Clean Money: Can Fundraising Ever Be Ethical?

​About the session
Can fundraising ever truly be ethical?

​This interactive “debate club” session invites participants to step into the complexity of fundraising decisions and explore the tensions that often sit beneath them.

​Rather than a traditional discussion, participants will be presented with a real-world fundraising scenario and asked to argue for or against it, regardless of their personal views. The aim is not to reach consensus, but to surface the trade-offs, assumptions, and ethical questions that shape how organisations raise and deploy funding.

​By engaging with perspectives they may not naturally hold, participants will be challenged to think more deeply about what “clean money” really means in practice, and where lines are drawn or blurred.

​The session is designed to create constructive tension and open, thoughtful dialogue, where disagreement is part of the process and learning.

​Who this is for
This session is for fundraisers, nonprofit leaders, social entrepreneurs, and funders interested in the ethical dimensions of funding and decision-making.

​What you will get out of it

• ​A deeper understanding of the ethical trade-offs in fundraising

• ​The opportunity to engage with perspectives different from your own

• ​Insight into how others navigate complex funding decisions

• ​A more nuanced view of what ethical fundraising looks like in practice

​This session creates space for honest discussion and “healthy friction,” inviting participants to grapple with questions that do not have easy answers.

​​Location & access
Accessibility matters deeply to us, and we do our best to choose spaces that reflect that. That said, some of our Oxford venues are in historic buildings without lifts. This room is unfortunately not accessible for wheelchair users, those with mobility challenges, or anyone needing step-free access.