Fundraising for Disability Charities
Howard Lake | 10 September 2014 | Blogs
All charities are equal, but some are more equal than others, right? In fundraising, this is certainly the case and we all know that some causes find it harder to raise funds than others, for a variety of reasons.
For disability charities, this is definitely true. Whether it is their often high cost base or the perception that they cannot “solve” people’s problems, or whether it is the public’s lack of understanding or awkwardness about disability, some of these charities can struggle to raise funds.
There are exceptions of course – think Guidedogs for example – but having worked with many disability charities over the years, I have certainly seen that they find it harder than some when it comes to raising funds.
The disability sector is of course large and comprises a wide range of local, regional, national and even international charities, covering a broad spread of sensory, physical and learning disabilities. They are very diverse and have differing opportunities and challenges.
So how are they coping as we come out of recession? How confident are they as they face the future? Where do they see their opportunities now? To answer these and other questions, I am conducting a survey open to all disability organisations and available here.
I hope the survey will provide some useful answers, not only of where these charities are now, but how they see their fundraising developing in the future. The findings will be made available free of charge to all who take part, so if you represent a disability charity, please have your say. If not, please pass it on to others you may know who work in that field. I hope it will be a valuable contribution to the knowledge base and help disability charities to see how they compare to their peers.
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.