CHARITY TRINITY – Fundraising, Marketing and Governance

If you are involved with a charity in any way, whether as a volunteer, paid staff or a trustee, you have probably at some point said that “we need to improve our fundraising if we are to survive and grow.”  This statement is often later followed by the question of “we need money, where or how do we find this?”

 A good fundraising strategy is very important to ensure that you are on the right track to answering this question.  This strategy may state that you will do one thing at a time and do it well, but where do you start?  I will often say that the golden rule is to do as little as possible, for as much as possible.  This means looking at each of the possible fundraising areas and determining the return on investment (ROI) for each, taking into consideration the full cost recovery (FCR) that is required to generate the income.  Then, by focusing on the higher yield areas, you will maximise your ROI.

Many charities are recognising that marketing is becoming more and more important.  Good marketing creates a recognisable identity.  The skill of communicating a written message, combined with instantly recognised logo and images, will make a strong impact.  A marketing strategy could say many things, but ultimately what you are aiming for is for your organisation and your brand to be instantly recognised and understood.  For it to become a household name if you like.  Even small charities, with very limited resources, can develop this strategy, simply by looking at some of the methods and techniques that corporate businesses use and assimilating them into your own organisation.

I have often heard charities say that they need to develop and run their marketing and fundraising strategies “in tandem”.  This is so very true and when we do this, we will find that where the two over-lap, that is where we can maximise our ROI.

However, there is a third element that also needs to be considered, but is often not given as much attention as the other two.  I am of course referring to governance.  When a charity asks me for advice on how to improve their fundraising, I am finding that I often answer, “You will need to improve your governance.”  I say this because this is now very often one of the questions asked by grant-giving bodies.

The response of the charity is often the same, “We are very good on policies.”  They go on to tell me about their safe guarding, data protection or confidentiality policies, which are all good to have in place.  Then I explain that there are seven principles of governance and many organisations struggle to achieve satisfaction in all of them.

Without going into too much detail the principles are:

1. Leadership
2. Responsibilities, legal requirements and obligations
3. Effectiveness
4. Performing, reviewing and renewing
5. Delegation
6. Integrity
7. Openness

So, our approach shouldn’t be a tandem as mentioned above.  It should, in fact, be a “trinity”.  When we can see the equal value in each of the three areas, then we will see the even greater impact in our work, plus we will maximise on our return on investment.