It is a charity’s leaders, both executive and voluntary, that decide and deliver the direction of work for the organisation. The trustee board is tasked with setting the strategy, and the executive team is tasked with delivering it. Strong, effective leadership is crucial to the success of any civil society organisation.
Social exclusion charity P3 has taken been named the best mid-sized company to work for in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies list; the first time a charity has taken out poll position.
Fundraisers must represent the ambitions of donors within their organisations. Your job is not just to bring in the money, says Giles Pegram, it is to effect the change your donors long for.
It is encouraging to see so many charities make it into the line up of best companies to work for, but for many fundraisers disillusionment can come as part of the job.
Sightsavers has today unveiled its new look international brand identity to tie in with its revised mission and vision.
The fact that 47 per cent of women at the top fundraising jobs of charities when women fill almost two-thirds of all charity jobs is shocking.
Civil society organisations should be a shining example for workplace equality. Where are all the women at the top of our profession, asks Rowena Lewis
Kidney Research UK is taking no prisoners. From the frontline to the chief executive, everyone has responsibility for fundraising. Peter Storey explains the charity’s brave reinvention
Friends of the Earth is operating without a permanent director or head of fundraising more than a year and a half after the departure of its previous director of fundraising, Ruth Ruderham.
Lots of things have changed for Fundraising magazine this year, but our longstanding commitment celebrating excellence in the sector is not one of them. The Fundraising magazine awards are back for 2010.
Moving British Waterways out of the public sector and into the voluntary sector would create the 13th-largest charity by income and the fifth-largest fundraising charity, according to a new report outlining the pros and cons of the idea.
GuideStar UK director Les Hems has left the organisation to take up a new role as director of research at the Centre for Social Impact in Sydney, Australia.
The recession is over in the US. Done. Dusted. Glad that’s over. Phew. Even beleaguered old Blighty could emerge from the confines of recession by the end of the year, according to some economic soothsayers. Hooray. Let the charity sector delight in the new world order!
WaterAid has unveiled an ambitious six year strategy, in which it says it plans to reach an annual turnover of £100m by 2015. The charity, which in 2007/08 had an annual income of £40m, will use the money to fulfil its pledges of providing a further 25 million poor people with safe water and hygiene and reaching a further 100 million by influencing the policies and practices of government and service providers.
There is nothing alarming in the latest giving statistics, now charities need to display calm and consistency to their faithful donors. By Cathy Pharoah writes as part of a series of four expert articles this month following the UK Giving report The results of the new annual UK Giving Survey should not come as any surprise. Its findings of a fall in the number and value of donations is consistent with other studies of giving in previous recessionary times in both the UK and the US, which have shown that giving tends to fall at least in line with the decline in incomes.
The latest giving statistics show great contradictions in patterns of donating, with big question marks over higher end philanthropy. Eleanor Shaw writes as part of a series of four expert articles this month following the UK Giving report While the findings of this year’s annual UK Giving Survey may be disappointing, they are neither surprising nor specific to the UK. What can be interpreted from the survey is that trends in UK giving are neither clear-cut nor predictable. Indeed the findings reveal some inconsistencies in patters of individual giving.
With increasing emphasis on charities earning income, it is important to remember the value of old fashioned charitable giving. Karl Wilding writes as part of a series of four expert articles this month following the UK Giving report Does charitable giving still matter to voluntary organisations? It might just be possible for casual observers of the sector to think not as much as it used to.
Senior management at pet charity the Blue Cross is being shaken up as it embarks on a wide-ranging structural review. A number of senior positions will no longer exist and new ones will be created as part of the full organisational review which has been launched following the appointment of Kim Hamilton as chief executive last year.
In times of recession, it is perhaps ambitious to launch a five year fundraising strategy aimed at tripling income for the second time in a decade, but the Prostate Cancer Charity is doing just that. “Just one redundancy for me would be too many,” says chief executive of the Prostate Cancer Charity John Neate. Powerful words that will no doubt be welcomed by the charity’s 65 employees, as well as trustees and beneficiaries. “The worse state to be in would be a state of anxiety. One redundancy would create a real sense that our jobs are at risk and I think it is crucially important that people feel secure here, and we keep morale strong.”
Barack Obama's presidential campaign used social media to its greatest effect and was a triumph in fundraising. Nick Burne looks at what we can learn from him Whatever you think of social media, it has changed the world - Barack Obama wouldn't be moving into the White House without it. If we as a sector are ever going to leverage the power of social media we have to learn from Obama himself.
One of the joys of working for a really tiny charity is that there is none of the tension between the fundraisers and the service delivery staff which seems to be endemic in some larger organisations. In Thai Children’s Trust there are just six of us in the office, so there is no space for territorial jealousy. All of us have to be prepared to turn our hand to almost everything. And of course all of us get to visit the children we help support, so there is an astonishing amount of job satisfaction.
So, you have decided to hold an agency pitch! Will it be love at first sight and the start of a productive long-term relationship? Or, could it be the pitch from hell? It's up to you says, Tim Dearing In an effort to raise pitching standards and help clients and agencies appreciate each others' thinking during the pitch process, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) recently commissioned client and agency relationship advisers ClientView to explore with clients, agencies and introduction consultants how pitching can work better for both parties. It is hoped the findings of the Pitch Survey will result in higher standards, more inspired client briefings, more effective agency work, less wasted time and lower costs all round.
As NCH re-launches as Action for Children - Liz Monks, Executive Director of fundraising discusses the reason for the switch and how the charity engaged with donors to support this work. For most fundraisers, the inevitable conversation of ‘who do you work for?’ is viewed as an opportunity to sell your charity, spread the word and hopefully, recruit new blood.
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has announced the creation of a 'task group' to improve co-ordination between Scotland's third sector, local authorities and government.
Funders should work together with monitoring and evaluation support agencies to develop a more strategic approach to building monitoring and evaluation capacity, according to a research briefing published today.
The chair of Remember a Charity has called for a "new era" of leadership in legacies in order to protect the income source from the economic downturn.
At Mencap our fundraising team are recognised for their hard work and dedication but one team is often overlooked. Those who don't work in fundraising can be excused for not mentioning the database and fulfilment teams, but there is no excuse for us fundraisers taking them for granted. Each type of fundraising requires specific skills and experience, but the database team need to have an understanding of how all fundraising teams use and interact with the database.
The Fundraising Standards Board has recently announced a new phase of development in its strategy to secure public trust and confidence in charity fundraising. With a range of objectives looking both inward and outward, many members are being asked to stump up more cash. Some of the top ten names from PF’s Most Influential People in Fundraising are happy to voice their unequivocal support, but are will we get value for money?
A colleague and I attended a digital marketing seminar this morning held by Cascaid in their new offices. We got there early to abuse the delicious free breakfast and took our places to be amazed. In fairness to Cascaid, they promised no answers, just a thought provoking session. And my thoughts were provoked. The speakers asked us to raise our hands if we had signed up tofacebook/twitter/del.icio.us etc.
The professional standards for fundraisers and the way they manage volunteers are being reviewed in order to make them more relevant to the needs of practising fundraisers.
The funding of disaster recovery is too inflexible and focuses on short-term objectives, which prevents smooth and rapid reconstruction and recovery.
