Despite the importance and urgency of fundraising, which generates billions of pounds of voluntary income for charities each year, we know little about the non-technical aspects of the job of asking for money.
Using a mixed methods approach involving fundraisers and major donors, Dr Beth Breeze, Director of The Centre for Philanthropy, will research and explore how the personal and social skills of both volunteer and paid fundraisers interact with their professional skills to affect the amounts of money raised for good causes.
Dr Breeze said that although there is information readily available about how to “do” good fundraising, there is almost nothing on how to “be” a successful fundraiser. “This is genuinely innovative work, which makes it all the more exciting,” she said.
The three year project is planned to culminate in a conference and book.
Dr Breeze is the third member of the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research to receive funding from the Leverhulme Trust: Miri Song, Professor of Sociology has been awarded a Leverhulme Professorial Fellowship and Dr Charlotte Faircloth is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow.
The Leverhulme Trust was established in 1925 under the Will of the first Viscount Leverhulme. It is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing funds of some £60 million every year. For further information about the schemes that the Leverhulme Trust fund visit their website.
The above includes extracts from an article in The Third Sector. View the full article to see what Dr Breeze has to say about this new area of research.