9 December 2009
Community Groups Face Tough Times
Local community groups reliant on funding grants from philanthropic trusts and gaming machines trusts will find it hard
going in 2009 says fundraising expert Heather Newell.
Heather, whose company Foresee Communications provides fundraising resources and training for groups in the charity,
sports, arts, health and medical research sectors, said the worldwide recession has hit major community funders who make
grants from the interest on their investments. Some funders have called a halt to making any grants at all, others are
reviewing their funding pool for next year.
One of the biggest funders in the country – the ASB Community Trust – has reduced its funding pool by almost half on the
year before and may reduce it again during 2009. Bay Trust which operates in the Gisborne area has frozen its grant
allocations for two months. While not yet ready to make public announcements, Heather knows of others whose investments
have been frozen by fund managers.
“Unless charities have their own reserve funds and other sources of income, the next year is going to be tough,” said
Heather. “The organisations that will survive are those who are active in many fundraising areas and whose donors will
continue to support the organisation in a difficult financial environment. Charities will need to look towards business
support, donations, product sales, direct mail to supporters, membership clubs, street and door to door appeals to
expand their income sources. Even small organisations that are well resourced in the fundraising area can invest $12,000
in communications with their supporters to raise over $100,000 in donations – a return of over nine times the
investment.”
Personal challenges like Movember, where participants sacrifice something for a cause, regularly raise around $500 per
participant. Not all organisations will reach this level of sophistication according to Heather, but these figures show
that organisations can be well resourced and sustainable without relying on funding grants from trusts.
Along with fellow fundraiser Dwyllis Brown, Heather will be presenting workshops on fundraising in Wellington
(January), Auckland (February), Nelson (February) and Invercargill (March). Heather specialises in fundraising with
businesses and sponsorship and has been producing a monthly subscriber publication on sponsorship for 12 years. Dwyllis
has an international qualification in fundraising training and is a fellow of the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand.
Her area of specialisation is fundraising sustainability and future fundraising.
The fundraising workshop will show participants how to create a fundraising plan using different forms of fundraising so
that non profits are not reliant on one single source of income. The case studies and examples they use are all from New
Zealand, using tried, tested and ethical fundraising practice. More information on fundraising and the dates of the
fundraising courses can found on Foresee’s website, www.foresee.co.nz.
ends