Caroline Danks, Author at LarkOwl

Scholarships for online fundraising training

Like many, we are continually recognising the privilege we inherited. From parents who expected us to have a full education, to what it means to be a white person, where you are a part of the dominant culture and all the benefits that brings. We know that so much of our lives are governed not by how hard we work, but by the place we were born, the colour of our skin, the marginalised identities we happen to inhabit, the expectations of our parents and […]

Introducing the LarkOwl Community

The LarkOwl Community is live! This post describes its developmemt, what it is and why we think its important. I don’t know about you but (at the time of writing (April 2021) I’m missing real, actual people in my life. I can’t wait to see my friends, go out for dinner (in a warm, indoors place as opposed to sat outside in a freezing easterly gale), watch the ballet / opera in London and chomp down a bucket of popcorn in the cinema (though Tony […]

What an ambitious income generation strategy ACTUALLY looks like

Hands up if you’ve ever heard charities talking about having: “an ambitious income generation strategy” “an innovative and diverse fundraising portfolio” “forward thinking, donor focused supporter journeys” And then continuing to do everything exactly the same? Short term Organisation centric copy Same old, same old… Modern fundraising is problematic because it is vulnerable to (amongst other things): economic events, (which impact people’s ability to give) competition government decisions around support for core services. Budgets tend to be decided once […]

Charities and profit first

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about charities and profit first (I’ll explain what I mean by that later), sustainability and the pressure which has been placed on fundraisers during the past year. When income no longer matches expenditure, how should charities react? By forcing an unachievable target on their fundraisers? Or by adjusting expenditure? I have just finished work on a 13-month project to help Rowcroft Hospice start to fund an endowment through philanthropy (next week I’ll share more about […]

What is a Case for Support?

Fundraising, like every profession is FULL of its own special brand of jargon. Cultivation, stewardship, solicitation, ‘Case for Support’…. the list goes on. The latter is a phrase which gets a lot of airtime, but conversely, is also one which generates a lot of confusion. So, what is a Case for Support? Put simply a Case for Support is: A written document which describes the need for funding and the proposed solution. The basis from which all external comms are […]

Defining a major gift for your charity

Last week, we looked at the broad definition of a major gift. This week’s article will give you some practical tips on defining a major gift for your charity. It’s different for everyone and the amount of resource you have plays a large role in dictating what constitutes a major gift for you. To do this, you might find it useful to answer these three questions: How much time do you (and your colleagues) have available to dedicate to this work? How much […]

What is a major gift?

It’s a key focus area for many a fundraising mix, but for those new to the idea, what is a major gift? Of course, it’s different for everyone and there are many definitions. Broadly though, a major gift is: A single donation which is significantly larger compared to the average for your charity given by a major donor whose contributions are sufficient to warrant one to one cultivation and stewardship The 80 / 20 rule applies here, so 80% of your income will […]

Less is more: building the best audience, not the biggest

Guest post by Clair Wellsbury-Nye We travel now to a time beyond pandemics and lockdowns, when a busy town centre was normal, not a nightmare… You’re in a busy shopping centre, handing out flyers for a show your band is playing at a nearby bar that evening. To encourage people to come along, the flyers offer free beer. Showtime arrives, and the house is packed – awesome, the flyers worked! You start playing, and people at the front are dancing, clapping, singing along. […]

How to respond when you’ve been given a ridiculous fundraising target

Ridiculous fundraising targets seem to be a bit of a theme for 2021. In our annual community survey, we asked you all: What is your biggest challenge at the moment? and What topics would you like us to cover in the Nest Egg in 2021? We’re grateful for the detail and honesty with which you answered. There were a wide variety of problems / challenges described and topics you asked us to cover. Here were the most common themes across the two questions: […]

How are you doing?

Last week I spent an afternoon delving into responses from our annual community survey. We’ve done the survey a couple of times now. It’s important to check that we’re on the right path with our weekly content and that our articles are a source of inspiration and practical help. As well as asking you all about your work, your roles and your interest in buying LarkOwl products and services, we also wanted to know how you are. How are you? Really, how are you? Fortunately, […]

Income generation for charities

Author Archive: Caroline Danks

Scholarships for online fundraising training

Introducing the LarkOwl Community

What an ambitious income generation strategy ACTUALLY looks like

Charities and profit first

What is a Case for Support?

Defining a major gift for your charity

What is a major gift?

Less is more: building the best audience, not the biggest

How to respond when you’ve been given a ridiculous fundraising target

How are you doing?

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