Frequently Asked Questions
Please contact allison@harvest-consulting.co.uk if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Fundraising consultants typically offer a range of services. However, we are open to all discussions as an independent and experienced ear. This can include strategic support, such as fundraising strategy development and audits of an organisation’s activities and performance. Some also support practical, day-to-day fundraising, for example, grant-writing, database work and funding research. We can happily supply references for our work for whatever kind of support you need.
We offer assistance in writing trust applications, conducting prospect research, drafting appeal copy, and managing fundraising events. Our objective is to help the client fundraise, rather than doing it for them. This approach ensures that your charity develops the necessary learning, skills and confidence to become self-sufficient and not dependent on external support in the long run.
Yes. The Fundraising Regulator stipulates that it is a legal requirement for charities to have a written contract with any external party helping them raise funds. This needs to set out the scope and terms of the assignment, including the nature of the work and the way it will be charged. If you decide to work with us, we will send you a scope of services and a contract to sign. There must be a clear management of expectations.
This is a common concern, especially for small and new fundraising organisations.
We always emphasise to our clients that we provide services to the highest standards. However, we cannot guarantee the outcomes of our efforts. For instance, we can assist you in creating an outstanding funding application that aligns perfectly with the charitable trust's priorities and criteria. Nevertheless, if the funder decides to support a different grantee running a similar project to yours, we have no control over it.
We will review with you what a good fundraising return on investment might look like; this will include looking at benchmarking data, reviewing sector trends and measuring these against recent fundraising results. With some areas of support, such as developing a fundraising strategy, there won’t be a direct correlation between our input and your fundraising results.
We understand that you may have questions about the cost of our service, and we're here to help. The cost will depend on various factors such as the type and scale of work and the complexity and expertise required. We offer several types of payment plans:
- A fixed fee for specific services.
- A day-rate basis specifying a limited number of days per month.
- A monthly retainer cost for longer-term projects
We will ordinarily ask for travel costs to be reimbursed unless discussed and included in the negotiated rate.
