Fundraising: a tool to increase efficiency in attracting resources from the third sector. A comparison of its regulation in Spain

Abstract

This paper sets out to study fundraising as an efficient tool in attracting resources for the third sector. To do so, it seeks to establish a precise definition of the concept of fundraising, and then analyses its regulation in Europe, in particular, in the countries with the highest level of charitable donations (United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France) and in perspective compared with the Spanish case. The third part describes the phenomenon from an economic perspective, underlining the difficulties of measuring the sector. Finally, some considerations are given on a future regulatory legislation of fundraising in Spain, with the purpose of increasing the efficiency in raising funds for the social outreach side of third-sector activities.