Late last Summer, Tarnside received a surprise phone call from Terry O'Sullivan, Course Chair of the Open University's new 'Winning Resources and Support' course. The course aims to enable students to work more effectively as fundraisers and consists of six books divided into self-contained study units. It has been set up in association with the Institute of Fundraising as a distance-learning route to the Certificate in Fundraising Management (CiFM).
Terry was developing course materials and had visited our website and read 'All Carrots and No Sticks' - a case study of fundraising on the recently completed Abbeyfield Integrated Care Project in Ilkley, Yorkshire. He decided it would provide valuable further reading for his students and asked permission to feature it in Book 1.
The case study, written by Hugh Walker, Visiting Fellow in Marketing at Bradford School of Management, gives an honest review of the ups and downs of a real life, successful £8.9 million capital fundraising project.
Reviewing the outcomes of our work is part and parcel of Tarnside's project cycle. As campaigns draw to a close, the discipline of drafting a case study provides a useful way of reviewing the project as a whole whilst drawing out key learning points for future reference. The next one, focusing on 'Strategic Planning' and based on work undertaken for Finchale Training College, will be published online later this year.
For further information on the 'Winning Resources and Support' course, visit www.open.ac.uk
(May 2004)