Fundraising team of the year
Howard Lake | 16 June 2011 | Blogs
For any team or department that, through the nature of teamwork, has achieved considerable and recognisable success.
The shortlisted entries in alphabetical order are:
Childreach International
National Star Centre for Disabled Youth
University of Exeter
Childreach International Student Fundraising Managers (challenge events team)
Childreach International has four student fundraising managers (SFMs) who work in partnership with the communication and operations departments to promote and run the flagship challenge events to students around the UK. Former students themselves and with an average age of 22, they are forecast to raise a combined £4m this year, smashing all previous targets. Their dedication, enthusiasm and commitment to the Childreach International ethos has proved inspirational to the whole charity. They all had a longstanding voluntary relationship with Childreach and brought with them a desire for increased professionalism. They have increased the number of partner universities from 17 to 44 and seen the number of challenge event registrants rise by 42%. The success in 2010 would not have been possible without the teamwork of these four individuals.
National Star Centre for Disabled Youth – the fundraising team
In 2009/10 the College lost its promised matched funding from the Learning and Skills Council towards an essential capital redevelopment project worth £15.4m, putting the future of the college at risk. The fundraising team responded to this by delivering an outstanding fundraising, lobbying and media campaign that has completely transformed the outlook for the College. They worked hard to retain the £3m already secured from donors and the trustees had enough confidence in the team to proceed with a building contract worth £6.8m, knowing that a further £2.5m was needed to complete the appeal. In the following six months the team raised £2.4m. During the second half of the year they collectively double the number of corporate supporters, increased regular giving by a third, challenge event income by 125% and trust and foundations income by 400%.
University of Exeter development team
The team launched the University’s very first major fundraising campaign to raise £23m by 2012. They were severely understaffed, but still secured £6.6m towards the total against a target of £3.5m. The team put relationship building at the heart of everything, from working together, to working with others in the University, to working with potential donors, donors and stakeholders. The team learned that you can achieve great things in a very short time by focusing on outputs, working very hard, being flexible and learning on your feet. The steps the team has taken to make sure the success can be replicated elsewhere in the organisation include demonstrating best practice, professionalism and effectiveness.
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.