Autumn '09 Newsletter Update
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HOW TO SUCCEED IN CHALLENGING TIMES?
A question many will be asking in the ongoing unprecedented economic conditions...
Tarnside Consulting's recent experience indicates that the answer lies in being 'agile'.
SETTING THE SCENE
It is generally accepted that a 'recession' will mean that people and organisations will have less money to give, and when they do give, they will be more careful about how they give it. The reality of the current recession has been researched with some very sobering findings: click here for more details
CASE STUDY... AGILITY EQUALS SUCCESS
Tarnside has been working with the Lake District Calvert Trust (LDCT), a wonderful charity that helps disabled people participate in adventurous outdoor activities, to develop a £3.4 million capital project and set up and run the fundraising appeal to support it. The initial fundraising strategy was to focus efforts on charitable trusts through which LDCT has historically had success in raising funds.
Some 6 months into the active appeal, the current recession 'hit'. By this time a team of appeal champions had already been 'recruited' and through them the appeal was already having detailed discussion with, or application to, a number of key trusts. Some of these trusts had even indicated that they would be able to provide the sizeable 'springboard' funds that are essential for a successful appeal.
However, with the onset of the recession, we very quickly saw a significant (up to 70%) reduction in the size of anticipated donations. Even previously pledged amounts of money were significantly reduced. The impact that this had on the fundraising appeal was immediately acknowledged; as were the implications it would have on timescales for the project implementation and delivery. Something needed to change - and to change quickly...
The first step Tarnside took was a rapid reappraisal of the potential sources and levels of funds available to Calvert Trust. The statutory sector had never previously been explored - so Tarnside undertook in depth research and identified some very promising opportunities.
The next step was to use Tarnside's proven networking process to help LDCT identify and build personal networks through which they might approach these sources. This is a painstaking process that requires diplomacy, tenacity and unerring enthusiasm in order to bear fruit - but when it does, the 'fruit' is far more rewarding than that usually achieved through more direct methods.
Initial approaches were met with enthusiasm and encouragement and, once activated, gave rise to the beginnings of meaningful discussions.
These discussions initially led to the rapid and in-depth development of the project's outputs to produce performance indicators that would suit this new audience. [While charitable trusts like to see that a project is helping them meet their objectives for beneficiaries, the regional and local statutory sectors are very focused on how a project will also bring economic benefits to the area.] Tarnside supported a re-evaluation of the project, which led to changes in scope and emphasis/focus that, with a minimal increase in cost, would enable:
- Improvements in the economic outputs that would be secured both in terms of local employment and income;
- Increases in the number of direct and indirect beneficiaries (by increasing capacity at LDCT's centre in Keswick and providing training and support to the other 1,000 outdoor activity centres across the UK); and
- Enhancements to the benefits that visitors would achieve.
The additional benefit of all this hard work has been the realisation that, through the successful implementation of the re-scoped project, the long-term sustainability of the LDCT will be secured.
Some 9 months later, Tarnside and LDCT are in advanced talks with the Northwest Regional Development Agency, Cumbria Vision and the region's nuclear industry, as well as areas of Sport England and Big Lottery funding, about some potentially very large funding streams.
Both Tarnside and LDCT are proud to have achieved so much both simultaneously and in such a short time period. It is now felt that, despite the ongoing challenging economic conditions, the appeal is set up for success and the project will be able to take place in a more timely fashion than, with less agility, would have been the case.
BACK TO BASICS
This experience should remind us all that, whilst when times were good it was perhaps possible to take short cuts, save money and still be reasonably confident in securing the funds needed, now is the time to get back to basics. At Tarnside we have done just that to ensure that we miss nothing and harness every opportunity.
You might like to do the same. We have tried to help by summarising on the next page the areas that you might want to consider. These include some of the fundamental Principles of Fundraising that shouldn't be forgotten. We hope they will help you remain agile through these challenging times.
Next Page - The Principles of Fundraising >
Research Findings
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), the Charity Finance Directors' Group (CFDG) and the Institute of Fundraising (IoF) first showed in November 2008 (1) that there was an expectation that income from Corporates and Trusts would decrease by 71% and from Legacies by 41%. Their follow up research in May 2009 (2) showed that more charities are now feeling the effects of the recession, and that 56% of charities expect a downturn in their income going forward. The anticipated lag between the recession and the effect on charities was confirmed and it was expected that charities would continue to face challenges well into 2010 and beyond.
Further, in January 2009 a Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) survey (3) showed that 41% of charities were already operating on less income than they had budgeted for, and over 60% had used their reserves to meet their shortfall.
(1) www.pwc.co.uk/eng/publications/charity_news_november_2008.html
(2) www.pwc.co.uk/eng/publications/charity_news_may_2009.html & www.institue-of-fundraising.org.uk
