Spare a Thought for Sole Fundraisers

Howard Lake | 7 September 2009 | Blogs News

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So much of the sector media and conference slots seem to focus on larger charities with fundraising teams that it’s easy to forget that many fundraisers work alone in smaller organisations – often with little or no budget – and are expected to cover all the fundraising bases.

In a recent presentation on “How to Survive as a Sole Fundraiser”, I identified over 20 difficult issues these special people face – from isolation to the need for total self-motivation and the risks of stress and burnout.

Now we can all have a moan occasionally, but sole fundraisers have a special place in my heart – I once was one. So I was interested to hear that a session at this year’s Convention on sole fundraising (not one of mine) seems to have struck a cord with people, so much so that momentum is now growing for a dedicated support network. Historically of course, the IoF has seen its regional groups as the place for this, but now there does seem to be some shift towards supporting them as a group in their own right. And not before time.

So if you are struggling on a small budget, with no agency to help you and no colleagues who understand what you do, drop a line to Sally Campbell at Campaign Against the Arms Trade, who has offered to coordinate a new network for sole fundraisers. You can contact her at

Sa***@ca**.uk

Let’s remember too that many of our best fundraisers started out as sole practitioners, so they are an important source of future talent and skills for our sector. If we don’t support them, we may lose them…

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.