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.     

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.     

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.     

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     

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.     

Lifecycle‐based donor performance analysis

With charities of all sizes now having the ability to collect and store very large quantities of data about their donors on in‐house database systems, detailed donor performance analyses have an increasingly essential role to play in the effective planning and management of fundraising. If, however, such activities are to support fully the work of fundraisers then it is important that they are undertaken from the perspective of the fundraiser rather than of the specialist data analyst. This paper introduces an approach to donor performance analysis that is founded on what is termed a ‘donor lifecycle model’. The aim of this is to provide a formal analysis methodology that provides end results that can be more easily interpreted by nonspecialists and so more effectively used in support of the efficient planning of fundraising programmes. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

Advantage,meaning, and pleasure: Reframing the interaction between major-gift fundraisers and philanthropists

The purpose of this paper is to bridge the widening gap between the rapidly growing academic literature on fundraising and the need that practising, reflective fundraisers have for a useable explanatory framework for understanding what are the main forces and motivations shaping the interaction between major-gift fundraisers and philanthropists (major donors and potential donors), particularly in the so-called cultivation and solicitation (or Ask) meetings. The author's perspective is that of a fundraising practitioner. The paper sets out the essential characteristics needed in such a framework, contends that we do not yet have such a framework, and concludes by setting out a preliminary, simplifying framework for making sense of the interaction between fundraisers and donors. The purpose is to stimulate practitioners and researchers to rethink and reframe this interaction. It is proposed that the interaction is grounded on the reality that funders (and to some extent, fund-seekers), like individuals in almost every social interaction, are seeking to maximise advantage, meaning, and pleasure (AMP). This paper argues that the more these three overlap, the stronger their effect.     

Fundraising as organisational knowing in practice: Evidence from the arts and higher education in the UK

This paper argues for the centrality of organisational practices in occupational learning with a case study of fundraising in the non-profit UK's arts and higher education sectors. Despite the need to increase charitable giving to non-profit organisations, little is known about the work, fundraisers must do in order to carry out their jobs. We argue that fundraisers develop strategic understandings and competences within organisational environments, which they put into practice in their relationships with stakeholders within and outside the organisations where they work. Our findings suggest that one of the main ways in which fundraisers learn is by negotiating and surmounting obstacles both internally, within their organisational environments and externally, around the perception of fundraising as a profession. We thus argue for the importance of establishing a “fundraising culture” within organisational environments; a shared organisational competence where fundraising is practiced as a legitimate and strategic type of practice.     

The million dollar donor journey: Stages of development for high‐net‐worth women donors

Most charitable giving research focuses on individual donors at a specific point in time and uses quantitative surveys with limited data about donors' experiences. This study uses reflective interviews to examine the life trajectories of a cohort of women donors who have made gifts of $1 million or more to causes that benefit women and girls. By drawing from developmental psychology, we illustrate the iterative process of learning about giving—shaped by life experiences—that comprise the journey to becoming a million‐dollar donor. We find that, in their journeys toward making their million‐dollar commitment, women donors followed a shared trajectory with distinct stages and prompts for progression. Our findings provide guidance for fundraising professionals to recognize the stages of a potential donor's readiness to give and to facilitate progression in the journey, thus increasing the potential for more large‐scale gift commitments in the future and deepening the donor–fundraiser relationship.     

Look sharp,feel sharp,be sharp and listen — anecdotal excellence: People,places and things

While the techniques become more sophisticated, the hardware and software go through new generations and we move towards such unexplored options as internet fundraising and legal restraints, the challenges and successes in the field of fundraising and in the personality of fundraisers should not change very much: they are faced with the assignment of making the donors feel important, the causes seem attractive, and making the system move with ease and comfort for everyone concerned. The author gives strong credence to such ‘simple’ matters as appearance, health, ethics, virtue and giving attention to words as well as innuendo. The reader will learn if he or she ‘listens’ to the message of this paper; if, on the other hand, he or she is looking for a shortcut or a foolproof plan short of living and loving in the field, it will not be found — in this or any other paper. Fundraising is a synergestic system: you put everything you know together, and it comes out to equal more than the sum of its parts. Still, you keep on learning. The best fundraiser has not yet been born; the most successful campaign has not yet begun; the wisdom is still being assembled. This paper is one man's overview of where we have been, what we are doing in best practice scenarios, and what is possible if we ‘Look sharp, feel sharp, be sharp and listen’; it includes a good overview of ‘Anecdotal excellence: people, places and things’. The paper starts with a word from God and ends with a reminder for us all: ‘We must remember — to look forward!’ Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

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.     

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     

An exploratory study of stewardship for Chinese nonprofit organizations

This study examined how Chinese nonprofits practice stewardship and how stewardship principles influence nonprofit–donor relationships and donor retention. Fifteen qualitative in‐depth interviews were conducted with experienced fundraisers in China. Results showed that Kelly's stewardship principles were applicable in China; Chinese fundraisers practiced stewardship principles of reciprocity, responsibility, reporting, and relationship nurturing to maintain relationships with major gift and annual donors. Besides, practitioners also utilized a variety of communication channels, ranging from face‐to‐face, telephones, emails, to digital shared media such as WeChat and Weibo, in communicating with individual and general public donors. Finally, interviewees also provided evidence on the positive role of quality nonprofit–donor relationships in retaining donors. This study illustrated the current status of nonprofit fundraising practice in China and expanded the explanatory power of the stewardship theory. The findings are implicative for Chinese nonprofits professionals on how to develop their unique stewardship practice in managing relationships with donors.     

The ecology of internal workplace giving at Indiana University: a case study of faculty and staff campus campaign communications and fundraising

• This collective case study examines university-specific philanthropic cultures, campus fundraising campaigns, and their impact on faculty and staff giving to the university. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data, the study documents fundraising strategies through interviews and materials analysis and assesses their results through quantitative data on characteristics of donors and their philanthropic gifts. Examination of fundraising methods reveals differences between demand and supply-side communication strategies with faculty and staff members as internal stakeholders and donors. Concentrating on the campuses of Indiana University, a large, highly diverse public institution in the American Midwest, this study includes analysis of the outcomes of the fundraising process across institutions of different sizes, demographics, and philanthropic cultures. The findings underscore the importance of exploring the characteristics that influence employee donation behaviors as context for the creation and enactment of fundraising campaigns and highlight the need for future research in the area of workplace giving.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

Understanding the increasing affluence of women

Increasingly, women are emerging as major donors in their own right. For example in May 1998, five women with Harvard ties, in partnership with the University, established a $15m matching fund to encourage other women to make significant gifts to the University. There are three major economic reasons for targeting women seriously for an organisation's fundraising efforts: women have increasing economic power; women outlive men; women have a new awareness of the power of the dollars they control. Research done in both the United States (Martha Taylor and Sandra Shaw) and the United Kingdom (Stephen Pidgeon and Pauline Lockier) demonstrates that women and men have different ‘philanthropic triggers’. Many women have tended to contribute significant volunteer time and service to the institutions about which they care rather than significant gifts of money. Often, women are interested in not only how their gift benefits a specific institution, but also how it benefits society in general. Women often rely not on formal relationships with institutions, but on their perceived value of the institution's goals and impact. This paper provides a context for looking at women as donors.     

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.     

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.     

Charity brands: A qualitative study of current practice

A number of fundraising managers and directors of UK charities were interviewed with the objective of understanding to what extent branding was used in the sector, what development possibilities exist for commercial techniques in charities, and what the constraints may be on such practices. It was found that many charities already use day-to-day brand techniques, (without describing them as ‘branding’), but brand development work was scarce. Charities have a number of objectives competing with fundraising when considering their brand content. They must also satisfy the need to respect issues about how the cause itself is communicated, and possible needs to re-educate the donor community or the public. One commercial practice in particular could be developed further in charity branding: this is the idea of using the personality of the charity itself as something with which donors could associate positively.