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Hi, in my role as Trustee for a local branch of a national charity, I’m looking for some advice on fundraising planning and legacy strategies . The charity has always been very reactive and dare I say it a little haphazard in our approach, but we are looking now to ’do it properly’! Any advice or tips would be most welcome.
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Thank you Alastair – all really good insights. I am slowly bringing in practices from my commercial experience, but keen not to alienate the volunteers. Your point about the Branch Director and leadership is very familiar, and I’ve been coaching him and his deputies for the past three months to ensure they lead and invite others to do! We are getting there, and I think a strategic approach to fundraising could highlight the value of a commercial approach still further. Thanks again.
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Yes, it’s a very fine line. Best of luck with the initiative
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Hi Arabella, really interesting – tagging some charity trustees and fundraisers who might be able to give you some advice – Amelie Chowna, Paul Vallois, Gill Hunter, Tatyana Popova, Caroline Marsh, David Semmens, Krissy Brooks, Claire Hodgson, David Southall, Greg Vartoukian, Chris Thornhill, Jemma, Hannah Musisi
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Hi Arabella,
I have done a fair bit of fundraising for a variety of charities, both local and international, would be happy to chat and share some of my experience?
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Thank you Krissy – I’d welcome that. I’ll drop you a note.
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Arabella
I have run a project similar to the one you have described and I do have a few suggestions. Clearly, without info on the nature of the project, there are many caveats, but the following points were central to my experience
1. Revenue mindset: charity staff are generally ideological and they often underestimate the influence they have in their local community both in identifying and recruiting future revenue streams
2. Relationships: your central organisation and/or intermediary (in my case local authority) are critical, especially if they influence access to service users, so don’t be shy of managing them
3. Objectives: this is not usually a charity strong point – if these are unclear (SMART), get them nailed and your community engagement will become much easier
4. Leadership: you need to make sure your CEO/chair can step away from the business and be a leader – this is tough because they are usually the strongest advocates for the cause and they become immersed in it
My conclusion, approach a charity as a community enterprise and treat it as you would any commercial client
Hope this is food for thought
Alastair