Frequently asked questions

• What services do you provide?
• Why would we need the help of a fundraising consultant?
• How much will it cost?
• Can you work for us on a commission basis?
• What is the success rate for your bid writing services?
• Do you work with small and start-up charities?
• Do you work with Social Enterprises?
• Our organisation works in a very specific sector, do you have relevant experience?
• Do you have referees that we can contact?
• Do you only work with organisations local to you?

Q: What services do you provide?

A: We categorise our main services under three headings: Fundraising Services, Fundraising Strategy, and; Fundraising Training. There is a page describing each of these in the services section of our website. However, every organisation is different so we draw on these services to meet the specific needs of each client. We appoint a Senior Consultant to liaise with each client and to ensure that the client receives a seamless package of advice and support.

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Q: Why would we need the help of a fundraising consultant?

A: Charities and Social Enterprises operate in an increasingly competitive environment. A consultant can offer an external objective view of an organisation and its aims, providing essential strategic advice based on a broad understanding of the fundraising environment. Furthermore, consultants such as ours have developed extensive knowledge over many years of the different funding opportunities that are available and how best to successfully solicit funding. We can also advise on pertinent governance issues that may be adversely impacting on a client’s scope to achieve funding.

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Q: How much will it cost?

A: Our consultancy services are charged per job or per day. Once we have an understanding of a client’s needs, we will provide a costed proposal for them to consider. We strive to offer excellent value for money and our client feedback confirms we achieve this. Our fees fairly represent the value of our experience and remain highly competitive in relation to the fees charged by many other Fundraising Consultants.

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Q: Can you work for us on a commission basis?

A: No, Charity Fundraising Ltd only works on a day fee basis and advises trustees / management of charities to avoid commission arrangements with professional fundraisers. Our professional body, the Institute of Fundraising also strongly recommends against commission arrangements, except in exceptional circumstances.

The following extracts from the Institute of Fundraising's codes of fundraising practice demonstrate the main reasons for this:

• Depending on the nature of the fundraising activity and the people involved it can be difficult to establish who is responsible for achieving what income within any given campaign.
• There is wide scope for confusion and dispute on how payments are calculated (i.e. for recurring income, is commission paid only on the first donation?
• In relation to the sums raised, donors may be misled or disapprove of payment by commission
• In relation to the sums raised, the fundraiser may earn an unacceptable level of remuneration — either too high or too low.
• Payment by commission does not reward commitment or time spent on fundraising; it simply reflects results in terms of income raised. This promotes a short term approach which may be to the detriment of future fundraising efforts.
• Payment for fundraising services on a fee basis respects and rewards the fundraisers' professional worth and removes any possible motivation on the part of the individual fundraiser to engage in high pressure techniques with prospective donors in order to secure additional income to themselves.
• Research indicates that the donating public disapproves of commission as a method of remuneration for fundraising activity. Where public disclosure of payment by commission is required, knowledge that commission payment is to be made as part of the appeal process, will, in itself, be likely to have a suppressive effect on actual fundraising potential.

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Q: What is the success rate for your bid writing services?

A: Our fees tend to represent between 5 – 20% of total funds raised for our clients however we cannot make any guarantees in this respect. Our best result to date has been grant income of over 100 times our fees. We aim to ensure good value by only working for clients at a level that is appropriate and affordable to their organisation. We will only work with a prospective client if we are confident that we can achieve success for them.

Working with Charity Fundraising Ltd also offers additional intangible benefits such as developing management and fundraising skills and procedures in house and supporting long term strategy development. Fundraising is becoming increasingly competitive but our knowledge and experience built up over many years enables us to give your campaign the best possible chance of success.

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Q: Do you work with small and start-up charities?

A: We provide a more limited range of services to small and start-up organisations. In most cases we recommend one of our training courses, however, we can also provide business planning / fundraising strategies. Small or start-up charities without a track record of successful service delivery and financial management tend to attract only small grants and donations. Therefore in many cases it will not be cost effective to use a consultant to provide fundraising services for these organisations.

For locally focussed community organisations, free support and advice is usually available through your nearest council for voluntary service. A directory of these is available from NAVCA.

The Charity Commission can also offer advice on incorporating and registering as a charity.

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Q: Do you work with Social Enterprises?

A: Yes, we have a lot of experience supporting Social Enterprises in business planning, training, fundraising and generating income. We are Registered Suppliers to Business Link East of England. Clients in this Region may be eligible for Business Link vouchers or Social Enterprise Support Grants towards the costs of working with us.

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Q: Our organisation works in a very specific sector, do you have relevant experience?

A: We have a whole team of consultants with experience across a huge range of the voluntary and not-for-profit sector. Charity Fundraising Ltd has provided consultancy services to well over 100 organisations and delivered training to countless more. Some of our previous clients are listed on our website but please get in touch for specific relevant examples. Specific thematic areas in which our consultants have extensive experience, include:

• Health including mental and physical disability and autism
• Welfare of the young, elderly and disadvantaged including BME groups
• Education, particularly for disadvantaged groups
• International Development
• Work with offenders, ex-offenders and those at risk of offending
• Drug and alcohol misuse

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Q: Do you have referees that we can contact?

A: Yes, however we do get a lot of enquiries about our services, so to prevent our existing clients from getting inundated with reference requests we ask prospective clients not to contact these until the final stages of agreeing a contract. At this stage we are happy to provide named referees and contact details. We also have a page on our website with a number of client testimonials.

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Q: Do you only work with organisations local to you?

A: No, we work with clients across the UK and beyond. Outside the UK our work tends to be mainly with large, well established organisations.

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If you have a query that is not answered above, you can submit your query on our contact page or give us a call.