Let’s be honest, we’re all hoping to have a successful 2021, but many of you may be wondering how it’s possible during a pandemic. Success presents itself in many ways, whether it’s increasing the social reach of your organisation, or improving your supporter journey. Success is more than reaching your yearly budget, and this course will help you understand how to reach success and celebrate it!

The course is designed as a series of workshops. The way to get the best value in terms of knowledge, resources and monetary value is to sign up to the whole series. Alternatively, you can attend one or several workshops that are of particular interest to you.

Who are these workshops for?

This course is specifically designed to support small to medium charities. It is suitable for all fundraising staff (including fundraising CEO’s) who are looking to:

a) strengthen or expand their current fundraising activities

and/or

b) explore areas of development within their existing strategies

and/or

c) maximise their performance and results by taking better care of themselves

The first session will provide you with easy, practical tools and tips take really good care of yourself emotionally and physically. After all, how do you expect to look after your supporters, if you haven’t taken care of your own needs and looked after yourself well?

Session 1: Promoting Emotional Wellbeing

Tuesday 23 February, 9:30am-11am

The first session focusses on you as a fundraiser. Giving practical tips on how to look after you, recognising your successes, and what to do when you’re facing challenges.

This session will cover :

Meeting your own emotional wellbeing needs

Setting boundaries and realistic expectations

Speaking up

Celebrating success

Session 2: Community Fundraising

Tuesday 2 March, 9:30am-11am

The second session will explore areas around how to adapt existing Community Fundraising plans and strategies to be able to keep up with a continuously changing community and move forward with optimised success.

This course will cover:

Embracing the digital journey

What can still work well and what needs to change?

Understanding what your supporters need and want?

Session 3: Events Fundraising

Tuesday 9 March, 9:30am-11am

Events have suffered greatly in the last 12 months. This session will give you the tools you need to create and run events that will appeal to your supporters, represent your organisation well and raise funding and visibility.

This session will cover:

How to adapt your case for support to remain relevant and compelling?

Embedding the beneficiary voice in your communications

Working efficiently and effectively with other fundraising areas in your organisation

Session 4: Corporate Fundraising

Tuesday 16 March, 9:30am-11am

The good news is that there are businesses out there still keen to support charities. This session will give you the tools and hidden gems to create and sustain reciprocally beneficial relationships and partnerships with corporates.

This session will cover:

What's changed for your existing corporate supporters? What are their biggest concerns?

How can you support businesses to address their pain points?

Designing relevant creative corporate support packages.

Session 5: Bid-writing

Tuesday 23 March 9:30am-11am

With an increase in demand for trusts and grants funding alongside a decreasing funding pot, it’s even more important that your funding application stands out from the rest. This session will ensure you are selling your cause, organisation and projects and giving your application that extra special something to increase your probability of success.

This session will cover:

Strengthening your case for support in a crowded market

Improving your research of prospective funds

Evidencing how you've adapted to changing client needs

Session 6: Present with confidence

Tuesday 30 March 9:30am-11am

Our lives have adapted to presenting via Video call, which was way out of some people’s comfort zones and certainly not what we’ve been used to. Whatever your reason for presenting and no matter who your audience is, this session will provide practical tips to improve your confidence clarity and impact, whilst retaining your individual voice.

This session will cover:

Knowing your audience and key messages

Setting clear intentions about intended outcome

Incorporating story-telling

Practising mindset preparation for confident communication

Session 7: Raise Visibility of your organisation

Tuesday 20 April 9:30am-11am

At a time when developing relationships has never been so important, this session will focus on how to raise the visibility of your organisation by:

Developing and nurturing key relationships within your community

Recognising opportunities to strengthen your local presence and reputation and

Educating your community about the needs of your beneficiaries and the work of your organisation

This session will cover:

Identifying and understanding the difference between an awareness and a fundraising campaign.

Using a combination of traditional and digital media to raise awareness and educate

How to ensure your messaging is positive, clear, powerful and consistent across the organisation

Session 8: Fundraising Strategy-The Basics

Tuesday 27 April 9:30am-11am

Following a year of continuous change we are all a little more clued up on what “could happen” moving forwards. By refreshing your old strategy and implementing a new fundraising strategy, your team can be better prepared for whatever 2021 has in store for the charity sector. This last session will focus on the basics of developing a fundraising strategy that meets the needs of the organisation whilst optimising the resources and skills within your team.

This course will cover:

How to review your vision and mission

Getting clear about the services you want to provide over the next 3 years and why

Establishing gaps within your current strategy

Setting clear financial and non-financial targets with timelines for each funding stream

Your course leaders

Fran Borg-Wheeler, Leadership Coach & Charity Consultant

Fran was a fundraising CEO for Youth Concern for 13 years and was awarded “Highly Commended Fundraiser of the Year” in the Chartered Institute of Fundraising Chilterns 2019 Awards. She has experience of setting up and developping teams, services and projects. Her proudest achievement was diversifying fundraising streams to raise £1m in order to set up a youth homeless provision. Fran’s passion lies in empowering leaders to have more impact whilst taking better care of themselves. With that in mind, in March 2020, she set up her own business called Heart-Centred Leaders. She now specialises in supporting charities in three ways: 1) leadership coaching; 2) charity consultancy (in the areas of fundraising, culture, wellbeing and leadership) and 3) training for teams.

https://heartcentredleaders.com

Leah Lewis, Community Fundraising & Events Specialist

Leah Lewis was awarded “Highly Commended Fundraiser of the Year” in the Chartered Institute of Fundraising Chilterns 2020 Awards. Leah Lewis is the owner of Civitas Consultancy that provides specialist fundraising and events support to organisations in the non-profit sector. Leah has over 7 years of experience working within the non-profit sector. Working in both Event Management and Community Fundraising Leah has a wealth of experience working with small charities in and around the Buckinghamshire area. Having worked closely and building relationships with local businesses, organisations, groups and schools to develop community fundraising relationships and income Leah has implemented successful Community Fundraising and Events programmes to increase income.

https://civitasconsultancy.co.uk