Back to skule

Bad blogger! - no posts since last year and it's 1st April already. However, this blog post is not an April fool - I really am studying again.

Having done a Diploma in Direct Marketing, and a Diploma in Fundraising, I am now launching yet another learning experience - this time in AI.

Why, at my 'time of life'? Ignoring all the 'Plan your perfect retirement' messages and connections on LinkedIn, I'm not ready to hang up my fundraising boots just yet. Why AI? Because it needs understanding and - in the third sector - we need to harness it for good.

There are many ethical considerations, not least of which is the amount of energy/water the systems that power AI use. As someone with a strong conservation background, this does concern me - but even more so it makes me want to use AI to produce good outcomes, not just a funny meme of me in cartoon format.

The course I am on is an Apprenticeship in Business Analysis, using AI. With Corndel and the Imperial College, I am going to (hopefully) get another diploma level qualification. But the qualification isn't the end goal - it's what I can do with it to make work easier (ergo better spend donor's money, ergo better serve our charitable aims). And that's what motivates me - why I want to keep working, and keep learning - even though my course takes me beyond my 'state retirement date' (assuming that the government doesn't change it again).

This course will take around 17 months, but at the end of it - whether I get a qualification or not, I will hopefully have another set of skills that I can use not just at work, but in other areas of my life too. 

The picture may be AI, but the writing is 100% me. 

Liked this? Try... 

• The somewhat odd life of a musician and fundraiser: A sense of justice

Useful resources:

• Building trust in data and AI
• Corndel and Imperial College

Excuse me, are you dead?

A few years ago, I applied for credit and was refused. I contacted  my bank, Santander who told me I was dead. Ahem... I hadn't noticed! Very remiss of me? No, they checked I really was alive, apologised and made amends (£200), but for two weeks I was dead according to the financial world. Not dead for 'tax purposes' as the dodgy Arthur Daly once recommended.

Check out the old 1932 cartoons! 

As someone who sends out those letters and emails asking for money for a good cause (not worked for a bad one yet), I am very sensitive to the hurt that can be caused to loved ones by sending letters out to people who are deceased. We take every precaution! If we are notified by a relative, or by returned post, we update the record and they are not mailed again. We even use external agencies to check for notification of death using precise matching of name and address. We really don't want to send a letter to a dead person, firstly so as not to upset the remaining family, and secondly because it is a waste of charity resources.

We recently sent out a mailing and did a 'screen' to remove those who are no longer living. The printer sent us back the records to remove as a result of the screening. Interestingly enough, five of them still had live direct debits with us. And then, one updated their address. Hmm... methinks that's pretty hard to do if you are dead!

I asked the question on a fundraising chat board and, anonymity promised, I discovered that we were not the only ones being told that our living donors were dead:

"I once had to remove the phone from one of my team who was busily letting a donor know they were dead and therefore she couldn't help them"

"We've just had a supporter restart a Direct Debit who was marked deceased by BACS last year"

"Have had a “deceased” donor on the phone asking why they didn’t get a thank you letter for a donation"

Now the first comment might make you smile, but at the heart of this is the people who have lost someone, who we don't want to mail or contact because of sensitivity to the family. Sometimes a direct debit may continue even with a deceased notification because it's a joint account, and the remaining individual wants to continue supporting the charity. But it goes to show, you can be as careful as you like, but it can be a very hard one to negotiate and make totally pain free. 

In closing, I would just like to apologise to every family who has received mail to a dearly departed, charities really do try their best!

Useful links (possibly!)

• The Bereavement Register (public can ask to stop mailings to deceased)
• Mortascreen (a business service that checks death records and other sources for deceased notifications)
• Experian Mortality (description from Data8)
• Death Notification Service (does what it says)
• General Register Office (UK Govt. 'hatch, match and dispatch')
• Arthur Daly - Minder (British TV comedy)

Liked this? Try...

• Trust in charities
• Fundraising strategies
• Mentoring

Picture source: not sure, but it's from an old Silly Symphonies animation.

62 - not out

My father loved cricket, he played for Sudbury (who knows why as we lived in Barnet) and listened to matches avidly (and probably watched them when we did get a television). I remember names like Fred Trueman and Basil D'oliviera and seeing my father in his whites. I also enjoyed the 'Botham years'. Now this was a long time ago, and though I've only been to one cricket match since my father played, it's a game that sits comfortably in my memories. 

So this January, having finished my role at MDUK in December, I had time to 'rest'. But, in fact, ended up doing plenty including having my kidney stone blasted and the evil stent finally removed. A good time to have my surgery and take a bit of a rest as my new job started on 1st February. 

 New job - new things to learn. I have joined a charity in another area that is new to me - and once again I am moved and inspired by the work they do. It's another maternity cover role which I hugely enjoy, I can lend my experience and knowledge and support the charity whilst their Head of Fundraising is on leave. I'm also really glad that we will work together for a couple of months before she goes on leave so that we can develop the plans for the year ahead together.

But here's why I talked about cricket in this post. The charity is the Ruth Strauss Foundation - and though I didn't know much about the charity beforehand, I had actually heard of Sir Andrew Strauss, the England cricketer. His wife Ruth passed from a non-smoking related lung cancer, leaving two young children. But before she died, she and Andrew planned and launched the charity, the Foundation, to provide support for families where a parent has a terminal diagnosis, and to fund more research into a cancer that is increasing in prevalence.

 I've been reading the research and 'mission' information about the charity and didn't realise that so many children lose a parent each year, nor that non-smoking related lung cancer is the eighth most common cause of cancer-related death. Although smoking is still a huge cause of lung cancer, I wonder about vaping (we have no idea what impact that will have as it's such a 'new' habit) and, of course, our deterioration in air quality as we continue to pollute the planet.

So this charity speaks to me as a parent, a grandparent, someone who has had cancer and as a conservationist. 

I will blog more as I learn more (it's only day three!), but in the meantime, on my very first day I was cheeky enough to ask for a selfie from the man himself, who just happened to pop into the ECB and made a special visit to see the team who were there that day.

Useful links

• Support for families facing bereavement (Ruth Strauss Foundation)
• Losing a parent (Cruse)
• Non-smoking lung cancers (Ruth Strauss Foundation)
• Non-smoking lung cancers (CDC USA)

Liked this? Try...

• Still learning
• Don't defer diagnosis

Fundraising strategies

I have been working in fundraising a long time, and I know how to develop strategies, and how to deliver them. But when I talk to others, I often focus too much on the delivery and not enough on the development. So I decided to articulate my thoughts in a blog post. As Simon Sinek says, 'Start with the Why'

Firstly, why am I doing this post? Because I know that sharing my strategic knowledge and expertise helps others in the sector, and - in the long run - it will help me. Articulating what I do instinctively is not always easy in an interview situation, for example. 

Simplified example 'synergy' model (C) CT-S

One of the things I have noticed with strategy development in some charities is that there can be a 'missing link' between operational delivery and fundraising strategy. By that, I mean that the financial need hasn't been linked closely to the beneficial outcome. That sounds crazy, but sometimes a fundraising target is set as a percentage increase, rather than articulated as "£x would enable us to deliver...". 

There is nothing more motivational to fundraisers, and indeed donors, than the impact of the charity's work. 

I start with the ‘Why’. This enables me to identify the case for support before I even begin looking at the strategy. Once you have the Why clearly articulated, strategy development can begin. 

My first action is then an audit: what has already been done, how has it performed, what is happening in the sector? This gives context to the plans that will evolve from creating clear objectives (the What, defined by the Why) and provide insight into which tactics ('How') you will consider putting into the plan to deliver your objectives.

Objectives can be SMART (and they can be stretch goals - 'wouldn't it be amazing if...'), but they also need to be agile . In these challenging times when we just don't know what will happen (pandemics, war, economic crises), having objectives that can be flexed is an advantage. Mixing your strategic approaches (see illustration) is also a wise move in uncertain times. 

Strategic approaches, from a presentation by
Cameron Cummings of JAA Media

Before you get to your 'How' (tactics you will use to deliver your objectives), getting internal buy-in and the collaboration - or even just understanding - of peers within the charity is also vital in ensuring success. This is the internal 'Who', though you will also use Who to look at audiences.

If your senior management team understands your strategy and how it will impact their teams (whether fundraising or not), then you are more likely to achieve the outcomes you intend. It will also help as you plan the resources you need to deliver, as it is likely that you will need support from others that you do not directly line manage. 

Make sure your tactics have a budget and a schedule ('When'). And 'When' can mean  a longer-term ROI or lifetime value, as well as a short-term income target. 

I developed the fundraising strategy template I use from the Chartered Institute of Fundraising's Diploma training, but I have adapted it considerably according to cause and income stream. There's some resources below, but do talk to your peers in other charities too.

Resources

• Chartered Institute of Fundraising - Strategy for small charities
• Developing a Fundraising Strategy - CAF
• Developing your fundraising strategy - DSC
• How to develop a killer fundraising strategy - Goodbox
• Wouldn't it be amazing if... check out Rob Woods, Brightspot Fundraising
• RAW London - planning and strategy in charity campaigns (includes presentation by Cameron, from JAA)
• JAA Media
• Hospice strategy resources from Brightspot Fundraising 

Liked this? Try...

• Trust in charities
• Mentoring
• Tales from a fundraiser

Trust in charities

In today's climate, the need for charities and their support is greater than ever. Food banks, money advice, even dog rescue, are busier than ever. But how do you know which charity to trust? There's often media stories that will overblow an issue, and there are also issues that go unnoticed. Here's my personal take on why we can trust charities, and how to make sure your gift counts. 

Scams

Many people want to bypass the charity and donate direct to beneficiaries, but this can be challenging and also an opportunity for fraud. Some of the typical scams you will find are social media posts that feature a person (usually a child) or animal in need of a wish come true holiday/urgent treatment etc, with an appealing picture and a link to a crowdfunding site. Even for a genuine appeal, some scammers will clone the story/site and set something up that is so similar you wouldn't realise you weren't supporting the cause you thought you were.

Another scam is around door to door collection bags (see the Sunday Post example). Many charities use collection bags to get stock for their shops or to sell on and make an income this way, but some bags may look like they come from a charity (and even add that they support a charity), but may in fact be a commercial company or even a scam.  

Donating safely

Here's a couple of things you can do to check before donating to a charity or supporting a cause you've seen advertised in another way:

Collection bags and charity shops

• Make sure there is a registered charity no. on the collection bag 

• 

  Photo from Sunday Post

  Make sure it matches the number on the charity's website
• Check on the charity's website that they do door to door collections
• If there's something that looks dodgy, then phone the charity
• If you can, take your donated goods directly in to a local charity shop - as well as ensuring your goods reach the right destination, if you pay tax the charity could claim Gift Aid on the goods you donate, making your donation go further.

Donating to a charity

If you know the charity personally, like a hospice or another local service, then this is great. It's easy to find out more because you will know someone who knows them well. But if you are not 'in the know', then you may want to find out more:

• Look on the Charity Commission website, using their search function. You should be able to find the charity easily enough. You can filter your searches by area or, if you know it, by using the charity's registered charity number (which must be displayed on their website)
• Type in your charity name or cause area (eg 'Pig Rescue' or 'Animal Rescue, Norfolk' for example) and a list of relevant charities will appear. With the first list that appears you can immediately see if a charity is late submitting its accounts which could mean you should look into them a little further
• You can look at the charity's accounts which will tell you a lot more - don't worry if you can't 'read accounts', they usually have good explanations of their expenditure and impact
• Search the web for any stories about the charity to make sure there are no current negative reports that should concern you. 

Telephone calling

If you receive a phone call from a charity asking for a donation, it must be a charity you already support - cold calling is not allowed in the UK. And if you don't want to be phoned, they have to respect your choice - just make sure they know your preferences (see below for some resources on how to stop mailings and calls). 

Street and door to door fundraising

(C) Dogs Trust

This is a legitimate and highly successful form of fundraising, because it allows in depth conversation about the charity. But there are some scammers out there - so firstly check their ID badge. Does it look right? Does it have the current charity logo? Does it have the name and photo of the person holding it? Never invite a fundraiser into your home. If you need to go and get a bank card, etc, then close the door, they won't think you are being rude. You can also give the charity a quick phone too (using a searched number, not one they give you). Many charities (see the Dogs Trust example) will also have pages on their website showing you photos of the canvassers, and will always verify if they are in your area or not.

Most door to door and street fundraisers WILL NOT ask for cash (and may lose their jobs if they take it), so if they do, close the door/move on. You can always phone the charity to check, and make a donation then if you feel moved to do so; but let them know you met one of their fundraisers.

Donating directly

If you want to give a homeless person cash in the street, then that is your choice. If you want that homeless person to eat, then buy them a sandwich. If you want a homeless person to have the option of going into a night shelter, then donate to the night shelter. 

If you see a social media post that really touches your heart - be very diligent in checking it out; don't just click and donate. If the post directs you to a JustGiving or Crowdfunder type page, firstly enter those sites separately and search for the cause independently. Secondly, search the cause catch phrase (eg 'Little Jonah needs a new heart') in your favourite search engine, with the word 'scam'. 

Donating directly may feel like it's bypassing the 'overheads' of a charity, but charities are set up for good reason - because they are often the best way of delivering the service or benefit that you want to give to the cause you care about. I used the homeless example above - it's easy to donate directly to an individual in front of you, but how would you pay the staff in the homeless shelter who feed the guests? How would you go about funding something complex like medical research that needs scientific peer reviews?  Charities are there to tackle some of the most challenging problems in our society and on the planet - they have huge responsibility and a huge impact. 

If you are in doubt about any solicitation from a charity, then don't hesitate to look them up and phone them - they won't mind. Double check their website (and find it by a search, not using any links in an email) and give them a call.

You can trust charities

This might seem like a scaremongering post, but it isn't. I want to increase trust in charities and make sure that your good will gets to do the absolute best it can for a cause you care about. Fundraising is regulated - but like any sector, it can be abused. Take care, and please keep giving.

Useful resources

• Pakistan disaster - fake charity warning (updated 2 Sept 2022)
• The Charity Commission Register
• The Fundraising Regulator 
• More scams - Action Fraud advice
• Charities can get scammed too
• Friends against scams
• Civil Society - includes reports on charities being investigated 

Your preferences

As well as contacting the charity directly, you can contact the following services to change how you are contacted by charities and commercial organisations too:

• The Fundraising Preference Service
• The Mail Preference Service
• The Telephone Preference Service

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• Mentoring
• Think before you...
• Tales from a fundraiser
• Field day

I didn't like this...

• Chancellor's charity pays its only employee 70% of it's income

Mentoring

I'm an 'old hand' in the fundraising world, I started in the not for profit sector back in the 90s! I've worked in higher education, conservation, medical research and emergency medicine charities, and all have been unique and invaluable experiences. I've focused on individual giving, but also done major donor fundraising, legacy marketing, trusts and foundation fundraising, and a little bit of community and corporate fundraising. I was writing in the fundraising media about GDPR in 2014 (trying to raise awareness of what was coming), and been a compliance champion both for data protection and gambling regulations (for charities). In other words, I've had a very well-rounded fundraising career to date. 

I don't just do fundraising

I'm not bragging, I'm setting out the scenario for why I have been mentoring other fundraisers for some time. My most recent mentee was in major giving; I was asked if I would support them by their director. I have to say it was a hugely rewarding process because discussing plans, ideas, and results with a different charity (and a different role to my current one) not only helped the mentee but also helped me think more about my own role and charity. The mentee did extremely well and I saw their confidence grow rapidly.  Our mentoring partnership has now finished and they have moved on to another charity. I know the mentee is happy, but not sure about their director - I don't think developing them out of the organisation was the plan.

But that, again, is what I love about the charity sector. We see the benefit in developing individuals who continue to contribute to the sector - who grow, and in turn grow the charities they work for, which - in the end - benefits everyone.

If you are considering mentoring, don't worry about whether you are expert enough - the conversations will soon show you how you can add value. And most of all, mentoring is as rewarding for the mentor as it is for the mentee. 

There are plenty of resources out there advising how to select a mentor, the dos and don'ts of mentoring, and how to record and track progress (eg goal setting, stretch goals, habit forming goals etc). It doesn't have to take a lot of time - an hour a month perhaps.

Please consider mentoring, and not just in your discipline - you will be amazed how you can support others and watch them grow, and enjoy your own development too. If you think you'd like to be a mentor, or have a mentor, then talk to your network, talk to your HR manager, but never be afraid to ask.

Useful links:

• Chartered Institute of Fundraising Mentoring Programme
• Mentorloop software (a good blog on mentoring)
• CIPD mentoring factsheets

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• Tales from a fundraiser
• What a difference a word makes

Tales from a fundraiser

When working for a dementia charity, I oversaw training our agencies, including telephone fundraisers. This was way before the pandemic, and even before GDPR, so we could meet in person and could ‘cold’ call using data that had been sourced with the right permissions. 

Photo from EngageEmployee.com

Before the callers arrived, I plugged in my presentation and set up the room. It was boardroom style. I took every chair in the room and turned it round – so the back of the chair was to the table. The callers came in and all looked confused, should they turn the chair round? Should they sit in it as it was?

 

They milled around for a bit, and I said ‘Good morning. How do you feel?’ And they all replied “Confused” (by the chair positions) and asked me what they should do. ‘Sit down please’. Some sat with the chairs facing outwards, some sat and moved the chairs towards the desk, or towards me. This confusion was exactly what I wanted to achieve. ‘Great,’ I said. ‘Now you get just the tiniest insight into how someone with dementia feels every day.’ I then went into my formal training presentation, starting with ‘how many of you know someone or have a family member with dementia?’ – sadly nearly all the hands went up. 

The chair rearrangement was a small ‘trick’, but it prefixed a highly successful calling campaign (one of the callers themselves became a donor). If you can get your fundraisers – whether they are agency or staff – to think from your beneficiaries’ perspective for even a short while, then you stand a much better chance of them being more invested in a positive outcome from their efforts. Which, in the end, is better for everyone - from the recipient of the call to the charity beneficiary. 

Useful links 

• Alzheimer’s Society 
• Alzheimer’s Research UK 
• Dementia UK 
• Telephone Fundraising Code of Practice (current)

Liked this? Try...

• From heartening to heartbreak
• Boots

Always learning

Research - vital in finding treatments
for muscle wasting conditions (C) MDUK

'Always learning' is what I replied to a LinkedIn post asking 'what two words sum it up for fundraisers?"  Because no matter what job I have had, I have always learned something new, and I've learned a lot more from recent interviews too. Each job I applied for I researched the charity, and for those that I interviewed for, I was privileged to talk to some of the team members and learn even more.

Last week I started a new role (a maternity cover) at Muscular Dystrophy UK (MDUK). And the learning for me is in full swing. I had no idea that ther are over 60 different muscle wasting conditions, and that muscular dystrophy is more of a collective term. The most common, or perhaps just the one I'd heard of, is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and it is common in male children in the UK. It's scary to think that your newborn could end up with a condition that means reaching 30 years old would be an achievement.

The charity are small compared to some I've worked for, but the cause is big. 70,000 or so individuals with muscle wasting conditions in the UK, and their families - parents, grandparents, carers, siblings... they are all affected by MD.

I'm only her for 10 months, but while I am I am going to do everything I can to make the team I work for a success, and help raise income for the work of MDUK which includes research, support and information, advocacy and campaigning. 

It's early days in the role, but I am always learning, and (I can't help it), always fundraising. I will be posting more as I learn more. 

Liked this? Try....

• Charity Begins ... from November 2011
• Proud to be a fundraiser - from October 2016
• Fundraisers are human too - from July 2019
• Expect to pay for the packaging - January 2013

Useful links:

• MDUK - A-Z of conditions
• Changing Places map (toilets for people with special access needs)
• Play the MDUK Christmas Raffle (go on - you may win a prize and you will be helping people with muscle wasting conditions)
• Win a Mini raffle - very cool prize!

Fundraisers are human too

The cause is what counts

A while back a major giving fundraiser told me that one of his contacts had passed away. There was real grief in his voice and he said ‘I think I spent more time with him than some of my best friends’ – said in humour but a touch of truth there.  Building relationships is not just about ‘eyes on the prize’ for fundraisers, it’s about making a human connection.

The bereaved partner knew that it was more than just ‘money hunting’ and kindly phoned him directly when her husband died, and invited him to the funeral.

Remember, fundraisers are human too. We really do care about the people we meet and work with who support our work, not just the beneficiaries.

Liked this?  Try

Account overdue

Expect to pay for the packaging

Photo (C) Carolyn Sheppard

Account overvdue

Goodness, its mid-February already and I haven’t blogged yet.  I’ve been busy, and lots has happened, so perhaps a short blog on fundraising is due - overdue!  So here's my account of yesterday's conference.

I attended ‘Fundraising Live’ – an opportunity for fundraising professionals to get together and share best practice, network and see what’s innovating in the sector.  It’s not just ‘another conference’ – I find real value in attending events like this where the content is from peers, not just suppliers and ‘look at mes’.

Two presentations really stood out to me yesterday – the first was from Plan International who realised that the expense and emotional commitment of sponsoring a child meant that it was costing more and more to recruit individuals for sponsorships.  They did some really in depth research that helped them identify a lower cost proposition that would increase sign up and, of course, mean more money for their cause – children in poverty.

Some might argue that spending money on research is taking donors’ money and not spending it on the children, but in fact what they have learned means that more money will reach the children in the longer term. As a sector we can’t spend 100% of donors’ money on beneficiaries – if we do we won’t improve, increase our effectiveness and help those who need it most. The money would quickly run out.

The second interesting presentation was from Greenpeace. They have used Virtual Reality to give people a sense of what it’s really like in environments like the Arctic and the rainforest. Amazing! With causes that deal with issues that are so far removed from our daily lives, something like this is a tremendous way to help bring people nearer to the cause and really understand why their help is needed. And it resulted in more sign ups to support too.

Sometimes people complain that fundraising is turning into just another profession – that it’s full of people who are in it for the career, and the money (really?), and complain that highly skilled, specialists get paid for what they do.  All I can say is that without us, picking up what the government has dropped (so many people I spoke to worked in social care, have lost funding, and are desperately trying to serve people in dire need), and taking notice and making a difference where it’s truly needed, then we would all notice very quickly indeed.

Running a charity, working for a charity, is a demanding and thoroughly difficult job, and it’s getting harder. Yet we all want to do it – because it is so rewarding. 

The final comment that struck home was about taking care of fundraisers. We have a high turnover and we have a high ‘burnout’.   This isn’t an easy profession, but together we change the world and make it a better place.  A day at a conference is not a waste of donor’s money – it’s helping to achieve that change that we all want to be.  I love my job, and I'm not ashamed of being paid to do it.

Links:  

Plan International

Greenpeace

Institute of Fundraising

Civil Society

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From heartening to heartbreak

Proud to be a fundraiser

Expect to pay for the packaging

Missing People

           

Proud to be a fundraiser

Virtually everyone accesses charitable services at some time in their lives, whether it’s receiving advice on debt, mental health support, playground equipment for children, protecting vulnerable individuals or supporting people with life threatening diseases.  Seriously – take a close look at your life and you will find multiple interactions with organizations that you may not even realise were charities.  In these times of austerity, the government are relying more and more on charities to deliver key services, whilst at the same time cutting the funding available. 

I studied for the IoF Diploma in Fundraising in 2015

Charities need a way to achieve their charitable objects; whilst the use of volunteers is invaluable, you cannot run the sector on volunteers alone.  Finance, for example, is not a job for the enthusiastic amateur, especially where a charity’s turnover may run into millions. There are roles within charities that can be very well performed by volunteers, and there are roles that need professionals with specialist skills and expertise.  Charities need to be managed effectively and efficiently, and they need the right staff and tools to achieve this. They all face their different challenges – for a charity that delivers mosquito nets to Africa, for example, your donation must not only cover the cost of a net, but the procurement, storage and transport of the net, secure money handling (and measures against corruption along the way), and the staff needed to complete all the processes needed to ensure safe delivery to the beneficiary.  For a charity that helps homeless people, they need premises, utilities, food, health and safety for the volunteers and staff, and sometimes even protection from those they seek to help. To support medical research, you need a charity that understands the science and can allocate your donation to the most promising research; it would be exceedingly hard to give directly to medical research without expert knowledge.

Charities come under fire for professionalization of the sector, but without professionals, your donation could be less effective.  

In order for any charity to have the funds it needs to deliver its charitable objects, most charities must ask for the money it needs – whether that is from governments, trusts and foundations, wealthy individuals or the general public.  

I am aware that there are scammers and poor practice in all sectors, but it is by no means as prevalent in the third sector as the media implies.  ‘Charity does good job, helps people’ rarely makes an interesting headline.  You can research any charity on the Charity Commission website and you can also get an idea of what their overheads are from Charity Choice.  But you can’t just estimate the effectiveness of a charity’s work through how much goes ‘directly’ on the cause, look at what the charity deliver (a service charity will have a much larger staff salary, for example). Also, look at who is funding them; big funders have strict criteria before giving their money away.  

I am a fundraiser, and I’m proud to be a fundraiser.  I will defend my sector, and defend the professionals who work for a greater good.  These are my personal opinions, based on the bias I have developed through working for amazing causes, with fantastic people, doing terrific jobs. 

Further reading/references:

•  Olive Cooke – a fundraising blog
• The Charity Commission
• Do it for good
•  NCVO – volunteering
•  Fundraising Regulator

Liked this? Try these from this blog too…

•  Missing people
•  From heartening to heartbreak
• Expect to pay for the packaging

Here’s a small selection of charities you may not have heard of:

•  Bloodwise (blood cancer)
• People’s Trust for Nature Conservation
• Aurora Health Foundation (abuse)
• CBM (international disability)
• SexYouaility (for young LGBT)
• Cat survival trust (big cats)

An overheard conversation

Dicentra

A few years back I overheard a European royal talking to an English duke’s daughter. The latter was a keen advocate of prison reform, whilst the former supported conservation.  The nub of the conversation was “It doesn’t matter how many prisoners are rehabilitated, if we have an uninhabitable planet, it won’t matter anyway.”

Since then, I have worked in higher education and medical research. I believe in both strongly – the benefits of good education and the desperate battle against dementia, and I continue to advocate for these and other causes. (I do believe that prison should be about rehabilitation, not just punishment, but that’s perhaps a whole other blog post.)  

Working on wildlife trade is an interesting area – it’s a different perspective on conservation. By understanding consumer demand, trade channels and market trends, it’s possible to identify growing or emerging problems and what threat they pose to wildlife.  And then (with a wide range of partners) to do something about it. 

As well as the well-known species under threat from trade like rhino, elephants and Tigers, there are many other living organisms threatened by unsustainable and illegal trade practices.  Losing animals, trees, fish and plants at the current rate is rapidly depleting the resources that humanity relies on; we need to steward our consumption now if we want them to be there for future generations.

Pasque flower, also a medicinal herb

I’ve learned a lot more about plants in my current role. Plants: essential to all life on the terrestrial planet, and yet they receive little fundraising attention (perhaps because they are not ‘cuddly’?)  Wild plants are a major source of medicine (the breast cancer drug was developed from a yew tree), food, and income for the harvesters who collect them. Given their tremendous benefit to humanity, plants deserve as much attention as our favourite ‘charismatic megafauna’.  And it’s not just medicinal plants under threat from trade – orchids, for example, are extremely popular with horticulturalists and also used for food in some cultures (try searching ‘salep’).  Both markets have a thriving legal, and illegal trade. 

Why did I write this piece today? Because looking at the funding landscape, conservation and wildlife are way down on the ‘I care about’ scale from the big money players. In the UK, for example, around only 4% of trust funders have wildlife conservation as a charitable objective. Yes, I am a conservation fundraiser, so I have a vested interest in this subject. But as the princess said, if we don’t look after our planet, our wildlife and climate, then there’s really not a lot of point worrying about anything else because human life will be unsustainable.  In other words, we all have a vested interest in conservation. 

Resources:

State of the world's plants

Sustainable wild plant harvesting

Try the wild plant quiz on www.whygowild.com

WWF UK

TRAFFIC 

Wildlife Trusts (UK) 
Botanic Gardens, Kew
Wiki on Medicinal Plants

Want to do something about it? www.traffic.org/donate

Photos: (C) Carolyn Sheppard. "Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest have used bleeding heart for generations as a remedy for toothache and other types of pain. In years past, bleeding heart was widely employed for treating syphilis"
The dye from the pasque flowers was used to colour fabrics, and a preparation made from the dried plant was used to make Pulsatilla, a medicinal.