How to...
Organise
a successful
fundraising
event
Want to sail the oceans single-handedly?
Perhaps you’d rather organise a village
cake sale? If you’re thinking about raising
money for BLESMA, whether your ideas
are grand or much more modest, help is
at hand. Take some tips from BLESMA’s
team of professional fundraising experts...
A
charity can only be as effective
as the amount of money it
raises, and BLESMA – which
has always had a tremendous
number of loyal supporters
– employed an all-new, six-person team
between April and June this year with an
aim to build on its fundraising potential.
“Prior to the new team our main source
of income was community and volunteerbased,” explains Annette Hall, BLESMA’s
new Head of Fundraising. “BLESMA is
lucky to have lots of supporters at the heart
of all that we do, but we weren’t always
able to give them what they needed. We
now have support in place for volunteers.”
Annette describes her role as “steering
the ship”, identifying priorities and keeping
everything running efficiently. “Any new
starter brings a fresh approach, but as my
past experience includes working within
one of the UK’s top 10 charities I think big,”
she says. “We’re fully aware of the financial
climate, and it’s essential that we broaden
the different types of income we get. Changes
won’t happen overnight, but I can see huge
potential at BLESMA. Together with our
Members, we can achieve amazing things.”
22 www.blesma.org
As well as Annette, the new fundraising
team consists of Community and Events
Executive Mia Guthrie, Direct Mail
Executive Chhaya Parmar, Trusts Executive
Rose Yombo-Djema, Corporate Partnerships
Executive Jess Vincent and Fundraising
Database Manager Deborah Ladepo.
“Mia has been involved with organising
and planning events for years, and has
been a volunteer from the age of 13,” says
Annette. “Chhaya is a Direct Marketeer
responsible for building our direct mail.
It’s crucial we know what supporters want.
“Rose focuses on raising funds from
trusts and foundations, while Jess builds
relationships with our corporate partners
and brings our work to life. She’s already
signed up to do the Three Peaks Challenge!
Last but not least, it’s Deborah’s job to work
with everyone to ensure we capture and
use all the information BLESMA needs
to raise funds as effectively as we can.”
The team are certainly enjoying all the
new challenges so far. “BLESMA is a
fantastic place to work,” says Annette.
“The rest of the organisation has been very
welcoming, and patient when we’ve asked
lots of daft questions. The great thing
about working for a smaller organisation
is how much more flexible we can be
in our approach. We can get to know our
Members and our supporters very closely.
“It’s also extremely inspiring. The entire
Fundraising Team have already been
fortunate enough to join in rock-climbing
and abseiling on Activities Week. Taking
part helped us to better understand exactly
what BLESMA does and has enabled us to
be much more proactive in our new roles.”
And that proactivity starts here, with
some helpful advice to Members. So if