Successful Fundraising

In amongst all the doom and gloom predictions about fundraising – and in particular, fundraising for arts organisations suffering thanks to government cuts and the recession – comes the positively uplifting tale of the Staffordshire Hoard, which featured on SOFII’s blog today.

It’s a shining example of what can be achieved in an emergency fundraising appeal which provides a call to action that captures the public imagination and encourages them to support a cause.  Arts fundraising is not known for its emergency appeals so it is good to learn about successes such as these, which not only saved an artwork for Staffordshire by raising £500,000 from philanthropic sources but actually achieved £600,000+ ahead of schedule.

I hope, however, that emergency fundraising doesn’t become the norm – particularly in the new era of austere cuts.  While we can learn a huge amount from this successful campaign, planning and relationship building are preferable ways to raise income – both ongoing funding and for larger campaigns – rather than sourcing funding to tight deadlines in an ’emergency’ style operation.