These are important steps – firstly because it’s the right thing to do. But also because it helps to avoid future scandal, something that as a sector we frankly can’t afford. Preserving trust is indeed important, but will it equate with donations to the tune of billions? I doubt it.

If we are going to effectively fund organisations to meet growing community demand in the coming years, there is a responsibility for any charter in this space to be bold and visionary. That means going beyond the status quo and being focused on improving fundraising to engage donors in new and meaningful ways.

It’s about the money, right?

Australia’s largest study of charitable giving in over 10 years found that while 64 per cent of people dislike being approached by street fundraisers, close to 20 per cent still made a donation to them. That figure went up to 25 per cent when approached through a phone call, and 57 per cent when met at the own home by a door knocker.

Media reports suggest that one fundraising company alone reached 50,000 people every day through face-to-face fundraising. An effort that raised $800 million for key Australian charities in 2016. Even with the potential of losing up to 60 per cent of donations to the fundraising company – it’s a service that still manages to make its case.

These fundraising methods are a valuable source of income for many critical services and programs. Those services come with a price tag, and the money has to come from somewhere. And increasingly that’s not going to be government.

So let’s find a new way to give

Please. It’s time. We’re already hearing noises that 2017 will be a hard year when it comes to raising funds, but it is the year 2017 and there are plenty of emerging technology solutions and fundraising initiatives that can shift the sector out of the era of shaking a tin. It’s not just digital innovation for hipster cred, it’s where our community operates. And it’s just a smarter way to raise funds – scale up and reduce costs.

Here are a few of my favourites.

Vodafone last year had customers donate phone data for the Garvan Institute big-data research. Woolworth’s latest initiative to add a donation to your shopping basket online or in their store. And Share the Dignity’s handbag drive has taken off – not just in my office. My colleague’s Facebook feed was flooded with pictures from friends.

There are smarter ways to give through simple text messaging, and NAB’s rewards program that we recently partnered with, that enables credit card holders the opportunity to donate points to their charity of choice. We’re seeing groups like The Funding Network take off, and there’s Good2Give.

We have 20 per cent of the top ASX 100 companies offering their staff our online Workplace Giving Platform. Across a client base of more than 100 companies, 70 per cent match their employees’ donations and effectively double the charitable impact. That’s before mentioning the ridiculously low admin fees and fundraising costs to the charity – who last financial year received 98.8 per cent of every donation made through us.

Putting the “fun” back in fundraising

Fundraising should not be a dirty word. Nor should it be an outdated one. The act of raising funds for a good cause is synonymous with words like: generosity, contributing and supporting. Why should that be anything but positive? Community giving initiatives should bring us together and make us proud as a society that when one of us falls, many are there to help.

A shared code that we uphold as a sector collectively is one thing. The incredible transparency we gain from existing regulation is another. And while these lie important foundations, they shouldn’t be offering a level of complacency in preserving how we’ve once raised funds and how we continue to do so moving forward.

In fact, we need to do more as a sector to actively invest in methods of giving that represent charities as a movement for excellence, for positive change. We frankly need to stop irritating supporters – because the negative sentiment is there and it cannot be ignored. So let’s provide and invest in giving opportunities that excite our communities.

It’s only then that we’ll tap into the generosity that exists in Australia and will bring the communities who we serve along for the journey.

View the full article as published by Pro Bono News.