IoF chief blasts 'lemming' fundraisers

Precision Marketing

3 November 2007

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Charities have been accused of being ‘lemmings’ when it comes to adopting marketing strategies, with too few organisations willing to take risks, according to the head of the Institute of Fundraising (IoF).

Chair Joe Saxton has blamed copycat tactics for an over-saturation of many fundraising techniques being used across the sector.

In an exclusive interview with Precision Marketing, Saxton criticised charity marketers for failing to take risks or be innovative with their fundraising strategies.

He says: “Charities only want to invest in a technique once they see that someone else has made it work.

“Once a technique has been proven by one charity, everyone else rushes in as quickly as they can.”

Saxton points to fundraising strategies such as face-to-face acquisition campaigns and alternative gift catalogues as examples of techniques that have been used by too many charities.

He says: “I would hope that there won’t be another big bandwagon, but often charities are like lemmings. It’s not helpful on any front.”

Saxton has attempted to alleviate this problem through an IoF initiative called Innovation Zone.

This project allows suppliers to have an audience with various charities in the hope that they will incorporate the new methods into their forthcoming fundraising strategies.

He says: “If we could have a more balanced approach where charities were prepared to be more innovative and take more risks, then there wouldn’t be any more bandwagons because there would be far more avenues through which people could fundraise.”

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