When clients approach us for help with their heritage regeneration project, we don’t see our role primarily as “cash chasers”. Especially in the early stages of the journey, the focus should instead be on developing programmes on which the fundraising will eventually be based; in other words, the programmes that will make the client ‘fundable’. We are also frequently asked to assess the feasibility of a particular funding proposition or to mentor / coach leadership teams. This early case development work is essential as it ‘prepares the ground’ on which a successful campaign will be built.
Craigmyle consultants can look back on a successful 1st quarter of the year, securing necessary funds and helping clients develop their heritage projects.
We have been working with Christ Church St Leonards towards securing a £250,000 grant from the Lottery. The grant, awarded in January, will cover the restoration of the exterior of the church and the development of live demonstrations and interpretation projects focussing on the key heritage assets of the church and a ‘heritage hub’ from which community activities will be developed and run. Previously Craigmyle successfully applied for two major grants for Christ Church from the Historic England’s Cultural Recovery Fund for Heritage, totalling £280,000.
The Friends of Nunhead Cemetery in partnership with Southwark Council secured the £250,000 match funding as part of the development phase of their £4,2m Heritage Lottery bid. The client plans to restore a Victorian Gate Lodge at the cemetery’s entrance (currently a ruin) and turn it into a community hub plus café. The cemetery is one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ Victorian cemeteries established in London between 1832 and 1841. The ecological significance of the cemetery’s is reflected in its status as local Nature Reserve and Metropolitan Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. The project’s wide-ranging volunteering opportunities and activity plans will benefit local communities in this multi-cultural part of South London. Our consultants were given just six months to find £250,000 and managed it with grants from Historic England, Pilgrim Trust and Garfield Weston Foundation as well as Section 106 funding.
Another Craigmyle client, the PCC of St John’s Deptford secured a £62,054 grant from NLHF to restore their Grade II* Historic Organ, built in 1901. Community activities around the restoration are designed to boost engagement with heritage, support wellbeing, build skills and employability within this young, diverse, multi-ethnic community. Black and other ethnic minorities constitute 95% of St John’s congregation and c.55% of regular users, including asylum seekers and refugee households who use a foodbank on church premises. Upon completion, the organ will be comprehensively recorded and made into a publicly available ‘digital virtual pipe organ’.
Since 2022, consultants have been working with Holy Trinity Hastings, to develop and secure funding for their £4.5m ‘Heritage@HTH project. The project aims to restore the exterior and interior of the Grade II* listed church building, including the restoration of church treasures that are of national and international heritage significance. Alongside energy efficiency/ sustainability measures, these plans also aim to create a new curated Heritage Experience for Hastings including multi-media interpretation content developed by students at the local College for Further Education. The client was able to secure seed-funding from the local Heritage Action Zone funding body, which allowed them to develop a project that is more ambitious than anything they have ever done before. In December 2023, HTH Church received initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to fully develop their plans and to apply for a full National Lottery grant at a later date. Craigmyle will continue be an integral part of this next important phase of the project.
Finally, Autism Together, a large autism care provider based in the Wirral, secured a £10,000 Project Viability Grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund which allowed them to engage a team of architects to carry out an options appraisal for the future use of the heritage buildings they own. The buildings are set in an area with a fascinating 19th century industrial heritage story. This will be an exciting journey for Autism Together involving local heritage partners and community groups and Craigmyle will be alongside Autism Together every step of the way.
Email us at first@craigmyle.org.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/craigmylefr
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/craigmyle-&-co-ltd
We are delighted to announce that as of November 2023 Aaron Barbour has joined the Craigmyle consultant team.
Aaron has over 26 years’ experience as a seasoned and successful fundraiser and charity leader. Aaron has experience in a wide range of fundraising, specialising in Trusts and Foundations and the Lottery; as well as corporate fundraising, sponsorship, community fundraising, government (central and local – contracts and grants), major donors, individual giving, online fundraising and match giving campaigns e.g. the Big Give.
In addition to fundraising, Aaron has spent the last 17 years in senior leadership roles as CEO, Chair of Trustees and Trustee, for small and local charities (some start-ups and some well-established). His experience includes strategic development, project management, partnerships, trustee governance and leadership development, as well as feasibility studies, case development, bid writing, training and seminars.
Aaron said
I can’t wait to get stuck in and support charities to thrive with their fundraising. Having run a number of charities myself I know how the cost of living, high inflation and increased competition for funding is making it so hard at the moment. Craigmyle’s amazing track record and experienced team of consultants bring an array of skills and knowledge for charities, schools, universities and faith groups to raise the funds they need to make a difference to the people and communities they work with.
To contact Aaron please call him on 07968 442 168 or email at aaron@craigmyle.org.uk
Connect with Aaron on Linked In.
Later this month, Craigmyle will be taking a deep dive into schools fundraising, with week-long relevant and thought-provoking content for Heads, Development Directors, Bursars and Governors.
There will be insight and advice from across our team of experienced consultants, as well as historical context from our archives containing more than 60 years of fundraising with schools and other educational establishments.
We will be looking at various hot topics, from the recent threat to charitable status, to bursaries, and how to create a culture of giving.
Director, Christine Buccella:
Supporting schools to maximise fundraising returns whilst retaining goodwill has been a core aspect of Craigmyle’s work for more than six decades. Throughout the many changes that have been seen, Craigmyle has continued to provide strategic and practical advice and forge lasting and productive partnerships. Today, schools face many challenges and we know fundraising and development remains vital.
Don’t miss out – be sure to follow us and join in the conversation on Linked In.
#craigmyleschoolsweek
The collection is made up of papers relating to their role in providing advice and guidance to the fundraising sector, their relationships and communication with a wide variety of clients, from ecclesiastical institutions to educational organisations, that the Company has worked with since its creation in 1959, and the governance of the organisation.
To catalogue this collection, and make Craigmyle’s archive more widely accessibly, Special Collections & Archives at the University of Kent appointed a Project Archivist, Dr Daniella Gonzalez.
The collection contains 212 boxes of material that Daniella is currently sorting and initially listing to gain a better understanding of the scope and content of the collection, and to aid planning for how to structure the collection and approach the various stages of this cataloguing project. Interesting files so far have included press cuttings, a huge series of fundraising brochures, leaflets and appeals forms, as well as correspondence files with a wide variety of clients fundraising for new buildings, refurbishments, equipment purchase, staff costs and project work.
Collaboration has already started with colleagues in the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent about potential future research projects that can be developed by studying Craigmyle’s archive. Over the next year, Daniella will fully catalogue the collection and make Craigmyle’s archive available on the Special Collections and Archives’ website. This will provide academic researchers, both at the University and externally, and the general public the opportunity to consult the collection and further understand Craigmyle’s vital contribution to the fundraising and philanthropy sector.
Dr Daniella Gonzalez cataloguing files
The project will complete with an exhibition, showcasing records from across Craigmyle’s archive. This exhibition will celebrate Craigmyle’s success in supporting clients through fundraising, as well as how and why this is a key collection when researching both the history of and current role of philanthropy and fundraising. Daniella will work closely with Siân Newton, Director at Craigmyle, to publicise the exhibition, and an online version of the exhibition will be made available to reach wider audiences.
Dr Daniella Gonzalez, Project Archivist, Special Collections & Archives, University of Kent:
I’m absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to be working on such a varied collection from an organisation that has played, and continues to play, a key part in the fundraising and philanthropy sector. It’s been really interesting to view the very different clients that Craigmyle has worked with and to see that these same organisations have looked towards Craigmyle over the years for backing in fundraising. It’s a testimony to just how important Craigmyle’s support has been and it’s going to be great to make Craigmyle’s archive available to researchers – academic and non-academic – through this cataloguing project.
Siân Newton, Director, Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants:
We are delighted to be working with the University of Kent to help make the Craigmyle archives more accessible to researchers, fundraisers and the wider public.
The breadth and depth of the archives reflect Craigmyle’s long, successful and diverse history providing fundraising consultancy to all areas of the not-for-profit sector. They can shed fascinating insight into changing trends within fundraising, the voluntary sector and society more generally. They also underline the important role fundraising has in achieving transformative UK charitable projects that meet the challenges faced by society – and that’s as vital now as ever before. Today’s team of accredited consultants are proud to be part of the Craigmyle story.
Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants enables UK charities and not-for-profit organisations to realise their objectives through fundraising by providing expertise tailored to each client that draws upon our consultants’ hands-on experience of strategy and implementation, collective team knowledge and our 60-year+ track record.
Since its foundation by Lord Craigmyle in 1959, Craigmyle’s fundraising consultants have helped more than 2000 charities – encompassing the full breadth of the non-profit sector and including cathedrals, churches, hospitals, hospices, museums, heritage projects, schools, welfare, arts and conservation organisations – raise over a billion pounds for capital and revenue projects.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded a grant of £250,000 to Christ Church St Leonards for urgent repairs to the to the exterior of the church and an associated heritage community engagement project.
The project will Celebrate Christ Church in the Community by restoring and revitalising this Grade II* listed building at the heart of St Leonards on Sea, and organising a series of learning events and activities open for all the members of the community.
Craigmyle consultant, Christine Buccella, has been working with Christ Church to develop the project and apply to the Lottery. Christine had previously successfully applied for two major grants for Christ Church from the Historic England’s Cultural Recovery Fund for Heritage, totalling £280,000.
This National Heritage Lottery Fund grant will allow Christ Church to complete all of the restoration work to the external façade of the building, leading to its removal from the Heritage at Risk Register. Craigmyle is proud to have helped the church secure a level of funding that has never before been achieved.
Christ Church opened for worship in 1875, with the steeple added in 1895. Today, the spire of Christ Church is an important landmark, rising above the town’s roof-scape. The church works hard to support the local residents, including hosting groups such as AA and CA, and street sleepers during the winter months. It is also active at the heart of the surrounding artistic and civic community, welcoming choirs and musicians, and a variety of classes and groups of all ages including our own Scouts.
The plans will improve the neglected appearance of the building, which will also help to improve the appearance of the high street where it sits. Live demonstrations and interpretation projects focussing on the key heritage assets of the church will accompany a series of seasonal events including regular heritage tours by volunteer guides, a ‘heritage hub’ from which community activities will be developed and run, and a programme to involve local schoolchildren.
Commenting on the award of the Lottery grant, Fr Thomas Crowley, the Priest in Charge at Christ Church said:
We’re delighted that we’ve received this support thanks to National Lottery players. The restored building, and the buzz of engagement around this project, and a celebratory exhibition to display the outputs of our community co-productions, will act as a springboard for the celebrations of our 150th Jubilee in 2025.
Work has already begun on the project, with an anticipated completion date of Summer 2024.
We are pleased to announce that Greg Hodder and Matthew Horton, have joined the Craigmyle consultant team as of January 2023, bringing a wealth of fundraising experience especially in charity and educational sectors.
Greg Hodder
Following 17 years in fundraising, Greg brings extensive experience managing projects and fundraising for capital appeals and annual funds. He has initiated multi-million-pound capital appeals in a range of areas such as hospices and universities. Greg has significant experience working with major donors and has raised multiple six-figure sums. He is also well-versed in large events, trusts and foundations and individual and community giving. He has coached and run training sessions in fundraising skills for students, trustees and key stakeholders.
His degree in Education and English at Cambridge University gave Greg a passion for storytelling. He uses this experience to help charities tell their stories through their case for support and communications in a compelling way.
Greg commented
I am delighted to join Craigmyle which has such an established and successful track record. I look forward to drawing upon my skills and experience to assist a wide range of organisations.
To contact Greg, telephone 07793 225769 or email him at Greg@craigmyle.org.uk
Matthew Horton
Matthew brings over 25 years’ experience of working in fundraising and alumni relations. Holding a range of senior roles in universities and charities, he is accomplished at developing fundraising and donor engagement strategies from scratch or refocusing lapsed programmes. He has significant experience in delivering five and six figure gifts from trusts, corporates and major donors.
In particular, Matthew has a strong track record in developing evidence-based fundraising strategies and operational plans for organisations of different sizes, and establishing fundraising tools which embed fundraising at the core of an organisation.
As Head of Alumni Relations at LSE and Head of Major Giving at the University of Reading, Matthew gained experience of the development and delivery of large capital campaigns, £100m and £150m respectively.
Matthew says
‘I am excited about joining Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants. While charities are facing difficult times, I am looking forward to helping the wider charity and educational communities, backed by Craigmyle’s considerable wealth of experience’.
To contact Matthew, telephone 07540 466828 or email him at Matthew@craigmyle.org.uk
Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants is delighted to announce that we are now in a position to recruit new Fundraising and Development talent to join our team as accredited consultants. For over 60 years, Craigmyle has delivered tailored expertise across all not-for-profit sectors. This is a great opportunity for experienced fundraisers who are ready for a new challenge, working with an established brand, a highly experienced supportive team and central marketing. For Potential Accredited Consultants, please take a look at the Brief.
*
Craigmyle enables UK charities and not-for-profit organisations to realise their objectives through strategic development and fundraising. We offer a range of services, ranging from capital campaigns to social investment advice, feasibility studies to mentoring, and interim management to bid writing.
The team currently consists of nine consultants. Many consultants are sector specialist, but all consultants operate as general practitioners across all sectors. We operate mainly in the following not-for-profit sectors: Education, Heritage, Arts, Faith, Community, Social Investment, Health & Welfare.
Craigmyle accredited consultants are independently trading but exclusively under the Craigmyle brand. Marketing and acquisition is centralised. The team works in a collaborative manner. As well as working together, there is a commitment to ongoing learning, including mentoring, training, team meetings and peer-to-peer reflective practice. Any new consultants will receive a structured induction programme and the ongoing benefit of vastly knowledgeable and experienced colleagues who are happy to share advice and support your professional development.
“The variety and flexibility of work, opportunities to learn, and support of an amazing team make working with Craigmyle an exciting prospect. This is a great time to join, whether you’re ready for a change using your knowledge to help more great causes, you’ve been thinking about becoming a consultant but aren’t sure where to start, or you’re an established consultant who wants to be part of a team.“ Siân Newton, Director
Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants is the longest established fundraising consultancy in the UK. Since 1959, Craigmyle consultants have provided services to more than 2,000 clients, across all areas of the not-for-profit sector, many of them returning for assistance on several assignments.
We enable UK charities and not-for-profit organisations to realise their objectives through strategic development and fundraising by providing expertise tailored to each client that draws upon our consultants’ hands-on experience of strategy and implementation, collective team knowledge and our 60 + year track record.
Our objectives include building strong, long-lasting donor relationships, achieving financial sustainability and developing fundraising capacity for our clients.
Potential Accredited Consultants who are interested in an informal exploratory chat can call Christine on 07914 340325 or email christine@craigmyle.org.uk.
For further information on Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants and the services we offer clients please contact Siân on 07752144565 or sian@craigmyle.org.uk.
It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Her Majesty The Queen was an extraordinary, greatly loved and highly respected figure, not just in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, but globally. Our longest ruling British monarch, she was renowned throughout her reign for her exceptional leadership, steadfast dedication and service to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.
She was a huge supporter of charitable institutions, both in her specific role as Patron of many charities and her more general support of the principle of volunteering and not for profit activity. The Third Sector owes her a huge debt of gratitude for the prominence and weight she gave to charitable activity and we will never forget her outstanding example over more than seven decades.
We express our heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family at this extremely sad time.
Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants today announced that Gill Moody has decided to retire.
Since 1998, Gill has worked as a consultant, helping a range of churches, charities and third sector organisations build sustainable fundraising success.
Over her time, she served as a champion for nurturing new talent, developing partnerships and growing business, particularly in Craigmyle’s ecclesiastical sector.
“Gill has contributed 24 years of experience to Craigmyle and her achievements have been invaluable and will not be forgotten. Gill’s work ethic, command of complexity, commitment and client focus have been exemplary,” said Siân Newton, fellow Director. “Gill has been a mentor to many, including myself, and her influence has made an indelible impact. Everyone wants to thank Gill for all she’s done for the development of Craigmyle. She will be missed.
“For over 60 years, Craigmyle has enabled UK charitable causes to achieve their goals. We look forward to writing the next chapter of this story, and continuing to serve our clients as they respond to the demands of today’s fast-changing funding environment. “
Gill started life as a teacher, then worked for the Church Urban Fund as Campaign Director, as Faith In the City Officer for the Church of England and Charitable Appeals Manager at The Leicester Royal Infirmary NHS Trust.
Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants enables UK charities and not-for-profit organisations to realise their objectives through fundraising by providing expertise tailored to each client that draws upon our consultants’ hands-on experience of strategy and implementation, collective team knowledge and our 60-year track record.
Since its foundation by Lord Craigmyle in 1959, Craigmyle’s fundraising consultants have helped more than 2000 charities – encompassing the full breadth of the non-profit sector and including cathedrals, churches, hospitals, hospices, museums, heritage projects, schools, welfare, arts and conservation organisations – raise over a billion pounds for capital and revenue projects.
We are delighted that earlier in the year The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded £10,000 to our client, the Church of the Ascension, Blackheath for a project to explore the church’s heritage and radical traditions through personal and biographical stories from the community, past and present.
From the days of its association with Greyladies College, hosting a pre-WW1 Church Lads Brigade to its pivotal role in the South Bank Religion movement of the 1970s, the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and the Movement for the Ordination of Women, alongside community-based initiatives such as the Wash House Youth Club, the con-temporary church continues to provide a focus for worship, prayer, inclusion, social jus-tice, human rights, debate and protest.
Under the title, ‘One roof, many stories: radical and inclusive histories’, the project will engage local volunteers in researching and interpreting a range of stories and images. These will be made accessible through web pages and audio-visual installation in the church itself.
“We are keen to capture this less recorded and comparatively recent history, some of which has been excluded or omitted from official recorded histories,” said Reverend Anne Bennett. “We are particularly keen to record the memories and material archive of individuals in the congregation and the community before they are lost and forgotten. We are inviting all members of the public that have memories linked to the Church of the Ascension and the various movements it has been involved with to kindly share with us their stories and help us to tell them more widely. We’d also like to hear from anyone who would like to become part of the volunteer research and interpretation team.”
Press contact: Bridget Knapper bridget.knapper@ntlworld.com 07876 367142
Notes:
About The Church of the Ascension, Blackheath
The Church of the Ascension, Dartmouth Row, SE10 8AW is a grade II * listed building and one of the oldest churches in Blackheath. The church is both a local parish church hosting groups for young people, ESOL and food poverty. It is also a ‘destination church’ for people in the community, including LGBTQIA+ and others seeking an inclusive and socially aware outlook. It played a pivotal role in the South Bank Religion movement, which sought to reshape Christianity in the light of modern science and the challenges of an unjust world and its members were key figures in the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, Amnesty International, Anti-Apartheid and the Movement for the Ordination of Women. It hosts the Amnesty International booksale twice a year.
www.ascension-blackheath.org
@AscensionCurch
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk.
We often emphasise to our clients, large and small, the importance of taking time out from the busyness of everyday to take time to take a strategic approach, review activities and look at longer term planning. While accredited Craigmyle consultants regularly work together in pairs or in threes on projects bringing together the appropriate and different skills and experience required, and seek informal advice and input from all our colleagues, we rarely meet in person and even less during the pandemic.
All being well we will be in Ramsgate this week for our annual get together. All the Craigmyle consultants meet up to discuss the key issues in fundraising and how with over 60 years’ experience we can use current learning to meet today’s challenges. Getting together offers an opportunity to compare experiences and develop a collective picture from our work with clients from across the UK and with different sectors – arts & heritage, faith organisations, educational and charities. Sessions typically draw upon fundraising best practice and theory whilst ensuring a practical side as we explore case studies and how best to use when working with clients.
Last year, our focus was on helping clients adjust to the pandemic and offering immediate support and advice, including keeping supporters informed, thinking holistically and accessing emergency funding.
The focus this year is about looking ahead together and how we can best help our clients move forward. Many clients have had to focus on immediate and short term needs and campaigns and fundraising appeals have been delayed or stalled in the face of the pandemic. As we start to move forward perhaps now is the time to think about longer term planning and the next steps.
If you want to talk with us about how we can help your fundraising planning do get in touch.
If you want to stay in touch with the latest tips and insight arising from our 2021 get together, do follow us on Linked In or Twitter.
