Critical Fundraising

KNOWLEDGE/OPINION: ICO and enforcement action against charities

In December 2016, the Information Commissioner’s Office took enforcement action against the British Heart Foundation and RSPCA for breaching data protection legislation. This page collects the ICO statements and blogs responding to ICO’s action, both critical and in support of ICO, as well as any best practice advice. We’ll add to this as and when blogs are published.

OPINION: Does the ICO have ‘unreasonable’ expectations about wealth screening?

The UK’s data protection regulator has fined two charities over how they have ‘wealth screened’ current and future donors. Ian MacQuillin ask whether the Information Commissioner’s Office is treating charities differently to companies.

KNOWLEDGE: Blog digest November 2016

Each month, the Critical Fundraising blog presents a digest of the best fundraising-related blogs and articles that have adopted a critical fundraising mode of thought.

KNOWLEDGE: Blog digest October 2016

Each month, the Critical Fundraising blog presents a digest of the best fundraising-related blogs and articles that have adopted a critical fundraising mode of thought.

NEW IDEAS: You’ve been reframed, Part 1 – are fundraisers and programme delivery ‘ideologically’ divided about beneficiary images?

The tension between fundraisers and programme delivery staff about how to best portray beneficiaries in marketing materials has existed at least since Live Aid and shows no sign of being resolved. In a two-part blog, Ian MacQuillin says the whole question needs to be reframed away form the simplistic notion of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ fundraising images.

NEW IDEAS: You’ve been reframed, Part 2 – how we need to rethink the question of beneficiary images

KNOWLEDGE: Academic research into framing of beneficiaries in fundraising

This post is a start at listing the main academic research papers that have looked at the issue of how beneficiaries are framed in fundraising and marketing materials.

KNOWLEDGE: Blog digest September 2016

Each month, the Critical Fundraising blog presents a digest of the best fundraising-related blogs and articles that have adopted a critical fundraising mode of thought.

NEW IDEAS: The donor is always right, part 2 – does it lead to donor correctness gone mad?

If it’s beneficiaries, rather than donors, who are actually charities’ ‘consumers’, Ian MacQuillin asks if this changes how fundraising ought to be regulated.

NEW IDEAS: The donor is always right, part 1 – is being a donor the same thing as being a consumer?

Fundraising regulation is often predicated on the assumption that donors require the same degree of ‘protection’ as consumers. In the first of a two-part blog, Ian MacQuillin argues that it’s beneficiaries, not donors, who are a charity’s true consumers