Risk-averse trustee boards are holding back progress on finding new ways of fundraising, according to fundraisers debating the value of innovation at the International Fundraising Congress.

Charities need to shed these risk-averse ways and prepare to meet new challenges in new ways, delegates heard yesterday.

Kevin Waudby (pictured), who was formerly head of innovation at Cancer Research UK, likened the UK charity sector to the airline industry in the late 1990s, before the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet revolutionised air travel.

“The charity sector in the UK is ripe for reinvention,” he said.

However, because of a risk-averse culture, new fundraising developments and methods were more likely to come from emerging markets rather than mature ones like the UK, Waudby predicted.

Fundraisers and charities suffer from a “fear of failure”, more content to innovate around things that already exist rather than take real risks, Waudby told delegates in Holland.

Waudby was backed by others in the debate, who highlighted trustees in particular as barriers to risk-taking and innovation within fundraising. “Trustees see their role as managing risk rather than setting ambition,” he said.

Waudby, who now runs the agency Good Innovation, said that despite what many charities like to think of their donors, “giving is not that important to most people”.

Yet while it is a low priority, he challenged fundraisers and charities on why they weren't making it easier for people to give. “I think people who aren't giving now want something different from the charity sector,” he added.