​John Brady sees a bright future for fundraising - as long as fundraisers walk the walk as well as talk the talk

Fundraisers are sometime accused of wearing their charities hearts on their sleeves.

To be honest over the last year and a half I’ve had worse criticism. But now it’s time for the organisation to put its fundraising values on their sleeves.

Or to be more accurate put the new Scottish Fundraising Commitment on its website and up front and centre on any public document.

It’s been a fair old journey over the last year or so in the Scottish world of fundraising.

First we had the Fundraising Review, then the Fundraising Working Group followed by the Fundraising Implementation Group. A veritable alphabet soup of acronyms and I’ve got a full set of badges by serving on all three. But for what purpose?

Fundraisers from across all sectors spoke of how proud they were at how they raised funds for their beneficiaries

John Brady

Scotland has taken longer than England and Wales to create a new system of self-regulation of fundraising but in doing so has arrived at a more proportionate system, that protect beneficiaries, donors and the public.

Crucially it was driven by the sector rather than creating bodies that were “close to the heart” of any government minister as was the case down south.

Of course there was talk of details of why and how we would be self-regulated but there was a desire for principles and values to be highlighted as well as balancing fundraising rights and responsibilities.

We know many donors will not read the thousands of words that make up the Fundraising Code. So in creating the fundraising commitment it’s a public proclamation of the values that underpin our fundraising.

The opening paragraph of the commitment states: “Fundraising is the life blood of many Scottish charities and we need to raise funds from voluntary sources. We could not fulfil our charitable mission without the support of generous, thoughtful and committed donors. We value the support of donors and understand the need to balance our duties to beneficiaries, with our duties to donors.”

Under the new Scottish fundraising regime all charities must adhere to the code.

Whilst posting and sharing the commitment is not compulsory the hope is that all charities in Scotland will publicly share the commitment.

Why, because it’s more than words it’s a commitment “to be legal, open, honest and respectful in all our fundraising”.

For most Scottish charities and organisations in Scotland this is not new. In the process of drafting the commitment fundraisers from across all sectors spoke of how proud they were at how they raised funds for their beneficiaries.

They want any bad apples should they occur, to be rooted out.

But most of all they were happy to shout from the rooftops that their fundraising is legal, open, honest and respectful.

I hope there is widespread take up of the commitment. In making such public commitment we’re acknowledging that partnership at work between donors and beneficiaries. Without donors we couldn’t support beneficiaries.

After all the needs of the beneficiaries are why fundraisers do the job, voluntary or professionally, in the first place.

John Brady is a professional fundraiser and former chair of the Institute of Fundraising in Scotland.