Fundraiser is a new investment profession

Economic terms, whatever they may be, increasingly penetrate the vocabulary of ordinary citizens. We have long known what loans are, what insurance is for and whether it is worth working at Forex. Not so long ago, a new word became popular - fundraising.

Fundraising: the meaning of the term

A fundraiser is a person who engages in the attraction of material, monetary, informational or human resources that are necessary for a particular enterprise.

Consequently, fundraising is the process of organizing the attraction of these funds. Not quite clear? Move on.

What is the meaning of the word fundraiser? In order to understand the semantics, you need to turn to the English word fundraising, formed from the phrase to raise fund, which means “fundraising”.

Who needs fundraising and why?

Despite the fact that we live in the 21st century and, it would seem, should have a good idea of ​​the structure of cash flows and the ways of redirecting them, in the domestic economy many issues related to raising funds seem to many to be incomprehensible. How do our enterprises operate, whose activities are not related to commercial income?

They, for the most part, do not raise funds at all, but are content with what they get. As you know, a lot of them do not get a priori, but because the company either urgently needs help, or there is simply not enough money.

At the same time, turning our eyes to the West or even Europe, we will see that the situation there is completely different. Very often, entrepreneurs, without even developing a project, already raise money for its implementation. This is due to the fact that the state has little involvement in financing social spheres. At its core, a fundraiser is the same investor, with the difference that the funds are raised mainly for non-commercial projects, although they can be used for commercial purposes.

Sources of fundraising

Where do these resources come from, what is the source of fundraising? It can be private companies or individuals, state-owned enterprises and non-state funds. How are funds raised? In different ways, depending on who the above sources are. And they can be investors, sponsors, donors, philanthropists or a grant organization.

Fundraiser: responsibilities and tasks for raising funds

So what does the fundraiser do directly? Of course, first of all, raising funds from the above sources. Secondly, an important part of the responsibilities of the fundraiser is the construction of new relationships. Any project or organization needs friends who can support, advertise or offer profitable partnerships.

In addition, the new project should receive publicity, and therefore the fundraiser is engaged in a kind of advertising of the organization, informs about its goals and strategies.

It should be noted that by the method of implementation, fundraising is external and internal.

An internal fundraiser is a person who works directly with an organization and is engaged in the search for funding sources. External is carried out with the assistance of special consultants, experts and fundraising firms.

Fundraising in Russia

In our country, fundraising appeared in the early nineties, along with the gradual development of various non-profit enterprises. Today, this discipline is taught at universities along with the basics of marketing, advertising, social management.

It should be noted that we still have a low share of the population and state-owned enterprises involved in revenue generation for Russian non-profit organizations. However, the market situation forces us to look for new forms and ways of attracting financial resources, and therefore there is a process of development of fundraising, which is approaching the pace to the level of the United States.

Not so long ago, namely in November 2013, the Association of Fundraisers of Russia was formed. The purpose of this association is to promote the development of charity based on fundraising, subject to awareness and support of the country's inhabitants. According to the director of the new association, Irina Menshenina, today the most important thing for members of the organization is to increase the awareness of citizens of the country about such a type of activity as fundraising. The Russians do not know that the fundraiser is a specialist in attracting finance, and they confuse honest activity with fraud.

The Association offers two types of membership - for individuals and for companies that may constitute a business (structures or NPOs). The services provided by the Association are as follows:

• training events that are held in real time or remotely;
• informing members of the association;
• consulting activities on accounting, economic and legal topics;
• participation of members in social research.