Pursuant, the Dallas, Texas-based fundraising agency, is partnering with United Kingdom fundraising think tank Rogare to recruit the best emerging thinkers to help shape a new critical fundraising movement in North America. Rogare is the think tank within Plymouth University’s Hartsook Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy, where Dr. Adrian Sargeant serves as director.
Until now, panelists have been largely drawn from the UK – 50 of the 66-strong group work for British organizations, although five US-based fundraisers and one Canadian also sit on the panel.
Due to the high level of interest in Rogare’s work in the USA since the publication of the relationship fundraising review, Rogare has decided to expand its reach into North America by focusing its annual recruitment drive for new panel members in the USA and Canada.
“Critical fundraising” is the approach employed by Rogare – Latin for “to ask” – that encourages fundraisers to better use theory and evidence to overcome the challenges faced by their profession. Rogare’s “critical fundraising” approach encourages professional fundraisers to question all assumptions about their professional practice.
The think tank also looks outside of fundraising and philanthropy research for new solutions to existing issues. Earlier this year, Rogare published research on “refashioning" relationship fundraising using ideas and theory from social psychology. The review – jointly funded by Pursuant and donor management software company Bloomerang – was met with critical acclaim from fundraisers.
Rogare’s research program is advised by a panel of fundraisers who share Rogare’s outlook to constructively challenge and critique current professional practice and ideas.
Pursuant is supporting this endeavor by becoming the Lead Associate Member in North America, with Curt Swindoll, executive vice president, and Hilary Noon, vice president, market solutions, joining the advisory panel. Associate Members are commercial partners to the fundraising sector who share Rogare’s critical fundraising ethos.
Ian MacQuillin, Rogare’s director, says:
“Our goal is to bring on the next generation of fundraising thought leaders, those who want to make sure that decisions in their own practice and changes to the profession are always based not just on the best evidence but also the best ideas and theory. “What’s happened in the UK over the past year is a stark warning about what happens when changes don’t have this theoretical or evidential base. And many of the problems that have impacted in the UK are also ‘bubbling’ under in the US and Canada, and other english-speaking countries such as New Zealand, Australia and Ireland.
“We are putting together a global movement to make sure that all developments of the fundraising profession are based on the best possible theory and evidence. This is an exciting opportunity for fundraisers with excellent critical thinking skills to be part of the movement that delivers this change.
“I hope that by the time new members take up their two-year terms starting in September, we will have at least 20 and hopefully 30 new American and Canadian members.”
The main task for advisory panel members is to ensure that new ideas that come out of Rogare – such as the relationship fundraising review – are translated into professional practice. Panel members will also identify gaps in the profession’s knowledge base that Rogare can fill.
Pursuant will take a guiding role in recruiting our North American thought leaders and lead the panel’s efforts to embed this critical mode of thought into professional practice. As part of their commitment to this endeavor, Pursuant will host a “retreat” for the US and Canadian members of the panel in Colorado Springs in November.
Trent Rickler, CEO at Pursuant, says:
“Pursuant is thrilled at the opportunity to partner with Rogare to launch Rogare in North America. At Pursuant we have been long committed to challenging business as usual’ thinking in the nonprofit space. Rogare is in many ways our perfect academic match in this commitment.
“We’ve been impress with their work, most recently on the relationship fundraising research, and we believe that the next step is to connect Rogare with the brightest nonprofit thinkers in North America. We’re excited to lead the effort in recruiting leaders across the nonprofit space to join Rogare’s advisory panel in the USA and Canada.”
How to apply to join Rogare’s advisory panel
There is a selection process for the advisory panel.
Using “critical fundraising principles,” applicants will be asked to write a 500-word essay that describes what they think are the biggest challenges facing fundraising and what they would do to tackle it.
This will be assessed by a selection panel that includes: Ian MacQuillin; Curt Swindoll; Nathan Hand, director of advancement at the Oaks Foundation in Indianapolis; fundraising consultant Marc Pitman, and Laura Boulton conference and strategy director of the Resource Alliance.
The application process is now live and runs until 1 July 2016.
Application packs can be downloaded from: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/plymouth-business-school/rogare-advisory-panel
To be eligible to join Rogare’s Advisory Panel, applicants must be fundraisers working for a charity or nonprofit organization or as sole fundraising consultants.
For further information, contact
Rogare: Ian MacQuillin at Rogare (@RogareFTT) on +44 (0)20 8659 1158, +44 (0)7977 422273 or ian.macquillin@plymouth.ac.uk
Pursuant:
Visit the Rogare website at:
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/plymouth-business-school/rogare
