News & Blog

The astonishing story of the Alan Barnes Fund has made the headlines this week, with over £329,000 raised online in just a few days. So what lessons can this teach us for fundraising in our organisations? The first lesson is that "people give to people"...

The National Lottery has been a life-line for many charities in the last two decades and has contributed to many excellent projects around the country. However, its inflexibility still causes frustrations for some applicants.I was recently conducting a feasibility study...

All charities are equal, but some are more equal than others, right? In fundraising, this is certainly the case and we all know that some causes find it harder to raise funds than others, for a variety of reasons. For disability charities, this is definitely true.

This week I learned an old lesson again about the difference a named contact can make. I was working on a feasibility study for a major appeal and had interviewed a range of people, including one very well known and wealthy lady.

Heritage Funding for All! At a talk by the Heritage Lottery Fund recently, I was struck by how wide their funding portfolio is and by the range of charities that have succeeded in securing project funding.

This week I visited an old client of ours that has just had a poor experience of using consultants. Two years ago, they hired a firm to develop an organisational strategy, create a new case for support and advise on approaching grant makers.

A common complaint I hear from fundraisers is the lack of support from their Boards for fundraising, often combined with an assertion that Trustees do not understand what fundraising involves and do not even donate to their own charities.

This week I visited a national charity we work for that only employs one fundraiser. She has her work cut out, juggling a wide range of activities and making her time and budget stretch very thinly. She has my sympathy and it got me thinking again about the challenges for fundraisers in this position.