Eat local, shop local, give local

On my way to visiting a charity the other day, I stopped at an ATM to get cash. It was the sort of ATM which asks you if you want to donate to charity. Out of curiosity I pressed that button and my options included British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK, ChildLine, Young Minds. Probably all good causes and also charities of a scale that can negotiate inclusion on a national ATM network.

The charity I was visiting was just two doors down. It is the sort of small, local charity that comes to mind when people think of a ‘charity’. It supports homeless people into private rented flats and helps them keep their tenancies. It is heart-driven: the kind of place where staff drive across town to collect a donated radiator when a client’s heating has stopped working. It is small: two staff and operating on c. £50k per year. If you are homeless you will have heard of this charity or will be directed to it pretty quickly. Otherwise, they struggle to get themselves known.

In the UK, we have campaigns to source food locally and shop locally. But what about giving locally?

For those making donations, giving to a local charity makes a lot of sense. You are likely to understand the issues and see the results of their work. You can visit the charity and so can better trust that your donation makes a difference. Your donation is also more likely to have a bigger impact as local charities tend to be smaller - £500 is a huge windfall for a charity running on £50k per year.

There are arguments against local giving. If we all give locally then the money tends to go to those living near to the wealthy and not those in the greatest need. As Caroline Fiennes says in her book ‘It ain’t what you give it’s the way that you give it’: “some of the most under-resourced and horrible issues remain out of reach to local donors”. Many donors like to give to groups both at home and overseas for that very reason. And it is also important to remember that local does not necessarily mean good. So do always check out the effectiveness and support those doing a good job. (see my blog ‘Tips for giving’: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tips-giving-emma-beeston)

But don’t be lured by the easy option of hitting the ATM button. You may well be just a few steps away from a great charity where your donation will be appreciated even more.

Emma Beeston Consultancy advises funders and philanthropists on giving strategies and processes; selecting causes and charities; assessments and impact monitoring. Services for charities include external perception reviews; bid reviews; training for fundraisers and non-fundraisers involved in bids. www.emmabeeston.co.uk ; emma@emmabeeston.co.uk; emmabeeston01

In praise of fundraisers

Last year was not kind to fundraisers. They and their practices came in for a lot of criticism in the sector and wider press. The start of 2016 does not look much rosier: diminishing public funds and the discussions about regulating fundraising look set to continue this year. I meet a lot of very hard working and inspiring fundraisers and so I thought I would start my new blogging year with some well-deserved praise.

At the end of 2015 I attended some great training on financial sustainability at NCVO. I was the only funder in a room full of fundraisers and I learned a lot from listening to the issues they were all grappling with in coming up with funding strategies for their charities. When assessing charities, I get to read lots of business plans and funding strategies. It is relatively easy to critique these and comment along the lines of “this charity is over-reliant on one source of funding and needs to diversify its income streams”. What the fundraisers I met with at NCVO reminded me is that I am in the lucky position of being able to comment on strategies, while these fundraisers have to actually deliver. They have to come up with a sustainable funding strategy with diverse income streams that turns into actual cash – oh and at the right time and in a steady, planned flow please.

Three things in particular struck me about just how difficult this task is:

1. It weighs heavy – it is one thing to analyse funding sources and trends and come up with a plan in theory. But fundraisers have to do that whilst deeply engaged with the work of the charity, knowing what difference it makes to clients and working alongside the staff and volunteers. That means they bear the responsibility of people’s jobs and whether services continue or not.

2. It takes resources - to have diverse income streams means having funding coming from several different sources e.g. contracts, legacies, regular donors, grants, community events, corporate sponsorship, trading. Each income stream needs to be managed and reported on separately. A small charity with lots of different income streams has to engage and manage a lot of different supporters and funders which all requires time and expertise.

3. It involves managing people – small charities are likely to have volunteers and Trustees doing the fundraising or may employ one or two paid fundraisers. No one individual or small team will have the skills needed for all areas of fundraising. Writing a tender document is very different from persuading someone to run a marathon for your cause. Switching emphasis from one type of fundraising to another will often mean letting current staff go and recruiting for the new expertise needed. And it will certainly mean managing change and all that brings.

Fundraisers have to do all this in a hostile climate. Their costs divert precious funding from front line services. They need to convince the Trustees that the return on any investment in fundraising is worth it. And yet no-one knows for sure that the chosen funding strategy is going to be right.

I for one, am going to be heading into 2016 with a reinvigorated respect for all those charities – and their fundraisers – who are trying to diversify their funding and secure a more financially sustainable future for those they support.

Emma Beeston Consultancy advises funders and philanthropists on giving strategies and processes; selecting causes and charities; assessments and impact monitoring. Services for charities include external perception reviews; bid reviews; training for fundraisers and non-fundraisers involved in bids. emma@emmabeeston.co.uk ; www.emmabeeston.co.uk ; @emmabeeston01