Fundraising Mentoring
If your fundraiser lacks experience in particular fundraising techniques, have you considered mentoring support as a means of developing their skills?
With recruitment in a number of fundraising disciplines still difficult, some of our clients have recruited staff with transferable skills and asked us to mentor them as they develop their experience. This can be a very cost effective way of "growing your own" fundraiser, especially outside London where fundraising experience is often in short supply.
Fundraising mentoring is carried out by members of our team with in-depth experience of the discipline required. Whether this involves supporting a graduate in a first job or mentoring someone who has entered fundraising as a second career, we have seen some novice fundraisers develop into very effective practitioners!
Fundraising mentoring takes place over a period of time (typically 1 - 2 years, but sometimes longer) with on-site meetings, backed up by email and telephone support. Areas covered include:
- Fundraising planning
- Funder/prospect research
- Case for support development
- Writing effective funding bids
- Record keeping for fundraising
- Trust fundraising
- Statutory fundraising
- Corporate fundraising
- Community fundraising
- Legacy fundraising
The advantage of fundraising mentoring over generic training courses is that this form of support works within your organisation to develop the fundraiser in their specific role, producing practical materials and implementing strategies which will directly benefit your charity and grow your fundraiser in their role.
Over the years, we have worked with many new fundraisers, supporting them as they develop to become effective for their charities. Some have gone on to become fundraising managers. A good example is Amanda Kirkland, formerly the fundraiser at Arch North Staffs, now Head of Individual Development at UCB, who says "Wootton George Consulting provided regular mentoring support to me for six years, starting when I became the first paid fundraiser for a local homelessness charity. I had no previous fundraising experience, and this support was invaluable in equipping me with the skills and knowledge I needed for areas such as trusts, statutory, community and legacy fundraising. In addition to the regular meetings, my mentor was always available via phone or email, so I never felt like I was being left to deal with everything on my own. Over the period, I was able to recruit two additional fundraisers, and the charity successfully diversified its income streams. I would highly recommend this mentoring support!"
Another example is Cathryn Worth, Trust Fundraising manager at Cure Leukaemia, who received just one day of mentoring support. She says: "Simon came to our charity's office for a day of mentoring specifically in the area of trust fundraising. I was able to get useful feedback on my applications, talk through the processes I was undertaking and ask those questions that you might not ask if in a room full of fundraisers. By the end of the day it was like I'd undertaken a mini audit of my work - in a positive way. I felt encouraged and assured in what I was doing but at the same time had been offered helpful advice in how I might build on it and move forward. To put it simply - it was the best and most valuable training I have ever had!"
If you need support in your role, or if your charity is recruiting someone to a new role who lacks in-depth experience, please call us today to see if mentoring is an option for developing your fundraising capacity.
Please call 01903 723519
