Julian Holmes-Taylor talks to Jenny Ramage about career challenges past and present
You moved up internally at RSPCA last October, from head of events and community to head of fundraising. What are your reflections on the first six months in your new role?
It’s been a challenge! Going from heading up a relatively small division to being responsible for around 100 staff and around £100m-worth of business made for an interesting first few weeks. Understanding that you have to focus on the strategic rather than the day to day detail was a real learning curve. I had to learn very quickly where I could add value across all the different strands of business, and what their operation plans and strategies were.
How did you develop the skills and experience to enable you to make the step up?
During my tenure at the Red Cross, I got the opportunity to head up the fundraising development side with another senior manager. Later on I became absorbed into the high-value giving team as national events manager, and got involved in all kinds of fundraising across that division – corporate partnerships, major donor fundraising etc, and also worked closely with the chief executive and the director on a wide range of prospect events. All of that enabled me to understand the other fundraising streams and what value I could bring.
The RSPCA has struggled a bit in recent years with a decline in legacy income. How is the organisation tackling this?
We’ve brought our legacy admin team and our legacy marketing team together under one directorate, and are establishing new ways of working. I want to make sure the legacy marketing team and admin teams are part of the fundraising cycle, as opposed to a separate element. It’s about getting the message across internally, and also ensuring that the legacy message is part of the donor journey. We’ve also worked hard to diversify our income base so that we’re not overly reliant on legacy income.
The charity set up a ‘legal fighting fund’ last year, which allows supporters to donate specifically to that line of work. What would you say to people who still might criticise the charity for the amount it spends on bringing prosecutions?
It’s a healthy debate to have, but the RSPCA has always had the prevention of animal cruelty at its core. Unfortunately bringing prosecutions against those that break the law is part and parcel of what we do, and we’ve never shied away from that.
What will be the charity’s biggest challenges over the year ahead?
These are difficult times for the RSPCA and for many other charities. We need to achieve growth from our fundraising while achieving a balanced budget for the organisation, and that will pull the purse strings tight. There are opportunities where income might not be realised for two or three years, and that’s a difficult business case to put forwards at this point.
Any exciting plans in the pipeline?
We’ve got a new directorate, a new senior management team and a new CEO, and we’ve brought campaigns, press and digital all under one roof. This meant that for the first time last year we were able to pilot a fully integrated, cross-channel fundraising campaign. There were lessons learned, but it just showed the massive potential that it's got and we will be building on this success going forward.
We’re also about to launch a new project-based fundraising platform, which will enable us for the first time to show packages of our work and allow the donor to fund different parts of our work on one platform, either through donating directly or fundraising for that project.
RSPCA Week starts on 29 April. What form will it take this year?
We’re revamping RSPCA week this year. Although it’s raised significant money over its history, it’s probably right to refresh it and to really ensure we take a proper integrated approach to that week. So this year we will be promoting it across all channels, from campaigning to our DM packs and all our community & event fundraising materials, ensuring that the overarching messaging is consistent across all those channels.
What has been the proudest moment of your career?
My proudest moment so far has been receiving the Red Cross badge of honour in recognition of outstanding service to the Red Cross. There are not many staff members that are presented with the badge, and it was awarded to me by Sir Nicholas Young, the CEO at the Red Cross national assembly in front of an 800-strong crowd. Slightly embarrassing as I was also helping to produce that event, and that element of the schedule caught me on the hop! It’s now got pride of place in my home.
Julian Holmes-Taylor is head of fundraising at RSPCA
This article first appeared in The Fundraiser magazine, Issue 28, April 2013
