leveur des fonds

09:44 Jul 13, 2012 

though again, there is a difference between "raising funds" and being a "fundraiser". I agree with you that the former is widely used in corporate finance, but I have never seen the latter outside of the non-profit or political sphere. Readers will probably understand its corporate meaning in Steve's context, I'm just not convinced it's the best term. But who knows, maybe its commercial use will make it more prevalent, language does evolve after all, nothing is static. Maybe something like "startup/entrepreneurial fundraiser" will help to reconcile the EN to the FR term.

01:36 Jul 13, 2012 

Not true that "fund-raiser" is only ever used in a nonprofit context. Counterexamples abound at ft.com, where "fund-raising" is commonly used to mean "raising funds for business" (not only for charity or political campaigns), and those who do it, or even moves to accomplish it, inevitably get called "fund-raisers".
That said, if translating for a general audience -- rather than the City or the readership of the Financial Times -- I too would avoid using the word without a qualifier for people who drum up money to finance business ventures.

08:57 Jul 12, 2012 

Hi Kate, no, it refers (from the web refs I've found) to a professional go-between, so to speak, an individual/entity who knows all the big players in town and how to structure/pitch a business proposal to secure their funding. So, the leveur de fonds is the one who will approach venture capital and private equity firms on behalf of the entrepreneur.

In the US (and UK?), the entrepreneur usually does that herself, or with the help of her contacts, which is why I'm not sure there is a specific term for it in EN. Fundraiser is the right idea, it's just not the right term :-P

22:07 Jul 11, 2012 

so titles like backer, supporter, patron etc are not relevant?

11:13 Jul 11, 2012 

Mathilde, "fundraiser" is only ever used in a non-profit context, while "raising funds" applies to both the commercial and non-profit sectors. A leveur de fonds raises funds for its clients (or at least connects them to the companies which carry out the actual fundraising), but it is not a fundraiser, that term is reserved for non-profit use only. I know that lexically there is no difference between the two terms, but they operate in very different contexts and cannot be used interchangeably.

So basically, yes, a fundraiser solicits financial contributions, but only for charities and other non-profit organizations, not companies/for-profit organizations.

11:00 Jul 11, 2012 

I do agree on the fact there is a slight distinction between fundraiser and fundraising, but from what I've seen the basic definition of "fundraiser" can apply.

"FUNDRAISER (noun)
The noun FUNDRAISER has 2 senses:

1. someone who solicits financial contributions
2. a social function that is held for the purpose of raising money.

10:37 Jul 11, 2012 

Hi Mathilde, one must distinguish between fundraising and fundraiser. The latter only applies to the non-profit sectors; what the Asker is looking for is a term to describe companies/individuals who specialize in acting as intermediaries between venture capital & private equity firms, angel investors, etc, and start-ups/entrepreneurs. I'm not sure there is an exact EN equivalent for leveur de fonds.

10:23 Jul 11, 2012 

I disagree. You can find plenty of fundraising exemples in private companies. This term is not just used for non-profit organizations. See the link below :
http://www.davy.ie/Generic?page=fundraising

Private Company Fundraising


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