Sweet dreams?

Fundraising for a charity can keep us awake at night. Worrying about income is a perennial issue for the organisation’s fundraiser whether they are the chief executive, a trustee or a staff fundraiser.

We know that some things are easier than others to fundraise for. A project with children is usually well funded in the same charity which also runs an under-funded policy team delivering the charity’s core work. We pick the things we think will appeal to funders at the cost of the things we think won’t. Inevitably it leads either to a dangerous imbalance of restricted and unrestricted funds where core services run out of money or a perception amongst funders that your charitable mission is something it is not.

How do you unpick this?

Everyone in the charity has a part to play in creating sustainable and healthy fundraising for core services. First things first, the trustees must recognise the finite resources (people) in the organisation and ensure that they are being managed properly to carry out organisational priorities, the chief executive must first and foremost decide the strategic direction of the charity and then work out how to fund it. The fundraiser or fundraisers must be focussed on the priorities set them by their manager.

There is also a clear case for ensuring that funders know your charity’s needs and are responsive to them. The key response however must be to improve the way your charity communicates the value of its core work, no matter how unpopular to funders it perceives it to be. A few ideas:

• Sit fundraisers and campaigners/policy people side by side to increase understanding across disciplines,
• If you are still in touch, ask the charity’s founder to explain afresh and with hindsight in a single paragraph why they felt the charity was needed,
• Ensure that fundraisers are in regular contact with the charity’s beneficiaries, or get feedback.

Keep focussed on your charity’s core reason for being and get good at explaining it – it will serve you well in your fundraising.