- What on earth has this got to do with me?
- Well, the way you see, and quite possibly think, is already postmodern
- Understanding these ways of seeing and thinking will help fundraisers better understand the discussions taking place around contemporary issues, as well as suggesting new ways to communicate with donors
The latest paper from the international fundraising think tank Rogare is an introduction to fundraising’s place in the postmodern world.
As the author of this paper – British fundraising consultant Dr Ashley Scott – says:
“If you are thinking ‘I really don’t see how grappling with abstract notions of postmodernity is going to enhance my ability as a professional fundraiser’, you’d probably be right.”
So what’s the point of it? Over to Ashley again:
“There are many examples of how postmodern thought as theory is impacting practice across the social sciences and related policy arenas. It’s a world that fundraisers are very much a part of and a sector where the voice of postmodern critique is being heard more and more.”
Take questions like, do donors have too much power? Does development advertising ‘other’ beneficiaries? Should they co-create their own meaning through their own fundraising communications? Should policy be based more on the lived experiences of service users and, indeed, fundraisers? All these living breathing conversations in the fundraising sector are framed in a ‘postmodern’ way of thinking, and magnified through the lens of ‘critical theory’.
Scott continues:
“The aim of this paper, then, is to introduce to readers who will not be familiar with these types of ideas a range of concepts that inhabit the landscape of postmodern thought, so we can use this as the foundation for exploring how they are emerging in the discourse around fundraising.”
The paper is a layperson’s introduction to these concepts:
- taking the reader on a tour of the history of critical theory and its leading thinkers and proponents, such as Foucault and Derrida, and those of the Frankfurt School
- explaining some of its key tools and concepts, such as deconstruction, discourse, critique and dialectics
- briefly outlining how some recent developments in fundraising can be interpreted using these critical concepts, such as:
- different viewpoints on whether fundraisers should centre the donor or communities of beneficiaries as the ethical centre the practice can be made sense of using dialectics
- rounding up by describing Rogare’s own critical realist approach, which we call ‘critical fundraising’.
Rogare director Ian MacQuillin says:
“To properly make sense of these issues and debates, it’s necessary to understand the ideas that underpin them, so you can unpick and read between the lines. The key ideas described by Ashley in this paper – which is one of the best layperson’s guides to a very difficult topic that I’ve read – will help you to do that.”
The paper – Fundraising and postmodernity: An introduction to fundraising’s place in the postmodern world. Part 1: Critical theory and postmodern critique – is the first of three papers exploring this topic.
In the second paper, Ashley Scott will look at how postmodern ideas could be used more directly in fundraising practice. Some charities are of course already taking such an approach – see for example the Rogare praxis paper on overcoming social taboos by David Harrison.
And in part 3 he’ll look at what postmodernity might have in store for fundraising in the future.
We aim to publish the second paper late in 2024.
The papers on postmodernism and fundraising are part of a new workstream at Rogare on the philosophy of fundraising. Rather than considering ideas about how we can improve fundraising practice, this work stream will look at the existential questions of the fundraising profession.
The philosophy of fundraising workstream will also house Rogare’s work on disintermediation in the fundraising sector, and new work on fundraising’s social role, and charitable altruism.
Although this is now a discrete work stream, most or Rogare’s work contributes to the knowledge base of a philosophy of fundraising, by asking how things are and how they ought to be.
