Fundraising is already a sector where there are significant skills shortages. All of us who are involved in fundraiser recruitment, at all levels, can point to many areas where there simply aren't enough suitably skilled and experienced people to meet the demand. (That’s why we set up our specialist fundraising search practice at Aldrich & … Continue reading Changing Fundraising #4: The People We Will Need

No one needs to reminded about how tough the last couple of years have been for fundraising in the UK. The number, range and scale of attacks on the practice of fundraising in this country have been unprecedented. And while much of the criticism has been distorted and unfair, again few of us would deny … Continue reading Changing Fundraising #3: A new Fundraising Practice

From my earliest days in fundraising I have heard complaints from fundraisers that their organisations do not understand or value them. I dare say you could find that amongst any set of professionals in any industry at any time. But there is something very curious about the the way very many non-profits approach fundraising. On … Continue reading Changing Fundraising #2: Changing the Mindset

It feels like every day now that we hear a sector luminary announce that the existing model of fundraising is broken and that pretty much everything that has been done in the past needs to fundamentally change. These are, it is fair to say,  challenging times. Many people agree on the destination charities should be … Continue reading Changing Fundraising #1

I've written about Sankara Eye Care before. I think this Indian network of community eye hospitals is one of the most impressive non-profits I know. Sankara runs the world's largest programme of community outreach to find and treat people suffering from cataracts and unable to afford the surgery. Each year they identify and operate on 150,000 … Continue reading Donor Feedback -Indian style

It's been almost two years since I moved from working within charities to consulting with them. It's been fun, mostly. I've really enjoyed the variety of charities I've worked with and the range of challenges they've faced. A recurring theme in many of the projects I've worked on has been the importance of leadership. I've worked with charities … Continue reading Another new venture

In Part 1 of this blog post, I looked at the current state of new donor recruitment in the UK where many charities are finding it increasingly hard to find new supporters at an acceptable cost. The channels and methods that have worked in the past are increasingly congested, are limited by regulatory changes and are facing steadily … Continue reading Where do we get new donors from? Part 2