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Written by Caroline Danks, Author at LarkOwl.

Caroline is an expert in trusts and foundations and major gifts fundraising and has raised millions for good causes. She runs LarkOwl with her partner Tony which supports charities with income generation from fundraising and commercial sources. She writes the Nest Egg, a fun and irreverent reader supported publication for fundraisers looking to supercharge their income generation activities and drive better results. Caroline is a regular guest host for the Bright Spot Members’ Club and her writing has been featured in Fundraising Magazine. For the past two years, she has co-curated Fundraising Everywhere’s Trusts and Major Donors conference.

 

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2010

Early in May 2010, I remember staying up as late as I possibly could, watching the results of the general election. 

Being a morning Lark, I think I made it to about 10:10pm.  Nowadays my election watching tactics involve an early night and then setting the alarm for 5am…

Labour had been in power since 1997 and the prospect of them remaining in office was slim.  People blamed them for the global financial crisis and for the decisions they took thereafter to rescue our banks and to retain funding for public services.

The next morning, I remember Gordon Brown’s desperate efforts to negotiate with members of smaller parties, before giving up and making room for the Conservative / Lib Dem coalition.

Incidentally, the week prior to that night, I had become pregnant (although I didn’t know it yet).

I had a new life on the way, and a new government which would shape the world into which she would be born.

I couldn’t escape a sense of gloom about my new child’s life chances.

Austerity felt like a low point and showed up in many painful and irreversible ways across society.  I saw it in my own community too:

• The little independent shops which characterised our small Cornish town started to close. 
• The flat I bought in 2007 never regained its value. 
• The pastoral care lead at the primary school would routinely buy breakfast from her own money to feed kids coming to school hungry.

 

2016-2022

In 2016, Brexit happened.

A global pandemic followed (with different rules for MP’s and the general populous it turned out) and then war in Europe. Oh, and apparently there is ‘no credible path to preventing a global rise in temperature of 1.5 celsius.

We’re also on the cusp of an Autumn Statement which we’re told will include ‘tax rises for all and eye watering cuts’.  Austerity mark 2?

My daughter is 11 now and it’s hard not to feel despairing about the state of our country and the wider world. 

The slow descent of our political system into chaos and corruption and widening wealth inequalities have had a direct impact on the charitable sector – the place where those most in need come when there is no one else to turn to. 

I don’t need to tell you how things have been of late. 

Put simply, there is increasing need for the services which charities offer, combined with a reduction in the funding available to pay for them.

 

Charity: just a sticking plaster?

It is my personal belief that for the most part, the existence of charities represents a failure of the state (or course there are exceptions).  And although many charities treasure their independence (which I totally get), things like:

• proper, dignified care for older people
• high quality end-of-life provision for all
• schools with sufficient numbers of staff and basic equipment like stationary
• access to food (ideally nutritious, fresh stuff)
• and ensuring that disabled people have the means to power their lifesaving equipment,

really should be part of a modern and civilised society, not optional extras.

When there is less to go around and more people to help, it’s difficult not to feel like the work we do as fundraisers is nothing more than a sticking plaster.

And not even a good waterproof sticking plaster with a fun cartoon character on it.

I’m talking one of those useless sticking plasters which peels off at the first sign of a single bead of sweat.

And what happens when the plaster falls off?  It just doesn’t bear thinking about…

 

I think I’m in a bit of a rut – obsessing over the news and feeling more and more like I’m in a minority of people in this country who think that Boris Johnson looks like ‘he’d be a laugh down the pub’ and that David Cameron was a great Prime Minister because ‘looked good in a suit’.

 

When there is less to go around and more people to help, it’s difficult not to feel like the work we do as fundraisers is nothing more than a sticking plaster.

 

Looking to the future

It is not my intention to write a piece which focuses entirely on negativity and I promise not to leave you this way.  I’m not convinced I have any answers, but I routinely advise fundraisers that they focus their energies firmly on the things they can’t control (rather than things which sit outside of it) so maybe it’s time I took my own advice.

It’s important to remember that as individuals, we can’t throw all the starfish back into the water.

But those we can throw, will appreciate it.  Not only will they appreciate it.  They will survive and (with any luck) thrive.

And all the while the system degrades, we will just keep on keeping on, forging partnerships with those who have both the means and the inclination to reject the individualistic / capitalist / growth for growth’s sake and to strive for something fairer.

In the podcast ‘The Rest is Politics’ Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart were asked (a much more eloquent and better-worded version of) the following question:

How do you not despair when everything’s really depressing?

I stopped and really listened carefully to the answer because it was the question I’d been asking myself:

The answer was simple:

‘You have to find hope.’

It’s really simple isn’t it. 

You have to find hope.

Alongside the daily joys of seeing small differences made as a direct result of the fundraising I’ve done, I feel determined to see hope and inspiration (and to shift myself away from the sad sticking plaster metaphor I’d got, well stuck on).

Join me and other, less ranty humans for Fundraising Everywhere’s Grants and Major Donors conference on Thursday 15th December.

My session is a journey from anger to hope. It’s a (short) rant about the state of the world followed by some practical advice for continuing a successful fundraising practice, despite the challenges in the world around us.

It’s for tired fundraisers, who still have the spark of a flame inside them and want to do the best they can with what they have.

Key learnings

– Some practical tips for working with trusts and major donors in tough times

– An exercise in identifying what you can control (and what you can’t)

– Ideas for wellbeing and not getting caught up in the storm

 

How do you not despair when everything’s really depressing?
You have to find hope.

 

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Grants & Major Donors Conference 2022

When? Thursday 15 December, 12 – 3pm GMT

Where? Online, so your living room

What do I need? A journal and mince pies

Can I bring an Eggnog? Hell yeah.  Or Coquito if you prefer a Mexican variation.  Alcoholic and virgin options are both equally welcome.

You can buy your ticket here.*

 

* This post contains my affiliate link and when you purchase a ticket through my link I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Written by Simon Scriver

The dream: Creating accessible learning for everyone

When Nikki and I launched Fundraising Everywhere in 2019 we wanted to create a fundraising community and training events that were affordable, accessible, engaging and human.

We wanted to elevate speakers to new audiences and give them the same opportunities we had been so fortunate to have had ourselves.

All of the speakers at our first conference were paid.

We did this by securing sponsors and by offering a profit share to everyone involved.

Ever since then we've been very vocal about speaker payments and our belief that conferences should always value the time of the people that make their event a success.

Your speakers need to be paid. If you can't afford to pay people fairly then you can't afford to do it.

Speakers of course don't have to accept payment, but a standard policy of no payment or putting speakers in the awkward position of having to ask for financial support is an outdate practice.

Let me share the journey I've been through as a professional speaker...

My journey as a professional speaker

After several years as a successful fundraiser, I had learnings to share.

My good friends at The Wheel came to me with a chance to share my wins, mistakes and learnings with a room full of charity staff and volunteers.

I was fortunate enough to be paid by The Wheel. I was privileged enough to be in a job where could take time to work on my training session. I had a supportive partner and a supportive board who saw the benefit of my doing this.

I was privileged. I worked hard to create an opportunity for myself...but I'm aware no matter how hard some people worked they would never have that same opportunity.

I put the time, money and effort into trying to be a better speaker. I started Toastmasters...a life-changing experience you're probably sick of hearing me talk about. It cost me €5 and a few hours each week.

I continued to deliver training. The majority of the time it was unpaid.

Often there would be a personal cost.

I had to cover my own time.

My own travel and my own expenses.

I was fortunate enough to be able to do that. It allowed me to get better and eventually I started to get more and more speaking opportunities.

I've been able to earn a living from presenting and speaking. Despite my overwhelming anxiety and insecurities, I love it. I'm so happy that I've had the chance to become a better speaker, even to the point that I represented UK & Ireland at Toastmaster's world speaking championship (I was disqualified because I went over time).

My first international conference was AFP Congress in Toronto. It's still probably my favourite conference. I'm grateful to the wonderful Amy Pawluk and committee for taking a chance on me, and every year at Congress for the rest of my life I will make a point of thanking Amy.

AFP paid for my travel and accommodation. The trip still cost me money, but I was privileged enough to have the means to cover it.

I've spoken at conferences such as ICON that don't even pay expenses. Their invitation for me to speak cost me approximately €3,000 plus the loss of billable hours.

The big opportunity gap

The majority of people working in the nonprofit sector can not afford to pay hundreds let alone thousands for speaking opportunities.

As a result, the shareable skills and knowledge of our sector sits behind a gatekeeper.

Potential speakers who can teach us how to be more successful aren't heard because they can't afford to share.

Every once in a while, I'll post on LinkedIn that speakers need to be paid. Every once in a while, someone disagrees, dismisses or calls me naive. They always look like me. Their reasoning generally boils down to the idea that speakers should invest in themselves and that the exposure is invaluable.

Let me attempt to gather all my responses to that fallacy here:

1. Start by Googling 'exposure as payment' and look at one of the millions of articles or memes scoffing at this. Then consider that maybe, just maybe you're on the wrong side of history.
   
2. That's a big investment. Even if that €3,000 creates a huge return, most of us don't have that kind of cash lying around.
   
3. Exposure for what? Another unpaid piece of work? At some point someone has to pay...why is it that your conference gets a pass?
   
4. Not everyone needs exposure. Not everyone is an agency, salesperson, or desperately in need of affirmation like you and me. One might even argue that the fundraisers we'd benefit most from hearing are the ones that don't need any exposure because they're too busy working.
   
5. Not everyone wants exposure. Imagine! Your conference tags some poor fundraiser on LinkedIn and one of their major donors see that they're delivering a session titled "5 reasons your donors are like aggressive otters".

Changing things for the better

Let's face it...expecting your speakers to offer unpaid labour is another outdated practice we've fallen into the trap of accepting because it's always been that way.

Our sector suffers because of it.

So let's change it:

• If you're a speaker or potential speaker then know your value. Ask for payment or true value exchange. Tess Nixon Spiller said you need to "really understand what the business development offer is."
  
• If you're a sponsor then ask if speakers are being paid. If not, why not? Offer to pay more to enable it (Don't worry about the cost...you'll get more exposure!).
  
• Conferences need to prioritise speaker payments as cost. As Ryann Miller said, "If we want a sector that truly and objectively values its professionals, we need to model the behaviour we identify as having value. Compensation is a key lever to show value."
  
• If you're an attendee then ask the event organisers what their speaker payment policy is. If you're learning from someone who is relying on 'exposure' then give them that value...put aside some time to look deeper in to what they're promoting or offering.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, your own journey and your suggestions.

And if you'd like to chat about sponsor opportunities, speaking opportunities, or any of the work we do at Fundraising Everywhere then I'd love to hear from you.

You can get in touch with me here: simon@fundraisingeverywhere.com

Written by Emily Collins-Ellis, CEO of I.G. Advisors.

"Fellowship seeks to bring together fundraisers to #FixTheFlow of resources for good"

Emily Collins-Ellis, CEO, I.G. Advisors

My journey as a resource activist

Recently, we at I.G. Advisors opened applications for our #FixTheFlow Fellowship, and I’m really grateful to Fundraising Everywhere for supporting what we’re doing, and inviting me to share a bit about why we’ve developed the programme.

To do that, I’d like to tell you a bit about my journey as a fundraiser, and as (what I call) a resource activist. 

Like many of us, I accidentally got into fundraising.

It was my way of getting into the nonprofit sector, where I felt I would have purpose, and I spent years in Officer, Manager and Trustee roles across small, medium and large charities.

I’ve really seen it all! Unfortunately, I had an immediate ‘in the deep end’ introduction to the major challenges in the profession: 

• My targets were always growing, and being set by budgeting and strategic processes that were completely disconnected from what I felt was possible in the market or my portfolio
  
• I felt immense pressure to meet those targets so as not to put our service users or organisation at risk, which felt really scary and heavy. 
  
• The skills required to fundraise seemed to be simultaneously so basic that Trustees would tell me ‘just read the Sunday Times Rich List’, and so complex that no one could provide me with clear training or guidance. 
  
• Sometimes, I would feel under pressure to compromise my values in the name of bringing in money. For example, by communicating about service users in undignified language to elicit bigger responses from donors; competing with peer organisations in aggressive ways; or rushing relationship building with donors to meet targets.  

Even though I did well, I still wasn’t feeling very sure about my role as a fundraiser - I got into nonprofit work to feel connected to a purpose, but I felt stuck churning through transactional relationship building in a silo. 

Then, the post-financial crisis austerity policies hit, and decimated the public funding for the work my charity was doing.

Suddenly, it wasn’t a matter of meeting targets for our work, but being part of a sector that was being actively deprioritised by government - it was a survival risk for us all.

And, the funding hole left by this couldn’t be filled by foundations alone - it was bigger than all their endowments put together.

This was the moment where I realised, this isn’t an ‘us and them’ sort of job - where I’m just trying to get money out of people on the other side of the table, and if I do that at enough tables, and do it better than everyone else, it will be fine. 

This is when I zoomed out and realised that I was part of a funding system: a big, complex one, where my individual work, and my organisation, were just a part of the picture. I could work harder and do better on my bit of the pipeline, but if the flow of resources from wealth holders, businesses or government wasn’t there, or I was getting those limited resources at the expense of another vital organisation, what good would that do? 

That is when I started to see myself as a resource activist. Someone whose job it was to organise giving, redistribute resources, and play a role within the funding system overall. I wanted to champion my causes and the practice of giving, as well as my organisation. And I knew I couldn’t do it alone. 

My move to create social & environmental change

And so, I joined I.G. Advisors. I.G. creates social and environmental change by working with the philanthropy, business and nonprofit sectors to develop impact and growth strategies.

We have worked with 170+ organisations and 2,000+ fundraising professionals in 60 different countries, and whilst we’d love to work with everyone on developing organisational strategies, we know not every fundraiser or organisation is in a place where they can access such comprehensive support. 

We’ve already responded to that challenge by developing lots of free resources, such as our What Donors Want podcast and Field Guide to Relationship Based Fundraising, but we were hearing from hundreds of fundraisers who want more hands-on support, more ideas, more chances to connect with peers, and more ways to address the challenges of the funding system. And, in the current climate, we know our approach is more vital than ever. 

#FixTheFlow

And so, we have developed, our #FixTheFlow Fellowship programme. This fellowship programme will focus on four levels of impact: 

1. Individual - where we’ll work with you on your personal development as a fundraiser. Enhancing your craft, your confidence, and your commitment, no matter where you’re working. 
   
2. Organisational - where we’ll help you to identify your pain points and goals, and set you up for success when driving fundraising within your workplace, no matter your job title. 
   
3. Sectoral - where we’ll bring together cohorts of fundraisers who face similar challenges with misconceptions of their causes, to do action learning together. 
   
4. Systemic - where we’ll collectively define the areas of the funding system where we want to #FixTheFlow, and develop collaborative action plans and special projects together. 

Like any movement, this fellowship will be what we make of it. We have designed an experience that is not just educational, but transformational.

We feel that people and institutions should be giving more, and giving better. Resources don’t always flow where they are needed most and there are leakages, blockages and cracks across the funding system that are hampering true, long-lasting change. 

If you agree, I really hope you will join us for the first cohort of this Fellowship. And I’m excited to meet you when you do. 

Let’s all #FixTheFlow of resources for good. 

Applications for the first cohort close 20th November 2022.

You can find out more here. 

Written by Simon Scriver, Co-Founder of Fundraising Everywhere

The Burning Platforms

With both Facebook and Twitter finding themselves in precarious situations, we’ve all been reminded of the risk of relying on any social media platform to connect with your audience. It’s important that part of our ongoing communications strategy is to encourage followers to also connect and subscribe through other traditional channels such as email and telephone.

It’s not just about the risk of some tech bros destroying a platform you’ve grown to rely on. It’s also about controlling your own data and not leaving your brand’s visibility at the mercy of an algorithm you have no say in - social media notoriously has terrible response rates compared to other media.

We need to be attempting to connect with our audience elsewhere in an ongoing effort to diversify our marketing channels, add people to your database, and collect the data you need to build up a full view of your donors to steward them properly.

Here are 7 ways to do this:

1. Offer a Free Download (Lead Magnet)

Downloadable resources such as fact sheets and helpful guides are a great way to bring value to your social media followers while capturing their contact details and consent. Think beyond your annual reports and consider what resources you have at your fingertips that will appeal to your audience.

Aim to help and educate. Infographics, cheat sheets, and ‘5 ways to…’ assets all do really well here.

2. Host a virtual event

Livestreams and pre-recorded video events allow you to engage supporters and bring them in to your organisation in a way that hasn’t previously been possible. Bring them behind-the-scenes, let them hear from beneficiaries and connect directly to your staff. Plus, they offer lots of touchpoints (ie. registration; before, during and after the event) to prompt your attendees to stay in touch through email, telephone and post.

Talk to our friends at everywhereplus.com to find out how easy this can be and what support is available to you.

3. Surveys

Surveys aren’t just for learning about your audience and letting them know they have a say. They’re also super for moving people off of social media - people love sharing their opinions and a mailing list ‘ask’ fits nicely at the end of your survey questions.

They can be as simple as one quick question - it’s about getting your followers to take that step and allowing you to gather more details.

4. Contests

Like surveys…who doesn’t love a contest?

That gift-in-lieu you haven’t been able to use could make a great contest prize. (Don’t forget to check the rules and regulations in your country around the running of online contests).

It might even just be bragging rights…challenge your followers to get every quiz question right…and while they’re there, encourage them to subscribe.

5. Drive to a blog post with data capture

You and your organisation are experts in your field.

If you’re not already, you should be sharing that expertise in regular blog posts. They show your worth and position you as a useful resource.

Blog posts sharing ‘how to’, explainers, FAQs and news/updates are all great ways to get social media followers to click a link and visit your website.

There’s then a great opportunity to suggest your email mailing list within your blog, at the end or through pop-ups.

6. Direct asks

Like all things in fundraising and marketing sometimes it’s as simple as just asking.

Share a direct link to a form to joining your mailing list regularly and give your followers a reason to join.

Make it sound appealing! Rather than joining a mailing list, share the benefits - such as early access, useful information, exclusive perks and a connection to community.

7. Hand raisers

Discover what people care about by running ‘hand raiser’ campaigns; ask them what they care about, what changes they want to see in the world, or run fun polls.

Not only will your list grow from this light-touch and fun interaction, the answers they give help you build a picture of their motivations for that all-important stewardship work.

Check out my full session On Demand:

A Step-by-Step Guide To Growing Your Mailing List

Use discount code ‘ELONMUSK’ to download it for free.

Written by Leesa Harwood, Owner of By The Waves Charity Consulting.

Too much of a good thing

Data is great.  It underpins good decision-making.  It helps fundraisers to understand supporters, articulate impact, measure success and prioritise the deployment of finite resources.  But you can have too much of a good thing.  Today we have access to lots of data, but nowhere near enough insight.  Alexander Chancellor, former editor of The Spectator said:

“Excessive information creates its own form of blindness to what is actually going on.”

Now, charity professionals are faced with so much data, that they simply can’t see the wood for the trees.  They are data blind.

Good, Bad & Ugly

With so much data available, sorting the good from the bad can be challenging.  This summer I sifted through over 85 data sources, reports, and documents to compile After the Storm, a summary of key, socio-economic trends and their implications for charity leaders.  I am not a data scientist.  My background is charity leadership and fundraising, so it was hard going.  The more reports I read, the more I realised that data and research can be divided into three categories:

Good

Good data goes beyond a presentation of facts and figures.  It evolves into information and then insight.  In starts with a fact, then answers the question ‘so what?’ then articulates a clear implication.  Good data is based on viable samples, objectivity, and curiosity.  It closes the loop between asking a question, analysing facts to find an answer, then adding a big dose of common sense and context to draw a conclusion.  It doesn’t just provide information, it delivers enlightenment.  Researchers produce good data with one eye on the audience and the problem they’re trying to solve. They adapt their language to present their findings in a relevant and engaging way for their target audience.  They know where they can add value and they set out to do so from the start. 

Bad

Bad data is everywhere.  Vast quantities of facts, figures, graphs, and charts couched in impenetrable language that makes your eyes spin and your ears bleed.  Bad data is not necessarily incorrect or corrupt data.  It’s just not useful. It is often compiled and presented by incredibly clever people who know their subject matter but not their audience. You have to work hard to optimise bad data.  Finding it, translating it, processing it, then applying it to your world or problem.  Usually, the ‘so what?’ answer is buried in so much jargon that you give up and go home. 

Ugly

This is the worst data of all because can be misleading and fake.  It falls into three categories:

1. Clickbait

A headline loosely linked to some random statistics picked from a survey using questionable methodology.  Great at grabbing headlines, a data capture tool and a way of inflating click-through statistics.

2. Tiny sample

Survey results with tiny sample sizes are useless.  There are over 160,000 registered charities in England and Wales, and yet some high profile, sector bodies persist in presenting conclusive trend data based on samples of less than 50 charities.  This is literally not big, and not clever.

3. Pre-determined answer

Usually companies or suppliers commission research or surveys with a specific result in mind.  Usually that result nudges you to buy their product.  It’s unfair to suggest that all supplier-commissioned research falls into this category.  But if a business produces a survey that aligns with its marketing content, it’s always sensible to cross check with an alternative data source just in case.

Torture the data and it will confess to anything

Data is fickle.  With enough manipulation, the right lens and selective bias you can make data say pretty much anything.  But as fundraisers, we rely on it to keep us current, efficient and honest so it is important that we know where to go to find good data and how to use it properly.  By learning to recognise the good, the bad and the ugly fundraisers will always use the right data to answer the right questions at the right time.

Join me in the Strategy Track at Fundraising Everywhere's Virtual Individual Giving Conference on 27^th October, to hear about my go-to good data sources, and a live chat about what today’s data is telling us about the next 12 months in fundraising.

 

Written by Claire Routley. Claire is Head of Gifts in Will Consultancy at Legacy Voice. She loves everything legacy giving.

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As many people reading this blog will already know, the value of legacy giving is predicted to increase dramatically over the next few decades, with legacy income set to increase by 35% over the next 10 years (Legacy Foresight).

However, whilst 40% of people say they would be happy to leave a small percentage of their estate to
charity, only 6% of people actually do, suggesting that, if we can engage supporters more effectively, there’s potential to grow the market even beyond these predictions.

 

What do we need to consider to encourage legacy giving over the next few years?

Firstly, we should consider how the world has changed since 2020.

We’re now living in a very different world from the one we inhabited just a few years ago. It’s probably fair to say that many of the certainties by which we lived our lives have been shattered by the Covid pandemic, the growing threat of climate change and the war in Ukraine, certainties about the way we live and work, the political order, or our own health and wellbeing. And, frighteningly, these are not trivial issues, but potential threats to our very existence.

Secondly, our supporters themselves are changing as new generations begin to think about what they will leave behind them.

As many people will be aware, the Boomer generation are becoming an increasingly important audience for legacy giving, and, research shows, they’re likely to demand higher levels of tangibility, transparency and control than the generations who came before them.

What fewer people might be aware of is that with first legacies being added to wills at 49, Generation X (currently aged between 42 and 57) are also becoming an important legacy audience. Although we know less about their likely attitudes to legacy giving, wider writing suggests that they’re likely to be sceptical of authority, independent and extremely media savvy.

 

What does all this mean for legacy fundraising?

When we’re living through a challenging present, we often look to the past: nostalgia (or a sentimental longing for the past) is one of the coping mechanisms we turn to in difficult times. Encouraging people to reflect on the past is also likely to be positive in terms of legacy giving, with research showing a strong link between one’s life experience and choosing charities to support with a legacy gift.

Legacy income is set to increase by 35% over the next 10 years.

In a world of existential terror, we’re all looking for some hope. As charities encouraging legacy giving, we can share a vision for a better future – and indeed, research suggests that showing people a positive future vision (as opposed to focusing on the detail of day-to-day work) is likely to be particularly effective in legacy messaging.

Similarly, in a world where mortality suddenly seems more real to us all, we may strive to develop a sense of symbolic immortality – a sense that whilst we might no longer be here physically, some part of us will live on. Showing our supporters how they will continue to have an impact on the world through their legacy gift is likely to be of increasing importance over the next few years and help to offset some of the worry people may feel.

In a world where mortality suddenly seems more real to us all, we may strive to develop a sense of symbolic immortality.

However, with a generation coming through who care deeply about tangibility, transparency and control, and the generation who follow them being even more sceptical, it will be vital that we focus not only on positive, visionary messaging but on showing that our organisations can be trusted and that people can have some choice in how and where their money is spent.

 

A positive note for the future

Having focused on the challenging circumstances that we and our supporters are facing, I wanted to finish on a note of positivity. It’s amazing to consider how, through legacy fundraising, we can help people to focus on what’s been meaningful in their own lives, and, even in the most challenging of times, help them to create a sense of hope for the future. As well as providing the funds to deliver the good work of our organisations, we can give this amazing, positive gift to the people that are kind enough to support us in this wonderful way.

Want to learn more about legacy fundraising?

Join us at Legacy Fundraising Virtual Conference 2023.

Written by Emma Rolinson

My name is Emma and I’ve worked as an Area Fundraising Officer for Acorns Children’s Hospice for the past six months.

A parent never imagines their child will be diagnosed with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition. But when the unimaginable happens, Acorns steps in, helping families cope at every stage of their child’s life and beyond, wherever and whenever they need it.

The need for children’s hospice care never stops which is why we are here to provide specialist palliative care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

My role is within the community, encouraging fundraising and raising awareness across local businesses, schools, faith groups, community groups and individuals.

Finding 'Fresh to the Sector' made me feel immediately welcomed into a community  

With only a few months of experience in charity work prior to Acorns, I was nervous but excited to begin a professional career within fundraising.

When I came across the 'Fresh to the Sector' programme advertised on Twitter, I was blown away by the offer of a free course AND six-month Fundraising Everywhere membership!

With the knowledge that my learning was being funded by fellow members of Fundraising Everywhere, I felt valued in my position as a new fundraiser. I was already being made to feel welcome within Acorns, but through seeing this course, I felt immediately welcomed into the wider charity world too. 

The opportunity to learn independently allowed me to structure the course around my own workload

With 14 mandatory webinars to watch to complete the course and over 300 hours of additional On Demand content, the opportunity to learn at my own pace was perfect.

Whilst completing my induction at Acorns and getting stuck into my new role, the flexibility of the course allowed me to fit the course into my schedule and workload.

Not only did this remove any overwhelming pressure, but it also gave me the chance to utilise the webinars alongside my Acorns journey. If I was learning about GDPR in my own induction, I could find webinars on Fundraising Everywhere to help me independently.

Widening my knowledge of the fundraising sector

Coming from co-ordinating a Christmas project in a smaller charity into a Fundraising Officer role in a larger charity was a big jump.

I quickly learnt that Acorns, like many charities, was split into multiple departments with specific income focuses. Whilst covering this in my induction, the course echoed it with an all-encompassing view of the fundraising sector, covering topics such as Individual Giving, Legacies, Grants and Major Donors. Again, I was able to focus my learning as required within my own role, allowing me to absorb information, when necessary, rather than being overwhelmed all at once.

Make the most of all the content on offer

My confidence has grown exceedingly over the past six months in my role, and I’m so grateful to Fundraising Everywhere for providing such incredible content to encourage me along the way.

To anyone considering signing up to Fundraising Everywhere's 'Fresh to the Sector' programme, I would recommend it without a doubt!

My biggest tip would be to make the most of all the content available. Attend live Member's Clincis where you can take advantage of the workshops and most of all, watch On Demand as much as possible across your six months.

Going forward, I will continue to use everything I’ve learnt within my role and the course in my journey as a fundraiser. My main priority is to engage with supporters, provide bespoke stewardship and continue finding new opportunities for fundraising and awareness.

If you want to chat to me about my journey on the course or about Acorns Children’s Hospice and what we do, don’t hesitate to contact me at emma.rolinson@acorns.org.uk.

Are you a new starter to the charity sector? Join our ‘Fresh to the Sector’ training programme to boost your sector skills and grow your network.

To apply for free, sign up here.

 

Written by Nikki Bell

The start to 2022 has been a constant blow to social media fundraisers.

With privacy updates, cookies on the way out, ad favouritism (and so many to compete with), the rising cost of living coupled with dwindling free time, the reach and CPAs relied upon for fundraising success are becoming increasingly hard to achieve.

What if I told you that the answer to unlocking millions in additional income could be right under your nose? ‘What is it!?’ I hear you ask. Well, your existing online audience of course.

What if I told you that the answer to unlocking millions in additional income could be right under your nose?

In this article, we explore the steps you can take to boost your Individual Giving programme, whether you’re from a small or large charity, and without the need to invest in or become familiar with new social media platforms.

 

Reduce your reliance on third-party platforms

We’re well aware by now that the ‘old way of doing things’ isn’t cutting it anymore. Our supporters’ needs and expectations have changed through Covid, and, the third-party platforms we use to drive leads are making it hard to gain reach.

So, how can you reduce your reliance on third-party platforms?

Take action to build online audiences but plan long-term for where they’ll end up.

Create touchpoints to move supporter interaction from third-party platforms like Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram, to your own list where you can manage and segment data to deepen relationships.

A simple way of doing this is with online events and webinars.

April’s Live Virtual Event Report uncovered that charities that used virtual events saw their social media engagement increase by 73%, and webinar use will continue beyond 2022 with 70% of charities keeping them in their programmes.

To find out how to host engaging and successful online events, speak to Everywhere+ – the virtual events platform for charities.

 

Jump from the burning platform

Recruiting for challenge events is becoming increasingly difficult for charities and many organisations are wondering how they can adapt their social media use to stay engaging and see results.

Ruman Hasan, Meta Specialist at Platypus Digital, said, ‘we’re working with charities to help them overcome their online challenge recruit challenges and have seen success with those that invest in middle funnel activity and think long-term.

Coupled with telemarketing and improved stewardship there are ways to build lists, relationships, and income with supporters’.

With the return of face-to-face fundraising and telemarketing activity picking back up, many organisations are working out how to match previous success tactics with current metrics for success.

Check out October 2022’s Individual Giving Conference where we’ll be exploring this in more detail.

 

Strengthen your platform

There’s no use investing in acquisition campaigns if your donors are leaving as rapidly as they join. By improving your stewardship journey you can add millions of pounds to fundraised income.

Virtual events are one way to deepen trust with supporters by involving them in your charity’s ‘behind the scenes’ activity in an accessible and sustainable way, and we strongly encourage charities to explore stewardship with a holistic approach that looks at journeys and moments working together.

To discover what ‘good stewardship’ looks like and speak to charities doing it well, join the Individual Giving Conference to see some examples.

As we continue into the unknown it’s important to remember there are so many opportunities to seize by thinking differently and adapting quickly.

To get the skills and confidence you need to grow your Individual Giving programme, register for the IG conference on October 27th.

With top speakers sharing insights, case studies, and practical tips to get your IG programmes booming – everything you’ll need is at this virtual event.

Available On Demand.

Written by Vic Hancock Fell, Founder and Director of Fair Development.

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I Co-Founded a small international development charity when I was fresh out of university, age 21. I had visited Kenya as a volunteer a few times as a teenager and I returned home filled with rage and sorrow at the injustice of what I had seen. I didn’t feel it or know it at the time, but looking back 14 years later, I was peak White Saviour.

I didn’t feel it or know it at the time, but looking back 14 years later, I was peak White Saviour.

A gradual realisation

“"I just don’t understand why INGOs need hundreds of people sitting in the North with huge teams to support Southern NGOs on the ground. Most of the resources get tied to these headquarters and little goes to the South. Real decision-making about what needs to be done and how is still decided by HQ-based Northern experts."” Amitabh Behar, the CEO of Oxfam India

I think it was around 2017 when I first discovered the #ShiftThePower movement online, but of course, knowledge of the troublesome power dynamics in international development work has been around for decades. The official Shift The Power hashtag was established by the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF) in 2016 to engage anyone interested in a serious conversation about both the need and the ways to move away from top-heavy and top-down systems in international development.

I had been aware of the many troublesome features of Western international development work for a few years by this point: poverty porn, White Saviourism, safeguarding scandals (see Oxfam Scandal circa 2018), power and resource imbalance etc and I was starting to feel uncomfortable in my position as a white western person working in the international development space.

Making changes

Noticing these uncomfortable feelings develop, I began to advocate within the small INGOs I was working with and in the wider INGO community, against the harmful practices I had previously taken part in myself.

When I look back at old photos from volunteering trips to Sub Saharan Africa I am mortified for my early-20s self…It felt good to be able to change things in a small way, to move away from using poverty porn style images in favour of positive stories and imagery that centred the success, not the desperation of the person whose story was being told. In later years I would revisit the concept of telling personal stories entirely…this is something I’m still pondering.

I was starting to feel uncomfortable in my position as a white western person working in the international development space.

I started a new job in a small INGO, Raising Futures, in April 2018 and it was there where #ShiftThePower became more of a reality in my work. I reflected more on my own power and privilege and that of the UK charity I worked for by learning from places like No White Saviours, Charity So White and the Disrupt Development and Rethinking Development podcasts.

By the end of 2018, meaningful discussions were underway around significantly shifting power, money and ownership of work to our partner NGO in Kenya.

Over the last four years, together we have:

• Transferred programme-related financial reserves from the UK to the Kenyan NGO bank account.
  
• Gradually shifted operational decision-making to our Kenyan colleagues at all levels of the organisation from management to implementation staff.
  
• Conducted separate Theory of Change and strategic planning sessions, resulting in our Kenyan partner NGO having their own strategic plan for the first time in 20 years.
  
• Built a culture of openness, radical transparency and trust which has not only resulted in improved programming but boosted morale for the whole team.
  
• Supported our Kenyan colleagues to localise funding and advocated our funders to cut the UK charity out as the intermediary organisation.
  
• Written our commitment to #ShiftThePower into our strategic plan for 2022-2026.
  
• In July I will step down as Co-Director in the UK to take me further on my own Shift The Power journey.
  

I’m not saying we’ve done this perfectly, we are still learning every day. Being vulnerable and honest about this journey, as we are still on it, is really important to us. We don’t want to do this behind closed doors and we want to advocate for other people and organisations working in the international development sector to join us.

I’m not saying we’ve done this perfectly, we are still learning every day.

What next?

Now feels like the right time for me personally to take a step back from international development work and minimise my own power in this space in doing so. I’m really passionate about encouraging others to start this journey whether that is in their own professional lives or within their organisation.

Want to learn more about our #ShiftThePower journey so far at Raising Futures? My colleague Mary Mwangi and I spoke about this at Fundraising Everywhere’s Small Charity Virtual Conference 2022.

Catch up on our 20-minute session, Shifting The Power To The People You Exist For.

You can catch up on the whole #SmallYetMighty conference here.

"In their current form, we simply don't need INGOs, unless they are going to #shiftthepower: how do international civic organisations empower and support the local? is the main question that needs to be asked."   Irungu Houghton, Executive Director of Amnesty International in Kenya

 

 

Written by Wayne Murray, Founder at Humanity Squared.

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I write this as I see smug Tory MP’s proudly taking photo opportunities at food banks.

I write this as my son’s best mate casually said he only has a roast dinner once a month because his family can’t afford to have the oven on for that long anymore.

I write this as the elderly woman over the road cracked her hip in a fall and had to wait 7 hours for an ambulance.

The world is changing, and it ain’t all good.

Life is tough at the moment, and it’s getting tougher for many. I set up my own business against the backdrop of COVID. In fact, weirdly it was fuelled by COVID. As charities really started to think about doing things differently, rather than just talking about it. The world is changing.

I work with a deliberately broad range of charities. I have a 3-tiered pricing structure. The work that I do for large charities enables me to discount my rates for medium-sized charities. This in turn enables me to work with grassroots, community charities for free. It’s with the grassroots stuff that I see the future of our sector.

Driven by need. Powered by lived experience.

I’ve worked in the sector for 22 years, but the free work I’m doing now enables me to work with charities I’d just never been able to work with historically. A father and son running a food bank out of their shed. A gambling charity run by three people in recovery. Two women who distribute free sanitary products in their local community. All acutely driven by need, powered by lived experience and rooted in community.

All charities were small once.

It’s with the grassroots that I see the future of our sector.

All charities were small once. Set up by good humans and driven by immediate need. To fix something. To solve problems. The larger they grow, the further away from that need they get.

Many brilliant large organisations do what they can to reconnect and do it well, but there’s a natural tide that will try to push you in a different direction, away from the front line of delivery. Away from lived experience.

All charities were small once. Set up by good humans and driven by immediate need.

Why do you think so many organisations at the moment are trying to work out what their vision is? Because they’ve drifted.

Hierarchies can get in the way. They don’t often work.

I often talk about hierarchies within charity. How they don’t really work. How they get in the way. How more horizontal ways of working are more effective.

The same goes for the hierarchy of the sector and where power sits. Big charities at the top, smaller charities at the bottom. The big charities rarely talk to the small ones, and no matter how loud the smaller charities shout, the large ones don’t really hear, or notice them.

Knowledge should bubble up.

Let’s build capacity and power from the bottom up because it’s not trickling down.

I also often talk about how knowledge and innovation bubbles up through organisations. How it isn’t the role of leaders to have all the answers, but to create a culture where those bubbles can grow, and to use their power to do something with them.

This should be the same for the broader sector too. Small charities are on the front line. It’s where all the knowledge is, all the innovation and all the fresh thinking. But this isn’t bubbling up through the sector.

Even more worryingly, knowledge from the large charities isn’t trickling down to the small ones either. There’s a huge disconnect. The big charities have funding, infrastructure and power, but the small charities have the knowledge, lived experience and relevance.

If you have power, you need to give it away.

That’s why it’s important that all organisations, agencies, consultants and individuals with power,
know what they need to do with it. You need to give it away.

The big charities have funding, infrastructure and power, but the small charities have the knowledge, lived experience and relevance.

Use your knowledge, your time and your passion to help smaller charities. Let’s build capacity and power from the bottom up because it’s not trickling down. And it’s not working.

Let’s be less focused on building bigger brands, growth for growth’s sake and status, and think of what our key role is in driving actual societal change.

Then let’s do it together. And it all starts with small charities. Learn from them. Support them. Centre them.

Catch up on the Small Charity Week conference that champions small charity legends.

Watch the Small Charity Virtual Conference On Demand.

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