Fundraising is unusual. Whereas most professions require new entrants to pass through a qualifying pathway on which they are trained in the skills and competences they’ll need to be successful, anyone can become a full member of the profession on their very first day, knowing very little about it. 

 

Something else that marks out fundraising as different from many – perhaps most – other professions, is that many people never made a conscious decision to become a fundraiser, and then work towards that goal. Instead, they’ll tell you they fell into fundraising ‘by accident’.

 

These, and other, characteristics (one might even call them quirks) of the occupation of fundraising have many implications. They:

 

• Impact on the types of people who become fundraisers (and just as importantly, those who do not)

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• Affect how fundraisers become knowledgeable and competent at what they do

 

• Touch on the respect and esteem in which fundraisers are held by their colleagues (a ‘necessary evil’), donors and other stakeholders, and how they are treated by those other stakeholders. 

 

• Influence how fundraisers see themselves and how they identify as members of a profession (or not). 

 

Another key factor in how the fundraising profession is structured is in how well it serves and protects the interests and wellbeing of its members.

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Our workstream on the fundraising profession considers all of these things, with several discrete projects.

 

Professionalisation – can fundraising claim to be a true profession? And what are the entry routes for people wishing to join the profession? We have also worked with the European Fundraising Association to revise their Advanced Competence Framework which sets out knowledge requirements for fundraising leaders and managers.

 

Serving and protecting fundraisers’ interests – all professions need to stand up for their members. We have published two papers that explore the rise of burnout among fundraises and what leads them to change jobs (and thus what will encourage them to stay).

 

Gender issues – what issues impact on female members of the profession? This is a full Rogare workstream in its own right.

 

Fundraising historiography – are we studying the profession’s history in a way that allows us to gain the best insights and learning from what our predecessors did? (This also sits under the philosophy of fundraising workstream) 

 

There is also a cross-link to our project on the ethics of commission-based pay, which sits in our fundraising ethics workstream

 

You can find out more about each of these projects by clicking on the links in the boxes below. Or directly download our publications and papers from links further down the page.