The capital appeal how-to guide revisited
Howard Lake | 31 October 2011 | Blogs
There aren’t too many fundraising books that deserve the accolade of ‘classic’ but I’d say Marion Allford’s guide to one-off capital appeals “Charity Appeals: the Complete Guide to Success” qualifies.
First published in 1993 it shares Allford’s expertise and experience derived from the successful Wishing Well Appeal for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, and other capital appeals. The Wishing Well Appeal’s initial target was £30 million and it went on to raise £84 million (over £150 million in today’s terms), of which £30 million was negotiated from government funding. Since then she has run her consultancy which specialises in capital appeal fundraising.
The Times described it as “a blueprint for all charities… which is already considered the ‘bible’ for one-off appeals”.
It still reads well today (I pulled it off my office shelf), although of course there are gaps such as the role played by technology. Even UK Fundraising hadn’t gone live in 1993 (although I was working on it!).
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I asked Marion if the book was still available, apart from some second hand copies on Amazon. She said that the paperback version had long since sold out, but that she did have a few hardback copies left. She has reduced the price to £19 with £6.50 p&p (for the UK).
So, if you’re involved in capital appeals, this title is still a valuable addition to your resources.
You can order a copy from marionallford.co.uk.
- Marion Allford to retire (21 Janaury 2017)
- Institute of Fundraising announces major donor fundraising conference (5 September 2009)
- Institute of Fundraising’s National Awards winners announced (10 July 2014)
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.