Written by Mandi Hine, Community Manager at Fundraising Everywhere.

For May’s exclusive Members Clinic we were joined by the always amazing Richard Sved. He gave us a whistle stop tour of the book he has co-authored with Dr Claire Routley - Fundraising Strategy.

Your strategy in 10 questions

The book (and Richard’s session) is very helpfully broken down into 10 questions (chapters) for working through your Fundraising Strategy. There is no set order when drafting a Fundraising Strategy, although the book is arranged in what Richard and Claire feel is the order that's most logical.

Most importantly, your fundraising shouldn’t ever stop just because you are taking time to think strategically about it!

5 important things to consider when writing your strategy

1. Set your objectives

Where are you now?
Where do you want to get to?
How are you going to get there?

2. Audience

Identify the most appropriate audiences - come up with a “persona” (or personas) for your most active or desired audience.
How and when do they give?
Why have they chosen you?

3. Style and content

Consider the most appropriate messages to communicate to those audiences by looking at
- Tone
- Brand
- Case for support

4. Tactics

What tactics are you using currently?
Which streams have worked for you before?
Will these continue to work in the future?
Don’t forget to look at your donor experience

5. Analysis

How do you monitor and control your fundraising performance and risk?
How will you know if something has gone well or not worked out?
Have you got a contingency plan?

But why do I need a Strategy?

In short, taking the time to plan ensures that, rather than diving straight into your fundraising with a few ideas around current trends or hunches about what might work, you will have carefully thought through the actions you’re going to take.

How can I avoid strategic wear-out?

Encourage
- Diversity in culture, skills and perspectives
- Innovation - disincentivise behaviours that suppress it
Generate a flow of information on the external environment and share it with key people internally
Benchmark against the wider industry;
Invest in market research to spot developing trends
Monitor and control your strategies robustly
Know that strategy development is an evolving process!

Importantly, remember, in the words of Wayne Murray -

“Your strategy isn't a document. It’s a set of mutually agreed decisions, created by all and owned by all. The document is just the receipt.”
Wayne Murray, Human Focused Strategy at Fundraising Strategy Virtual Summit 2021

Next steps

If you want to learn more about this topic, check out these 7 top strategy webinars available On Demand:

You can also get in touch with Richard on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Want to join next month's Members Clinic, plus receive loads of great member benefits like automatic access to all our upcoming events and everything On Demand?

Find out more about membership.

You can join as an individual or save as an organisation.

Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash

Written by Leesa Harwood, owner of By The Waves Charity Consulting and charity adviser, leadership coach and mentor.

Back in January, I wrote an article about my experience of burnout and how I could see the same signs in those around me.

The energy spike that usually accompanies the beginning of a new year failed to materialise amongst many of my third sector colleagues and I worried about their wellbeing. There was a huge reaction to the article leading to an online session to share experiences and advice.

Since I wrote my article in January, I continue to see symptoms of burnout and stress amongst sector leaders and their teams.

The more insecure we feel, the more we feed the other symptoms of stress, getting caught in a downward spiral

Five Signs of Stress

1. Loss of perspective

The small things get bigger as you lose the ability to step back and put problems into perspective. Soon, your head is filled with small but noisy problems punching above their weight.

2. Irritability

You find yourself snapping at those around you. A short temper and sharp tongue mean that friends, family and colleagues feel the impact of your lack of patience, perspective and rising stress levels.

3. Control

The more out of control you feel, the more controlling you become. As a leader you begin to interfere and disempower those around you, picking at the detail and wrenching projects away from others in a desperate attempt to regain control.

4. Ill health

Physical and mental health diminishes under acute stress. You don’t sleep, and feel tired all the time. You suffer from anxiety and depression. But as a leader you have been taught that resilience is non-negotiable. So, you keep going, deny your vulnerability and wait until you break before you finally stop.

5. Insecurity

As your performance as a leader starts to suffer, so does your confidence. This inevitably leads to self-doubt, a lack of confidence and an overwhelming sense of insecurity. The more insecure we feel, the more we feed the other symptoms of stress, getting caught in a downward spiral.

Leadership burnout is not inevitable. There are things we can all do to protect ourselves and each other from stress.

Beat burnout

At Fundraising Everywhere's Leadership Festival 2022 in the Culture Tent, Madison Gonzales (CEO of Morning Light Inc) brought burnout back into the spotlight. I for one am very grateful.

Leadership burnout is not inevitable. There are things we can all do to protect ourselves and each other from stress. If you or someone you know is experiencing from one or more of these signs of stress, catch up on Madison Gonzales' session as she guides us through ways to prevent burnout.

Madison shares how to make our workplaces happy and healthy places to be, with practical tips and reminders we can all take back into our work environments so we can foster a positive environment for all.

Building a culture where leaders and their teams feel confident, healthy and supported has never been more important. Catch up on Madison's and the other great Leadership Festival sessions On Demand.

A huge thanks to Leesa Harwood, who was Growth Tent Partner at the Charity Leadership Festival 2022. We collaborate with people who care about the future of our sector on our events. Each Tent Partner brings their insights and audience, meaning we can empower and upskill more people. Tent Partners may earn commission from tickets purchased through their links.

Shutterstock

Guest bloggers, Anne Race & Henry Rowling of Flying Cars Innovation, share their gems of knowledge to help you innovate, and most importantly, succeed.

So - your new plan for the year says your fundraising ‘needs to be more innovative’. The pressure is on to develop new campaigns with big income potential. You need to raise more money to support more people and build a better world.

But how do you get started? Developing a culture that is supportive of innovation takes a lot of work. Many organisations are set up to maximise return on investment from existing campaigns. Not to create and test innovative new fundraisers.

Here are our top tips on how you can start to build a more innovative culture.

1. Audience insight

You need to make sure your audience is heard within your organisation. Too often, we develop products that do not answer the unmet needs of your audience. When developing a new product or campaign, you should start by identifying a target audience and gathering insight. Find out how to start gathering insight that matters at the free Innovation Masterclass we are running on May 12th.

Start by identifying a target audience and gathering insight

2. Innovation process

To become more innovative in the future, you need a process to take you through the key stages:

Set the right brief
Speak to the target audience to gain insights
Develop ideas rooted in audience insight
Prototype, test and pivot your shortlisted ideas

This process cannot be based on how you develop business-as-usual campaigns. You should refine your innovation process as you work with it.

3. Make space for innovation

Often organisations ask that innovation happens in addition to an already packed portfolio of fundraising campaigns and products, as well as other projects that need to be delivered. This adds stress and puts pressure on already stretched resources. Make space for innovation by stopping some campaigns that aren’t adding enough value. We all have campaigns that deliver marginal gains. Assess your portfolio and stop something to make room for the new.

4. Failure

Build a culture that is supportive of failure. By definition, innovation has a degree of risk attached. But it’s purposeful, managed risk, and ideas are planned for failure. If everything new we tried worked the first time, fundraising would be super easy. But learning from our failures and embedding that learning into your organisational knowledge is vital for innovation. You should encourage your senior leaders to talk about their failures if you want to become more innovative. That will permit everyone to be open and honest about what is and isn’t working. Check out the Charity Leadership Festival May 24th which has a session on this very topic.

Build a culture that is supportive of failure.

5. Sign-off

You should review your sign-off and slim it down as much as possible. In innovation, speed matters. Because not all ideas work, but because you need to burn through the ideas that don’t work for the audience as quickly and cheaply as possible to find the gems. Slow sign-off takes you further away from a win. Ideas designed by committee usually become less attractive to the supporter. Try to devise an agile sign-off process for innovative new campaigns.

6. Diverse thought

As you develop a new campaign, you must ensure you have diverse voices in the room and process. Qualitative insight should be created from a diverse panel within your priority audience. Your ideation sessions should also be as diverse as possible, again within the boundaries of your priority audience. Try to involve people from around your whole organisation to get varied ideas on how to tackle the problem you are solving. Diverse teams develop broader ideas and have more life experience to draw on.

You must ensure you have diverse voices in the room.

7. Work on the right brief upfront.

When we work with clients, we ensure we are working on the right brief. This means we set a big exciting goal upfront - to set ambition and get the organisation excited. We then identify a precise audience. The insight we are looking for goes beyond your supporter segmentation - Segment 3; ‘Colin the Contented commuter’ or ‘0-24 £10-50 cash giver’. What do they think and feel, what do they want and need? Why are they the right audience? Doing this work upfront ensures you know the goal for the audience and what success looks like. Sometimes briefs can be confused or unclear and people can find themselves working on the wrong problem.

If you address the 7 areas above you will be well on your way to greater fundraising innovation. For more tips have a read of 5 ways to build a successful innovation team and attend the Flying Cars Innovation Masterclass on May 12th.

Photo by Sergey Shmidt on Unsplash

Written by Mandi Hine

Why Members March?

What is Members March, and why should you get involved?
After all, you’re already super slammed, pulled in multiple directions and wondering why (or how) you should try and make time for one more thing.

I hope my 5 top reasons to embrace Members March will convince you that getting involved will actually make your life a little easier.

But, the first thing I need to tell you is;

It's all about you, (it's all about you)
It's all about you baby, (it's all about)
It's all about you, (it's all about you)
It's all about you...

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself (and I do love a bit of McFly). But really, this is a month dedicated to our brilliant Members to support your 2022 goals.

This month we're hosting special events exclusively for our members including goal-setting, catching up on content, and speaking with our expert guests in one-on-one consultancy calls.

Let's dive in...

1. You'll gain clarity on your goals, and how to get there

Whether they’re big life-changing goals or smaller feats, we all have goals we want to achieve. However, we don’t always make time to really consider how we’ll get there, or why we need to.

Join us each Monday where we'll support you to set your goals and intentions for the week, month, and even the year ahead. Our expert team will share advice and insights from their combined 50+ years of fundraising experience, plus signpost to existing and upcoming Fundraising Everywhere events that are available to help you achieve your goals.

2. We'll help you hold yourself accountable

Want to prioritise your professional development but struggle to find the time? Have a lot of on demand sessions to catch up on but don’t know where to start? I totally get it.

Join me, at our weekly watch parties of the top-rated Fundraising Everywhere sessions. Each week is themed so you can choose the day(s) that fit with your goals. You can watch your session with the group or choose from our hand-picked selection. We'll discuss learnings together with one another.

Upcoming themes

14-18 March: Community and events
21- 25 March: Marketing and social media
28-31 March: Digital

3. You'll get expert coaching with our sector's best

Got a burning fundraising question you’ve always wanted to ask, or a big challenge to overcome? Book a 30-minute expert coaching session.

Each week we will be bringing you one of our handpicked experts to offer one to one coaching sessions on a range of subjects – from strategy to wellbeing, digital and community.

Upcoming coaching sessions

5. It’s included in your membership, so there's nothing extra to pay!

All of the above is included in your current membership. So, what are you waiting for? You can take advantage of as much or as little of the content as you wish.

Reserve your place at all our Members March events via the Members Room on your account.

Not a member yet? Don’t worry, you can join today and get instant access to all of the above plus all our other amazing member benefits. Use promo code MEMBERMARCH to get one month free membership and get stuck in right away.

1. Put the work in to find your speakers

Relying on speaker applications or inviting previous top-scoring speakers creates many problems. For one, if your previous events haven’t been diverse then applying speakers have not seen themselves represented in that space. Coupled with the fact many diverse speakers have not had the same opportunities to progress to a point where giving time to speak (usually for free, we’ll come to that later) has been a possibility. Providing an ‘application only’ to speak method will result in the same names and faces being featured over and over again.

Event organisers must put work into network and build relationships with a wider pool of talented people and invite them to apply or speak. Yes, it takes more time and yes, it’s harder – but that’s what progress and fairness looks like. Put the work in. Do better.

When we launched BAME Online in 2020 we knew we weren’t the right people to lead on the event. We hired Martha Awojobi and handed over full creative control for speakers, format, and delivery. We’ve since handed over full IP of BAME Online (for free) to Martha and the team at JMB Consulting to continue with the event.

And for other specialist events where our skills don’t reach, we partner and pay experts to work with us to develop programmes and invite speakers.

Collaboration, pay for skills, listen to your audience, and release control.

Event organisers must put work into network and build relationships with a wider pool of talented people and invite them to apply or speak.

2. Mix experienced with less experienced and give coaching

We understand the need for ‘high profile’ speakers to be featured at events and the benefits they can bring for attendee numbers and sponsors. However, by providing limited programme space or prioritising these speakers we repeat the same issues mentioned above.

Programmes should be drafted in advance with core topics and speakers planned. These should be checked beyond the organisation for any challenges or feedback before approaching a first set of speakers. Only once they’ve accepted or declined should you move on to complete your programme to ensure you always have space for diversity and that the places are not taken up immediately by those with extra privilege to accept quickly.

3. Measure EDI

‘If you’re not counted, you don’t count’
– NHS England

Fundraising Everywhere were the first, and still is the only, charity sector conference organiser that has clear and published EDI goals that we discuss and work towards with our team and event partners before making any speaker approaches.

We measure speaker diversity with an inclusive data form provided to all speakers that we review at regular stages of event planning (speakers inviting guest speakers can throw off planning and we need to work with these speakers to work with new people). Yes, it creates more work. Yes, it still needs to be done.

Fundraising Everywhere was the first, and still is the only, charity sector conference organiser that has clear and published EDI goals

However, we’ve realised that to make sure we’re achieving our mission of making learning and networking accessible to more fundraisers everywhere this needs to extend to our attendees. From February 2022 all attendees are asked to complete the same EDI monitoring form (it’s anonymous), so we can make sure we’re reaching all fundraisers as intended.

4. Pay speakers

If you are making money from your event, or stand to make money from the business it will bring, pay your speakers.

By paying speakers you not only increase the opportunity for more talented people to have the means to speak at your event, but you’re also valuing the time and talent those people bring.

If you are making money from your event, or stand to make money from the business it will bring, pay your speakers.

Exposure doesn’t pay the bills. Pay your speakers.

5. Provide an online option

We can’t believe that after two years of a pandemic and virtual event success that 2022 has seen the return of in-person only events.

We founded Fundraising Everywhere as a virtual event provider because virtual provides access to fundraisers who have caring responsibilities, disabilities, or not enough time, money, or support to travel and attend in person. That’s more fundraisers, more diverse fundraisers, that can progress personally and professionally.

Providing online access will not stop people attending your in-person event. But not providing online access will stop a lot of people from being able to attend at all.

6. Plan accessibility from day one

Work with experts to get this right and plan accessibility from the very early stages – especially for in-person events where there are more considerations like physical access and session translation.

Share your event plans for input and feedback, work with people with lived experience (and pay them), plan for accessibility-first, and provide access as a standard, not a request.

Providing online access will not stop people attending your in-person event. But not providing online access will stop a lot of people from being able to attend at all.

We understand that getting it right immediately is not always possible because many people have different needs. Capturing and monitoring attendee and speaker EDI information will help you spot and provide additional access needs pre-event.

7. EDI is not a marketing tool

Throughout the pandemic, online conferences were celebrated by event organisers for the role they played in making them a more inclusive organisation. Many of these organisations are now promoting in-person only events.

EDI in learning and conferences are not a tool to sell tickets. It’s one route of many to creating a fair and equitable sector that needs to exist for the challenges we will face in a rapidly changing world of impacts from the pandemic, climate emergency, and audience changes.

We share these insights as a call to our sector event organisers to do the same.

What we do to make learning fair and accessible shouldn’t be ‘disruptive’, it should be the norm. it’s time we worked together to make that a reality.

What we do to make learning fair and accessible shouldn’t be ‘disruptive’, it should be the norm.

We’re happy to support anyone who has questions about what we do and welcome any feedback on how we can do better. Our (virtual) door is always open and you can chat with us any time. Email Nikki Bell at nikki@fundraisingeverywhere.com.

We have over 350+ webinars and events hosted on our website that you can access at any time, anywhere. All speakers have been paid for their time. To join us and support the work we do to create a fair learning environment for our sector, visit our website – your first month is free with the code FREEMONTHEDI.

Guest blogger Caroline Danks of LarkOwl lifts the lid on cross-disciplinary learnings that can take corporate fundraising to the next level.

There are so many traits shared by fundraising across the board.

On the whole (barring a few notable exception who shall not be named) we are resilient, creative, warm, hard-working, committed, motivated and socially conscious.

I’ve observed over nearly 20 years in the sector that there are definitely some traits which are typical to one type of fundraiser over another.

Now, I don’t speak on behalf of ALL trust fundraisers and I certainly don’t want to make assumptions or generalisations about my friends in corporate fundraising (or have them throw rotten tomatoes at me anytime soon…).

And whilst I reckon that corporate fundraisers are AWESOME (you guys have a HARD job and my utmost respect), here are some suggestions for those of you who want to inject a little trust fundraiser magic into their work (if you’re not already doing these of course 😊).

1. Research and prepare

We trust fundraisers LOVE research. Not just the obvious stuff in a funders’ accounts but also the wonderfully random information available widely on the interweb (Google – I’m looking at you).

Corporates require a more sophisticated ask than trusts. You have a veritable spider web of options for reaching out and getting to know them better. Much more so than the typical route taken by a trust fundraiser (research, phone, write application, get funding).

Next time you’re looking at a new supporter, go deeper than you normally would into your research and spend some time mapping out:

Company activities, geographic location, history, competitors
Find their why – what is the problem they’re trying to solve?
Who are their directors, shareholders, senior staff members? Are they connected to anyone from your charity?
Who are the decision makers at the company? What are their interests? Which networking events do they go to? Have they written articles on LinkedIn? What are their opinions?
Do they work in partnership with anyone else?

All of this information will help you to form better partnership proposals and have better conversations.

2. Outputs, outcomes, impact and speaking their language

Gifts from trusts often require more in-depth monitoring and reporting than those from corporates.

Because so many trust fundraisers also have experience in grant fundraising, they are often really good at articulating and quantifying the difference a gift has made.

During a Bright Spot Members Club webinar I attended a while back, Tom Hall from UBS informed us that major donors (especially those who are self-made) expect their gifts to act as investments with measurable benefits.

Leaders at the top of successful companies (and therefore the people that you’re seeking to work with) want this too because they are often the same people.

To better quantify the impact of your work:

Spend some time with your project staff and finance teams.
Work out how the benefits and impact of a gift have translated in financial terms.
Seek to demonstrate that the return on investment you’re delivering is the best value it can possible be.
Articulate it simply and clearly – get a colleague (a trusts and foundations colleague mayve?) to check your work.

3. Focus not on the activities but on the outcomes and the cost of delivering the work.

Rather than showing your prospective corporate supporter how they can ‘donate to a charity’, demonstrate how they can ‘solve a problem’ or ‘change the world’.

Be clear also on sustainability (loads of trusts are now asking this question).

No one really wants to fund projects in perpetuity and charities are being encouraged more and more to seek forms on income generation to support their ongoing work.

4. Be specific and a bit geeky when it comes to target setting

Because grant making trusts often provide quite a predictable stream of income and one on which many charities tend to lean heavily, trust fundraisers are often quite specific about target setting.

The potential for repeat gifts from trusts is also high when you deliver on their expectations (same with corporates – think long term here!)

Know from your research and your conversations with your colleagues at each company you’re working with:

What their typical giving is. Is their COY partnership a set amount each year for example?
What has their charitable giving achieved in the past? They might not know – get them to find out…
What have similar relationships with other corporates yielded for your charity in the past?
How warm are each of your relationships? How close are you to making an ask and how long will it take for the cash to materialise (this depends on the method you’re using to fundraise)
ROI for corporate fundraising is low at the start but grows over time, £3 / £4 for every £1 spent is a good guide

Caroline is an expert in trusts and foundations, major gifts and capital appeals and has raised millions for good causes and runs LarkOwl with her partner Tony which supports charities with income generation from fundraising and commercial sources.

She writes a weekly blog which she shares with over 2,000 fundraisers every week via LarkOwl’s Nest Egg newsletter. Her writing has been featured in Fundraising Magazine.

For the past three years, LarkOwl have published research on the Return on Investment for different areas of fundraising. Their recent report published in September 2021 can be downloaded for free from their website.

Want to learn more about trusts or corporate fundraising?

Join us at our Grants Conference in December.

Check out Corporate Partnerships Everywhere Conference 2023 coming up in March, too.

Written by Jo McGuinness MInstF(Dip), Head of Philanthropy & Partnerships at Children 1st

Dear recruiting managers,

I write this to you as something needs to change with the traditional way of recruiting.

This sector is great, but whilst we champion wellbeing, diversity and fairness externally in our charitable work, we are failing those who seek to support these efforts as potential employees.

Back in April 2021 the role I’d held for almost 4 years was highlighted for redundancy. I launched into job hunting immediately – as the sole earner in my family, I had to have an income.

A countdown clock started ticking to find a suitable role; a role I could stay in for a couple of years, remote working and a minimum salary so I could provide for my family.

Between April - September, I applied for 31 jobs, averaging 5 per month.

In total, including looking at job boards, researching roles and organisations, time spent writing covering letters, copying and pasting info from my CV into applications forms, preparing interview answers, fulfilling task briefs and the interviews themselves, I spent in excess of 70 hours job hunting.

70 hours roughly equates to 11 hours of work each month over and above my day job.

Job hunting currently is taking place against a background of a UK in crisis. We’ve got so used to the constant hum of tension, fear and anger that it’s easy to think we can all push on as usual and expect what we expected in 2019.

We can’t. People are struggling.

Job seekers feel fear even more acutely than before Covid-19, everything is more precarious and different things, such as an employer’s home working or maternity policies, are more important than before.

Appreciate the power dynamic. Do what you can to rebalance it.

The minute a job seeker looks at your advert they are on the back foot. Everything is done to your standard; your schedule and they are at your mercy. Anything you can put in place to make the process fairer, more transparent and kinder – the more applicants you will get.

Of the 31 roles I applied for, only 17 offered a conversation for interested candidates. As a job seeker, I cannot tell you just how useful those conversations are for candidates. They shed light on what’s important to you and your organisation and you get a feel for the humans behind the ad.

Of the 17 conversations offered (I took them all up), only 4 were with the actual recruiting manager – all others were with recruiters. Still of value but less insightful.

Please don't forget your manners.

Of the 31 applications made, 5 didn’t notify me at all of whether I was successful or not (I assume not!). Given the average time I spent on an application was over 2 hours, letting applicants know if they’ve been successful or not – a two-minute email, seems a polite thing to do.

Candidates in this sector are often partly drawn to roles due to an affinity or appreciation of your cause, so ask yourself – would you simply not reply to a potential donor if they contacted you?

Not having time isn’t a valid excuse. Make time.

While we are on making time and doing the work, please provide useful, constructive feedback.

It’s disheartening to invest time only to receive no useful feedback on why your application wasn’t progressed. It also asks questions about the transparency of the process.

Some of the no-so-helpful feedback I received when unsuccessful included;

“It was a really competitive process and I don’t have exact feedback on what was lacking in your application I’m afraid.”

“Having had such a good response to the advert, I have selected another candidate for the role with more relevant experience.”

Ugh.

Equally as frustrating is vague feedback given post-interview where you leave the candidate unsure as to what exactly you wanted to see. An example of this was when I was told by the recruiting manager that they “hadn’t really seen my personality” in the interview.

What does that mean?

What am I to do with that feedback?

Please, check your feedback is specific and something that the candidate can improve upon for similar roles in future. You may not see this as your responsibility, but it is. The candidate has given their time, if you have offered feedback you have the responsibility to ensure it is constructive.

Don't think we don't see the red flags.

Employee expectations have changed since 2019. We know that work can be done on the whole, equally as effectively at home.

We can build incredible relationships in the virtual space.

We know it’s better for our health and well-being to spend time doing things we want to do rather than sitting in traffic or on a train.

Roles requiring hybrid working without clear rationale are popping up more on job boards, and it’s not clear why.

If this includes your role, really question yourself – why have I put a requirement for the post holder to come into the office 2 days a week? Is it because there are specific tasks that can only be completed in person? If so, make those tasks clear in the advert.

If you don’t have tasks that can’t be done remotely but you still ‘need’ someone in the office then challenge yourself.

Are you coming from a place of privilege where cost of travel isn’t a big factor for you so paying that to ‘enjoy’ time in the office feels reasonable?

Are you someone who likes the hubbub in an office? Great, but that doesn’t mean others feel the same.

Do you want to see your direct reports busy working, or have them near you in case you need to performance manage?

Yes? Then send yourself on a management training course immediately for the benefit of yourself and your employees.

I pushed back on numbers of days mandatory office working with so many of the roles I applied for and if it wasn’t so frustrating the responses would be funny;

“Well, we have an office and the trustees want us to use it.”

“We need someone from fundraising to be around in case a supporter wants to drop cash in or collect a bucket.”

“We need you to be available for any last-minute meetings.”

Stop it, you're embarrassing yourselves.

Other red flags include;

Not being willing to offer flexible working
Requesting in-person interviews, (typically in London) for remote based roles advertised as UK wide
Not having time to speak to a candidate either prior to or following the interviews
Not being clear on the salary band,
Requiring irrelevant educational qualifications
Or stating ‘equivalent experience’ but not defining what you mean by that.

My absolute favourite red flag is the phrase that needs to be banned with immediate effect;

‘the candidate will need to hit the ground running’.

Usually accompanied by other delightful descriptors such as;

‘fast-paced environment’ and;

‘wants to live and breathe the success of the team and the charity.’

Let’s be frank. Most of us need a job because we have bills to pay. We work in the sector because we choose to, and mostly because it’s a great place to be.

We don’t work here because we want to join a role without suitable induction plans in place, where expectations will be heaped upon you from the get-go, which is what ‘hitting the ground running’ is code for.

Or where we are expected to live and breathe our job. We can care, of course we care – and we should. But please, your candidates are only human. They have other interests and a fair expectation of support and a positive work/life balance.

By including statements like these you are giving an insight into the potentially negative culture, and unachievable expectations the candidate can expect.

Go back, work on that, and recruit once that’s in a better place, or – be honest. You need a candidate to hit the ground running because the workload is 50% more than it should be. In which case, pay more too.

This isn't to say all practise out there is bad, its not. There are shining stars. I just wish I'd seen more of them.

And they aren’t hard things to do. Every recruiting manager could take up at least 1 or 2 of these examples;

Show the salary and remove all unnecessary educational qualifications.
Run your adverts and candidate packs through gender bias software, available free here.
Reduce your essential/desirable criteria down to the bare minimum. You shouldn’t need more than a few points.
Don’t ask candidates to complete your own application forms. CVs and covering letters are ok, but even better (and more supportive of diversity, inclusion and accessibility as it prevents unconscious bias), is to ask candidates to answer anonymous screening questions relevant to the role.
Share the interview questions in advance. Lots of folk are trying this now (like Fundraising Everywhere, see Matt Smith’s twitter post). The results are overwhelmingly positive. Doing this supports accessibility, different kinds of thinkers, or those who struggle with nerves.
Share the grading criteria you have used and make time for specific and constructive feedback.

I see the sector’s recruitment practice improving almost every day as more recruiting managers challenge themselves to do better, but we can do better and faster.

So, my challenge to you is, are you going to get on board or get left behind?

Yours,

All frustrated job seekers out there

Want more content like this?

Check out the *free* webinar Jo spoke at on this topic: How to recruit talented people in 2022.

I couldn’t sleep on Thursday night. I started going over a conversation in my mind from the Events Fundraising Virtual Summit session I’d run that afternoon.

It was a 40 minute round table session to share the of impact redundancy and furlough on events and events fundraisers. Many stories and experiences were bravely shared and it really struck me that for many there hasn’t been a proper opportunity to reflect on the experience of redundancy and furlough. As well as to share and hear from others in a similar boat.

A lot of this is still very raw.

Some of the common themes that came up included:

Reduced Team Size & resource constraints.
Feelings of isolation.
Feeling like events fundraising got the worst deal/suffered the most – whereas other areas of fundraising were more “pandemic proof”.
Many cancelled events – feeling a lot of hard work had gone to waste.
Anxiety not knowing how long furlough would last.
Plus guilt and sadness for colleagues who weren’t so lucky and lost their job.
Taking a backwards step career-wise or needing to learn new skills fast as having to fill gaps where needed.
Knocked confidence, feelings of low self-worth & low self-esteem.
Ongoing recruitment freezes.
Events staff seconded to other roles.
Expectations/internal pressure that a smaller events team can still deliver on same programme/strategy.
Sense of loss and no closure.

We’re being told that life should bounce back now, but with all the limitations and challenges the pandemic has brought, on top of the mental load of this period of trauma, much of which hasn’t been acknowledged or dealt with, how can we get back to normal events fundraising? What even is normal?

The following are some things that have helped my members within The Collective, a community I run for Event Fundraisers. Maybe they’ll help you too.

Talking about and sharing your experiences with peers.

Knowing you’re not alone in your feelings can be so helpful. Admitting how hard you’ve found this and how the effects are still being felt, is a healthy first step. There is absolutely no weakness in admitting how hard this has been and continues to be. In fact, it takes courage and strength.

Use coaching questions to address the challenges you are experiencing with your manager and wider team.

When we’re feeling anxious and overwhelmed it is harder to think logically. Coaching questions can help ground us and re-engage our and others’ logical brains. Keep asking questions of yourself and those around you.

Ceri Sunu delivered a fantastic session on Winning Minds & Buy-In for your Events at the Summit. Ceri shared some coaching models that can be utilised when you want to influence others, including more senior colleagues.

These questions can be used in other situations too. For example, when you’re given yet another piece of work or another event to plan and you know you’re already at capacity, how about asking;

What is the priority here?

What do we want to achieve by doing this?

What could we do differently?

What’s the impact of doing that event? Or not doing that event?

Be mindful

Try and make a habit of taking time out of your week to reflect on the past 7 days; what lessons have been learnt, challenges and wins and then what your focus will be going forward. You can do this individually or as a team. In The Collective we do this weekly as part of our regular Thursday Catch Ups. These periods of reflection help you pause within the chaos, untangle experiences and spot patterns and meaning.

Recognise there may now be better ways to do things than in 2019.

This could be a fantastic time to instil some new ways of working for yourself and your wider team or organisation. There might be different events that work better than the ones you used to do, a more hybrid approach to your events to ensure accessibility and maximise participation, there might be different ways to divide the workload up, different systems you can use, different processes. Don’t forget your audience have also been through a traumatic 2 years. Their needs, wants and desires may well have changed too. If you’re not sure, ask them.

Be compassionate and understanding of yourself and others.

If the Summit roundtable proved anything it was that these feelings are not isolated cases. This is widespread and it is unchartered territory. Your leaders haven’t been in this situation before either and therefore some mistakes are inevitable. They may be under enormous pressure which is getting filtered down to you.

It might feel like there is major catching up to do after so long without in-person events and so long out of the office but remember that the smallest steps, those little 1% tweaks over time amount to big change.

Just as it took us several months to get our heads around lockdowns and covid restrictions, it will take a period of adjustment to move into this next phase.

You’re not alone

I started The Collective right at the start of the pandemic as a place to get more peer support, a safe space to share and bounce ideas around with other forward-thinking event fundraisers, plus attend training and workshops for continued professional development so fundraisers can thrive and do their best work. If that sounds like you, give me a shout.

The Collective is always open for new members and this is a great time to join.

5 Top Tips For Epic Fundraising Creative

Written by Alex Aggidis

The fundraiser and designer relationship.

It can sometimes be a tricky one to navigate, right?

We’ve all been there. Some feedback that didn’t land quite right. Or a missed brief.

Authentic creative is personal, and with negative feedback (however well-meaning) feelings can get hurt.

At the same time, when assets take an unexpected turn it can be problematic for our schedules.

Read our 5 tops tips to keep fundraiser and designer relationships harmonious and, more importantly, delivering engaging and compelling creative.

1. Make the most of your skillsets

As fundraisers, we have a deep understanding of the mechanics behind an ‘ask’. We’re also closest to the results.

Still, we shouldn’t write briefs that are so prescriptive it kills the creative process (we’re speaking from experience here!).

Sit down with your designer when the brief is still at draft stage.

That way all ideas can be discussed, the brief can be strengthened, and you’re less likely to get surprises at first round.

2. Keep talking

With many of us still working remotely, it’s even more important we prioritise strong and timely communication.

When our designers start their work, ideas can pop up very dynamically.

Try to be available on email to answer questions when they’re booked to work on your activity.

Or, even better, on the phone.

3. Agree the right touchpoints

Managing expectations and agreeing rounds of feedback before the work starts (and sticking to it) is a must.

Unexpected rounds and last-minute changes can be a real buzzkill.

The more organised we are, the more willing our designers will be to help when inevitable complications do arise, and we really need them.

4. Be willing to take a few risks

The fundraising market is as competitive as ever and we need to ensure we continue to get cut through.

A good designer will keep pushing our boundaries and help us keep things fresh for our audiences.

We need to be open to that.

5. Remember to have fun!

The creative process can be one of the most exciting parts of developing our campaigns.

Bringing to life the propositions that will capture the hearts of our supporters and raise vital income for our causes.

Enjoy it!

How to organise and run fundraising events in 2022

How to run a fundraising event in 2022

Restrictions are changing to allow more freedom but supporter attitudes and safety considerations still make it tricky to plan confidently.

Online events have evolved beyond Facebook groups and mass participation to include virtual stewardship and multi-level engagement.

And digital experiences and expectations have become more expected from participants who have enjoyed two years of choice and control on where and how they get involved.

Where do you begin?!

On Thursday, January 27th, sixteen fundraising event and communication experts will be speaking at the virtual conference, Events Fundraising Virtual Summit.

The conference is for events fundraisers and fundraisers tasked with organising events with donors in 2022 and will give a comprehensive overview into the important aspects of event planning and what you need to do now to succeed.

Here are a few of our session highlights – keep reading to the end for a special offer (and freebies!)

How we created an award-winning virtual event

Phare Ponleu Selpak were the winners of the ‘Best Innovation in Online Events’ at the 2021 Charity Virtual Event Awards for their virtual circus.

When the pandemic hit, Phare Ponleu Selpak’s key source of income was under threat from the disappearance of tourist income. Their important mission was to attract local visitors whilst pivoting successfully to virtual in 2021.

Executive Director, Osman Khawaja, joins us to share what went into the 24hr event that included 31 shows and 160 staff and volunteers.

How to host hybrid events supporters want to attend

Angie’s work caught our eye as one of the first organisations to successfully use hybrid events and champion their potential.

In 2021, Houston Ballet held their first hybrid gala that raised 150% of their financial target. Chief Development Officer, Angie Lane, will be sharing what she knows about planning a strategy, engaging with donors, and how to measure success.

Why we’re hosting in-person only events in 2022 and how we’re planning in the unknown

This session is a wild card for us…

You know we’re advocates of virtual events for accessibility and reach, but we are curious by Muscular Dystrophy’s decision to move ahead with an in-person only programme for 2022 and just how they were planning in the uncertainty – so we invited Head of Events, Krishan Solanki, to tell us more!

A key takeaway from this session will be their approach to contingency planning and how they give their in-person events the best chance of going ahead before deciding to cancel, pivot, or postpone.

Winning minds and buy-in for your 2022 events

Leadership coach, Ceri Suni, joins us for a live workshop so you can head back to work armed not only with the knowledge to host events in 2022, but the confidence and tools to win over your decision-makers.

You’ll get the skills to push-back without being pushy and save your ideas from stakeholder stagnation.

Coupled with the interactive and live elements throughout the conference, you’ll head back to the work the following day with action points, a plan, and the confidence to lead your team to events fundraising success!

*Special offer*

If you are an events fundraiser that’s been made redundant or you’ve spent some time during the pandemic furloughed, your ticket is completely free. We want to make sure you don’t lose any skills in your career break and bring you up to speed with what’s happening in fundraising events today. Contact hello@fundraisingeverywhere.com to claim yours. No proof needed, we trust you.

For everyone else, tickets are just £75 or find two friends and claim a 3 for 2 discount (promo code EventsSummit3+). With insights that will help you overachieve on your fundraising targets in 2022, it’s a small investment work making.
The event will be recorded so you don’t need to be free on Thursday to learn (although there are lots of live elements to get stuck into if you can) and Members will get continued support post-event with specialist coaching calls. Becoming a Member is just £30 a month – check out the benefits here.