So, 57 per cent of Third Sector readers do not agree that it is acceptable to stereotype beneficiaries when making fundraising appeals, according to last week’s online poll.
And I have to say that I agree with this majority – to a point.
First of all, I must say something in agreement with the findings of the recent Centre of Charitable Giving and Philanthropy research, which found that homeless people don’t mind being stereotyped in fundraising campaigns if it leads to an increase in donations.
We must not let our terrified-to-offend culture scare us away from ever using any effective imagery which could help generate much-needed funds for needy causes.
It is always important to remember that without any funds, charities would not exist or be able to help anyone.
At the same time, there surely has to be limit with something like this.
Just because the people you are stereotyping say they do not mind the use of that imagery, it does not automatically mean that there are no other adverse consequences to putting such ideas and typecasts into the public domain.
Reinforcing stereotypes can have some far-reaching ramifications in our society far beyond initially causing offence to the group directly involved.
Furthermore, using stereotypical imagery in fundraising campaigns can be a very easy option. We should be driving ourselves to be far more creative in our efforts to fundraise than simply regurgitating the obvious for each campaign.
What it is about is making sensible decisions and weighing up each image according to its potential negative and positive consequences. Sometimes stereotyping will be appropriate, other times it will simply be unnecessary.
But, let’s not get over-sensitive.
There is absolutely no point in dancing around this to the point where fundraising campaigns, which are supposed to emotionally draw people into donating funds, become so boring and plain that would-be donors barely give them a second glance, let alone part with their hard-earned cash because of them.