Generic concerns about the ethical use of AI can’t be overlain on to fundraising, since its use in fundraising throws up ethical dilemmas specific to this application AI currently doesn’t have access to sufficiently-sophisticated thinking about ethics to be able to tackle ethical dilemmas in fundraising Ethical and data literacy across the fundraising profession must be upskilled to ensure the most rigorous human oversight of the use of AI in fundraising. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers exciting opportunities for charities and nonprofits, from automating administrative tasks to gaining i ..read more

What on earth has this got to do with me? Well, the way you see, and quite possibly think, is already postmodern Understanding these ways of seeing and thinking will help fundraisers better understand the discussions taking place around contemporary issues, as well as suggesting new ways to communicate with donors The latest paper from the international fundraising think tank Rogare is an introduction to fundraising’s place in the postmodern world. As the author of this paper – British fundraising consultant Dr Ashley Scott – says: “If you are thinking ‘I really don’t see how grappling ..read more

No, we’re not. Ian MacQuillin explains why Ashley Scott’s new series of papers for Rogare on fundraising’s place in the postmodern world is highly relevant to fundraisers. I can pre-empt some of the comments that will be made on finding out that Rogare has published a paper on postmodernism and fundraising (actually the first of three, which will all be written by British consultant Dr Ashely Scott, who is also a member of Rogare’s Critical Fundraising Network). They’ll contain words such as ‘overthinking’, ‘inaccessible’, and ‘élitist’. People might be saying things like ‘what the h ..read more

Our standard narrative of the history of modern fundraising is simplistic and doesn’t contain as many truths as it could do. Marina Jones explains why we need more complexity in our study of fundraising history. Oh, and that as soon as we look for it, we find that women have had a major role in the development of our profession – a role that has previously been obscured. Fundraisers and historians have at least one thing in common. They both love a story. For the fundraiser, stories allow them to get a case across simply and effectively – eliciting sympathy, driving action, empathy ..read more

Explores how the ‘traditional charity model’ is disintermediated by individuals, companies and other types of charity Each type of disintermediation raises its own ethical and regulatory issues, which have barely begun to be addressed Disintermediated giving is a lot more than just donating via crowdfunding platforms. A typology of so-called ‘disintermediated’ giving devised by a project team at the international fundraising think tank Rogare will shine a light on ethical and regulatory issues that are currently obscured. Disintermediation occurs when charities/NPOs operating the ‘traditiona ..read more

Details about the first charity greetings card* (1949), first charity rock concert* (1969) and first fundraising telethon* (1951) are among the entries on a timeline of fundraising history from 1900 to the present day, unveiled today by Rogare – The Fundraising Think tank. The earliest entry on the timeline is a short overview of the work of American fundraising pioneer Charles Sumner Ward (covering the period 1900-1920). The latest is the formation of the Community-Centric Fundraising movement in 2019. You can view the timeline here. This timeline is the first of a series that will emerge fro ..read more

Third paper in Rogare series that translates recent academic study into practice Looks at how fundraisers can help donors create value in their own fundraising Recommends that fundraisers should be trained to coach and mentor donors to create more value when they conduct their own community fundraising activities  The fundraising think tank Rogare has published the latest in its series of ‘praxis papers’. ‘Praxis’ means turning theory into action, and Rogare praxis papers showcase research recently completed by a fundraising practitioner for their PhD or Master’s degree, with recommenda ..read more

Rogare has recently published a code of conduct for donors. Although published as part of our work on gender issues in fundraising, Ian MacQuillin argues that such codes have wider relevance. Rogare has published a donor code of conduct. This sets out certain attitudes and behaviours we believe charities have a right to expect from the people who give to them, stipulating particular behaviours they must commit not to do – such as discriminate against fundraisers. We published this code of conduct in the context of our recent work on gender issues in fundraising. Our Blueprint to ..read more

Report contains 45 recommendations to bring about transformational structural change Based on ‘Lean Out’ Feminism Key recommendations include: Donor codes of conduct An awareness campaign to encourage men to call out misogyny Ratings agencies and grantfunders to consider charities’ gender performance. Charities should publish donor codes of conduct that commit donors to behaving in a respectful and non-discriminatory manner towards fundraising professionals. This is a key recommendation from the second phase of Rogare’s work on gender issues in the fundraising profession. The second phas ..read more

Each month, the Critical Fundraising blog presents a digest of the best fundraising-related blogs and articles from the previous month that have adopted a critical fundraising mode of thought. This month we have a double edition as the editor got Covid and was not able to compile the November digest. Inclusion in this digest does not indicate that Rogare agrees with any arguments presented, only that we thought they made a good case. The ‘wildcard blog’ is a blog that does not discuss ideas that are directly related to fundraising, but whose ideas we might be able to use if ..read more