News & Blog

Recent weeks have seen a raft of clients renewing their contracts with us for 2013. Simon George commented: "It's always very positive when a client renews their contract with us, as it's a real sign of their confidence in our team. Historically, most of our work has been repeat business".

At the board meeting of a charity of which I am a trustee, we signed off the accounts this week for the last financial year. Our Finance Director had been predicting a deficit for the year and had been resigned to having to dip into reserves by a small amount, when we had been hoping to break even.

It’s hard to believe it, but we are about to celebrate our 15th anniversary of helping UK charities develop strategies and raise the funds to pay for them. Things have changed a lot since 1998 when we a started both in the world of fundraising and in our business. Is this a better fundraising environment?

In the current climate, and despite its often low ROI, community fundraising is still a great way to engage with donors and prospects, but to justify the time and effort you really need to ensure you are squeezing all the benefits from it you can.

I saw recently that the IoF is 30 years old this year - a moment perhaps to take stock? Certainly, fundraising has come a long way since the ICFM, as it then was known, was established. And so, to be fair, has the Institute.

A common demand placed on trust fundraisers is to find new prospects, which in a mature operation can often be a challenge, especially if all the usual sources have been exhausted.

As part of our commitment to sustainability, we support the charity Climate Stewards, which works to combat global warming by educating people in the West about greener lifestyles

Congratulations to Sue Lidington, Chair of trustees of Side by Side Theatre Company, a Wootton George client, on her recent MBE. Sue set up the charity in the 1990’s for people with learning difficulties

In my post today was This Way magazine. It’s the publication of Toyota GB, sent to Toyota owners and inside is an excellent article about ShelterBox, the disaster relief charity.