It’s finally time to back face-to-face fundraising

By Dominic Will, Managing Director, Gather Campaigns

Face-to-face fundraising has always been about people. Real conversations, human connection, and the moment when someone decides to act because they believe in a cause.

And yet, despite its successful track record, this channel often finds itself having to justify its place in the modern charity toolkit.

However, scepticism over F2F is becoming increasingly difficult to defend, particularly since the Chartered Institute of Fundraising has published it’s most recent face-to-face fundraising benchmarking report (December 2025), which  offers something the sector has long needed: robust, shared evidence about how face-to-face fundraising is actually performing.

The findings are clear. And the narrative needs to catch up.

What the data really tells us

As a contributor to the report, I was encouraged by what the data shows — it confirms the stability, resilience, and long-term value of this form of fundraising.

When you look at the annual performance for all F2F activity, it’s a positive picture of steady and sustainable fundraising. And in a sector that is increasingly shaped by volatility — fluctuating digital costs, platform dependency, short-term campaigns — this steadiness matters.

Sustainable income isn’t built overnight, and face-to-face fundraising has consistently proven its ability to reach new audiences and deliver committed, long-term support.

Challenging outdated perceptions

Despite this evidence, outdated perceptions still persist.

Face-to-face fundraising is too often framed as intrusive, old-fashioned, or out of step with modern donor behaviour. But the reality on the ground looks very different. Today’s face-to-face fundraising is regulated, professional, and insight-led. It operates under high compliance standards and puts supporter experience front and centre.

The issue isn’t that the channel hasn’t evolved — it’s that the sector’s language around it hasn’t.

Sector professionals cannot continue to rely on face-to-face fundraising while quietly distancing themselves from it in public discourse. That disconnect undermines public confidence, investment, and — crucially — the people delivering the work.

Celebrating the people behind the channel

At its heart, face-to-face fundraising is powered by people inspiring people to do good.

Yet fundraisers themselves are still too rarely celebrated. For many, F2F is where careers begin and leadership skills are forged. Communication, resilience, ethical judgement, and empathy aren’t learned in theory — they’re learned in real conversations, every day. Think how important and valuable this is in 2026 in an environment where young people joining the world of work are often anxious about what opportunities will be available to them due to economic instability and the development of AI.

F2F champions human intelligence at its core, while it is evolving all of the time to incorporate technology, including AI, to support targeting, communications and compliance. This makes the channel pretty unique, and truly valuable in the modern landscape.

As I say in the report, this is where the sector has an opportunity to lead:

“Ultimately, we need a sector shift towards proactive and constructive responsiveness grounded in our successes. When charities share stories that celebrate their fundraisers and highlight the difference their work makes, they can help shift perception towards what it really is — people inspiring people to do good.”

If we want a stronger, more confident sector, we need to stop apologising for one of its most effective channels and start championing the people who make it happen and the great work it makes possible for the charities raising funds in this way.

A legacy we should be proud of

Over the last three decades, face-to-face has proven it’s no marginal channel, having played a central role in shaping the modern charity sector.

It’s raised billions for good causes, built communities of loyal supporters, given countless people their first personal connection with a charity, and provided work opportunities for tens of thousands of individuals from all walks of life, many of whom continue to have an impact in our sector today.

It has powered transformational impact for all kinds of charities and causes; so many incredible achievements simply wouldn’t have been possible without it. We should feel immensely proud of that legacy – and excited for what’s next.

That pride matters. Because when we acknowledge the impact face-to-face fundraising has had, we create the confidence to invest in its future — to improve standards, attract talent, and innovate responsibly.

A call to the sector

So, my call to charity leaders, trustees, and decision-makers is this:

Use the evidence. Use the data. Use the stories.

Champion face-to-face fundraising not as something that needs defending, but as a proven driver of sustainable income, ethical engagement, and long-term impact. There are easy ways to do this:

• Celebrate your F2F fundraisers – both internally with your staff and trustees, and externally with your existing supporters, for the more we legitimise and respect them for the professionals they are and the income they generate, the more we can help others see this too.

• Share success openly – add case studies, stories and public feedback to websites, , newsletters and social media; show just how important F2F fundraising is, what it helps the charity achieve and the impact this has for a better future.

• Be confident about what works – Be prepared to challenge negative perception from the boardroom and throughout your organisation. This doesn’t mean blind faith and failing to acknowledge things that need to be improved. But it does mean standing up for a channel that has not traditionally received the support it should from industry professionals.  

  
  

The CIOF’s new F2F benchmarking programme has given the sector a foundation of facts. What happens next depends on whether we’re willing to stand behind them.

Face-to-face fundraising has helped shape who we are as a sector. If we’re serious about the future, it deserves our backing — not our hesitation.

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Download the CIOF report and explore the findings