Charities are losing fundraising talent to the private sector and have difficulty attracting new people to the sector, Comic Relief’s fundraising director has said.
In an interview with Fundraising Magazine, Shabby Amini, executive director of fundraising and creative at Comic Relief, said that “one of the challenges is that we are losing a lot of fundraisers from the sector”.
She said: “A lot of the talent I know has moved to the commercial sector. I think that is because it has been really tough for the past few years.
“We also need to get better at bringing talent into fundraising – making it a really attractive thing to do and increasing diversity. It comes down to how we treat people and how we talk about fundraising being a really great career option.”
She also talked about this year’s Sport Relief, about her team’s efforts to maintain engagement throughout the year, and about how Comic Relief has been trying to modernise its appeal films to move away from a “white saviour” representation of Africa.
Sport Relief took place on 13 March and raised £40.5m on the night. This was about £2m more than two years ago, but still less than in its best years.
On 23 April, Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need will hold The Big Night In, a special entertainment night on BBC One that aims to raise funds to support the response to the coronavirus crisis.
