Sample and Template Policies for Third Sector Organisations
Needing to create or improve your organisation’s policies and governance for your fundraising toolkit? Have a look at these free resources, samples and templates on the internet.
Research – how to find the gold
For some people it is a most enjoyable exercise whilst for others it can be torturous. Either way, it is integral to a successful trust fundraising programme.
Quick turn-around, make-or-break trust fundraising
We’ve all had an urgent request for quick turnaround funding from trusts to keep our organisations solvent or our projects running. It can put dread in the hearts of even experienced and successful trust fundraisers – especially when, except in rare circumstances, it can be avoided.
A Recipe for the ‘Perfect’ Grant Application
The thing is, the ‘perfect’ grant application isn’t an easy recipe. At any point a myriad of elements – guidelines, project design, deadlines and budgets – can alter your plans the same way a missing ingredient can affect your baking.
How do you define a major gift?
Here at Money Tree Fundraising, one of the most common questions that we get asked is ‘How do you define a major gift?’, with our clients expecting us to state a fixed sum for them. Others come to us with their own pre-determined definitions and there is huge disparity between their answers.
Trust Fundraising Myths Debunked
We speak to charities every day about fundraising from trusts & foundations. There are some key themes that emerge time and again – misunderstandings about grant-makers, their purpose, their requirements – and we want to set the record straight by airing these trust fundraising myths and explaining the truth instead.
Engaging major donors well
Major donor fundraising is not as tricky as you might think and it is the one way of fundraising that works regardless of your organisation’s size or cause area and it can be set up on a shoestring budget – as long as it done well. There is no charity that can afford to not consider this area of fundraising.
Are you taking advantage of High Value Fundraising?
Our CEO Beth Upton has worked in fundraising since 2002 and is regularly frustrated by the income opportunities not being taken advantage of by charities, large and small.
Trust Fundraising: A £4 Billion Opportunity
In the UK, close to 10,000 charitable trusts grant over £4 billion per year to good causes. Many organisations have found that this can be a reliable and steady stream of income.
Hiring the right fundraiser for the job
The single biggest mistake I see from those recruiting for high value roles is the mistake of choosing the best person of those who came for interview rather than holding out for the person with the right skills, attributes and experience.
12 tips on making cultivation events work
Events will never be the be-all-and-end-all of major donor fundraising. Whilst they can be delightful, fun and a real talking point at home, they are more often than not an expensive distraction.
3 essentials your major donors want from you
In a recent piece of client work we conducted a survey of the charity’s top donors, in order to better understand what they thought about the work of the charity and what interaction they were looking for. When summarising the donor feedback to pass on to the charity, it struck me that there were three identifiable themes.
What’s wrong with the 7 steps of major donor fundraising?
Many of us will have seen the 7 steps of major donor fundraising outlined at conferences and books. It promotes a chronology of working with major donors from start to finish, beginning with identifying donors and culminates with thanking and stewardship.
6 essentials for a major donor programme
We are often asked what needs to be in place for successful major donor fundraising, to which the answer varies depending on the charity. However, there are 6 generally accepted fundamental factors (I don’t claim to have invented these!), which should act as the core of your major donor programme
Major donor fundraising – what are you waiting for?!!
Most charities seem fascinated by the concept of major donor fundraising, yet very few explore it thoroughly or have everything in place to run a major donor programme effectively. This is totally understandable as most charities are small, don’t have the resources and don’t know where to look for potential wealthy benefactors.
How big is big?
A question I am asked a lot is “how do you define a major gift”? And I always draw this (not always this neatly):
Delighting your Donor
It is entirely possible to start a brilliant major donor programme as a tiny charity without any dedicated staff handling those relationships.
Is a Development Board a help or a hindrance?
I often come across the automatic assumption that a Development Board is the answer to great major gift fundraising. An awesome Board can propel an appeal forward and reach opportunities simply out of reach otherwise. A poorly constituted Board (be that the people, the terms of reference, the assumptions, the staff or anything else) will be more of a hindrance than a help. Any Board is hard to manage and they are always tricky to inherit!