Should you stop fundraising?
When is enough enough?
by Tony Richardson
I can think of a few small charities which have several years’ running costs in reserves yet continue to knock out the trust applications.
Why???
Is it a fear of the future and there not being ‘enough’?
Is this to do with ensuring the fundraiser remains in post?
Is it greed?
Is there a vague plan for some big project in the future (for which large sums will likely be needed?)
For every bid won by charities in this situation, it’s easy to argue that are they taking money away from other organisations who likely need it more?
One particular charity on my mind regularly makes appeals to the local community. They’ve made it even easier by having an Amazon wishlist of all the items they ‘need’ and are super active across social media.
Great in theory, and no-one can argue the passion they have for their work (and the desire to build a big audience who feels connected to the cause).
However, they’re sitting on assets of over £3.5am and £1.2m in the bank (a rough calculation would suggest this is approximately 3 years running costs and if we generously remove the fixed assets, then there are still over 12 months’ running costs in the bank).
I wonder what the response to these appeals would be if they posted their reserves (and reserves policy) online alongside the ‘urgent request for funds’?
This approach wouldn’t be too far from the Solicitation Statement already required in freelance / contracted fundraising – where contractors have to state that they’re employed on a freelance basis, paid on a day rate as part of any asks they make to potential donors of their client.
Why is transparency required in some scenarios and not others?
Assuming this idea is making some charity leaders worry is enough to push the question. Is there any chance that you’re purposefully withholding information, because people might not give if they had all the information? If so, what does this now say about your activity?
What if charities in the fortunate position of having ample resources for the short / medium term actually decided to pause their fundraising activities (and what could you do instead)?
And moreover, when is enough, enough?
Many are now coming to believe that continued growth is foolhardy and that measuring success based purely on year on year financial growth does not serve the majority (fuck you capitalism!).
At a networking event I attended last year, a large national charity was describing their ten-year fundraising plan (which given the state of the world in 2022 was laughable in itself – who even knows where they’ll be in 1 year, let alone ten???) and their ambitions to double their income from £500 million to £1bn.
From what I could work out, the decision to do this wasn’t based on the specific needs of the people they were working with, but simply because they felt the potential was there in ‘the database’.
As the small charity representatives in the room vomited into their coffee cups, I had questions:
“Isn’t the practice of rinsing donors for all they’re worth a little bit 2001?”
“Who will lose out because of your unsubstantiated ambition?”
“Why is £500 million not enough money for ‘transformational change’?”
Just because we can raise money, it doesn’t mean we should.
Without knowing the details, I couldn’t help but think that if they just wound their necks in a little bit, they could continue to do their arguably great work whilst leaving more in the national pot for others?
So what would I advise a charity blessed by large reserves to do?
My personal thoughts?
Use your reserves.
Consider how you could make a large dent in the issue you’re trying to solve so that the challenges your people face are minimised in the future.
Lobby and campaign for lasting change and engage with the decision makers who can actually make the difference.
Invest in building an audience of people who care about the thing you’re trying to do so that together, you can get it done more quickly.
If your work is likely to be needed for generations to come, then look to the future and build an army of supporters who can help you should you need it in the future. Open a store or a community café, start an email newsletter, invite people to consider a legacy.
Pay your staff more
Get ahead with repairs / maintenance / replacing worn out equipment
But mostly importantly of all don’t ask for money if you don’t really need it.
Have I hit a nerve? Drop me an email and we can dig into this even more - tony@larkowl.uk