five - What do fundraisers do?

Summary

A chapter on what fundraisers do might be expected to be rather short and unrevealing. Surely the clue is in the name? But the existing literature, and the new data collected for this study, highlight the diversity and complexity of the work undertaken by fundraisers, and paint a far more nuanced picture of the everyday reality of being employed in this role than a literal interpretation of the job title suggests.

Fundraisers do far more than ‘raise funds’

When I first began this research into what fundraisers do, and asked someone that very question, they responded with this joke:

Did you hear the one about the doctor, the lawyer and the fundraiser who all die at the same time? When they reach the pearly gates of heaven, St Peter offers the doctor, who arrives first, a single wish as a reward for doing so much good on earth. The doctor asks for a million pounds and walks through the gates into eternal paradise. The lawyer, who is second in line, overhears the conversation and when his turn comes he asks for – and gets – a billion pounds. Next up comes the fundraiser. When St Peter asks what reward she’d like, she says: “I know it's a big ask, but could I have the business cards of the two people who were just in front of me?”

This joke is much loved within the fundraising world because it acknowledges and celebrates the all-consuming nature of the job, and highlights many of the qualities discussed in previous chapters, such as tenacity, opportunism and confidence in their interpersonal skills.

Contrary to public perceptions, fundraising is not solely focused on raising funds (Waters, 2016, p 423). There is one simple truth that underlies any discussion of what fundraisers do: they are proactively working to do whatever it takes to legally and ethically secure the resources their charity needs to fulfil its mission. As the UK's Institute of Fundraising, somewhat wearily, notes, ‘This money does not appear by magic – donors need to be asked for donations’ (Institute of Fundraising, 2011, p 7). It ought to be unnecessary to state this basic fact, but given the lack of awareness of the fundraising function described in my introductory chapter, it is worth emphasising that fundraisers are not sitting on the sidelines watching surprise donations come in.