‘Fundraising’ versus ‘Development’…?

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So what’s the difference? What route should a given organisation choose when first resourcing some kind of external funding programme and philosophy..?

To my mind, ‘fundraising’ is a function logically tucked inside a larger marketing or communications department, and probably not reporting directly to the CEO.  It concerns tactical activities to secure extra resource to fund those iniatives that the organisation would carry out as a matter of course. It is likely to embrace fundraising events (uggh!), legacy promotions ( hurray!), modest corporate partnerships, community or ‘grassroots’ fundraising. Properly resourced and managed,  it is an extremely valuable addition to a zoo or other organisation’s  other revenue streams ( …and in the case of legacies of course huge sums can be involved)

But ‘development’ is a fundamentally strategic activity. It is about engagement with the external decision making landscape so as to find resource opportunities that can profoundly transform one’s organisation (RDA funding, capital campaigns, VAT recoup, elective pound programmes, major sponsorship, high level major gifts, etc). It is about the patient, high level marketing of the zoo, its work and its ethical mission to the most senior decision makers possible. It is about the entire growth future of the organisation,  in so far as this is dependent on the external world (  -  which it probably is).

Development is a quasi-CEO activity. You may have of course to hire someone with the specific skills and an exclusive focus on the external world, but the Head of Development must report directlyto the CEO. The CEO will always have be personally very involved as well.

Which approach do I think is the more exciting..?  Guess..!

 Happy to hear dissenting views or experience

 John

http://www.johnreganassociates.com/

John@johnreganassociates.com

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