A new project aims to create concepts and tools for resolving ethical dilemmas in fundraising for Australia’s schools.
The project, supported by New Zealand fundraising consultancy and Rogare Associate Member Giving Architects, along with Precision Fundraising in Australia, will work with school fundraising in Australia and New Zealand to develop the theories, frameworks and toolkits needed to help school fundraisers resolve the ethical dilemmas that are specific to fundraising for schools.
The group says the initiative is needed because current ideas developed for mainstream charity fundraising ethics don’t map directly on to ethical dilemmas encountered in fundraising for schools.
Clive Pedley is the director and chief executive of Giving Architects, which has been working in school fundraising environments in New Zealand and Australia for more than 20 years.
“As opportunities for the role of giving and philanthropy in all its forms have increased, so have the demands of leaders, staff and volunteers to traverse a range of situations,” Pedley said. “This can lead to situations where there are genuine concerns about the rights and obligations of different stakeholders.”
Pedley said well beyond determining right and wrong, legal or otherwise, there is a need to provide an informed and suitable framework and toolkit to help those involved make ethical decisions at critical moments.
“We have long admired the work of Rogare, Ian and the international network of leading fundraising practitioners who get involved in this work. It is a privilege to support this initiative,” he said. “It will break new ground in the awareness and understanding of ethical fundraising in schools in Australia and New Zealand.”
Rogare’s director Ian MacQuillin says one challenge of the project was to ensure that any ideas the group came up with to help school fundraisers resolve ethical dilemmas were also compatible with and complement the principles of the ethics of education.
“A key tenet of educational ethics is that the interests of the student should always come first, but that creates and ethical tension between the interests of any individual student and the rest of their class,” MacQuillin said. “This is something school fundraising ethics needs to consider.”
MacQuillin pointed out the ‘central dilemma’ in education ethics is the conflict between teachers – who want to do what’s best for students; and administrators who want to ensure the school runs according to standards and targets.
“So, a further consideration is whether school fundraisers are seen by teachers as part of the school administration system. Yet it is possible that there will be ethical dilemmas that cause tensions between fundraisers and administrators,” he said. “This is something else the project team will need to consider.”
MacQuillin noted that while the work is being conducted in the context of Australian and New Zealand schools, the principles and ideas involved, and final outputs, will “almost certainly” be applicable in many other countries, particularly English-speaking countries.
“This work will form the foundation for a widespread understanding of the ethics of fundraising for schools,” he said.