We Wish You a Merry Christmas…

December 23, 2010 Leave a comment

Final day of Activate Fundraising’s Top 10 Fundraising Tips – and here are the final two.  This is by no means the definitive list on everything you need to consider when fundraising but it should give you an idea of the different aspects you need to consider and help you to focus your ideas. 

9. Use trustees effectively.  Who has the best networks?  Who is happy to ask for money (because not all will be)?  Who is most knowledgeable or passionate about your organisation (hopefully, all of them!).  It is vital that trustees lend their support to fundraising.  They may not all be comfortable asking for money but they don’t all have to be – as long as they will introduce your organisation to their networks and be an ambassador for your work (which they should be anyway).

10. Say Thank You.  It may be obvious, but you’d be surprised how often donors aren’t thanked.  You can’t say thank you enough.  Provide the personal touch – a scanned signature is unlikely to make anyone feel their gift meant much.  £20 may be a small donation to you but it could mean a lot to the donor.  And you never know how much could follow on from the smallest gift.  If you don’t thank people you are closing the doors to future support and wasting all the effort put into getting that initial donation.

I hope that these tips have given you some food for thought over the past few days and that you implement some or all of them when you come back into the office in January.   And if you’d like some help with your fundraising, please get in touch.

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2011!

by Flickr user Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig

Filed under fundraising ideas Tagged with , , , , , ,

Christmas Countdown Giveaway: 22nd December

December 22, 2010 Leave a comment

Like me, you probably only have another couple of days in the office, so make them a productive couple by using them to think about how you’re going to come into the office in January and kick start your fundraising with a few new ideas – or maybe just visit some old ones from a different perspective:

Tip 7. Stay ‘on message’.  Fundraising is another way of communicating to your audience and, while the methods of delivery may be different, they should still reflect your core messages.  If you’re fundraising for a programme that doesn’t fit with your overall vision, you need to ask yourself why.  If you don’t, potential donors will.

8. Fundraise within resources.  Regardless of how many fundraisers you have (or don’t have) you need to be realistic about what you can deliver.  How much time can you allocate to fundraising?  What tasks need to be delivered e.g. research, applications, meetings, planning?  Who will deliver these tasks?  Often fundraising focuses solely on target but if it’s unrealistic within current resources, you need to either reduce the target or devote more resources to fundraising.

Check in with us tomorrow for the final two in our top 10 Fundraising tips series.

Filed under fundraising ideas Tagged with , , , , , ,

Christmas Countdown Giveaway: Day 4

December 21, 2010 Leave a comment

A few more free advent tips from Activate Fundraising:

5. Research your donors.  You need to identify who is likely to support your organisation – and being wealthy is not enough.  If I had £1 for every time I’ve been told to ask a certain businessman for money, I’d be rich!  Look at your projects, your beneficiaries and your organisational vision.  Who supports the work you are doing?  There are numerous resources out there to help with your research – too many to mention here – but start by reading local and national press; keeping up to date with sector developments; and using your networks.

6. Network.  Spread the word about your organisation.  Be known as leaders in your field.  Use networks available to you – through trustees, volunteers, professional groups and your donors.  Consider online networking – ask your Trustees and CEO if they’ll introduce your organisation to their Linked In contacts or send out occasional tweets on your behalf.

Is there anything from the list of tips so far that you think is missing?  What would you add and why?

Filed under fundraising ideas Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Christmas Countdown Giveaway – 5 Sleeps ’til Santa!

December 20, 2010 Leave a comment

As we’ve only 5 days to go before the big man arrives, today I’ve included 2 fundraising tips to help you focus your fundraising:

3. Review the market.  Look at your competitors – who supports them?  Are there programmes like yours that have failed or succeeded?  Why?  Is there an organisation in your area doing similar work?  How are you different?  Fundraising is competitive so it’s vital that you stand out from the crowd.  Knowing who you’re up against will help you to position yourself effectively.  But as well as looking at competitors, also think out the box too.  What has motivated you to give to a charity – why was it effective?  What advertising campaigns have really stood out for you and why?  And remember, you are not your donors – so get the views of others too.

 4. Get everyone on board.  You should set out the reasons why you are fundraising and what your objectives are (see point 1) so that everyone in your organisation knows why you’re fundraising, what for, how much and in what timescale and what you are hoping to achieve.  You can’t under estimate the power of internal support for your fundraising so make sure your trustees, staff and volunteers know why you are fundraising.

Filed under fundraising ideas Tagged with , , , , ,

Arts Professional Blog Post

December 17, 2010 1 Comment

I recently (last month) started writing posts for the new Arts Professional blog and this month’s has just been published, which talks about the UK coalition government’s plans to introduce a matched funding scheme for the arts to the tune of £80 million.  In essence, I think the idea is a good one but in reality, I doubt that we can change the culture of giving in this country over night – which is unfortunate to say the least, given that the changes are being implemented pretty much overnight!

We don’t have the tax breaks of, say, the US and we do have a culture of government investing in the arts (as well as education, the health service and a whole host of other activities that are private funded in other countries, including the US).  So, while I think that it is laudable to encourage philanthropy and sponsorship, I don’t think that either the systems are in place to encourage greater giving levels or indeed, to resource fundraising activity itself. 

Simply telling people to give more money to the arts isn’t likely to achieve all that much – far more carrots and a few less sticks please!

Filed under fundraising Tagged with , , ,

Day 2: Christmas Countdown Giveaway

December 17, 2010 Leave a comment

by Flickr User Andreas Cappell

So, you’ve thought long and hard about what, why and how you’re going to fundraise, what next?

2. Put systems in place.  Without systems you will find it difficult to sustain your fundraising.  Get a database and use it – this doesn’t have to be expensive, you could use Constant Contact, Access or any number of other databases before you even think of splashing out on a fundraising specific system.  Decide who you will target for funding – trusts, individuals, Lottery, business or a mixture?  Establish systems that will help you to look after your donors by determining how and when you will communicate with them.  You don’t have to recreate the wheel – this could sit within a communications programme that you already use, taking into account the specific audience(s) you are communicating with and always ensuring that your donors receive appropriate communications.

So what next?  Look out for tomorrow’s tip…

Filed under fundraising ideas Tagged with , , , , ,

On the 1st Day of Christmas…

December 16, 2010 Leave a comment

OK, we are way past the first day of advent but a few early Christmas presents never go amiss – so here is the first of my daily fundraising tips to help get your fundraising sorted out between now and start of 2011.  So here we are, at day 1 and my first tip is:

  1. Plan your fundraising.  What do you want to achieve?  Why?  How does this fit with your organisational strategy or goals?  What, specifically, do you need the money for – staff/core, project, capital?  Where do you think the money will come from – current or previous donors, new funding routes, trusts, individuals, the Lottery?  What resources do you have to invest in fundraising?  Do you have staff, a database, robust administration systems, effective communications?

If you can’t answer any of these questions, you’re not ready to start fundraising.

Filed under fundraising ideas Tagged with , , , , ,

Why Donors Give

December 16, 2010 Leave a comment

There was an interesting article in the FT a while ago that got me thinking about what motivates people to give to particular charities over others.

Clearly, how a charity engages with a donor or potential donor is important.  The article, based on research by New Philanthropy Capital, suggests that most important to donors is how well a charity is run, transparency, opportunities to get involved and often, locality to the donor.

Wealthy donors, in particular, are keen to know that their funds are being used effectively and this may be due to the large number of entrepreneurs represented in this group of donors.  This might put some charities off – the feeling that they are somehow being dictated to –  but it shouldn’t.  Obviously, you don’t want to let the tail wag the dog but I’ve found that the different viewpoint a donor can bring to an organisation is of huge benefit – way beyond the value of the gift itself.  After all, engaged and involved donors are your biggest advocates in the outside world.

Have you found that your donors are more interested in having a hands on involvement or more regular contact with your charity?  How easy (or difficult) has that been to manage?

Filed under fundraising Tagged with , , , ,

Free Fundraising Makeover

December 10, 2010 1 Comment

The economic situation has changed fundraising for a huge number of organisations – some who didn’t fundraise before are now considering it to help boost their funding as other sources have dwindled (or been dramatically cut).  Others with a history of fundraising are finding it increasingly difficult now that there is greater competition for funds and budgets of donors have become  more restricted.

Or at least that’s the anecdotal evidence – but what about your organisation?  Has fundraising become easier, more difficult or pretty much remained the same? 

We’re carrying out a survey (it’s very short and won’t take more than 5 minutes – honest) to find out how fundraising has changed in recent months – if at all.  As an incentive, all of those taking part will be entered into a prize draw to win a free fundraising audit for their organisation.  And, even if you don’t win, all respondents will receive a copy of the results which will help to establish whether you’re on track or need to do more compared to others.

Filed under fundraising, fundraising consultancy Tagged with , , , , , ,

Tax Breaks & Philanthropy

December 9, 2010 1 Comment

I read with interest the article on BBC’s website yesterday in which culture secretary Jeremy Hunt (he of the unfortunate surname mispronouncation by BBC’s James Naughtie) announced that he wanted to encourage philanthropy for the arts through matched funding.

The plan is ambitious with £80m of government funds being set aside and arts organisations encouraged to fundraise for the remainder.  But it does beg the question, who is going to be able to achieve this?  Surely the bigger fish in the arts world with the contacts – and the resources – are going to fare better than smaller organisations?

In order for an organisation to set up an effective, sustainable fundraising operation of the sort Jeremy Hunt envisages, they need to at least have the resources available to them to research, recruit and look after their donors.  And corporate sponsorship is even more labour intensive with high demands placed on the recipients of such monies.  Most smaller organisations don’t have even one member of staff who deals solely with fundraising, never mind a fundraising team, so how realistic or achievable will it be to replace government funding with philanthropic gifts and sponsorship?

It is important to encourage philanthropy – although Jeremy Hunt’s suggestion that we should emulate the levels achieved in the US is unlikely to happen without a radical alteration of the tax system in the UK – and I firmly believe that all organisations need to think of introducing an element of fundraising into their income streams – increasing the diversity of their funding and helping them to become more sustainable.  But is it unrealistic to expect small, cutting edge, community-based or new work to achieve the same levels (proportionally) of more ‘traditional’ larger arts organisations? 

It may be an uncomfortable climate for all of the arts but I worry that new talent and the development of new ideas and audiences will suffer as a result of the plans of the current government.

Do you agree?  Perhaps you think the arts are expendable in terms of government support?

 

Filed under arts Tagged with , , , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →