Finance chiefs need to invest more in fundraising, saying most UK charities fail to put sufficient resources into raising voluntary income.
Mark Astarita, the former chair of the Institute of Fundraising and director of fundraising at the British Red Cross from 2011 to 2014, said “some finance directors do not understand fundraising”, and instead focus too much on ratios and percentages.
Speaking at a session of the Charity Finance Group annual conference in London he said finance directors need to spend more time with fundraisers to understand what they do.
“If you work in a mainstream fundraising charity and you don’t have that attitude of everyone gets down and dirty and gets stuck into fundraising, then I guarantee you will not be very successful,” he said.
But Astarita acknowledged that it was a difficult decision for a charity to put money into fundraising ahead of channelling it into its charitable activities, especially in an age of financial restraint.
Rohan Hewavisenti, who left his role as finance director of the British Red Cross last month to become group director of resources at the RNIB, was speaking alongside his former colleague.
He asked how many of the finance professionals present had ever been to a fundraising conference; none had, and he said this could be a useful experience for finance directors who wanted to understand the fundraising world.
Hewavisenti urged the audience to think carefully about fundraising budgets rather than making superficial decisions. “Leave aside your personal likes and dislikes, look at the analysis and go with what works,” he said.
He said: “Combined team effort makes all the difference, I think put us both in a room and we are formidable. It would be difficult to argue with if you are harmonising.
“If your fundraising and finance people are talking the same language, looking to achieve the same outcome, you really can convince your boards and chief executive to do anything. And that is the way to manage upwards.”
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