior executives representing one‐third of the FTSE350 companies, and in‐depth interviews with a number of top level business men, this paper reports the first UK survey of the personal involvement of senior executives with charities, voluntary and community organisations,[Walker, C. and Pharoah, C. (2000) ‘Making time for charity: A survey of top business leaders' involvement with voluntary organisations’, Charities Aid Foundation, Kent.] and pinpoints messages about corporate involvement which may help fundraisers develop corporate fundraising strategies. The data give the first indications of how many of the UK's top business executives give time to charity, how much time they give and what they do. It also addresses what there is to gain for and from the charity, the senior executive and their company. The results present a picture of widespread and enthusiastic involvement of senior executives with the voluntary sector; a picture of both a deep personal commitment and of a strong sense of corporate benefit. The survey also raises several important issues and implications for corporate fundraising: should charities be doing more to attract top executives into an active relationship with them? How can they do this? What are the pros and cons of an alliance between corporate figureheads and charitable organisations; how might this relationship be viewed by the public; and how might it best be managed? This paper draws on the results of the survey to illustrate and discuss these issues. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Dispelling the myths about major donor fundraising

• This paper explores some common weaknesses that occur when charities undertake major donor initiatives. It also explodes some common ‘myths’ that can stifle an organisation's major donor work. The basis for identifying these weaknesses and myths comprises of two sources: some original management centre (=mc) research among a number of leading major donor fundraising organisations, and our practical consulting experience over the last 3 years with not-for-profit fundraisers running major campaigns in UK, USA and Australia. In the paper, we also explore how by confronting these weaknesses and dispelling the myths within your organisation, you too can develop a successful major donor income stream. These lessons are now being applied in our consulting work in the UK, USA and South America, with some significant success. We believe they hold important general lessons for anyone running major donor-led capital campaigns.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Applying a stakeholder management approach to ethics in charitable fundraising

While nonprofit accountability literature recognizes many stakeholders, even theoretically grounded approaches to fundraising ethics tend to focus more narrowly on donors, organizations, and their missions. This paper draws on business ethics scholarship by proposing a stakeholder management approach to ethics in fundraising. This approach foregrounds intentional examination of the multiple stakeholders in the fundraising process: the organization; its donors; current beneficiaries; the broader population within the issue; the fundraisers themselves; and the community. Following stakeholder theory, ethical fundraising activities must align with the charitable mission of the organization, and take into account the legitimate interests of those groups and individuals who can affect, or be affected by, its activities. The process of intentionally identifying, prioritizing, mapping claims, engaging with, and monitoring stakeholders offers fundraisers, nonprofit executives, and members of governing and advisory boards a pragmatic means of aligning fundraising efforts with the mission, values, and long-term strategy of their organizations.     

The changing face of HRM: in search of balance

Current models of HRM suggest that expectations about HR roles are changing as organisations are striving to make the HR function leaner and more ‘strategic’. In our article we explore the changing roles of HRM as they are perceived by different stakeholder groups within the HR profession through the medium of a study examining the diffusion of the concept of ‘the thinking performer’ launched by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in 2002. We explain how the concept of business partnering dominates respondents' talk about HR policy and practice and raise questions about the impact of this in terms of HRM's relationship with employees, employee well‐being and the career paths of HR professionals. We argue that the profession needs to reflect seriously on the consequences of a dominant business/strategic partner framing of HR work, which fails to address the duality that has historically always been inherent in HR practice. We conclude that there is a need for a more balanced HR agenda addressing human and economic concerns in current and future models of HRM.     

Lost in translation: exploring the link between HRM and performance in healthcare

Using data collected in 2004 from 132 Victorian (Australia) public healthcare providers, comprising metropolitan and regional hospital networks, rural hospitals and community health centres, we investigated the perceptions of HRM from the experiences of chief executive officers, HR directors and other senior managers. We found some evidence that managers in healthcare organisations reported different perceptions of strategic HRM and a limited focus on collection and linking of HR performance data with organisational performance management processes. Using multiple moderator regression and multivariate analysis of variance, significant differences were found in perceptions of strategic HRM and HR priorities between chief executive officers, HR directors and other senior managers in the large organisations. This suggested that the strategic human management paradigm is ‘lost in translation’, particularly in large organisations, and consequently opportunities to understand and develop the link between people management practices and improved organisational outcomes may be missed. There is some support for the relationship between strategic HRM and improved organisational outcomes. Implications of these findings are drawn for managerial practice.     

Strategic management and fundraising: A planning model for resource development in the nonprofit organisation

Many nonprofits can benefit greatly from integrating their strategic, marketing and fundraising planning into an environmentally comprehensive process. Even during this critical period for them, many nonprofits typically have failed to implement this type of integrated planning because their corporate culture often nurtures: an inner process focus, leadership pathologies, professional balkanisation, reluctance to accept advancement as a global organisational activity, an unwillingness to accept the realities of a moving market and a lack of political will to undertake social advocacy on behalf of their clients. In order to succeed in the future, nonprofit organisations will need to approach strategic planning through an interdisciplinary methodology that will be shaped by multiple market audits focusing on: mission and institutional capabilities, image and competitive analysis, philanthropic feasibility and flexible integration of revenue/resource development. Nonprofits that adopt this interdisciplinary process will be rewarded by enhanced fundraising returns, once re-founded on a culture that has remained mission-relevant while becoming market-driven. The nonprofit that bases its planning on more effective use of intelligence gathering and flexible focusing of its human and financial capital will be more capable of acting upon a fluid environment and realising the institution's optimal future.     

Donor lifetime value: An empirical analysis

The successful quantification in monetary terms of the value of a donor to a voluntary organisation is absolutely essential to the subsequent development of fundraising strategy. The question most voluntary organisations have failed to address, however, is how best to calculate this value. Many fundraisers continue to examine value historically, looking at the total amounts given to date. Such an approach fundamentally ignores the future or lifetime potential of a given charity donor and can lead to the development of contact strategies that are wholly inappropriate given the worth of that individual. It is the purpose of this paper to calculate the lifetime value (LTV) of various categories of donor and to explain how charities might use such information to inform the development of their fundraising strategy.