Top 5 reflections – a year at Money Tree Fundraising
Hannah Shepherd marks her first year at Money Tree Fundraising with five honest reflections on what makes major donor fundraising succeed — from organisational culture to the fundamentals that never change.
You Know Your Stuff. So Why Does Trust Fundraising Still Feel Lonely Sometimes?
Trust fundraising is one of the most skilled, complex roles in the sector. It's also one of the loneliest. Stacey explores why that isolation happens — and what we can practically do about it.
Your Trust Pipeline Is Trying to Tell You Something — Are You Listening?
Your trust pipeline is more than a tracker of money in and money out. Beth Upton explains how to read it as a map of your funder relationships — and what to do when it reveals that something needs to change.
Good news on Trust funding — but is it the whole story?
Positive headlines about trust funding growth are welcome — but they can mask very different realities for individual fundraisers. Stacey Teece looks at what the data actually means for your cause area, and why digging deeper into the numbers matters.
How to Improve Your Trust Success Rates
If your trust applications are not converting, adding more to the pile is not the answer. Stacey Teece sets out why a more strategic and relationship-led approach makes more difference than volume ever will — and what that looks like in practice.
From Daffodils to Donors: A Spring Reflection on Major Giving
What do daffodils have to do with major donor fundraising? More than you might think. Hannah Shepherd uses the rhythms of the garden to explore what a strong, intentional major donor programme looks like at every stage — from soil preparation to the long bloom.
When Compliance Feels Like Good Fundraising
Organisations with strong ethical foundations in their fundraising find that compliance feels less like a checklist and more like a confirmation. Stacey Teece reflects on delivering training about the 2025 Code — and what it reveals about the charities that are already doing this well.
What the 2025 Code of Fundraising Practice Means for UK Fundraisers
Discover what the 2025 Code of Fundraising Practice means for your charity, with clear guidance, practical actions, and key changes fundraisers need to know.
Trust Fundraising: How to Find & Approach the Right Funders
Learn how to find the right funders, assess their fit, and develop a strategic approach to trust fundraising
Project Design for Fundraisers
As trust fundraisers, we rarely have control over the design or delivery of the projects/services for which we are raising necessary income. Nevertheless, we still need to gather as much information as we can to complete our proposals and applications so they make sense and are an inviting opportunity for funders in which to invest.
Does your Case for Support pass the Why? test?
It used to be the natural thing for us to question everything – we asked why? all the time. Over time we’ve stopped doing that so much – we know more, we don’t ask as much. Asking “yeah, but why?” about your fundraising proposition is a good test of whether you’ve arrived at the nub of the issue yet… and if you can’t answer the whys that you come up with you won’t be answering the whys of your audience.