Introduction to Fundraising Ethics: On-Demand

Governance and ComplianceEthics
01 January - 31 December 2024
12:00AM to 12:00AM

Individual Prices

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Package Type Available To Price
Organisational Members All Days Organisational Members £0

This online on-demand course is exclusively available for anyone who's organisation holds an Organisational Membership with the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.

Standard Content

The reason that ethics in fundraising can often feel overlooked is because we have a tendency to think that acting ethically means adhering to the code of practice; and when the code doesn’t tell you what you should do (or not do), then filling in those gaps with the fundraiser’s own moral intuition about what they feel to be right or ethical.  

But there is much, much more depth, nuance and complexity to the ethics of professional fundraising than this. Starting with a consideration of what we generally think of as unethical practice, these videos go on to look at the relationship between ethics and the code of practice, and how ethics fills in the gaps and grey areas in the code. It concludes by exploring some of the ‘lenses’ of fundraising ethics practitioners will need to employ to make the best decisions when they encounter ethical dilemmas in fundraising. 

Modules and course structure

This series of three pre-recorded videos (approximately 30min each) explores the essential and yet surprisingly often overlooked subject of fundraising ethics: 

  • Module 1 – Introduction to Fundraising Ethics 
  • Module 2 – Applied Ethics and the Code of Fundraising Practice 
  • Module 3 – Normative Ethics: navigating grey areas in the Code of Fundraising Practice 
Who should take this course?

This course is for any and all fundraisers with an interest in the ethics of their professional practice. It’s not about job title, seniority or length of service in the profession. The ethics of fundraising is as important to a database assistant as it is to a director of development; as relevant to a new entrant as it is to a 20-year veteran. Depending on how much you already know about fundraising ethics, this course will provide a concise introduction or timely refresher. 

Benefits for you and your organisation

These videos are not going to tell fundraisers what is and is not ethical practice. Nor are they tutorials about what ethical decisions to take. But what they will do is equip your organisation’s fundraisers with a much broader and in-depth understanding of fundraising ethics that will lead to better and more consistent decision making. 

Learning outcomes

This is what anyone taking this course will come away with: 

  • A fuller, deeper and more rounded understanding of what we mean when we talk about ‘fundraising ethics’

  • An understanding of the relationship between ethics and the code of practice 

  • New or refreshed knowledge of lenses of fundraising ethics, and how to use these to resolve ethical dilemmas in fundraising 

About Your Trainer

Ian MacQuillin MCIoF(Dip) is the director of the international fundraising think tank Rogare, which he founded in 2014. Rogare aims to help fundraisers better use theory and evidence in by translating academic ideas into professional practice and building fundraising’s knowledge base. Ian is recognised as a leading thinker on fundraising ethics, having developed a new theory of fundraising ethics that seeks to balance fundraisers’ duties to both their donors and beneficiaries. 

He is a member of the certification committee of the European Fundraising Association, associate editor (ethics) of the Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing, and visiting fellow at Kingston University Business School. 

He edits the Critical Fundraising blog, writes a regular column for Third Sector magazine and regularly contributes to the specialist charity media around the world. Ian is also an in-demand speaker on the global fundraising conference circuit. 

Ian is also the executive director of Chapel & York’s UK Foundation. 

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