Courses I wish I'd had when I started fundraising

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my first proper fundraising role.

I was one of two fundraisers in a small organisation. And when I say small, I mean small. My “office” was a spare bedroom in a housing estate that had been converted to a business park.

The kind where you’re never quite sure if you’re meant to be working or apologising for being there… I had to make a business case to buy a hoover.

But despite being scrappy, we had big ambitions. Proper, change-the-world kind of stuff. Having seen the work in person, I knew how much it mattered.

But day-to-day? I was scrabbling around in the dark.

I knew what we were trying to do. I just didn’t always know what to do next.

Should I email that prospect or call them?
Was it too soon to follow up?
Was I building a relationship… or just being annoying?
Was this even the right person to be speaking to in the first place?

You hear a lot of advice in those moments about trusting your gut or being led by the donor, but I had stomach issues and an empty inbox, despite having sent a lot of approaches.

All the advice I was given felt inspiring, but unhelpful when it’s a Tuesday afternoon, you’ve got twelve names on a list, and no idea where to start.

I would’ve given a lot for someone to sit down next to me and say:
“Start here. Then do this. Then this. And when that happens, here’s what you do next.”

That’s the course I wish I’d had. And it’s the course Fireside Fundraising and Fundraising Everywhere have just made.

Relationship Fundraising Fundamentals

This is a step-by-step, bite-by-bite guide to starting a new income stream. It’s like sitting down with someone who knows what you’re going through and being told exactly what to do. Who to talk to, what to say, how to keep things moving.

The aim is simple: to help you move from understanding relationship fundraising… to actually doing it.

So when you sit down at your desk (or your spare bedroom), you’ve got a clearer sense of where to go next.

I really hope this is the thing that makes it all click a bit sooner than it did for me.

Because fundraising is hard enough without feeling like you’re making it up as you go along. I’d love to know how you find it.