Confident that there is still money out there for fundraisers with the right level of ambition, Alan Gosschalk talks about the profession as he sees it

How did you come to work in fundraising?

I started out working in two multinationals and decided that, at the end of the day, selling food products didn’t matter that much. Then I saw a job at Help the Aged advertised. I have been in the charity sector for 21 years since and love it.

What do you find most rewarding about it?

Making a difference to people’s lives, which really matters. Over the past ten years charities have really professionalised and become innovative. You are exposed to all sorts of people and I guess it’s a bit less bureaucratic, in fundraising you get to meet pretty senior people who are committed to your cause and that’s inspiring.

What can fundraisers do to make their roles easier for themselves?

Make the most of the people that already support them. That’s easier than getting someone new to support your organisation. It means great customer care and feeding back on the impact that the money has achieved in an appropriate way. I still think that charities have a way to go with that. In terms of new support, trying to find links into people and making the most of networks the charity has.With the best will in the world, if a company is deciding it’s not going to give any money away next year, even if there’s a great fit, there’s not that much point in working with them at that moment.

What do you think 2012 has in store for fundraising as a profession?

That’s a tough question. There’s a danger that fewer donations become a self-fulfilling prophecy because fundraisers are scared of asking for money. I don’t believe there is a limit to the size of the fundraising cake, the limit is fundraisers’ expectations and their aspirations. The fact that the economy’s difficult isn’t ideal but I definitely don’t think we should be assuming that the amount of money’s going to go down. If we’re great at providing evidence of what we need the money for, and engaging people emotionally, then they will support us. I’m still really optimistic about 2012.

Is there an argument for targeting major donors over other supporters in that case?

There’s potential in all areas and it depends what your charity’s like. There’re lots of great causes and somehow you have to make yourself standout. That may be the way you present your charity or what you’re asking them for funding for, or it may be the funding model. We’ve done a lot of different funding models, so I think giving people a range of ways in which to support you is really important. I wouldn’t say there’s much more potential in major donors than low-level giving.

How else is Scope approaching fundraising this year?

We’re developing a supporter website that we think meets their needs and provides them with better information. We’re also looking at the supporter journey so when people start supporting us, particularly in the first three to six months, we want to make sure that we’re as impactful and effective as possible to stop people leaving us. You get different kinds of attrition rates depending on the recruitment method, at the moment we’re very dependant on door-to-door fundraising so we want to diversify how we fundraise, so we’ll be looking at premium SMS and fundraising by the web.

How do you see venture philanthropy progressing at Scope?

We’re launching a monthly-giving fund for high-net-worth donors. The promise is that for every pound given into the fund, we will leverage it for sustainability, impact and value. By that we mean that we will invest it into an income generating part of our work. In the first instance, that’s investing in shops and by doing that we can turn every pound into about £7.20 for Scope to spend on its unrestricted activities like helplines or support workers.

If there is a worry in the funding environment at the moment, it’s the high-cost annual revenue targets that you need in order to sustain things that you don’t have statutory grants against. So finding ways in which you can generate unrestricted money is key.

How does venture philanthropy tie into traditional fundraising?

It’s just giving people a range of options. Some people want to give you a straight donation, some want to lend you money directly, some are interested in a bond – it’s giving people choices.

Will Scope replicate the Grangewood project in future?

Our new projects do but the replication isn’t on the delivery side it’s on the concept side. What was successful about Grangewood was the leveraging and we’re already going out with a new message on that but it’s being invested into shops and then the income from those shops will be invested into supporting families.

The high-net-worth market likes value for money, leverage, making things more sustainable and having a bigger impact, so if you can build a product that delivers all of that then they ought to buy it.

What’s the most important consideration in becoming a successful fundraiser today?

Fundraisers need to get out and meet as many people as possible and find out why they give. We’re all very good at focusing on our charity and why we’re great but we need to make that relevant to the people we’re talking to.

If you weren’t a director of fundraising, what would you be doing?

I’d be working for Manchester City because they’re establishing the world’s biggest football foundation and I’m a mad Man City fan.

Alan Gosschalk is director of fundraising at Scope

This interview first appeared in The Fundraiser, Issue 12, 2012