DMA maps out fundraising future for charity sector

Industry body the DMA is attempting to ease the pressure on charity marketers in the wake of the ongoing backlash against the sector with the release of an interactive graphic that maps out an ideal model for the third sector to aspire to.
Each recommendation sets out tangible goals, actions and stakeholder endorsement, designed to act as a roadmap for charities to use to secure a more sustainable fundraising future.
Earlier this year, the DMA’s fundraising taskforce released its ‘Securing the future of one-to-one fundraising’ whitepaper and held a sector-wide workshop, inviting all stakeholders to participate in a discussion to identify the key issues, risks and opportunities facing the industry.
During the initial workshop with a range of charity stakeholders, one key theme for the future health of the sector become clear: “Putting the supporter at the heart of everything.”
This customer-centred approach is the core tenet of the recommendations and also frames all other recommendations, ensuring that supporters are always being treated responsibly. Other recommendations fall within the three broader areas of ‘Best practice’, ‘Charity role, structure and operations’ and ‘Adapting to changing attitudes, technology and legislation’.
Head of CRM and customer insight at Age UK Michelle De Souza, who is co-chair of the DMA fundraising taskforce, said: “The third sector’s evolution is non-negotiable and well underway, but far from a negative this offers us all an opportunity to create positive change to secure a sustainable future for the industry.
“By engaging a wide variety of people within charitable organisations, we want to work together to develop clear recommendations on what the sector must do to safeguard itself against the one-to-one marketing mistakes of the past.”

TOPICS:charities charity DMA fundraising