Giving to Heritage training programme helps groups raise £3.15m
Howard Lake | 1 December 2017 | News
Heritage organisations which took part in the Giving to Heritage training programme have raised £3.15 million as a direct result.
An independent evaluation of the programme has measured how the low-cost training programme has helped heritage groups secure new funding.
Consilium Research found that “the £3.15 million raised so far will continue to increase year on year” as new fundraising strategies are developed and implemented. The evaluation also reported that confidence and skill levels in heritage fundraising and capacity building have “increased substantially” due to the GTH training.
Amounts raised ranged from £100 to £800,000, and totalled £3,135,880.
Over 800 heritage organisations benefited
Training ranged from one-day courses to webinars and coaching.
Giving to Heritage was developed by The Heritage Alliance and Institute of Fundraising (IoF) thanks to ‘Catalyst initiative’ funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and DCMS.
The £750,000 of grant funding was designed to help build fundraising capacity, skills and leadership within the heritage sector. It included workshops, executive coaching, one-to-one support and webinars.
The emphasis was on providing low cost (down to £20 for a day) but high quality training for organisations, many of which could not have afforded other fundraising training.
UK Fundraising’s Howard Lake was one of the programme’s trainers, offering practical training in digital fundraising in venues around England.
This was the first partnership project between the Institute of Fundraising and the heritage sector. As other Catalyst-funded programmes for sectors such as arts and culture organisations have shown, investing in fundraising can help develop many organisations’ income generating skills and resilience.
Peter Lewis, IoF Chief Executive, said: “At a time when many smaller charities are struggling, this evaluation highlights the transformative impact that high quality fundraising training can have.”
Funding for extension sought
The programme was also made possible with support from CAN Invest, the Community Shares Company, and many skilled volunteers.
Although the initial programme was extended for an additional six months due to its popularity, the programme has now closed. However, the Heritage Alliance and Institute of Fundraising are keen to hear from funders and donors who can help continue this work.
You can continue to use resources and view webinars at the Giving to Heritage website.
Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players Giving to Heritage has offered heritage organisations the tools to develop longer-term financial independence. It is great to see such positive findings from this evaluation, and we look forward to seeing continued benefits for the entire sector resulting from the GTH training”.
Loyd Grossman, Chairman of the Heritage Alliance, added: “We’re delighted that this evaluation has so clearly demonstrated the impact of funding training for small organisations.”
You can read a summary of the evaluation and read the full document.
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How the Institute of Conservation benefited from the training
Alison Richmond at Institute of Conservation (Icon) benefited from executive coaching from an Institute of Fundraising consultant, consisting of 6 x 3 hour sessions over 6 months.
Icon was so impressed with the sessions that they accessed a second programme at a cost of £2,000 to develop a fundraising
strategy and train members of the Senior management team and Trustees.
Icon is a registered charity and the professional body which raises awareness of the cultural, social and economic value of caring for heritage. It champions high standards of conservation and represents nearly 3,000 individuals and organisations including professional conservators and conservation scientists.
Fundraising experience
Alison is the CEO of Icon and responsible for strategic planning and implementation, internal operations and external relations. Although a significant part her role, Alison has not benefited from any formal fundraising training prior to reading details of the Giving to Heritage programme in The Heritage Alliance newsletter, Heritage Update.
Giving to Heritage support
Alison originally accessed the Executive Coaching offer in order to inform Icon’s approach to ongoing fundraising and build on nine years of HLF funding to support its Conservation Internship Project. Including an initial meeting with an Institute of Fundraising Consultant to assess their needs and plan a bespoke development programme. The six sessions across a six month period to December 2015 were the perfect way to discuss both Alison’s and Icon’s fundraising requirements within a trusted environment and any lack of experience or training overcome on a one-to-one basis.
“I appreciated the slightly less formal atmosphere that allowed us to discuss as well as to absorb”
Icon’s second Executive Coaching programme was used to develop a new fundraising strategy informed by a meeting led by the Institute of Fundraising consultant and presentation to the full Icon Board in September 2016. Icon also used its time with the consultant to plan and deliver two training days attended by members of the Senior Management Team and Board of Trustees covering ‘Writing a Case for Support’ and a bespoke session focused on putting ‘Icon’s Fundraising Plan and Strategy into Practice’.
Impact
The Executive Coaching support has enabled Alison and Icon to develop a strategic approach to fundraising with the support of a Consultant able to assess the needs of both an individual and a heritage organisation.
The initial programme of Executive Coaching resulted in a better understanding of what a fundraising strategy should look like and led to work with Icon’s Board of Trustees to refine and develop a case for support and mission as part of a strategic plan. The second programme encouraged a whole-organisation approach to fundraising with senior management and Trustees supported to inform and deliver the organisation’s targeted fundraising strategy.
Alison said: “The discussion about targeting effort and how much the return on different types of fundraising were likely to be was extremely illuminating”.
She added: “The knowledge and skills we learnt will be useful to Icon both now and long term.”
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.