Critical Fundraising is a concerted attempt to Rethink Fundraising by critically and constructively evaluate these issues and provide practical solutions to them. It is very loosely based on the idea of critical marketing, which is based on the concept of critical management studies, which is informed by critical theory.

​

The term is directly borrowed from Critical Marketing, a school of thought espoused by marketers and marketing academics that challenges the orthodox views that are often seen as central to the core discipline of marketing. Critical Fundraising seeks to do the same for fundraising. 

 

Our overarching goal is to rethink fundraising by challenging, where appropriate and beneficial to the sustainability of fundraising, some of the assumptions at the heart of fundraising. 

 

We will do this through a transdisciplinary approach by applying knowledge from areas outside fundraising/philanthropy research and practice – from disciplines such as moral philosophy and professional ethics, behavioural science, evolutionary and social psychology, marketing and public relations, and anthropology – to synthesise new solutions to some of our knottiest professional challenges.

​

Our core methodological approach is Critical Realism, an approach that attempts to identify the mechanisms, often hidden or unactivated, that explain/cause real world phenomena, such as why barriers to relationship fundraising exist.

 

This Critical Realist approach also informs our Theory of Change for Fundraising.

​

And as fundraisers use our Theory of Change, they will use the Critical Fundraising ethos and approach to ask questions about where our theory and evidence is weakest.

​

Having identified such a knowledge gap, Rogare will use adopt the Critical Fundraising ethos to underpin all our research projects and other outputs, such as blogs and seminars, as we investigate areas of fundraising that are under-researched or ‘under-thought’.

​

• Under-researched – topics where you feel there is simply not enough reliable data to inform current practice. Our aim would then be to find out what research does exist and suggest how this could be used by practitioners.
   

• 'Under-thought’ – subjects where you feel that the arguments, discussions and debates lack cohesion, substance and/or internal logic. These are likely to be characterised by the same rhetorical arguments being repeatedly used (from within the sector as well as without) without progress actually being made. Our aim is to develop new theory in order to ask better questions to get the evidence we need.

​

​

How we Rethink Fundraising

​

1. Through the lens of Critical Fundraising, we identify an under-thought or under-researched topic, problem issue or challenge.
    

2. We then explore all there is we can know about that, again through the lens of Critical Fundraising.
    

3. And then synthesise a new transdisciplinary solution to the topic, problem, issue or challenge.

 

 

Types of Critical Fundraising research initiatives

​

At Rogare we conduct our work in three broad categories of research initiatives:
 

• Knowledge Collectives
   

• Research Projects
   

• Research Centres.