Normative fundraising ethics: A review of the field

Abstract

The ethics of fundraising has received scant attention in the academic literature, while there is not a huge amount in the grey and practitioner literature either. There is little that explicitly describes normative theories of fundraising—broad concepts of how fundraising ought to be practised, from which recommendions for applied ethical practice can be drawn. This is the first review of the literature on fundraising ethics, articulating, synthesing and naming (often for the first time) 14 ethical theories/lenses that can be inferred (few are explicitly stated as normative ethical theories) from the literature. In so doing, this review provides scholars and practitioners with a much firmer conceptual foundation for examining and developing professional fundraising ethics, and for analysing applied practice and finding solutions to the ethical dilemmas in applied practice.

Developing a children's rights approach to fundraising with children in primary schools and the ethics of cultivating philanthropic citizenship

“…This is an important role as ‘charities cannot run on goodwill alone’ (Breeze, 2017: p.3). We do not seek to provide a detailed account of fundraising ethics here, that is covered well by other scholars (e.g., see Kelly, 1998; MacQuillin, 2021; MacQuillin & Sargeant, 2019; O'Neil, 1994). Our focus here is on considering how these normative ethics take into account (or not) children's rights.…”

“…Normative ethical theories attempt to provide a general theory of how we ought to live’ (2016: p.5). There are three major approaches to normative ethics: consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics (MacQuillin, 2021). According to MacQuillin (2021), consequentialism, identifies that we are morally obliged to act in a manner which produces the best consequences, therefore the morality of the act depends only on the consequences; deontology focuses on ethical acts which conform to established social norms, therefore an act is moral if it is the established ‘right thing to do’; whereas virtue ethics focuses on the role of an individuals character and virtues, therefore the moral act would be one which a ‘virtuous person would do in the same situation’ (ibid: p.7).…”

“…Based on these approaches to normative ethics, MacQuillin and Sargeant (2019) and later MacQuillin (2021) present three ideas from their review of the professional and academic literature which they feel could serve as the bases for normative ethical theories of fundraising ethics, adding the fourth in part as response to finding the literature wanting. These are:…”

“…However, the needs of the beneficiaries or wider public good are left untouched within this theory. Normative statements that are in line with a service of philanthropy from a consequentialist approach promote fundraising as being ethical when it brings meaning to the donor's philanthropy (MacQuillin, 2021), by adding ‘greater meaning’ to donors lives (Rosso, 1991) and reflecting ‘the fundamental convictions of the donor’ (Sievers, 2013). Whereas considering fundraising as a service for philanthropy from a public good perspective, adopts a more deontological perspective, proposing that fundraisers serve the public good and thus should support the common good of society (Pribbenow, 2013).…”

A thematic analysis of fundraiser characteristics in high‐quality major donor fundraising relationships inUShigher education

“…Whether the field has the trappings and legitimacy of a “profession” remains discussed and unresolved—a condition that has relevance to how fundraisers do their work that may relate to how donors perceive them (Breeze, 2017; Shaker et al, 2019). Indeed, by some measures, the professional designation is directly related to the public's view of a field's legitimacy (MacQuillin, 2017). Fundraisers themselves feel positive about the field but believe that the public sees fundraising ambivalently or negatively (Meisenbach et al, 2019; Shaker & Nathan, 2017).…”