A brief his­to­ry of fundrais­ing in France

SOFII has recent­ly added some new exhibits from France which we’ve trans­lat­ed from French into Eng­lish. We’d love to receive more. For those of you not famil­iar with fundrais­ing in France, here is a bit of back­ground infor­ma­tion to help put things into context.

Written by
SOFII
Added
November 16, 2012
Petit historique du fundraising en France.A brief history of fundraising in France.
Le fundraising français a plus de trente ans. Dans les années 70, une poignée d'avant-gardistes ramène des Etats-Unis un savoir-faire: le marketing direct appliqué à la collecte de dons. Une technique qui apparaît alors comme un révélation.
Retour sur trente années d'évolution:
• A la fin des années 70, pour la première fois, l'Etat décide de déléguer à deux grandes associations la lutte contre le cancer.
• Petit à petit, on commence à constituer des fichier de donateurs à fidéliser, on apprend à segmenter ces bases de données, on réfléchit sur les temps de relance...
• Parallèlement à l'éclosion de la profession de fundraiser, le champ politique « officialise » la pratique mécénale. En 1987, la loi Balladur donne le coup d'envoi aux réductions fiscales pour les donateurs.
• Des départements de développement sont créés en interne et les agences fleurissent. Le terme de Fund-Raising - qui d'écrit alors en deux mots - n'est plus réservé aux seuls initiés. Et les premiers regroupements de professionnels, au départ informels, voient le jour.
• Le secteur se professionnalise. C'est le temps des découvertes et de l'innovation.
Aujourd'hui, l'extension du domaine de la collecte - culture, hôpitaux, grandes écoles, universités... - est au centre des évolutions du métier. Depuis quelques années, l'enseignement supérieur et la recherche sont les principaux secteurs émergents. Emergent également des profils d'hyper spécialistes : legs, grands donateurs, web...
Fundraising à la Française' is over 30 years old. In the 70s, a handful of pioneers brought US expertise to France and direct marketing was applied to fundraising. A true revelation.
Looking back on thirty years of evolution:
• In the late 70s, for the first time, the government decides to delegate the fight against cancer to two major associations.
• Gradually, they begin to build donor loyalty files, learn to segment these databases, think about when to ask again...
• Along with the emergence of professional fundraising, government bodies progressively set rules for fundraising. In 1987, the Balladur law launches tax cuts for donors.
• Development departments are created in-house and fundraising agencies appear. Fund-Raising - written as two words at that time – starts to grow as a profession. The first professional groups, initially informal, emerge.
• The nonprofit sector becomes ever more professional. This is a time of discovery and innovation.
Today, new areas of fundraising – the arts, hospitals, colleges, universities ... – are at the centre of developments in the profession. In recent years, higher education and research have been key emerging sectors as well as some more specialised fields of fundraising: legacies, major donors, online...

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