Fund-Raising and the Articulation of Common Goods

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations enable citizens to engage in diverse sorts of public action for the sake of common goods. Nonprofits‘ importance is recognized in political theory but less so in applied ethics. This article examines fund-raising from the perspective of applied ethics through examining Albert Anderson’s Ethics for Fundraisers. The article’s concern is not fund-raisers’ day-to-day routine but the relationships they establish. Fund-raisers, it is proposed, emphasize developing relations with donors but not between donors and recipients, thereby creating the danger of donor dominance. Fund-raising, moreover, falls victim to business imagery likening donors with customers or stockholders and uncritically comparing fund-raising with marketing. Through analyzing these analogies, the article concludes that fund-raisers should seek to engage donors with the work, needs, and beneficiaries of their organization and articulate how nonprofits enable donors and beneficiaries to participate together in articulating and implementing public action for the common good.