Posts Tagged: fundraising

Tea with Simon Cowell, and why the Health Lottery is no bad thing

Simon Cowell asked me to go to tea with him this week. Actually that’s only partially true: more accurately, I was invited by a PR person to a rather civilised afternoon tea hosted by the TV talent guru and the media mogul Richard Desmond to celebrate the Health Lottery. The lottery, which manages 51 society… Read more »

Why do some causes raise more money than others?

Last week, Cass Business School published its new Charity Market Monitor, which looks at the most successful fundraising charities in the UK. One interesting factor was the differing success of different charities. By far the most successful sector for fundraising was health, with Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation occupying the two top… Read more »

The Standard Chartered Great City Race featured the best-dressed audience I’ve seen on a sporting occasion

Last week, three months almost to the day after the London Marathon, I took to the streets of central London once again, surrounded by thousands of people running for charity. Roads were closed, and people gathered around to cheer on the runners. The distance was a little less dramatic, mind. Instead of the 42 kilometre… Read more »

Fundraising and finance: the oddly successful couple

A while ago, I interviewed a finance director who claimed she could tell which department of a charity she was in, just by looking in the fridge. Go into the finance department in her organisation, she said, and the fridge was full of sensible sandwiches: ham and cheese on plain brown bread. The fundraising department… Read more »

We survived the Homeless Hacks challenge…

On Friday night, my fellow reporter Sophie Hudson and I slept rough in Spitalfields Market.  No, it wasn’t because times are tough in the journalism business these days. It was a fundraising event held by the charity Action for Brazil’s Children.  We managed to smash our fundraising target of £150 each: so far we have… Read more »

Homeless Hacks fundraising challenge Day Four

We did it! Yesterday Kaye and I smashed through the £300 fundraising target and managed to raise £335 – and that’s without counting any of the Gift Aid. I would not necessarily say this is down to any particular genius on our part. Echoing what I wrote yesterday, I think it has been largely down… Read more »

Homeless Hacks fundraising challenge Day Three

So, Kaye and I did well with our fundraising yesterday. We’ve managed to raise £265 in two days. In fact, with the Gift Aid, we have already broken through our £300 target. We’re both lucky to be surrounded by a group of very generous friends and family, who have been incredible with their support. But… Read more »

Homeless Hacks fundraising challenge Day Two

Day two of the Homeless Hacks fundraising challenge, and things are proving difficult. I’ve created the Virgin Money Giving fundraising page – the charity we’re supporting, Action for Brazil’s Children, asked us specifically to use the Virgin site, not Justgiving (I wonder how many other charities do this?) But the site is driving me mad. Parts of… Read more »

Sleeping rough for charity – a good idea?

Every now and again, it helps to look at things from a different perspective.  By covering the fundraising patch at Third Sector, both my fellow reporter, Sophie Hudson, and I have grappled with the arguments for and against various forms of fundraising, the complex regulations that surround raising cash and the various fundraising strategies that… Read more »

‘Micro-volunteering’ highlights positive impact of technology on voluntary sector

It’s easy to become jaded by the endless stream of technological advances we see practically every day. But one piece of technology I recently became aware of that made me sit up and take notice is an app which allows people to donate just a few valuable minutes of their time to charities in a… Read more »