Freelance versus Employee

November 1, 2010 1 Comment

Museum of Scotland by Mama Pyjama under Creative Commons Licence

For 14 years I worked as an ‘in-house’ fundraiser and enjoyed working in a range of jobs and sectors – including a stint at RNIB Scotland; raising sponsorship for the National Museums of Scotland; and heading up the fundraising team at Edinburgh Napier University.  So why leave a secure job – with a pension – to the relatively unpredictable world of a freelancer?

Well, first of all, I’d gained a huge amount of experience during the preceding 14 years and wanted to have an opportunity to build upon those.  There were really only two options.  The first, was look for a Director’s position while the second, was work for myself and build a client base.  It was the second that had more appeal, not least because I’d always wanted to work for myself and I knew that if I didn’t make the move when I did, I’d probably lose my nerve or get too used to the regular pay cheque to ever do it.  I’ve always enjoyed the variety that fundraising brings to a job – different projects, donors and deadlines – and I knew that I’d enjoy working for multiple clients on a range of projects all at the same time.

Handing in my notice without having a job to go to was a strangely liberating (if not slightly terrifying) experience.  I’ve never resigned without having had a job to go to and usually when I’d resigned in the past I was going off to what was effectively a promotion.  What on earth was I facing?

Luckily, I hadn’t worked in a vacuum for the past 14 years and had built up a good network of former colleagues, board members from previous organisations and of course, donors that I’ve worked with in the past.  I made sure that everyone knew that I was now working for myself and was lucky enough to have secured my first contract within two months of resigning from my old job.  And I’ve never looked back.

What I enjoy most about working for myself is the opportunity to work with organisations whose work I have an affinity with – and whose work varies enormously from one client to the next.  I’ve worked with educational charities, heritage organisations, galleries and children’s arts organisations – and everything in between.  I’ve developed fundraising strategies; delivered training sessions to staff and board members on fundraising; run focus groups and interviews with stakeholders; developed feasibility studies and, of course, carried out fundraising for clients – from developing projects for the fundraising ‘market’ to raising the money they need to deliver their key goals.

However, not only have I had the chance to use my skills to help my clients but I’ve also had the opportunity to learn a huge amount about different organisations and their needs.

Yes, the hours are often long when I have deadlines to meet and I have missed the chance to bounce ideas off colleagues – as well as the banter.  But trading that off against office politics, commuting and missing out on family events has made it all worthwhile.  It’s quite liberating knowing that you have to rely on your own resources to land a piece of work and see it through – and I’ve been lucky enough to work with other freelance colleagues on various projects, which has helped increase my skills while also providing a good sounding board too.

Would you like to go freelance?  What’s stopping you?

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How Can You Fundraise with Limited Resources?

October 27, 2010 Leave a comment

Well, my first piece of advice would be to download my free Top 10 Tips on Fundraising!

The limited resources in the title of this post refer to staff and time as opposed to money, as fundraising on a small scale shouldn’t cost you a huge amount of money.  It will, however, cost something, even if it’s only factoring in the time of the person delivering your fundraising needs, postage and stationery.  However, if you are intending to raise a large portion of your annual income, you really need to consider making a proper investment in fundraising by either recruiting a fundraiser or paying a freelancer to fundraise for you.  Either way, if no-one has any experience of fundraising in your organisation and you want to make this a regular aspect of your income, you should consider getting professional advice to help with your planning and organisation.

However, many small organisations need to raise money to deliver a few key projects and need to use the resources available to them to achieve this.  Perhaps you have some resources to invest in a freelance fundraiser?  Or maybe recruit a part-time member of staff?  But what if neither option applies?  In that case, you need to consider who in your organisation has the skills and time to fundraise for you.  And fundraising for your organisation will include researching potential donors; identifying key projects that you need and, as important, that will appeal to potential donors; developing a case for support for your organisation – why should a donor give funding to you, what will you use it for, how much do you need and when do you need it by; writing fundraising bids and meeting with potential donors – and of course, writing thank you letters and follow up reports.  You may have a member of staff who can take on this role – or a few who can split the workload between them.  Or perhaps you have a volunteer or board member with experience (or the willingness and necessary skills) to develop this for you? 

Where do you go from there?

My top 3 tips would be:

  1. Decide who is responsible for fundraising in your organisation – and make sure they have the time available to achieve your fundraising aims
  2. Get Organised – look at your systems and determine how they will support your fundraising (and develop some new ones for fundraising, such as looking after your donors)
  3. Make sure your messages are clear and consistent – your fundraising should sit well with your overall vision and objectives or donors won’t understand who you are and what you are aiming to achieve.

Do you have any other tips – or questions – for organisations who really are starting from scratch with no previous experience in this area?

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Will Philanthropists Save the Arts?

October 25, 2010 Leave a comment

This was the question posed by Charlotte Higgins in the Guardian on 21st October regarding the Arts Council’s funding cut of 30%, as a result of the government spending review.  Museums budgets are also to be cut by 15% and, at the time of writing, there will be an anticipated but as yet unknown amount cut from arts budgets in Scotland and Wales.  

This is a question that needs to be answered.  In my post on The Future of Arts Funding, I mentioned the study carried out by Arts & Business which considered it unlikely that we could expect philanthropy to meet the income gap made by government cuts.  Not least because, as Vivien Duffield comments in the Guardian article, many donors feel that their contribution should be the ‘icing on the cake’ and not the cake itself.

Culture is an important expression of the human experience – but it’s also a key contributor to the UK economy.   According to Support the Arts, 6.2% of the UK’s local income comes from the creative industries, the arts provide over 2 million jobs and are mentioned by 8 out of 10 tourists as a reason for their visit.  Not only do the arts contribute massively to the UK economy, they do so whilst doubling the money invested in them – funding the arts costs everyone in Britain 17p per week.  The arts earn the government around 35p per person per week.  So even if you’re not an arts lover yourself, you can’t argue that investing in them does make economic sense – as artist David Shrigley illustrates (literally) in his animation.  

And, while all of the arts are under threat, what about small, regional, grassroots or community arts organisations?  The future seems particularly bleak for them as the Arts Council are surely more likely to try to save high profile arts organisations who are perhaps more vocal, more proficient at organising support and already have a strong base of supporters – and will therefore, be in a position to create a noise about any potential cuts to their budgets.

Higgins’s article featured quotes from a number of wealthy individuals, the majority of whom are based in and around London and who tend to give to organisations around the same area, often in the more traditional arts, such as ballet, opera and mainstream theatre.  Community organisations, children’s arts organisations or those based in towns and cities outside the south east tend not to receive donations from the Portraits, d’Offay’s or Lord Stevensons of this world.  They are unable to offer excellent seats for their performances in top theatres; or inscriptions on buildings and theatre seats.  They don’t feature in reviews by the London based broadsheets and their Board members aren’t on FTSE 100 companies. 

So how will smaller organisations raise money through philanthropy and sponsorship in an ever increasingly competitive market?  Many of these organisations are much loved and frequented by local audiences; they can be the breeding grounds for experimental work or the place where grassroots activities involving the wider community are developed.  Many talented artists and performers first made their mark in regional or community based organisations.  Perhaps most importantly, these organisations are often the first place where many people experience the arts – either as children or adults – and are therefore, the catalyst for many people becoming future audiences for the arts.

There’s no doubt that there will be worrying times ahead – and not just for the arts, for the third sector as a whole, as reduced government funding and a smaller welfare state is likely to put huge pressure on already limited resources, while competition for funds is likely to increase in the future.

The arts are well placed.  They are already lean, tend to have existing loyal audiences and are creative in their approach.  But the challenges they face cannot be underestimated and will no doubt take their toll on the future creativity and therefore, economic output of this country.

Perhaps you don’t agree – or perhaps you think that the arts can be sacrificed?  What are the major challenges your organisation faces in light of the government cuts?

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Fundraising – why bother?

October 20, 2010 4 Comments

by James Cridland james.cridland.net under Creative Commons Licence

The other day, a friend told me that her organisation wasn’t going to bother fundraising.  They are a small organisation, which has had some success with trusts in the past but they don’t see the point in investing more time and resources into building their fundraising programme as they receive enough income from other sources. 

Often organisations are put off fundraising because they don’t have a fundraiser, they can get by with the other funding they have, they have a board that doesn’t want to invest in fundraising, or they simply don’t know where to start and feel it will be too much effort.

Of course, if you are in the fortunate position of having enough funding to cover your core activity through public funds and earned income, you may consider that fundraising is an additional activity that you don’t have the time or resources to invest in.  But what if your funding situation changes?  What if you need more income this year for a special project that you want to deliver?  If you have no relationships with other potential supporters – be they trusts, individuals or sponsors – it will make the task of finding additional funding infinitely more difficult.

Fundraising does require investment – time, resources and money – and it requires planning to establish how your organisation should manage and target fundraising to best suit your particular needs.  But organisations spend so much time trying to get their message out to new people all the time – be they audiences, volunteers or service users – why would they not want to use that message differently to reach people and organisations that could inevitably invest in them?

The very act of communicating with and to potential supporters will also help you to use more and different channels to get your message out.  Can this necessarily be a bad thing?  It may not only introduce you to potential donors but could result in more volunteers, more customers, service users or audiences, depending on your type of organisation – all helping you to meet your aims and objectives and potentially grow your earned income, as well as your philanthropic and sponsorship income.

Fundraising, particularly when you have no dedicated resources in terms of staff or time, may seem like an impossible task but with careful planning – planning and systems are key to ensuring fundraising sustainability – it can be achieved and ultimately, worth more to your organisation that it costs.  Of course, there will be some initial effort required – there always is with any new activity – but surely, it is worth it, particularly in current times when no funding is assured?  Look at your resources and consider using them effectively to deliver some key fundraising goals. 

  • Put systems in place to allow you to have a rolling programme of fundraising – a database, donor communications programme, applications cycle, research activity – all carefully planned
  • Start off small – no one expects you to deliver £1m in your first year with no history of fundraising. 
  • Network – expand and broaden the groups of people aware of your organisation, the projects you deliver and your vision for the future.  Encourage your board to help you network. 

Ultimately, introducing philanthropic income and sponsorship will enable you to diversify your income and, more importantly, increase the sustainability of your organisation in the future. 

Perhaps you don’t agree?  Or maybe you have other suggestions as to why an organisation should consider fundraising?

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The Future for Arts Funding

October 18, 2010 1 Comment

Photo by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, used under Creative Commons Licence

Two recent studies have highlighted the current funding situation for the arts which, like many other areas, is suffering as a result of the recession, while the campaign, I Value the Arts, aims to raise awareness of the added value the arts bring to the economy through a publicity campaign supported by well-known artists, such as Tracy Emin and David Shrigley.

A recent survey found that overall, more arts organisations where experiencing increased revenues than those experiencing shortfalls of income.  However, rates of improvement were slight and rates of fundraising have been far lower than had been anticipated for this post-recession period. (source: Economic Impact Survey, Arts Quarter).  This has to be a concern, particularly given upcoming government spending review which is anticipated to impact negatively on the arts.

A recent report on philanthropy trends by Arts & Business also clearly states that philanthropy is unlikely to fill the gap left by these inevitable cuts, although, it also suggests that there is still capacity to increase philanthropy in the arts – even if it won’t fill the gap entirely.  At the moment, 15% of the income received by arts organisations comes from private investment with over half of this coming from individuals.  A&B recommend that arts organisations need to build networks and to look at fundraising to contribute towards the sustainability of the sector – rather than simply to fill a gap or as a quick fix.

What is clear is that the sector needs to immobilise itself now, as the I Value the Arts campaign illustrates.  It is also important that arts organisations work locally, collaborating with others in their area.  Fundraising is a long term activity – any relationship takes time to build and develop and fundraising is no different. 

Arts organisations should use existing networks and contacts to build support – it is most likely that those who already know you and are familiar with your work will consider giving you support.  Look at best practice and emulate – look to those in your sector (and other sectors) to find out what is doing well and what isn’t in terms of raising income and try to think of ways you could adapt these to fit with your fundraising.  Engage with your audiences in new ways – perhaps you could use social media?

I did, however, wonder at the suggestion by A&B that fundraising can’t just fill a gap created by a lack of public funding.  It is a view that I completely agree with but I suspect a few arts organisations read this and thought:  ‘But that’s precisely what we need it for!’ 

It is highly unlikely that you can simply switch like for like.  There will be a need to scrutinise resources and make cuts but, in a sector that is already fairly lean, that might not result in much in the way of savings.  Perhaps viewing your core costs differently could help – could essential maintenance could be used to train artisans or does it have an environmental or community engagement aspect that might appeal to donors?  Perhaps you could assign an element of core costs as part of a project you are fundraising for? You will need to think about your entire programme of activity.  What could be of potential interest to a donor or sponsor?  Are there any areas which are only likely to be met through public funds?  Can you adjust your income streams accordingly? 

There needs to be a move away from knee-jerk fundraising.  There will always be times when there is an urgent need for funds but that shouldn’t be the main pattern for your fundraising.  The arts are by their very nature creative and they need to adopt this approach in their fundraising in order to ensure future sustainability and growth.

What do you think?  Are you dismayed to read that fundraising is unlikely to meet the funding gap?  Or have you already adjusted your programmes in anticipation of the funding cuts?

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First Post!

September 29, 2010 Leave a comment

Well, this is my first post onto Activate Fundraising’s new website and hopefully the first of many.  I’ll be keeping readers updated on general news that might affect the world of fundraising, as well as more specific updates on developments in the arts, charities and education.  So welcome to Activate Fundraising, if you’ve any questions related to fundraising, please post them here or if you’d like to have a more indepth discussion about the needs of your organisation, email me at heather@activatelimited.com.  Looking forward to hearing from you!  Best wishes, Heather

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