The man behind modern Australian fundraising
In 1988, the Australasian Institute of Fundraising (TAIF), the forerunner to FIA, established the annual Syd Herron Oration as a conference attraction. Every year, an accomplished person, often a prominent fundraiser from Australia or overseas, is invited to speak about their life and work at FIA Conference.
Lots of fundraisers today wouldn’t know who Syd is (he passed away in 1987), but to those who knew him, his name is synonymous with fundraising and with TAIF. We talked to Queensland fundraisers Ted Flack and Everald Compton who met Syd through the sector. We also looked in the FIA archives to find out more.
You could say Syd Herron was born to be a fundraiser. And that he pushed the envelope, the church envelope, that is.
Like many of today’s practitioners, Syd, who specialised in church fundraising, didn’t start out wanting to work as a fundraiser; indeed, modern fundraising as we know it didn’t even exist when he was born in 1913.
But he had the right start in life to take up the career, according to Aubrey Bannah, a fundraiser who was friends with Syd. In a tribute speech Aubrey gave at the first Syd Herron Oration on 26 February 1988, he said:
“His early days in an environment of love and care with his Salvation Army officer parents taught him a love and concern for people, especially those less privileged than himself, which added to his strong desire to improve the lot of others.”
“He was rather a quiet kind of man, but he had a presence. Whenever he spoke about fundraising issues, he could get very animated,” said Ted Flack, who first met Ted in the 1980s at TAIF meetings in Sydney.
A diverse background
Syd trained as a primary school teacher, working in small schools in Outback Queensland. He later served with the Royal Australian Air Force in the Second World War. After the war, he entered the world of retail and became a senior executive.
But in 1954 when the Wells Organisation established a foothold in Australia, Syd became intrigued with fundraising work and joined the organisation as general manager in Melbourne.
“We’ve had fundraising in Australia since the 19th century, but the American way of doing it was fresh and modern and appealed to Syd,” said Ted.
The Wells Organisation, a church-focused fundraising consultancy started by Herbert G Wells in America, had spread from the United States to England, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand in the 1950s. It conducted thousands of church programs, raising millions of dollars and revolutionising church giving, burying once and for all, the “two bob in the plate” mentality that previously existed.
For the Wells Organisation, Syd managed consultants who set up short but intense fundraising campaigns of six to 12 weeks in churches. There they spoke to well-off churchgoers about major gifts and distributed little white envelopes to the rest of the parish to give what they could, the system of donating that we’re familiar with today.
“Syd was largely responsible for changing the way of fundraising in many hundreds of Australian churches. This kind of fundraising with envelopes was all very new in the 1950s,” said Ted.
Everald Compton, who led a global fundraising consultancy for over 20 years, often crossed paths with Syd at meetings and in the workplace.
“I met Syd from time to time in the course of business; sometimes, we were even competitors. I remember him as a formidable person; for example, he had definite ideas about how to run campaigns,” said Everald.
“And he was very good at fundraising for the Wells Organisations. I consider him one of the pioneers of modern fundraising in Australia,” he added.
Now long gone, the Wells Organisation was one of the largest fundraising consultancies ever to operate in Australia. At one stage, they had over 70 consultants operating in every state. Syd worked for them for 16 years.
In his tribute speech to Syd, Aubrey Bannah noted: “He never shirked an issue, never avoided a challenge. Even debating the theology of Christian giving with denominational leaders of Australian churches held no terrors for him – he invariably won and gained friends in the process.”
In the late 1960s, Syd was a member of the New South Wales-based National Fundraising Council of Australia. There was a similar organisation, The Australian Society of Fundraisers, founded in 1968 by Arthur Venn, operating in Victoria. The two groups began talking in 1970 about forming an Australian-wide organisation, similar to an existing association in the United States, now the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Representatives from both organisations meet on many occasions to work through the details of the constitution, with the process concluding at the Palm and Prawn Hotel in Wagga Wagga (the symbolic halfway point between the two cities) in September 1972. And so, The Australasian Institute of Fundraising (TAIF) was born. Syd was one of the first board members and TAIF’s first vice-president.
A belief in fundraising as a profession like medicine or law
Syd worked hard to nurture TAIF along. He envisioned a membership of over 500 fundraisers and wanted to see an education program developed to promote fundraising knowledge. Syd also served on the council and chapter executive in Victoria, leading and encouraging others to join and create a professional body that fundraisers would be proud to call their own.
“Syd believed that fundraisers were in a profession, like doctors and lawyers, and he wanted them accepted by the community like those traditional professions. It was because of the way they were intermediaries between charities and donors and looked after both interests,” explained Ted.
In 1974, Syd chaired TAIF’s first convention committee, to create an annual event where fundraisers could come together to gain knowledge and exchange ideas. That first FIA Convention was held at Monash University and attracted 71 people, laying the groundwork for a conference that now attracts over 700 fundraisers a year.
Syd would continue his commitment to fundraising long after his retirement in 1977.
He passed way in 1987, but his spirit lives on. A dedicated pioneer in fundraising, it has been said by those who knew him that he never knew the meaning of the word “defeat.”
His name is permanently stamped on FIA’s honour roll in recognition of a lifetime’s work devoted to helping others less fortunate, to putting modern fundraising on the map, and ensuring FIA is a force for the cultivation of philanthropy across Australia.
In 1988, the governing body of FIA established an oration in Syd’s honour, a custom that continues today. Distinguished speakers have included Tracy Bevan, Rosie Batty OAM, Tim Costello OAM, Martine Letts, Alan Clayton, Myles McGregor Lowndes, Kay Sprinkel Grace and John Jeffries OAM.
In 2020, the Syd Herron Oration speaker will be Annabelle Chauncy OAM, chief executive and founding director of the School of Life Foundation. You can see her speak on Wednesday, 26 February at FIA Conference 2020, at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre – exactly 32 years after the first Syd Herron was held!
