So here I am, sitting down to a meeting with another potential beautiful client and we’re doing the introductions.

The guy to my left is in charge of ‘Supporter Retention’ (not development, just retention?). The lady to my right looks after ‘Supporter Acquisition’.  Chairing the meeting is the Head of Supporter Relationship Marketing.

A couple of days before that, I was in a meeting with someone whose job title was ‘Individual Giving Officer – Acquisition’ and, recently, with someone else in charge of ‘Supporter Marketing’. A week or two ago I met a Head of Supporter Services, who was actually the head of the Individual Giving function at that particular charity.

In fact, all of these good people are fundraisers.

Back at the beautiful office, we began to wonder, is this a little like bin men becoming waste removal engineers?  Or how about the window cleaner who is now a vision clearance executive? And the coffee guy who has become a barista?

Perhaps this rash of obscure job titles is symptomatic of a deeper issue? Are charities (at least some of them) becoming embarrassed at the idea of asking for money?

Could part of the reason be the proliferation of ‘social media experts’ flooding into the sector offering charities advice? These self-proclaimed gurus, many of whom have little or no fundraising experience, sell a beguiling dream of online social communities coalescing around charities and good causes in a beatific haze of generosity. Nothing as crude as asking for money need ever happen, if you engage in a dialogue with them, people will just give…

The hell they will.

You won’t find corporate fundraisers pussy-footing around the idea of asking for money. They’d be out of a job. The same applies to Major Donor Fundraisers. (Note the word fundraisers in the job title.) You know exactly what they want when you’ve had a conversation with one of these people, and so does your bank manager.

A creative director who once made my life a misery hammered home a very good piece of advice when it comes to charities and donors: tell people what the problem is, and tell them what you want them to do about it. You want money? Just ask.

Very few people put their hands in their pockets on the basis of a hint. Time after time, one of the top reasons donors cite for giving is, simply: ‘I was asked’.

Let’s not be embarrassed to be fundraisers. It’s a noble profession.