Donors' views on fundraising ethics
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Podcast "Philanthropy in question(s)" - Episode 38
Donors' views on fundraising ethics - Faseur, De Bock & Timmermans
What do donors think about fundraising? What are their ethical beliefs about fundraising practices?
In this 38th episode, Marie-Stéphane Maradeix, Visiting PhD Fellow at the ESSEC Philanthropy Chair, presents an article by Tine Faseur, Tine De Bock and Glenn Timmermans published in 2025 and entitled “Fundraising Ethics: Toward an In-Depth Understanding of Individual Donors' Perceptions”.
As fundraising in the philanthropic sector has grown, so have the ethical codes that guide these practices. However, these ethical codes are mainly grounded in the fundraisers' point of view, without really considering donors' perceptions. This article makes an important contribution by addressing the need to understand the perceptions of individual donors regarding the ethical practices of non-profit organizations.
In this episode, discover the seven key drivers of donors' ethical judgments identified by the authors.
The main ideas of the article presented in the episode :
In this episode, Marie-Stéphane Maradeix the three main groups of ethical principles identified by the authors as expected by individual donors with regard to fundraising:
Authenticity and honesty
Effectiveness, efficiency and accountability
Respect and freedom of choice
➡️ Listen to the episode above to find out more!
Other resources on the topic
🔹 Chao, M., Fisher, G. (2022). Self-Interested Giving: The Relationship Between Conditional Gifts, Charitable Donations, and Donor Self-Interestedness. Management Science, 68(6):4537-4567.
🔹 MacQuillin, I., Sargeant, A. (2019). Fundraising Ethics: A Rights-Balancing Approach. J Bus Ethics, 160, 239–250.
🔹 MacQuillin, I. (2022). Normative fundraising ethics : a review of the field. Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing, e1740. ISSN (online) 2691-1361.
🔹 Association française des fundraisers, page about ethics.
🔹 "La checklist du fundraiser : 7 bonnes pratiques pour réussir sa collecte de fonds", AFF et IDEAS.
🔹 "Code of ethical standards", Association of Fundraising Professionals (US), 2024.
Other episodes with related themes
Fundraising in times of crisis (John Godfrey, Alexandra Williamson)
A critical look at evaluations (Kellie Licket, Marta Rey-Garcia, Karen Maas)
Giving to the causes of women and girls (Elizabeth Dale, Jacqueline Ackerman, Debra Mesch, Una Okonkwo Osili, Silvia Garcia)
Fundraising and social networks (Abhishek Bhati, Diarmuid McDonnell)
Getting the rich and powerful to give (Judd Kessler, Katherine Milkman, Yiwei Zhang)
Listen to all episodes of our podcast "Philanthropy in Question(s)"
Every last Wednesday of the month, in an episode of about 10 minutes, we share the discoveries of a researcher on philanthropy in France or internationally, all disciplines included. The goal? To give research a place in everyday life, to contribute to critical thinking and to shed light on societal issues through the prism of philanthropy. Dive with us into the heart of research on giving!
Also to be discovered: "Towards Strategic Philanthropy"
Based on interviews with philanthropists and professionals in the philanthropy sector, this podcast from the ESSEC Philanthropy Chair introduces you to the 5 key dimensions of philanthropy strategy: value, logical framework, style, time horizon and vehicle. The embodiment of the learnings from the book Towards Strategic Philanthropy published by Peter Frumkin, Anne-Claire Pache and Arthur Gautier at Odile Jacob in 2020. To your headphones!
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