John Brady, chair of the Institute of Fundraising Scotland, explains why being proud of fundraising is good for everyone involved in a charity

I have seen excellent causes fail to generate enough income to cover costs, not because of fundraiser inadequacy but because top management teams do not understand nor truly value fundraising

John Brady, chair of the Institute of Fundraising Scotland

My name is John and I’m proud to be a fundraiser.

Yes, I do have a different job title now, and I get involved in all aspects of my organisation, but having started my charity career as a fundraiser, it will always be part of me. I’ve seen firsthand what fundraising can do for beneficiaries.

One example was at Sense Scotland where the programme of arts and wellbeing activities was only made possible through voluntary income raised by our team of fundraisers. This truly transformed the lives of many service users and the change was visibly obvious even to lay people like me.

This is not to put fundraisers above anyone else in organisations; whether people working in HR, finance or frontline service delivery.

Of course fundraisers could not successfully raise the income without having great projects to sell. Without the operational teams supporting beneficiaries in first-class ways, it would be an impossible task to raise income.

But first-class service delivery does not in itself raise the money, excellent fundraisers do.

I have seen excellent causes fail to generate enough income to cover costs, not because of fundraiser inadequacy but because top management teams do not understand nor truly value fundraising. And in those organisations, fundraisers can sometimes feel under attack and undervalued.

So let us be proud of what we do, the stuff that we make happen through fundraising. Let all those involved in raising money say they are proud to be a fundraiser.

John Brady is chief executive of OneKind and chair of the Institute of Fundraising Scotland.