32. Andy Watts – The trust fundraising approach that increased income by 349%

Charities sometimes treat trusts in a more distant, formal way compared to the way they treat other donors. This is often a missed opportunity, given that every trust is run by people who care and would enjoy a warmer relationship. In this episode I share an interview with Andy Watts, a very successful fundraiser who is Head of Trusts and Foundations Fundraising at Sue Ryder. In his first year at the charity, trusts income increased by 349%, in large part thanks to the strategy of proactively building more personal relationships with funders. And during the pandemic, this strategy has helped generate many valuable donations that have been helping to fund the charity during the crisis. In this conversation Andy explains how he has applied principles of relationship fundraising during the pandemic, including how his team has managed to achieve so many real conversations (instead of sending emails); how they’ve ensured high quality, personal communication to thank funders, in spite of the complexity of his charity; and a strategy for finding creative ways to reach new potential funders for the first time. If you’d like to find out more about our Major Gifts Mastery Programme which helps you increase trust and major donor income during the pandemic, you can find out all about it through our website - www.brightspotfundraising.co.uk/services, or feel free to get in touch if you have questions. If you’d like more powerful strategies to help you raise funds during the pandemic, then there are lots of different approaches, including some of Andy’s tactics, in my new free E-book: Power Through The Pandemic – Seven ways to raise money with major donors, corporates and trusts, even now. You can download it for FREE here: www.brightspotfundraising.co.uk/power If you want to share this episode because you think it will help others – THANK YOU VERY MUCH! - we are both on Linked In and on twitter, where Andy is @andywatts27 and I am @woods_rob.