Why retain a Fundraising Consultant?

Minerva has been providing a wide range of consultancy services to charities in the UK and overseas for over 20 years. Whilst we have majored in our work with small charities, we’ve also worked with some very large players in the Third Sector.

What is it that makes a charity retain our services?

Many of the charities we work, and have worked, with are run largely or exclusively by unpaid volunteers. A number have found that the demands of fundraising in the 21st century on top of the day-to-day running of their charity is an area where they need help. Whether this help is to increase their annual income, bridge a funding gap, purchase a vehicle or refurbish a building, Minerva is able to take the workload off hard-pressed staff and volunteers, and raise the funds they need in their planned timeframe.

Other clients of ours already have fundraising staff in post; but they want a fundraising overview which their team at the coalface have neither the time nor the detachment to provide. Essentially, they want an answer to the questions:

• Have we got our fundraising right?
• Are we directing our fundraising activities to maximise benefit for our charity?

To meet these needs, we offer strategic planning, feasibility studies and research into new funding sources, as well as training in fundraising techniques for volunteers and other staff, backed up by Jimmy James’ highly acclaimed book, The Volunteer Fundraiser’s Handbook.

Trustee Boards are sometimes overwhelmed by governance needs and the demands of new legislation such as GDPR. Minerva is able to give Trustees up-to-date advice on governance and current regulations, ensuring that they have the information they need without having to search for it or spend their time poring over books, leaflets and web pages.

I often hear the complaint that fundraising consultants are expensive. They don’t need to be. Minerva offers flexible contracts so that the charities we work with can vary the number of days we work with them each month, and so keep costs to a minimum. We also have flexible breakpoints in our contracts, so that our services can be increased, decreased or brought to a close if funds are raised more quickly than anticipated, projects are expanded or the Trustees decide the charity needs to take a different direction.

Whatever your fundraising needs or resources, Minerva can help. Give us a call – you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the options on offer!