Ian MacQuillin 

Director of 🌐Rogare – The Fundraising Think Tank 

Bio

If you’re looking for Ian MacQuillin MCIoF(Dip), you can usually find him at the intersection of the Venn diagram of ‘fundraising’ and ‘ethics’.

Ian is the director of the international fundraising think tank Rogare (Latin for ‘to ask’; pronounced Ro-gar-ray), which he founded in 2014. Rogare explores fundraising’s most challenging ‘under-thought’ issues, to help fundraisers better use theory and evidence by translating academic ideas into professional practice, and building fundraising’s knowledge base.

Ian is recognised as a leading thinker on fundraising ethics, whose ideas have been published in the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing.

His main contribution to the field is the development of a new normative lens of fundraising ethics called Rights Balancing Fundraising Ethics, which aims to balance fundraisers’ duties to their donors with duties to beneficiaries – who have, surprisingly, been an absent stakeholder in fundraising ethics.

Rights Balancing Fundraising Ethics has gained considerable traction in the global fundraising profession, being incorporated into professional qualifications in the UK and Europe. Ian leads Rogare’s research agenda, with major work streams on ethics (including the ethical implications of using AI in fundraising), the philosophy of fundraising, the professionalisation of fundraising, gender issues, and the ethics of donor relationships.

He is a member of the certification committee of the European Fundraising Association, associate editor (ethics) of the Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing, and holds an honorary position at Kingston University Business School.

He’s been a member of the fundraising profession for well over 20 years, first as editor of Professional Fundraising, moving to PR comms roles with Turner PR and the UK’s Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, where he was head of communications. Ian is also the executive director of the Chapel & York UK Foundation.

Outside of fundraising Ian follows both England and Ireland at cricket, mixes his own cocktails, and has forgotten more about The Beatles than you'll ever know.