Did I say it would be cracker? Well it was. Mick Aldridge, just voted the most influential person in fundraising by Fundraising Magazine, and I went head to head over the issue of paying fundraisers by commission.
Where we agreed was that there are always exceptions and no rule ought to be set in stone and never questioned. Mick made the point that, increasingly street and house to house collectors are remunerated partly by commission though, I thought, ducked the issue of the vital difference between incentivizing acheivement and paying only by immediate results. That of course tends to be the biggest objection that such payments can lead to short termist, expedient fundraising which will, over time always lose out to a well planned giver centric approach.
The crucial point however made by yours truely is that commission payment simply doesn't work! Read Frederick Herzberg and you'll see, or remember that money isn't a motivator. If it's not enough it's a demotivator but that is utterly different. That's why the banks continue to pay obscene bonuses because everyone else does.
So let's not go down that road. Motivation, job enrichment (more Herzberg) incentives for producing outcomes (not outputs) has got to be the way to go.
Or are you still (unlike everyone at the AFC annual forum) unconvinced?
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