Sometimes Professor Adrian Sargeant can be a real pain in the ass.

We should all be grateful.

This week the mild mannered, empirical-evidence-please scholar and the author of the classic Building Donor Loyalty shed his Clark Kent persona and came out swinging against proposed regulatory efforts by the UK government to gag charities.

Regulatory efforts aimed at imposing an ‘opt in’ system requiring that nonprofits have the donor’s permission before contacting them.

This so-called Fundraising Preference Service (FPS) sent the generally calm Professor Sargeant through the roof.

And so should it do the same to every fundraiser and nonprofit CEO and board member in the UK. Not to mention anywhere else in the world where such mindless regulatory proposals are entertained.

Government setting fundraising policy sucks. And generally  it must be resisted as the tyranny of stupidity that it is.

Fortunately, the UK politicians and the holier-than-thou bureaucrats can and must be beaten down into their proper place. We do it almost annually in the U.S. (See this Agitator post  for some suggestions and victories)

Unlike the energetic resistance to regulation in the former colonies, it seems to be viewed as unwise or improper in the UK to fight the government forces of stupidity. And that’s why Adrian is so riled up.

And why I want to praise his bravery.

Adrian’s willingness to speak out and raise hell against regulation seems to be quite different than the limp, let’s- not-rock-the-boat of UK fundraisers when faced with adversity and criticism.

(Get the full flavor of Adrian’s ire by reading his brilliant objection to misplaced regulation involving the Fundraising Preference Service here.

Adrian’s willingness to take an unequivocal stand and fight back is not only remarkable for the UK,  it stands as a shining example of what we all should do whenever the nonprofit sector comes under mindless and ill-informed attack..

By comparison, Adrian’s willingness to stand up and speak out poignantly sadly exposes the mostly ‘go-along-to-get-along’ attitude of our trade. Pathetically and dangerously, there’s something in most fundraisers’ and nonprofits’ DNA that is hard-wired into the genetic double helix that warns, “Don’t rock the boat.”

You and I see it every day. “Don’t challenge the status quo” … “Don’t tell donors they’re wrong and out of line when they use their wealth and status for improper purposes” … “Don’t tell certain board members they’re lousy and ought to be fired” … “Don’t speak up for the beneficiaries of our mission who are being short-changed”. And for heaven’s sake, “Don’t give donors a chance to get involved.”

You know the drill. Like mice we creep around tut-tutting all too silently, too willing to accept the status quo.

Back to Adrian and what he’s up to.

You’ll recall that the media tsunami over rotten or at least questionable fundraising practices this summer has led to the sector ‘s loss of its power of self-regulation in the UK. Imposed instead is a government-mandated proposal that before a nonprofit can contact donors it must first secure their permission. First get their “Preference’ to be contacted — or not.

Sadly, the Institute of Fundraising, the UK’s trade association for fundraisers and a lot of the profession have rolled over and played dead; quietly accepting whatever the government wishes to impose.

Not Adrian. As head of Plymouth University’s  Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy he’s raising hell. Urging his weak-willed, weak-kneed brothers and sisters in the nonprofit world to grow a spine. To stand up against what he considers outlandish and undeserved regulation.

His points in opposition to the Fundraising Preference Service — to quote from his remarks published Tuesday — are summarized as follows:

• “It won’t matter what terrible disasters explode into our world or what appalling scenarios might be unfolding quite literally on a donor’s doorstep — we can’t raise any of it. Yet we can still be cheerfully inundated with curry house menus, offers of insurance we don’t need, mindless catalogues and a suite of financial service products we’ll probably never be suited for. And yes — you can bet that come election time politicians will still use every trick in the communications handbook, stuffing communications through our mailbox by the shed load and haranguing us daily into voting for them.

All that crap is seemingly OK — but asking for someone in genuine need of help is not.

• “…our sector will now be the only sector of modern life singled out for special treatment in that individuals will shortly be able to opt out of ever receiving an addressed communication from a charity ever again ­– yes, ever again! And it is mooted that we should offer a full ‘reset’ facility so that at a stroke you can opt out from everything, even from charities you have supported for many years

• “So we will live in a world when it will now be considered OK for someone to say: ‘Never tell me about the needs of others in my community again … ever. So what if people are suffering? I don’t want to know. Let someone else take care of it. How dare you waste a nanosecond of my time forcing me to bin a communication I’m not interested in. How dare you?!’

• “The FPS is an utterly disgraceful measure and the fundraising sector’s response, particularly that of our Institute, has been pathetically limp. Why is it unacceptable to stand up and say to government: ‘No, you have this wrong about the FPS!’ If we won’t stand up and be counted on this most critical of issues, what will we ever stand for?” [ Emphasis mine.]

Again, regardless of whether you’re a UK fundraiser or one plying your craft elsewhere, I urge you to read Adrian’s full explanation of the reasons we all should be upset.

Read about the duties we have. Duties that go far beyond the techniques and methods we practice. Far higher duties owed to the beneficiaries of the causes and the society we serve.

Then join me in giving thanks for Adrian’s bravery in speaking out. And wish we all could be as brave.

In fact why not email Adrian and thank him for standing up for all of us: adrian.sargeant@plymouth.ac.uk

Roger

P.S. Full disclosure. I’m on the Advisory Board of Adrian’s Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy. Clearly in my mind the Centre’s stock has risen with Adrain’s stance and so will my year-end contribution.