Pursuant to Partner with Rogare to Launch Critical Fundraising Movement in North America
Dallas, TX (PRWEB) June 03, 2016 -- 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, said:
“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 Ricker, CEO at Pursuant, said:
“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 impressed 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; Pursuant executive vice president 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 here.
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(dot)macquillin(at)plymouth(dot)ac(dot)uk
Pursuant: Hilary Sutton at Pursuant (@Pursuant) on 214.866.7700 or hilary(dot)sutton(at)pursuant(dot)com
Visit the Rogare website at: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/plymouth-business-school/rogare
About Rogare
Rogare (Latin for ‘to ask’) is the Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy’s fundraising think tank and the home of Critical Fundraising – the discipline of critically evaluating what fundraisers know, or think they know, about their profession. Our remit is to explore under-researched and ‘under-thought’ areas of fundraising. One of our key aims is to generate new practical ideas by pulling together the academic and practitioner branches of the fundraising profession.
About Pursuant Group
The Pursuant Group, based in Dallas, Texas, is a technology-driven, comprehensive fundraising consultancy serving the world's leading nonprofit organizations across the entire donor pyramid. Since 2001, Pursuant has helped thousands of organizations raise billions of dollars. Pursuant partners with health and human services organizations, educational institutions, athletic organizations, hospitals, faith-based organizations, and churches to impact lives through intelligent data, proven strategies, and award-winning creative to grow and sustain revenue.
About Plymouth University
Founded in 1862 as a school of navigation and now the 15th largest university in the UK, Plymouth is one of the leading modern universities, ranked in the top four institutions in the country and 37th internationally under the age of 50 by the Times Higher Education. Twice awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education, it has won numerous accolades in respect of its teaching and its research.
The University has one of the highest number of National Teaching Fellows of any UK university (20 National Teaching Fellowships in Higher Education since 2000), is ranked 19th in the UK and in the top 100 globally for research quality (2015 CWTS Leiden Rankings), with two-thirds of its research ranked as world-leading or internationally excellent (2014 Research Excellence Framework). It was also the first university in the world to receive the Social Enterprise Mark.
Its 27,000 students, which include those at its partner colleges across the South West, are enrolled on courses from farming to fine art, business to biology, and design to dentistry. The University has invested more than £150 million in its campus and is the first modern university to have launched a medical school. The University plays a key role within the South West region’s economy and through its £100 million network of support facilities and services, is growing and supporting hundreds of businesses across the region and beyond. To find out how Plymouth is making a difference, please visit http://www.plymouth.ac.uk
Hilary Sutton, Pursuant, http://www.pursuant.com/, +1 (214) 866-7700, [email protected]
Share this article