Successful trust fundraising advice

Howard Lake | 29 July 1998 | News

• Tagged with:
• funding
• Training

Joanna Van Driel, the Corporate and Trust Fundraising Manager at the Mental Health Foundation, offers her advice on how to fundraise successfully, “no matter how unpopular the cause,” in the current issue of the Directory of Social Change‘s Trust Monitor.

She recommends:

• Don’t ever assume anything on the part of the funder – always provide them with more than enough information .
• Keep meticulous records on everything – telephone conversations, meetings, invitations to events, likes and dislikes for when you meet them. Sometimes the tiniest bit of information used in the right way can result in a large donation.
• Don’t write an appeal more than once a year unless you know beforehand that it is all right – one of the biggest irritations to trust administrators is when they see a charity wasting money on unnecessary appeals (I’ve met an administrator who keeps a notepad and marks down every single letter she receives from any charity – the more marks the less they are likely to receive a donation).
• Always show a lot of appreciation for any donation – remember that £20 received today could turn into a very large gift in the future.
• Remember to ask the funder if they want to be acknowledged in publicity – some shy away from it and others are upset if they are not mentioned.

Source: Trust Monitor, Issue 25, Spring 1998, p25 Directory of Social Change [originally http://www.d-s-c.demon.co.uk/]

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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.