This is likely one of the commonest questions requested of grant writing and fundraising consultants when partaking new ministries or organizations in improvement providers. The truth is, most organizations do not ask, they only assume that this have to be how consultants are compensated for his or her efforts.
Nonetheless, the reply is not any. Grant writing and fundraising consultants that comply with the ethics universally accepted by the occupation don’t and won’t work on a fee, proportion, or bonus foundation. Grant writing and fundraising consultants usually work on a flat charge for providers supplied.
There are a variety of causes for this determination. The at the start cause is that the ethics of our occupation state that it isn’t moral to just accept proportion or fee based mostly compensation. Some prefer to say that is nonetheless a debated or contested difficulty however the debate ended a very long time in the past. This commonplace is repeatedly acknowledged by the main organizations that set the requirements for our discipline. This consists of the Affiliation of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the Evangelical Council for Monetary Accountability (ECFA), the Christian Management Alliance (CLA), and the Christian Stewardship Affiliation (CSA).
AFP’s Requirements of Skilled Apply embrace the next statements: “Members shall not settle for compensation that’s based mostly on a proportion of charitable contributions; nor shall they settle for finder’s charges.”
AFP holds that proportion based mostly compensation can encourage abuses, imperils the integrity of the voluntary sector, and undermines the very philanthropic values on which the voluntary sector is predicated. AFP stands agency with its Requirements of Skilled Apply which prohibits members from working for percentage-based compensation or accepting finder’s charges.
ECFA’s Seven Requirements state that “Compensation of outdoor fund-raising consultants or a corporation’s personal staff based mostly instantly or not directly on a proportion of charitable contributions raised shouldn’t be allowed.”
ECFA summarizes that “paying fund-raising consultants on a proportion of present revenue may be tempting to a corporation with no funds to pay the fund-raiser. Nonetheless, percentage-based funds to fund-raisers are usually not in one of the best curiosity of donors, nor are they per the belief that donors place in a charity. The fee of fastened quantities to compensate for fund-raising endeavors is an acceptable solution to stability the charity’s analysis of threat and affordability with the fund-raiser’s skilled integrity and competence.”
CSA’s Code of Moral Pursuit states that every one members shall make use of representatives on a predetermined commonplace charge or wage foundation and can insist that the worker handle private information entrusted to him solely for the advantage of the employer. Fee or proportion reimbursement for providers rendered are deemed unethical and unprofessional practices in fundraising.
Along with the moral points, paying for providers based mostly on a flat charge acknowledges the worth and price of the providers supplied. As Albert Anderson observes in his e-book Ethics for Fundraisers, “The set charge idea acknowledges the worth {of professional} counsel independently of the fund-raising final result, which, in fact, can’t be assured.”
The providers of a grant writing or fundraising guide not solely safe funds for a corporation, however additionally they assist to develop the funding capability of the group for a few years to return. Fee based mostly charges assume that if no cash is secured then nothing occurred. That is removed from actuality. Organizations are all the time higher positioned for securing funds after working with a superb grant writing or fundraising guide. They’re higher organized, higher ready to use for funding, and far more engaging to the funding sources to which they’re making use of.
