Working towards common goals

Strong relationships

What’s been described as the ‘permacrisis’ of recent years has increased demand for the services of charities, throwing a spotlight on the vital relationships they have with their donors and funders.

The British Red Cross has worked with Jaguar Land Rover for 70 years with their Defender brand and Rachel Polnay, the charity’s Director of Partnerships and Philanthropy, says good communication is at the heart of the collaboration: “It’s vital that we listen to our funding partners, but the challenge for all charities is finding the time to put good communication into practice day in, day out.”

Multiple points of contact

Building trusted relationships is central to a charity’s collaboration with its donors – but this can be difficult for fundraisers if the people they deal with keep changing. Rachel Polnay suggests one solution is for charities to create a “many-to-many relationship” so that they’re not reliant on a single person within the funding organisation but have contact with many different individuals. She adds: “Another important aspect of this is having a consistent culture across your organisation so there is an accepted sense of what a good relationship is – something that is in the DNA of the organisation.”

Drawing on donors’ expertise

Charities should look to benefit from donors’ expertise as well as their funding, and there are examples of this in the chapter on collaboration in our Guide to Giving.

The guide details an example of how the charitable foundation set up by housebuilding entrepreneur Steve Morgan collaborated with the charity Maggie’s to help them build new cancer care and support centres.

Steve’s wife Sally says: “By taking the lead on the design and build of Steve Morgan Foundation funded centres, we can ensure they are cost-effective and offer maximum return on investment.” Rather than simply writing a cheque, this means “applying Steve’s building expertise, as well as the entrepreneurial mindset to our giving that comes from leading successful commercial organisations”.

Encouraging unrestricted funding from partners

Most charities obviously prefer unrestricted funding, and we are hearing from our clients that an increasing number of donors are now more likely to agree to giving on these more flexible terms.

Rachel Polnay says: “Ten years ago, I don’t think charities felt they could even ask but donors are now more informed. However, if that’s not the case to start with, building trust can help you move towards unrestricted funding in the future.

“Another option that’s working for us is what we call loosely restricted funds – rather than responding to a specific emergency, we ask donors to give to something for a more general need, like a disaster fund.”

Demonstrating impact

While donors are usually keen to see data that demonstrates their funding is having a positive impact, this is often challenging to deliver and puts added pressure on charities.

Rachel Polnay says: "Something is always better than nothing. When there is a vacuum of information that’s when a donor can start to worry. We’ve had some success in sharing what we had, even when it’s not perfect, and explaining why it's not perfect and how we can get better.”

Many private donors don’t insist on detailed measurement and instead just want an overview of results or a simple, focused example of what their donation has achieved, perhaps through images or a short film. Reporting on impact can also be an opportunity to make personal contact with a donor to build the relationship, even if it’s just a phone call.

Teaming up with other charities

Charities will sometimes find that donors will only offer funding on condition that different charities work together, a stipulation that presents both opportunities and challenges.

Rachel Polnay highlights the fact that greater collaboration between charities is more likely to help solve society’s problems, and that this is more important than charities trying to “increase their market share”.

However, she adds: “Where it can go wrong is if you’re collaborating just to get hold of a pot of money – all the charities involved should have a shared purpose.” 

The relationship between charities, their donors and funders is vital to enable the charity to continue delivering services to it’s clients.

More insights from our National Charities Day