Who funds the Fundraising?

We’re pleased to share that today we are rolling out the opportunity to access fully funded, bespoke Fundraising support to current grantholders that have an annual income of under £2m.

During the first half of 2023, we piloted a new Fundraising Clinics offer, which provided one to one, bespoke fundraising support to some smaller charities that were in receipt of an OCT grant. The fundraising expertise was commissioned from charity consultant Gayle Derrick and our shared goals were to:

1. Inject fundraising expertise into small teams that had significant fundraising responsibility but little or no fundraising experience, or budget.
2. Activate more successful onward fundraising, by providing very targeted, transferable, support.
3. Galvanise investing in fundraising by providing first hand experience of working with a professional fundraiser.
4. Back excellence in small organisations. Many provide excellent, often hyperlocal, personalised services but fail to thrive without fundraising skills, risking perpetuating inequalities.
5. Demonstrate our position that the task of generating income, like many others, needs to be considered a core cost within charities – not a luxury

Feedback to date suggests the charities involved all found the sessions extremely useful, in a range of ways. For some, talking through their case for support was in itself affirming, and built confidence. Some said the sessions had helped sharpen their skills; others felt their approach had become more efficient and strategic, referring to the sessions as having ‘revolutionalised’ their fundraising. One respondent said they’d come away with new tools, and another that they’d been encouraged to think of their work as being more fundable.

We have used comments and observations to improve the offer this time around, and are offering the following options:

A) Mini fundraising overview

Opportunity to enhance existing fundraising plans, whether a specific goal or a broader overall strategy.

B) Perfecting proposals

The opportunity to have a real (written in draft) funding proposal critiqued.

C) Fundraising clinic

A more in-depth look at the income generation strategy of the organisation.

Information from grantees is required in advance, and individual time with the consultant can range from 1 – 3 hours. This offer forms part of our Funding Plus toolkit.