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"I have been a fundraiser for 12 years and thought I knew most things about trust fundraising.  However after listening to Isabel talk at a recent IOF workshop she opened my mind to many possibilities.  I can honestly say it’s the best talk I’ve been to at an IOF event and I’ve been going for about 8 years.  She was not only informative, but she told you things from experience, was honest, go getting, fun and entertaining.  I would definitely recommend her as a speaker, if only to inspire junior fundraisers to aim higher and motivate seasoned fundraisers to appraise what they are doing and how it could be improved."Jeanette Grose, Education and Employers Taskforce
That was the reaction to our recent training session at the Institute of Fundraising London group's 'Twenty Minute Masterclass'. Many thanks for the quote Jeanette, I hope it translates to more money from the funders! Contact us if you would like for more information about training for your organisation.  


advice2Go goes global!

 
Well, we have made a start...
We have close links with our associate Holly Hudson in the United States, with whom we have collaborated on past projects. This gives advice2Go an interesting perspective on innovation and good practice in the USA, and how it differs from the UK experience. We have already begun by helping one UK client find partners  in the US as well as discovering examples of good practice and new ideas that may not have been tried out in the UK before. We can provide you, our clients, with research, data, case studies and best practice examples to compare and contrast in each country. This gives you a unique perspective and adds value to the bids you prepare. It also gives you an additional resource to develop opportunities for international collaboration.
 
You can find out more about Holly at:  http://www.hollyhudson.net/ 
 

Our researcher Dougal Squires, has set up shop in Berlin with the longer term aim of developing our clients and networks in Europe.

 

You can contact Dougal direct  here.
 

A new office for advice2Go

 

Check out our contacts page to make sure you have the latest contact details for us.

 

2011 gets off to a flying start!

 

Barely had the New Year begun when a call came through from one of our regular arts clients to say they had received $10,000 from Bank of America.
Hot on their heels comes the news that another client working with disadvantaged young people has scooped £37,800 from an environmental charity, bringing their year to date total to £180,000. Looks like another busy year for our grants team!
 
advice2Go is launching a new service with long time collaborators Platform-7 who have over 15 years’ experience of event management and delivery. 2011 sees the launch of their new, issue based events programme, prompting a rethink of how charity events can really benefit a cause, delivering key messages through live performance. Platform-7 events engages at a more profound emotional level, providing fresh insight. They can also help you to reach new audiences or convey existing concepts in challenging and thought provoking ways. To view their current projects, the artists and animateurs they work with and illustrations of previous work, visit their website today. We can’t recommend them highly enough. Take a look for yourselves...
 
We have added a new page to our website which gives advice on how to chose and work with a fundraising consultant. This may save you a lot of time and money so read it first before you contact us
 
 Here at advice2Go we have thought long and hard about how we can deliver practical and affordable advice to smaller clients.February 2011 sees the launch of our new mentoring support and training services. If your turnover is below £100,000, your organisation could benefit in one of two ways:
 
Practical training and trend reporting
 
Feedback on individual applications
 
With prices from as little as £50 excluding VAT, this could be just what you need to improve your chances of funding success. Drop us an email now for more details
 
 
TRAINING ON THE JOB 
 
Times are hard, money tight and charities need to get every ounce of value out of their staff. Having well trained staff in post is vital, keeping their skills and knowledge base in tip-top order comes at a price and when times are tight it is often the training budget that is sacrificed. However, this can be short-sighted because if your teams do not have the latest skills and tips at their fingertips it could cost your organisation much more than just the training budget!
advice2Go has over 100 years collective expertise in the voluntary sector, providing a range of hands-on services related to funding and sponsorship, with supporting research and training programmes. Unlike companies that give up day to day work to specialise in training, our team are still out every day working hands-on with our clients, providing valuable expertise backed up by the latest research on policy and practice from our research team. We deliver too, bringing in hundreds of thousands of pounds for them each year, despite the recession.
We know that a day out may be a luxury you cannot afford, so we focus on a half-day of intensive advice and task setting, which delivers much more and leaves your staff motivated and refreshed. This does not have to be expensive either. A one-off fee of £500 provides training for up to 50 people. You provide the venue and the catering etc.; we provide the training and programme materials.
We focus on the three key areas for maximum income generation:
  • Major donors 
  • Corporate supporters
  • Trusts and foundations 
The programme is tailored to your needs and to levels of giving appropriate to your organisation. If we don’t know them already (and we have covered most of the country) we research the key issues that affect your area and make the programme as relevant to your needs and clients as they need it to be. We have worked in every discipline, from the arts to waste management,  so our advice is relevant, timely, topical and packed with insight and opportunities to network and collaborate across sectors and disciplines.

TIMELY AND AFFORDABLE MENTORING SUPPORT

How does it work?

You send us your application once it is ready to be sent off to funders. We will review it to check that you:

  • Meet the funder’s criteria
  • Have answered all the questions appropriately
  • Have given your project the best chance of securing funding
What do we get in return?

A short report outlining how you could strengthen your application. This will either be written directly into your application or sent with the reply email.

What does it cost?

For a simple application to a charitable trust, we will review each application you send us and offer a follow up phone call to clarify any outstanding points for £50 (excluding VAT). More complex applications may take longer and may cost a little more. We will however, try to keep our costs as low as possible.

In most cases we would expect to be able to respond to your enquiry within 5 working days, but will let you know at the time of booking if it is likely to be longer.