Here’s a session from Community Conference 2025, hosted by Nikki Bell.
With speakers: Bushra Ahmed from Lloyds Bank Foundation, Kerry Thomas from Pancreatic Cancer UK, Gemma Sherington from Refuge, Lauren Williams from Age UK
Community Fundraising can help kickstart your career. Don’t believe us? Then hear from four sector leaders, each with very different and inspiring careers as they share how their experiences working in partnership with communities and in community fundraising have helped them be where they are today.
From CEO to board member, to heading up fundraising teams and working across services, our four panellists will share their insight, expertise and learnings that we hope will inspire you in your career path. This session is not to missed!
Our Community Fundraising Conference is back on the 17th June! Learn more here
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to hit follow and enable notifications so you’ll get notified to be first to hear of future podcast episodes. We’d love to see you back again!
And thank you to our friends at JustGiving who make the Fundraising Everywhere Podcast possible.
Transcript
Jade Cunnah: Welcome to the Fundraising Everywhere Podcast, your go-to place for fundraising tips and inspiration. Love what you hear? Get more insights straight to your inbox. Subscribe to our email list for exclusive fundraising resources, early access to training, special discounts, and more. Just head on over to fundraisingeverywhere.com/podcast to subscribe.
Jade Cunnah: Now, onto today’s episode. Enjoy.
Nikki Bell: Like magic. Thank you, Steven. And so lovely to see all of you wonderful people, all of you community fundraising champions. Now, we have half an hour here, and we’ve got a lot of questions to get through, so I’m just gonna rapidly introduce you based on, uh, the information that you shared, and then we’re gonna jump straight into the questions, if that’s all right with you.
Nikki Bell: Give us a thumbs up. Let me know that your videos haven’t frozen. Amazing, and we can use that for the screen grab as well. So, lovely to see you, and thank you so much for being here. Um, so first of all, we have Lauren Williams who moved to the UK over 10 years ago and was a community fundraiser for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and is now the CEO at Age UK.
Nikki Bell: Please just shout if I get any of this wrong as well.
Lauren Williams: I’m, uh, fortunately not the CEO of Age UK. Good grief. What is, what is your- That would be a very, very, very big promotion.
Nikki Bell: And what are you now, Lauren? You-
Lauren Williams: I’m working at Age UK. I’m working at Age UK, strategic change manager.
Nikki Bell: Perfect. There we go. That was a, a, a good one to, to jump in on.
Nikki Bell: Thank you. And you’ve got around 20 years of experience in the charity sector, starting in New Zealand and the UK in a range of roles leading from small charities to marketing, fundraising, service development, and policy work in national charities. Is all that spot on?
Gemma Sherrington: Yes.
Nikki Bell: Perfect. Great. Lovely. Next one.
Nikki Bell: Let’s see if we can get this one right. So Bushra, lovely to meet you as well. Bushra Ahmed is now a board member for Lloyd’s Foundation and active member in the sector space in a variety of campaigning and fundraising roles. You started your career as a community fundraiser as part of a woman’s group at your local mosque, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for emergency response campaigns.
Gemma Sherrington: Yes. Perfect.
Nikki Bell: Yes. Excellent. OK. On our way through. So Jemma Sherrington, CEO at Refuge.
Multiple Speakers: Yeah.
Nikki Bell: Yes. Uh, so you started your charity career in a volunteer role and actively chose community fundraising as a career path because of the people and connection element, and you’ve held various director roles and now advocate for the power of community at the charities that you work with.
Nikki Bell: Beautiful. That’s
Multiple Speakers: correct. Thank you.
Nikki Bell: Amazing. Thank you. Uh, and then finally, Kerry Thomas, head of public fundraising at Pancreatic Cancer UK, who are one of our organizational members and a cause, uh, that is close to Fundraising Everywhere’s hearts, uh, because of Mandy Heim who we worked with and sadly lost a couple of years ago.
Nikki Bell: Um, and yourself, Kerry, you started in community fundraising role at a local homelessness charity. You set up the channel there and worked with a lot of public groups, and you’re leading the team at Pancreatic Cancer UK, where you’ve actually experienced an increase in ROI in the channel and obviously because of that, a huge champion and advocate, uh, for what it can do for charities, but also the skills it can give people.
Nikki Bell: All good? Are we correct? Absolutely. We’ve got the right
Kerry Thomas: people in the room? Yeah. Fantastic. Thanks, Nikki.
Nikki Bell: Perfect. We’re all in the right place. Um, so Kerry, I’m gonna come straight to you actually, ’cause when we were having a chat about this panel, um, the other day, I mentioned that I was at another, uh, large, uh, fundraising ev- event the other week and sat in a discussion where, uh, the, the speaker was sharing some benchmarking data and just casually mentioned at the end that the community fundraising ROI had gone down but couldn’t offer any additional context as to whether or not that’s ’cause resources and teams that had been cut.
Nikki Bell: And you mentioned that actually you’d seen an improvement in that area, and I really wanted to ask you, you know, what is, uh, Pancreatic Cancer UK doing with community fundraising to really grow that role, um, and utilize that channel, uh, to, to achieve that growth? What’s happening in your team?
Kerry Thomas: Yeah, I think I, um, that did make me really mad when I heard that.
Kerry Thomas: Because I think it just shows the, that community fundraising is so misunderstood, um, by so many people, even fundraisers. And what we’ve done at Pancreatic Cancer UK is we’ve actually taken- we’ve decided to go with the real skills of community fundraisers, which is all about the relational fundraising.
Kerry Thomas: And so we’re, we’re going back to a more traditional community fundraising model, um, where our community fundraisers are just really investing that time in, in getting alongside and building relationships with people who choose to fundraise for us. So we’re, we’re not focusing on products in community now.
Kerry Thomas: We’re focusing all our attention on do-it-your-own, do-it-yourself fundraisers and particularly, um, nurturing those relationships with the high-value community fundraisers. And when I was looking at the ROI, I think it is fair to say ROI is dropping because ROI is dropping in everything, um, at the moment, or that’s certainly what we’re seeing, you know, as things get more expensive.
Kerry Thomas: But the ROI for our community team is double the ROI for any other fundraising team. And so I think that’s what I wanna really get across, that often the, um, the income levels for community might feel small, but the ROI is really strong. And those people as well, our community f- people who fundraise in their local community are so invested.
Kerry Thomas: They don’t get the glory of the marathon medal. They don’t, they don’t necessarily get all the kudos. They might raise small amounts of money, but they have chosen to do it themselves, and they should be invested in and nurtured.
Nikki Bell: Yeah, I completely uh, agree with you. When I was a community fundraiser for the British Heart Foundation, so after I left the hospice, there was people in these volunteer groups who’d been there for 40-odd years, and they were just so committed.
Nikki Bell: There was huge potential there as well for cross-channel. I mean, there was, uh, amazing potentials, you know, for, for legacy and, you know, in-mem and, and things like that, because often those groups come together, uh, against a, a, a personal story. How have you … What … If someone was thinking, “Actually, that’s interesting to move from a product element to a, a, a re- a relationship element,” what things should they be thinking about to make sure that they can kinda get the, the things that they’re measuring and, and thinking about right in that strategy?
Kerry Thomas: I think I would say that it’s all about looking at having really strong data set. So, you know, you need to be able to … If you’re gonna need … You’re gonna want to show the impact of relational fundraising- Ah … so you need to be able to prove that the phone calls you’re making, the meetings you’re having, all of that does make an impact on, on income.
Kerry Thomas: And so you, you do need … You know, I know community fundraisers often they, they love all the kind of chat at with their fundraisers. Maybe not always so great at putting things on the database. But I think being able to really evidence it is gonna be the hugely important thing. But also know your data, so know who your high-value community fundraisers are.
Kerry Thomas: For lots of charities, um, in community, 80% of their income in community will come from 20% of their community fundraisers. So you’ve got to be able to identify those people and work alongside them. Um, and so that’s what I would really be looking at measuring, um, in, in those areas. The impact, but who your key supporters are.
Nikki Bell: I was making a face there because I was that community fundraiser. I’m in, I’m out. I’m away. I’m not- Yeah … at my desk. We need to make CRMs easier to log the data- We do … on the move and maybe- You just have to
Kerry Thomas: talk into it.
Nikki Bell: Yeah. Oh, my days. Like, if I could’ve just voice noted it in, that I would … My CRM data would’ve been probably the best in, in the charity.
Nikki Bell: But yeah, it’s hard. Um, but I guess obviously the, the benefit of of them being out and about is brilliant. And there’s lots of love as well, uh, Kerry, for what you’ve just been saying in the chat there. And one of your team, Annabel- Aw. … said, “Go Kerry,” uh, and is vouching for what you’re saying, uh, as well.
Nikki Bell: So it sounds like you’re doing fantastic things, and it’s so wonderful to hear of leaders who are advocating that. But obviously, you know, you’re a leader of that particular department. So I’m gonna go across to Gemma now, uh, who obviously started in the career role and is now, uh, leading the team at Refuge.
Nikki Bell: Now, you led a community fundraising team through COVID. Um, and when we were chatting before you mentioned that you were having to do a lot of advocating for the channel during that time. Can you tell us more about that experience, and for you what beauty and benefits come out of community fundraising and, and how you’re, uh, implementing that at the charity that you’re at today?
Multiple Speakers: Yeah. So I s- I guess my role through that was actually as the fundraising marketing exec director. So community was one bit of the portfolio, but it was a time of really tough choices- Mm … where we were having to, wrap actually for the portfolio at Save the Children where I was at that time, actually about a 25% reduction in income because of kind of closed events and retail.
Multiple Speakers: And so really tough choices about where to invest across the fundraising portfolio. But I guess as a, as an ex as an ex-community fundraiser, um, I, I was really strong around protecting that space and investment in that space because, you know, disinvest in it at your peril. It takes a long time to build back if you break those relationships.
Multiple Speakers: And I suppose the sort of arguments that I was sort of using there, because actually it’s, it is misunderstood by many parts of the organization were around it isn’t just the money, right? These are the people that your, are your advocates on the ground. Especially if you’re in a large national organization, these are the people where your, your charity lives in the real community.
Multiple Speakers: And it’s not just a faceless brand or in a TV ad, it’s actually real for people. And so those advocates, those brand ambassadors, those people who join campaigning activity those people who share word of mouth recommendation, you know, just disrespect them at your peril and disinvest in the relationships at your peril because you will miss it when it’s gone.
Multiple Speakers: And I’ve seen that where organizations really pull back and then miss that foundational support in a fundraising portfolio. And you touched on it, Nikki, how it can be really part of can be a massive part of integration and it can be a massive part of supporting other sort of channels and product lines.
Multiple Speakers: And so it was just something that I was really keen to defend even though at that time through COVID, it, you know, it, it didn’t look very attractive because there was not much we could do. Everyone was put on furlough, you know, but it was like, okay, but we hold it and we protect it for when we come back.
Multiple Speakers: And I think it’s always been a channel in the mix that I’ve seen in my fundraising portfolios that performs really well through things like recessionary shock. And so where other things kind of might start to fall back, actually your community space can be really resilient. So yeah, I’m a massive advocate for it in the mix of your fundraising and for understanding the wider benefits it brings beyond the pure ROI, which is strong.
Multiple Speakers: But it brings all of these other benefits that you can’t quite touch, but you notice them when they are gone.
Nikki Bell: And we do have a session at half one in this room as well, which is specifically about measuring and communicating that impact as well. So that’ll follow nicely on from this. If people are thinking, “Yeah, get it.
Nikki Bell: Let’s do that,” and they’re wanting to know more about the how and, and when, uh, do stay in room one for that session, uh, at half past one. So that’s just in an hour’s time. You mentioned there about the … Did you s- You mentioned about it, it being uh, beneficial in recession and having that be- So there’s, there’s things coming, uh, that we have to be prepared for.
Nikki Bell: And the, uh, economic climate, uh, that we’re operating in, it’s, do you know, it’s, it’s not getting any better. There’s wider political things that are obviously gonna cause, uh, a lot of issues for charities and fundraisers in the near future. So not to put you on the spot, but are there any pre-planning, uh, that you’re doing at your organization as someone that’s been through that particular, uh, challenge with community fundraising bef- before to make sure that that is an element that’s still there to help during those recession moments?
Multiple Speakers: Yeah, I mean, I think, I think at Refuge it’s a much small- it’s much smaller part of what we do, but it’s still a very important part of what we do. And I suppose it’s it’s the same sort of thing that Kerry’s looking at really. It’s how do you really energize that group of do it yourself community-based supporters because they, they will see you through the tough times, right?
Multiple Speakers: And it is about relationships and so yeah, massively thinking about how we kind of build that network and, and I think it’s like interesting because there are sort of community co- fundraising sort of comes in and out of fashion in the sector and- Mm … and people can say it’s sort of gone because the traditional models are going, but actually I really believe that people always want to come together, whether it’s through shared interest or through geography and feel connected to do something together for something.
Multiple Speakers: And if you can harness that feeling and build the relationships, then it can be brilliant. So we’re starting to think about that at Refuge because it’s always been quite a small thing of what we do- Mm … and I hope it will become something that’s bigger
Nikki Bell: I love that. And that’s tapping into how a lot of people feel.
Nikki Bell: You know, we’re seeing on our phones in the news constantly from the moment that we wake up, and, uh, it is getting to that point now, and a lot of people are already on it, where they’re like, “How do I help? What do I do?” Yeah. And community fundraisers are just perfectly placed to pick up on that and go, “Here’s what you can do, and here’s how we can make it easier for you.”
Nikki Bell: So that’s actually a really exciting opportunity. Um- Yeah … and yeah, I hope today can really help people utilize that and, and know what to do. And we’ve got some sessions on working with volunteers and supporters and on stewardship, uh, as well in room one. So it’s like you’ve planned this to- Yeah … to link nicely with, with, um, with the conference.
Nikki Bell: So really exciting to hear that there’s great stuff happening. And so amazing to, to hear as well. I’ll come back to you soon, Gemma, around the, the career parts as well, ’cause I’d love to, uh, get into the, the skills and how that’s helped you in your progression first. But first I wanna go to Bushra.
Nikki Bell: So you’ve had a different experience in your community career. So you’ve went from frontlining, uh, to, to campaigning and advocating for local groups and working in collaboration with organizations. Can you tell us, Bushra, how that’s helped you, uh, in, in the current work that you do today?
Nikki Bell: But also you’ve mentioned a lot about the untapped potential in community fundraising that we really should be thinking about as we go through the day and, uh, going forward in our program. So would you, would you please share more?
Gemma Sherrington: Yeah, lovely to be here. Yeah, I started in community fundraising.
Gemma Sherrington: I mean, I think I was born into it because I was born into a faith community, and my parents were both absolute 100% volunteers, so that’s all we grew up knewing, uh, knowing. And so when you’re growing up in that kind of way, I remember at school we would do a lot of volunteering through our school and going and helping.
Gemma Sherrington: There was a lot of that culture around at that time, which I don’t know, maybe we’ve lost a bit now I see. But, um, and then when it came to actually being a part of a charity and raising funds, I think I took all of the skills that I’d learned within the faith community, and I was then leading a group of 12 regional women across the country to just do this small kind of community fundraising.
Gemma Sherrington: But we were already very connected within our communities, so wherever we were, we were able to build on that. And I think that’s the untapped potential that I think there is. And as I was doing this particular role as a director of fundraising, I was coming across some mainstream charities and kind of seeing the gaps where they weren’t able to tap into the kind of potential that I think, I was able to connect them to.
Gemma Sherrington: So actually, when I was, um, doing that role, I also joined a couple of small charities locally, and then I was able to do that connecting. There was a youth charity that I was at. They’d just come into the area, and they kn- knew nobody, and it was just this very This big building that had just appeared.
Gemma Sherrington: But I was able to kind of do a bit of connecting and the f- you know, the community fundraiser there didn’t know anybody, so able to make those connections. And I think that really helped them to integrate. A- and then just going on from that, you know, one- once I’d done that fundraising I was able to use the skills and all of the things that I built there.
Gemma Sherrington: Because of the fundraising, I was awarded as a s- future fellow at the, at the London Mayor. And that then developed me a bit personally so that I could use those skills to then go on to be on the boards of these charities. And, I’ve progressed and from local to national, and now even as a board advisor to another fellowship.
Gemma Sherrington: And, and those skills have all taken me there. But I think it was a little bit of how do we develop our volunteers to kind of take the next step as well, which is something that may be touched on today. So yeah.
Nikki Bell: Let’s get into that as well, because I know Orla has asked, um, a, a follow-up question to what Gemma was mentioning, and that ni- links really nicely into, to yours.
Nikki Bell: So the, the attendees, Orla, are really keen to hear about how they can energize, um, those existing supporters, those people who have already shown keenness in, in the cause. And what can fundraisers be, be doing to nurture that and help them forward onto their next steps and to be better in, in those next steps?
Nikki Bell: How did that look for you, Bushra? And then I’ll come to you, Gemma.
Gemma Sherrington: I think it was about getting to know your local community. I mean, it’s just, you know, you have to get out there, g- go to where people are, go to where the, the events are, get into those spaces. And you can … I mean, you know, you talk about return on investment, but i- investment in, as in time, as in your time, is so well spent if you can do that groundwork and actually build those relationships within your local community.
Gemma Sherrington: It could be just within, your faith communities. It could be within, you know, the local community hub, which I was also part of. So getting to know people where they are and where they’re doing the work around … For me, it was a lot about youth violence, how are people kind of raising funds around that.
Gemma Sherrington: You know, I think it’s … And I think it’s about not, it’s not nine to five. It’s definitely not nine to five job. So I think you’ve got to be prepared to kind of go in the evening to where people gather or at the weekends where people gather. And I think for me, that was a little strange when I think there was a bit of, “Well, you know, we, we, we can’t go at the weekend.”
Gemma Sherrington: But, you know, that’s where people are and that’s where they gather. So yeah, I think, um, building those relationships is really key. Once you’ve done that, then you can galvanize at any point. A- and I think there’s also something to be said there about the consistency of the people in those roles because a lot of the time we were getting people who were coming in, and then the charities were like, “Well, they haven’t raised enough.”
Gemma Sherrington: So, you know, then you’d have that turnover. You don’t get time to build that consistency within the community. So I think that’s another thing that the charities should be thinking about.
Nikki Bell: Absolutely. The, the weekend thing, obviously having been on the, I, I guess the, the delivery side of that, it can be quite difficult, especially, uh, young children or you might have caring responsibilities or, you know, the week might have been quite thorough.
Nikki Bell: So there is a session as well in room two at half past 1:00, uh, which is Managing Boundaries and Difficult Conversations. Because yeah, whilst visibility and, and flexibility is important, community fundraiser role is so prone to overwork and overwhelm because you’ve got a community of people that all want you at everything all the time.
Nikki Bell: So that session will help people just understand, uh, how they can politely redirect or, or maybe say no. And then we do have a session as well in this room at five past 2:00, which will just help you to understand how to prioritize and balance, uh, the, the relationships just so that when you are doing that, it, you have the high return.
Nikki Bell: One more question for you, Bushra, ’cause when we were chatting before as well, I think it’s important to note the ethical approach to community relationships as well, because your group were already doing fantastic things and then someone comes in from an organization and often, you know, there is that tendency for them to take over and, and lead when there’s already people already doing fantastic things.
Nikki Bell: What advice would you give to a community fundraiser that was going into a community space where there was already people doing fantastic things to make sure that their approach was collaborative, but also to make sure that they were platforming, uh, the existing voices and, uh, experience that’s already happening there?
Gemma Sherrington: Yeah. I think I saw a lot of tendency to kind of, and not necessarily just fundraisers, but kind of as the sector, as charities, to kind of speak for people. So come get my advice and then go and speak on my behalf. I think you’ve got to make sure that you’re valuing those people because when people
Gemma Sherrington: You know, we take them for granted a little bit. You know, people in the community, they’re doing things because they love to do it. It’s their faith, it’s their role. They give everything. They expect nothing back. But it, sometimes it’s just nice to get something back. It’s nice to get a bit of recognition.
Gemma Sherrington: It’s nice to get a thank you. It’s nice to be sometimes invited to, to, to be that, be at the table to kind of give your experience and not always have someone talk on your behalf. And also then I think a lot of, you know, we’ve got to mention diversity. You know, we’ve got to diversify our fundraisers and our community fundraisers because, to be honest, as I was coming through and I was getting, become, going to the charity sector and then attending the fundraising events, there was very little diversity.
Gemma Sherrington: And so I think if we do that, I think we can then begin to tap into the communities that we really at the moment aren’t even touching.
Nikki Bell: Fantastic. And yeah, very important and thank you for mentioning that too. Lauren, you were nodding, uh, a lot through there. Is there anything that you wanna add to what Bushra’s shared?
Lauren Williams: Just wholeheartedly agree. When I was at Versus Arthritis, I wasn’t actually in a fundraising role, but in terms of developing networks in local communities, we hired, um, someone from the Muslim community to reach out into the West Midlands, and he was incredible. He already had brilliant community networks.
Lauren Williams: He was on the local radio station. He knew the geography of the local area down to the street, which is really important to know, people will come to this event, but they won’t go to this event. So yeah I wouldn’t underestimate that local knowledge and that cultural knowledge and the strength of that.
Nikki Bell: And this question’s to the group as well. How can community fundraising leaders fundraising leaders improve diversity within their team, specifically in the community fundraising roles? What work is happening already, or what great things have you seen in this area that, that is working? Um, I’ll, I’ll open that up to anybody that wants to start.
Nikki Bell: Yes.
Lauren Williams: Can I pop in? From a slightly different perspective, so most of my work has been in sight loss charities, and most recently as CEO of a charity that was supporting people with sight loss and hearing loss. So in terms of ensuring that people with disabilities are part of the staff team, because that’s another aspect of diversity, there’s a lot of guidance out there and a lot of great people to follow on LinkedIn, for example, who can help you design your roles and design the workplace in a way that’s gonna be accessible, that will get you access to incredible, motivated, talented, engaging people who might otherwise have barriers to face in, in accessing the workplace.
Lauren Williams: So I’d just encourage everyone to consider disability access and the power of, you know, if you’re in a health-related charity, the power of having someone with lived experience is just unprecedented, and I’m sure we’ve all experienced that.
Jade Cunnah: Kerry?
Kerry Thomas: Um, I was just gonna say just a couple of bits. So the first is, um, I think community fundraising is, is very hard in terms of out-of-hours work.
Kerry Thomas: So one thing I’d always be saying, and this po- potentially doesn’t speak so much to diversity, but just in terms of importance, is around time off in lieu. But I think, so that is hugely important. But the other thing is, it’s easy often to think that because community fundraisers often have to work a lot of evenings and weekends, that the role isn’t accessible for people with caring responsibilities.
Kerry Thomas: But often actually it’s more accessible because you may … If you have still got children who are not at school yet, it means it actually might be that to work more evenings and weekends suddenly becomes easier for you in terms of sharing childcare out and things. So I think we have to probably to diversify in terms of people’s experiences and these.
Kerry Thomas: We have to look at potentially, a, a set number of hours a week for community fundraisers rather than a, a set working pattern. And I think that can really help, um, in terms of increasing some of that diversity
Lauren Williams: Absolutely. Also, have you all heard of Access to Work? People don’t need to be drivers with their driving license in their own car.
Lauren Williams: That’s potentially discriminating to people who can’t afford that, but also who pe- people who can’t drive for various reasons. So there are ways for people to get around the geographical area.
Nikki Bell: Yeah. That in it- Yeah, that’s a whole conversation, uh, in itself, and I’m conscious of time. So what we will do for the attendees, um, we’ll whip up some resources on that and share that, share that through.
Nikki Bell: ‘Cause ha- having been somebody that’s experienced, uh, both, um, the disability and the, um, the, the caring side of things is something that I care massively about, but there are things that we can do to learn and improve and go forward rather than it being like a, a, a stopping point. Um, but it’s really important that we’re having this conversation.
Nikki Bell: And another part of the conversation that we wanted to touch on today, which we will do for the final few minutes, is, like advocating for self. So I know when I started in a community fundraising role, this was like 14 odd years ago, I didn’t see any progression opportunities for me in that space. But having gone through and found this career path, which was more like a, probably like a m- a mountain route, um, there is actually huge potential for people who start in community fundraising.
Nikki Bell: Tons of transferable skills and as evidenced by the people in this digital room as well, opportunities. So I would love to just go around the room to wrap us up as well and just if you could share, um, what skills, qualities and opportunities there are for community fundraisers both in their roles and what they should be doing to really highlight those skills if they are looking to, to use those to progress, uh, in whatever direction that they want to take.
Nikki Bell: Kerry, I’d love to come to you first because you actually put yourself forward, uh, for this session today and mentioned around the public speaking opportunities. Yeah. So yeah, maybe share more about those skills and career opportunities
Kerry Thomas: for community fundraising. Yeah. So I started in community fundraising for a local charity, and I spent a huge amount of my time, um, doing school assemblies rotary talks, um, and pitching for Charity of the Year at local corporates.
Kerry Thomas: And that really taught me about public speaking and about pitching your message to people. When you’ve done a talk about homelessness to four-year-olds, I can tell you, you can persuade people about, about anything. Um, and so I think the thing that I would really talk about in terms of community fundraising, I think it, it is the basis for learning the skills for, for all types of fundraising.
Kerry Thomas: So you learn, you learn to build relationships, you learn public speaking, you learn persuasion, you, you pitch for charity partnerships, you work with local corporates, you, um, are- Linking in with legacies, with individual giving, with retail, all kinds of things. So I w- am a huge basis a huge fan for the, for saying that if you want to get a strong basis and you’re starting in fundraising, start in community.
Kerry Thomas: It will open the door to so many things.
Nikki Bell: I love that. Thank you. Bushra?
Gemma Sherrington: Yeah, I just, I mean, I echo everything that Kerry says, but I’d also, I’d also say, you know, if you are a community fundraiser, one of the skills that you need to have is to be able to ask for things, right? And I saw a lot of people who, who are too scared to ask.
Gemma Sherrington: You’re not asking for yourself, you know. This is for a really worthy cause, and you’ve got to get used to that. I think a lot of people aren’t, you know, quite hesitant, especially if they’re going to a corporate or something or, to, around that kind of thing. Just ask, you know. What’s the worst people can say?
Gemma Sherrington: They can just say no. You learn from that, and you build on that. And, you know, you take so many skills into to, to, you know, your … From being a community fundraiser, I’ve ended up on boards and, bringing that local knowledge, bringing that grassroots knowledge to the board so that they know about the communities that they’re serving, and that’s really important.
Gemma Sherrington: So I think there’s real possibilities
Nikki Bell: Amazing. Thank you. As a, a, a neurodiverse ex-community fundraiser, it definitely, forced isn’t the right word, but got me into spaces that I don’t think that I would have found myself in naturally. And that ability to be able to walk up to people, speak to people, speak to groups, and just be able to have conversations that find out more about other people is just not something that I would have naturally done.
Nikki Bell: So I am massively appreciative, uh, to community fundraising for putting me in that space, ’cause I genuinely believe that it’s, it’s helped me to where I get to now, which is speaking to wonderful people like yourselves and, and helping the amazing people that are, that are here today. So, yes that’s, uh, definitely a plus one for both Kerry and, and Bushra’s comments.
Nikki Bell: Uh, Lauren, what about yourself?
Lauren Williams: Uh, when I moved to the UK, I took a job as a community fundraiser for Guide Dogs. And within, I think 10 months, I was promoted to service development across the UK. And I think my community fundraising work absolutely was the best possible introduction, not only to the charity sector in the UK, but also actually to the UK.
Lauren Williams: Just driving around in a little car with a paper map from village to village, meeting the local supporters, the local branches. It set me on a really good path to then join the national charity and understand the local and be able to understand the service users the supporters, the carers, all the, the people who were involved.
Lauren Williams: So my two things about community fundraising is that I don’t think it’s just a sort of springboard to other types of fundraising. I think it’s universally useful in the charity sector. It gives you volunteer management, financial management planning events the people skills, the presentation skills that we’re talking about.
Lauren Williams: Huge wide range of skills. And I think the interpersonal skills of a good community fundraiser are probably among the best in the charity sector because back to the point of how do you inspire people to, fundraise independently. When you’ve got new people on board trying to understand, is this a person who’s really committed and is gonna carry on with this and do a good job and, you know, raise lots of money?
Lauren Williams: Or is this a person who’s just kind of not confident enough or, and needs more support, or is just kind of toying with the idea but is actually gonna pull out? Those kind of skills to understand how much support and nurture to give people and how, and how much to leave them, you know. And yeah, it’s a complicated business.
Lauren Williams: So I think- … my one point about what I would suggest people to do is become a trustee because that gives you an overview of everything to do with another charity. And even if it’s a tiny local charity, it still gives you, you can access trustee training, and you can learn a whole new view on what charities are like, what they need, how they run, et cetera.
Lauren Williams: So I’m a trustee and it’s brilliant. I recommend it
Nikki Bell: Oh, interesting. Um, w- yeah, we’ll, we’ll definitely chat on, about that more in, in the chat. Liz has posted a comment about what they do. They said, “Relationship management, presentations, data analysis, time management, uh, volunteers management, digital campaign, donor focus stock.”
Nikki Bell: And then Rebs followed that up with, “And that’s just on Mondays,” which I think got the highest, uh, number of emoji reactions in the chat box. I think a lot of people are feeling exactly the same. I used to describe my job to my partner at the time, uh, as being, like, on The Apprentice ’cause it was just so wild and, and varied.
Nikki Bell: And yeah, one day you would be trying to sell somebody’s painting and then the next day you’re judging a talent show for four-year-olds, which is actually a brutal job to have. They all just sang, um, Let It Go ’cause it was when Frozen came out, and after the ninth time I was like, “Oh, my days.” So yes, it is a very varied role.
Nikki Bell: And Gemma, what about yourself?
Multiple Speakers: So yes to everything everyone said. But I think alongside some of the hard skills and the technical capabilities you build in the role, there are some personal attributes that really start to build as you, you are in your career as a community fundraiser. So things like, you know, humility, a sense of collaboration with others, real resilience and empathy, like creating environments where there’s belonging and inclusion, and really this ability to build leadership in others.
Multiple Speakers: So I think because of all those personal attributes, it is the perfect groundwork for becoming any type of leader in the sector, actually. And I honestly believe it was my training ground for a CEO role, which again, is back to breadth. It’s back to breadth. It’s back to all those attributes being really important and, you know, all of the hard skills that everyone’s mentioned as well.
Multiple Speakers: So I just don’t think there’s a better entry point, really, into your career.
Nikki Bell: Absolutely. That’s, that’s the tagline now for all community fundraising- … job adverts, isn’t it? It’s like, “There’s no better entry point.”
Multiple Speakers: No
Nikki Bell: better
Multiple Speakers: entry point.
Nikki Bell: That, everyone can use it now on the, on their job ads. But it’s been so lovely meeting you all.
Nikki Bell: We are out of time now. I think we could have just had this chat for the full four hours, but we are gonna, uh, move on to our second session. But I do wanna say, one, thank you for being here and sharing your background, your experience, and your insights with people. But also, two, thank you for the advocacy that you’re doing for community fundraising in your teams and charities and at spaces like this, because it’s these conversations and it’s supporting people with these insights and tools that can really help it get taken seriously.
Nikki Bell: Not that it does already, I’m just using that phrase for quickness. Um, but just really highlight the importance of, of the channel and really help people to get the most out of it. So thank you for being here. Um, Steven will pop the, um, the, the chat, uh, in, in the backstage if you wanna go and meet any of the attendees over there in, in the chat box.
Nikki Bell: Um, but for here, we’ll, we’ll head into room two. But I’ll, I’ll, um, sorry, session two, and I’ll, I’ll say bye bye to youse now while I introduce that.
Alex Aggidis: Thank you so much for listening to the Fundraising Everywhere podcast. If you’re enjoying this podcast, why not share it with a fundraising friend? And if you would like to give us a little like or subscribe, it really helps more fundraisers like you find us.
Alex Aggidis: Thank you so much. See you next time
*************
This transcript was created using AI. If you spot any mistakes, please reach out. Thank you!