# How Tony Elischer Foundation is empowering fundraisers

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/09/26/tony-elischer-foundation-empowering-fundraisers/
- Published: 2018-09-26T11:56:45+01:00
- Author: Guest Blogger

**It’s a little over a year since Tony Elischer Foundation was set up in memory 
of the fabulous and inspiring fundraiser Tony Elischer to nurture the talent of 
promising fundraisers in the UK and around the world. One year on and three mentoring
cohorts later, we’re over the moon to report some of the positive feedback we’ve
had from our mentees.**

Taking part in the mentoring programme during the last year has been integral to
the development our mentees and their organisations and four of them have shared
some of their thoughts with us about what is meaning to them.
 

## An opportunity to think long term about your career

If you’re in a busy fundraising role, you’ll know how easy it is to get caught up
in the ‘Eat. Fundraise. Sleep. Repeat’ mentality. This is something we hear a lot
from our mentees – it’s hard to find the time to think beyond your organisation 
which is why a mentor can help by taking you out of your daily routine and offering
you that sense of perspective.
 

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[⌊Gemma Cowan⌉⌊Gemma Cowan⌉[

_Gemma Cowan_

“TEF has been an excellent opportunity to focus on my personal development. I’ve
realised it’s key to have someone to talk to who is impartial and from outside of
your organisation. It means the mentoring sessions are not only about my organisation
and the here and now – they also become about my future career aspirations.”**Gemma
Cowan, MS Society Scotland** 

## Inherit fundraising wisdom from sector experts

All the mentors are highly experienced fundraising professionals, some of whom were
mentored by Tony Elischer himself. It’s amazing to witness this full-circle effect
whereby Tony’s knowledge and passion for the sector is filtering down through the
people he worked with to newcomers in the sector who never met him. This inheritance
of expertise is especially beneficial to those mentees who don’t come into regular
contact with experienced fundraisers.
 

[⌊Andy King⌉⌊Andy King⌉[

_Andy King_

“I would never normally dream of encountering someone of Lisa’s experience on a
normal basis. The charity I work for is relatively small and in terms of corporate
and event fundraising, I am the most experienced member of the organisation. So 
to get direct mentorship from outside of my team has been a great way to develop
both myself and my organisation. As an example, corporate fundraising is quite new
to my organisation and I’d had little training in the area, so the help from Lisa
was invaluable when drafting my strategy. She gave me the guidance needed to produce
a clear corporate strategy as well as setting up KPIs and goals.”**Andy King, East
African Playgrounds** 

## Improve the efficacy of your organisation

Sometimes it takes the objective eye of someone from outside your organisation to
realise what needs to change. If you’re used to working in the same ways, a different
perspective can be just the thing needed to maximise the output of your organisation.

[⌊Ollie Day⌉⌊Ollie Day⌉[

_Ollie Day_

“In terms of the impact the partnership is having on my organisation, I can already
see my team beginning to look differently at their own ways of working. I did a 
day workshop with my team all based on a conversation I’d had with my mentor and
they loved it. It was a great way to galvanize my team and introduce new ways of
working. Change can feel quite slow in large organisations but with the help of 
my mentors’ ideas, we’ve managed to really speed things up. His help has resulted
in our supporter team becoming better resourced and better trained which hopefully
will result in better retention of supporters.”**Oliver Day, The Royal British Legion**

## Challenge yourself to become your best self

Both the mentoring sessions and the cohort training days provided by Tony Elischer
Foundation are designed to develop the confidence of our mentees. Whether it’s a
presentation skills workshop or it’s a one on one mentoring session, the foundation’s
approach is to challenge mentees in a supportive way and help them problem solve
rather than simply providing the answer.
 

[⌊Faneva Raharimanantsoa⌉⌊Faneva Raharimanantsoa⌉[

_Faneva Raharimanantsoa_

“The sessions with my mentor Esther have helped me to develop both personally and
professionally, and not only in terms of fundraising. It has allowed me to overcome
my limits – for example, before I met Esther I would tell myself I was bad at finance
and that I would never be able to work in this area but now I recognise this as 
a limit I put on myself – there is always the opportunity to learn. Esther is dynamic
and enthusiastic in her approach to mentoring. She pushes me to have powerful ideas
and to make decisions for myself. She never gives me the solution, she guides me
to find the solution myself. Sometimes she will give me references and examples 
to inspire me but ultimately the solution has to come from me.”**Faneva Raharimanantsoa,
Miralenta** Having the right mentor at the right stage in your career can be transformational
and we are so delighted to be hearing so many examples of such positive experiences
whilst still being such a new charity.Tony was always so committed to supporting
and building the fundraising profession and we’re very proud that with the invaluable
input from all our mentors we can continue this and play a part in developing the
next generation of fundraising leaders.

If you are interested in developing your career through the mentorship of an experienced
fundraising professional, get in touch! Applications for the next cohort close on
the **8th October**. Full details can be found at [www.tonyelischerfoundation.org](http://www.tonyelischerfoundation.org)

[⌊Susan Morgan⌉⌊Susan Morgan⌉[

_Susan Morgan_

_**Susan Morgan** is Director at [Tony Elischer Foundation](http://www.tonyelischerfoundation.org)_

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