Applications: 3. Rejects: 3. Realisations that we need to better publicise our grants criteria: 3.
As I’ve noted in my rather “maternalistic” general advice in the right-hand column, we grantmakers don’t, as a general rule, like to be visited. At least I don’t. Like a cat, I’m a bit territorial. I wish I’d had an insight into this feeling when I was working for an operational charity and was given an annual target of meeting at least half of my Trusts contacts, which invariably meant going to see them. I never succeeded in securing an invitation and was always fobbed off – until I started my current job, I thought there must have been something wrong with me. (B.O. detectable down the phone line, perhaps?) The reasoning was that we were based some way out of London and people would never want to make the journey out to see us, and asking them to do so would be presumptuous in the extreme.
AU CONTRAIRE! As a grantmaker I love a) getting out of the office, b) seeing organisations getting on with the work we’re supporting even if it just seems like any old office to you, and c) getting out of London.
But I do wonder whether making lots of visits, as I try to do, is taking up the valuable time of smaller organisations? I know full well that meeting donors is the full-time fundraiser’s icing-on-the-cake, and that nothing takes a higher priority, but if I’m meeting the CEO or an operational manager of a small charity, I do have to wonder whether I’m breaking a golden rule. I don’t tend to hang around for more than an hour or so, don’t expect a red carpet, and am always well-received (natch!) but there is of course preparation time and disruption to activities to factor in.
As I’ve noted before, the hands-on approach is pretty radical, especially for small to medium sized grantmakers, so it will be interesting to see how it smooths out. It would be awful if charities were having to garner and expend large resources simply to meet the demands of a million and one different funders. That lesson has been taught before, and shouldn’t need to be repeated.
AU CONTRAIRE! As a grantmaker I love a) getting out of the office, b) seeing organisations getting on with the work we’re supporting even if it just seems like any old office to you, and c) getting out of London.
But I do wonder whether making lots of visits, as I try to do, is taking up the valuable time of smaller organisations? I know full well that meeting donors is the full-time fundraiser’s icing-on-the-cake, and that nothing takes a higher priority, but if I’m meeting the CEO or an operational manager of a small charity, I do have to wonder whether I’m breaking a golden rule. I don’t tend to hang around for more than an hour or so, don’t expect a red carpet, and am always well-received (natch!) but there is of course preparation time and disruption to activities to factor in.
As I’ve noted before, the hands-on approach is pretty radical, especially for small to medium sized grantmakers, so it will be interesting to see how it smooths out. It would be awful if charities were having to garner and expend large resources simply to meet the demands of a million and one different funders. That lesson has been taught before, and shouldn’t need to be repeated.
1 comment:
I think you are right in observing that a one hour visit equates to more time than that for the charity in terms of preparation and debriefing. However, as you will know, the value of that hour's meeting is worthwhile. Fundraisers are taught that people give to people, not organisations to organisations. I believe this is true, but when making trust applications, its easy to forget the people side of the job. Those meetings help to reinforce the human nature of the transaction, thereby potentially saving many hours of grant application writing time directed towards the wrong things. I would say, keep on getting out and about. It is a big help.
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