Diabetes UK

 

Background and Brief

A review of Diabetes UK’s regional fundraising revealed that only a limited amount of corporate fundraising activity was taking place at a regional level, and much of this was opportunistic and unplanned. As a developing charity brand that was excelling in other areas of income generation it was clear that Diabetes UK was punching below its weight in terms of its business relationships.

 

The key factor holding back the development of this fundraising stream in the regions was identified as being a general lack of specialist corporate fundraising skills and knowledge, which in turn was affecting fundraisers’ confidence about dealing with companies. Additionally, many fundraisers were not up to speed with current thinking as regards corporate engagement models and CSR.

 

Our Approach

We worked closely with Diabetes UK’s two Heads of Regional Fundraising and the Corporate Partnerships Manager to develop a day’s bespoke training for the charity’s National/Regional Fundraisers and Regional Fundraising Administrators. The day’s training covered the full spectrum of corporate fundraising including:

 

• Why companies support good causes

• The different forms of corporate support – donations, sponsorship, cause-related marketing, gifts-in-kind, Charity of the Year, employee volunteering.

• How/where to find companies to target

• How to make approaches and cultivate corporate partnerships

• Tips for perfect pitching

• Developing and negotiating mutually beneficial partnerships  

• How to manage corporate accounts

• Legal and tax issues

 

The workshop was punctuated by a series of practical, individual and group-based exercises – including refining ‘elevator pitches’ to imaginary CEOs, analysing real-life corporate partnership examples and preparing a major corporate pitch. The fundraisers were provided with regular feedback, given a range of hand-outs and supporting information, and set challenging exercises to complete in the weeks following the training day.

 

Outcomes

The aim of this intensive session was to develop the Regional Fundraisers’ corporate fundraising knowledge, skills and techniques and in turn, bolster their confidence so that they would feel better equipped to engage with companies at a local and regional level.

 

Feedback received from the delegates and the Heads of Regional Fundraising was extremely positive, with 100% of the delegates confirming that the day’s training had made them feel more confident about engaging and working with companies.