International fundraisers debate impact on recession and credit crunch

Delegates at last week's International Fundraising Congress in Holland were given a late addition to their timetable with the insertion of a one-hour debate on the impact of the current global economic crisis and credit crunch on fundraising.

Led by Sean Triner, Daryl Upsall, and Marcelo Iniarra, the 8am session attracted over 110 delegates.

The overall message of the session was upbeat. The lessons learned from other fundraisers who had weathered recessions in the UK, USA, Argentina and other countries made it clear that now was not the time to cut back on fundraising. "Avoid recession suicide" was the call to action: invest now in fundraising.

The emphasis was on statistics rather than anecdote. Some charities were reporting that they were still growing very well and were very positive about next year. Sean Triner's recessionwatch blog is gathering these statistics, and he welcomes more contributions.

Bernard Ross and Amanda Seller shared the results of a couple of recent polls of fundraisers at international NGOs and from leading fundraisers in many countries.

UK Fundraising's Howard Lake videoed the session which is now available in short sections.

Find more UK Fundraising videos, including more from the International Fundraising Congress, at:

http://uk.youtube.com/HowardLake