Success Stories

Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham // Legacy Fundraising Literature

For the Archdiocese, we were asked to copywrite the materials for a new legacy campaign. This involved developing and testing different versions of the legacy case for support and then developing literature based on the chosen version, including a legacy marketing leaflet, a brief guide to will-making, as well as a bookmark and poster for use in parishes. In addition, we wrote some legacy articles for use in the diocesan newsletter. The client was delighted with the results, commenting: "Having worked with Simon at Wootton George Consulting Ltd for a number of years, I have been extremely pleased with the services offered and the work done by Simon and his team. Most recently Simon has supported us to totally re-design our legacy programme and this has now been launched. We are very pleased to have Wootton George Consulting as part of our fundraising team and look forward to working with them in the future."

Framework Housing Association // Feasibility Study

For Framework, an East Midlands charity serving homeless people, we were engaged to undertake a study to examine the potential for future fundraising and to make recommendations on the focus of activities, including where to invest for growth. This resulted in a detailed report which was very well received.

The Children’s Trust // Appeal Feasibility Study

For the Children’s Trust we were asked to carry out a detailed feasibility study in relation to a major capital appeal, in order to help the charity become fit to fundraise. We worked closely with the fundraising team to map out what needed to be put in place to prepare for the appeal, as well as conducting prospect research. The end result was a detailed report, which was very well received. The client told us:” Thank you again for your time and all the hard work – it was great working with you.”

Urban Studies Foundation // Fundraising Opportunities Review

For the USF, an academic foundation based in Glasgow but operating internationally, we conducted a review of its fundraising opportunities, examining current activity and exploring the potential to develop new income streams. This resulted in a detailed report for the charity, that provided a list of options. The USF was delighted with the results. Its Director of Operations said: “it's a really nice document and the recommendations have been really useful.”

Hull Community Church

Our client Hull Community Church has just been awarded a grant of £476,766 by the Big Lottery Fund, after our Lottery specialist helped them with the bid. This was the second time in recent years we have worked with the church, having previously raised £350,000 from a major trust for their capital appeal. Church member Anne Dannerolle said: "I just wanted to email and thank you for all your help with the Lottery bid. I found out today that we've been awarded £476,766 over the next 5 years! Your help was invaluable, and I'm sure went a long way to making the bid successful."

Home Start Stockton Green and Erdington

For several years now we have run the grant fundraising operation for this local Home Start, raising a total of £686,685 from a range of sources, including charitable trusts and the National Lottery. We continue to be retained.

Manchester Care & Repair

Care & Repair are delighted to announce that we have been awarded £235,487 for the expansion of an existing project that aims to support older people in Manchester to live independently in their own homes for longer and improve their quality of life.

It will identify isolated older people, at risk of poverty and living in poor housing and provide them with support, identifying and using links with local organisations. A new element of the project will provide advice on fuel bills and energy efficiency, such as improving insulation, to reduce heating costs and fuel bills.

The funding will sustain our valuable Independent Living Caseworker Support service, which we have invested our charitable reserves in since October 2012. Last year, our caseworkers raised more than £1million in additional welfare benefits for our clients.

The project will reach over a thousand older people over the next 3 years. We will see people less isolated, with improved independence and quality of life.

OBAC

The Organisation of Blind Afro Caribbeans achieved a Reaching Communities grants of almost £300,000 with the support of our National Lottery specialist.

Calibre Audio Library // Wide Ranging Support

Calibre is a long-standing client, for which we have provided a wide range of support over many years, including help with trust fundraising (raising £667,000 in two years), support for refreshing a legacy campaign (which was very well received), help to develop a new fundraising strategy, interim fundraising management and, most recently, support to recruit a new Head of Fundraising.

East Cheshire Hospice // Social Media Training and Consultancy

East Cheshire Hospice recently commissioned us to review its social media activity and to provide a day of interactive training to the fundraising and communications team. This was delivered by social media and fundraising guru Howard Lake onsite in Macclesfield. Prior to the training day with staff, Howard had reviewed the charity's website and social media presence and during the training day was able to work through his findings with the charity, as well as to provide a wide range of ideas and tips on how it could improve its social media impact. The training went down extremely well with Fundraising Manager Amy McGee commenting "Howard was just fantastic and we have already implemented some of the changes he suggested! Having training personalised to our organisation was the best thing we have ever done. Howard was a very knowledgeable trainer and constantly shared useful tips throughout the day. He was inspiring and every person in the training went away feeling excited about the new things he had taught us."

We are now able to offer this support to other clients, so if your social media activity needs a revamp, please get in touch with Ben Ansell on 01903 723519.

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Graeae Theatre

Graeae is a disabled-led theatre company of actors, writers and directors with physical and sensory impairments. It is the leading British company in its field, with a reputation for innovative work, built around the creative use of sign language and audio description. In fact, its Artistic Director was the creative force behind the London Paralympic opening ceremony!

In 2004, the trustees of Graeae first asked us to help develop their fundraising by conducting prospect research and developing an appeal strategy. In addition, we also carried out contact mapping, developed the case for support and written a range of funding bids.

Graeae’s main fundraising need was at first the completion of the capital appeal for its superb premises in Hackney, followed by revenue funding for new productions and training and education programmes. In all, our consultant Claire Greenhalgh has helped to raise over £1.9 million from charitable trusts and the Arts Council for this client.

Graeae recently received a grant of £325,000 over four years towards the Artist Development Programme, including the new Write to Play Project. This will support deaf and disabled writers and directors and provide training and support across the sector.

Our Founder, Simon George, says: "This has been a great client to work for and, as well as raising a lot of money for Graeae, our consultant Claire has developed an excellent working relationship with the staff and trustees. This is a good example of how it is possible, over time - ten years in this case - to deliver tremendous value to a client by really understanding their needs and working closely with them to achieve results. Our contract with Graeae has been extended once again and we look forward to continuing to deliver results for them in the future."

To read more about Graeae visit www.graeae.org/page/home

St George's Hub // Hands-on Fundraising

St George's is a old client, for whom we provided both strategic and fundraising support over 18 years.

The charity operates a drop-in centre for vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Wolverhampton. Our support included facilitating the production of a development plan, researching funders, producing the case for support and helping to generate funding bids.

Over the years, we helped to raise over £1 million for the charity, mainly from charitable trusts and the National Lottery. This mostly consisted of revenue funding to cover the staffing and running costs of existing work, as well as raising the funds needed for the charity to buy its own premises.

St George's Chief Executive Fazia Bano says: "As a small charity, we do not need an in-house fundraiser and certainly could not afford one. By working with WGC, we were able to buy in just the amount of help we needed, as well as benefitting from their skills and experience. This has proven to be a very cost-effective way of developing our charity. We would happily recommend them to others."

To visit the St George's website, see www.st-georges-house.org.uk

Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust // Legacy Fundraising Strategy Development

Founded by the late Sir Peter Scott, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust is an important conservation charity, operating 9 wetland visitor centres in the UK and a wide range of conservation programmes.

With a longstanding legacy fundraising operation based at its Slimbridge headquarters, WWT already receives a valuable flow of legacy income each year. However, it was some years since this important aspect of fundraising had been reviewed and we were asked to help develop a new strategy to grow legacy income, with an emphasis on delivering fresh thinking to reinvigorate the programme.

Following analysis of current activity, we identified a wide range of additional options, covering, for example, the improved profiling of legators and pledgers, the development of new media activity, as well as new ways of reaching prospects with legacy messages.

Throughout the assignment, the WWT Legacy Manager and its Head of Fundraising were both centrally involved, as new ideas were developed and the strategy began to take shape. The final result is a new plan for legacies, building on previous practice, but strengthening key areas and adding important new activities. An underlying need was to develop the programme without incurring excessive additional costs, which was achieved.

Our Director Simon George said: "This was a really interesting task and hugely enjoyable. WWT's team were great to work with and they now have a solid new strategy to guide their legacy fundraising over the next three years, as well as a reservoir of additional ideas which can be introduced as budgets allow."

David Salmon, Legacy Manager at WWT, said: "Wootton George's expertise has provided us with a strategy that will give invaluable new impetus to our legacy marketing activity and guide us wisely through the next few years."