Charities in 2020 - Fundraising, Strategy and Development (Featuring Beth Crackles)
This March and April, charity and fundraising expert Beth Crackles joins us in the Events Space for a series of three workshops in areas such as funding strategy, developing a case for support toolkit and building and utilising corporate relationships.
Beth has been working in and around building charities and fundraising for over 13 years. Recently, she has turned her expertise to consultancy and training, helping individuals and businesses in the third sector look at the way they fundraise and grow their charities and develop new practices and projects.
So how did she get started? Beth joined me to explain how she entered the world of fundraising and to discuss the challenges that face charities in 2020.
“I had an unusual journey into the charity sector!” Beth Admits.
“I actually quit my A-Levels very soon after starting them and was self-employed working with horses for a few years before going on to do an HND and BSc in Equine Science and Business Management at Warwickshire Agricultural College. My strengths were around the business side of the course and marketing in particular. After graduating, I found myself rather unemployable and without anywhere to live up north, I moved to London and stayed with my sister for a few weeks until I got a job!”
“I worked as PA to the MD of a media company for a while before moving to RNIB as a PA to two amazing fundraisers – Paul Amadi (now at British Red Cross) and Joe Jenkins (now at The Children’s Society). I learned a lot by being in senior management meetings, listening and learning and taking on project work at any opportunity. At RNIB I was seconded to support setting up the Innovation Team, did my CIM Diploma in Communications, Advertising and Marketing at night, and then moved into a fundraising strategy and planning role. RNIB was such a fantastic place to learn about all the income streams and the importance of strategy and planning, which I love. I then went on to other fundraising roles at Friends of the Earth, NCVO and Toynbee Hall. I completed my MSc in Voluntary Sector Management at Cass Business School in 2015. Having been an academic drop out at 17 years old, graduating with distinction from one of top 10 business schools in the world, is something I bang on about a lot!”.
From working as a PA, Beth quickly discovered an aptitude and passion for fundraising. Whilst working for RNIB, she also found she had a knack for delivering workshops and training.
“I started delivering workshops at RNIB when I was involved with setting up the Innovation Team within the Fundraising Department – a team focused on improving fundraising products/activities and developing new ones. I ran lots of ‘idea generation’ workshops - which are generally good fun, though with a clear focus on the problem you’re trying to solve - followed by other sessions to encourage people to think about how to turn their idea into something that actually works and gets senior management approval, so lots of business planning and budgeting”.
“More recently, I’ve been delivering fundraising training on behalf of NCVO for grantees of the Premier League Charitable Fund; lots of community organisations thinking about how they might diversify into new areas of fundraising. I also delivered a strategy and diversification training day with Preston Community Network before Christmas. I love sharing my experience of working with large and small charities and learning from participants too, as they’re often doing innovative things with barely any budget or people”.
So, with a new year beginning and the start of a whole new decade upon us, what are the challenges that face the charity sector in 2020?
“Fundraising techniques that we’ve relied on for years to grow as a sector are no longer working as well”, Beth explains.
“Charities are struggling to recruit at scale, we see donor fatigue across challenge events and nobody (to my knowledge) is predicting growth from corporate income. We therefore have a challenge not only to diversify our income streams, but to innovate and to offer donor experiences that further develop trust and loyalty”.
“Diversifying income and being completely focused on the most appropriate income streams and techniques for your organisation is therefore hugely important. By appropriate, I mean those that support your organisation’s mission, offer a sound ROI and enable you to acquire, retain and develop relationships with supporters in the most meaningful and effective way for your charity and your supporters. Fundraising has a huge role to play in ensuring that charities are relevant to supporters; relevance is not achieved simply by being a ‘good cause’ and asking for money. It requires careful thought around your delivery, your messaging and your supporter experience”.
“I find that smaller organisations often don’t have the time and resources to develop meaningful strategies - whether than be organisational or funding – because they are busy delivering. I’d really encourage them to take some time to consider the most effective way of operating. If you don’t have the time to develop a funding strategy but have to raise a million quid, good luck to you! It’s tough out there. More broadly, diversity within the charity sector – or more accurately, lack of – is a big issue. Infrastructure organisations are addressing through initiatives such as the Institute of Fundraising’s Change Collective strategy, and other initiatives are framing the debate and moving things forward too. For example, #CharitySoWhite and Beyond Suffrage (training programme to increase the number of BAME women on charity Boards)”.
With a new decade and new challenges for charities ahead, Beth is focused on devising and delivering training that can practical, informative and current. So what should people expect from her workshops?
“Having worked charity-side for the majority of my career, with limited-to-no budget for anything, I totally get that people need to leave a day of training with something practical” says Beth.
“I think that there are a handful of tools and principles when it comes to fundraising that every fundraiser should know about and use. I’ll be sharing these and working through them in the workshops. In the strategy session, I have a template for people to use as a basis and to tailor for their organisation. In the case for support and corporate workshops, people will be focusing on how to develop their own case for support and plan their own corporate fundraising. So in a nutshell, super practical”.
If you want to learn more about Beth’s upcoming workshops, you can do so via the “What’s On” page of our website here.
The dates for the sessions are as follows:
Funding Strategy and Diversification (17 March, 1 day)
Developing your Case for Support Toolkit (21 April, ½ day)
Corporate Partnerships for Social Change (28 April, ½ day)