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Three fundraisers on first Clore programme

Fundraising | Vibeka Mair | 4 Nov 2009

Three fundraisers are leading the way in the inaugural Clore Social Leadership Programme, a new £1.5m initiative led by Dame Mary Marsh to identify and develop emerging talent in the third sector.

Rowena Lewis, head of fundraising and development at the Fawcett Society, Faith Reynolds, development manger at Toynbee Hall and Caroline Beaumont, deputy head of corporate development at Action for Children will join 11 other fellows next year for a  personalised leadership development programme including mentoring, coaching, peer learning, research projects, residential training and working in challenging contexts.

Lewis, who is a career fundraiser, says she is excited the course will be tailored to her needs: “I heard Dame Mary Marsh speak at an event and when I heard her describe the programme I was really interested. I kept an eye out for it and when the applications launched I applied.”

Lewis started her fundraising career at university when she helped raise £30,000 over the phone to get disabled access for her facility.

“This was my first insight into fundraising,” says Lewis. “I loved the people contact and being able to see the concrete impact of the money that had been raised, and also the change in terms of attitude as well.”

She then went on to street fundraise, eventually turning to office-based fundraising, most recently with the Fawcett Society, where she worked her way up to head of fundraising.

She says the research part of the fellowship, which she is doing part-time, interests her most.

“One of the reasons I find it really exciting is that there are varying types of support, everything from training to coaching through to producing a research piece which will inform the sector.

“I want to spark a debate on gender equality. There are incredibly recognised debates in the public sector and private sector around it. The voluntary sector is an absolutely sparkling diverse workplace, but there is a lack of debate. I want the third sector to stand as proud as other sectors in being able to claim best practice. I don’t currently think it can.”

Lewis has personal experience of this, finding it difficult to find a female mentor for her fellowship: “Choosing a mentor has been an interesting exercise for me. I was looking for a strong female role model and I only came up with a couple of names, which is a shame.”

On leadership, Lewis recognises the lack of a clearly articulated route for fundraisers into leadership or chief executive roles, though she’s already had a taste, acting as interim director for the Fawcett Society while the charity found a permanent appointee.

“There isn’t a clear path,” she says. “This is one of the conversations we’ve had with some of the fellows already. There is real potential there so why is this not happening?”

Faith Reynolds is the second Clore fellow with a fundraising background. Though not a fundraiser by profession, she has been involved in raising income though her development role at Toynbee Hall, where she has worked with Lewis in the past.

Reynolds has spent past the past seven years working to tackle financial inclusion. She has dealt with a diverse set of organisations including the Financial Services Authority, Treasury and the IPPR. She is also on the taskforce for financial inclusion.

As a part-time working mother of two, Reynolds wants to take a year out of work to identify where her skills lie through Clore: 

“I have a set of skills and I want to hone them and fill in gaps. I also want to look at fundraising and learn about grant-making. Rightly or wrongly, funders have a key role in shaping the voluntary sector. I have an interest in how we can improve co-ordination of funding, work with funders to lobby government, but in particular how we can give a voice to small organisations.” 

Caroline Beaumont, the third fundraising fellow will feature in the January issue of Professional Fundraising as the Clore cohort begin their path to leadership.

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