Fundraising Principles and Practice, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER TWOTHE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROFESSION

Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Understand and describe the historic context of fundraising.
2. Explain how fundraising evolved into a profession by the middle of the 20th century.
3. Understand the requirements for fundraising to be considered a profession.
4. Distinguish between four major categories of campaign: annual fund, capital campaigns, planned giving, and endowment campaigns.
5. Understand the role of professional associations and identify at least one relevant to your own role.
6. Understand the role that academic research can play in informing professional practice.
7. Explain why fundraisers join and exit the profession.

Introduction

In the previous chapter, we introduced the nonprofit sector and described its principal sources of income. In this chapter, we will move on to consider the role of the fundraiser in securing these monies, beginning with a brief description of the origins of the profession. As Payton (1988, p. 177) noted “practice should indeed be informed by theory and history” (italics added). The majority of this text will focus on the former, but as Payton suggests it is worth taking time out to consider the latter. After all, as Lewis (1993, p. 9) reminds us “our future will be surer if we understand our past.” All fundraisers need a basic understanding of how their roles evolved and the ...