building a integrated funding base with legacies, gifts and trading

7/27/2019 Building a integrated funding base with legacies, gifts and trading.

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National Council for Voluntary Organisations

Sustainable Funding Project

Key themes Developing charity shops as part of a

balanced fundraising strategy The importance of good donor

relationship management andunderstanding the supporters journey

Making the most of volunteers as part

of a joined-up approach to fundraising

Case Study:Bath Cats andDogs Home


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Sustainable Funding Project Case Study:Bath Cats and Dogs Home

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Overview

Bath Cats and Dogs Home (BCDH)

has been rescuing and re-homingpets from the Bath and NorthSomerset area since 1937. Startedby a local businessman, who servedas the charitys President until hepassed away at the end of 2009,BCDH now sees around 3000animals every year. Although a localbranch of the RSPCA, BCDH doesnot receive any funding from thenational charity and has developedits own distinct brand and a strong

local identity. From a small start, itreceived a donation in the 1940sthat allowed the purchase of someland near the university and hassince continued to grow bymaximising the support of the localcommunity. BCDH now needs toraise just over a million poundsevery year.

The need for a sustainablefunding strategy

BCDH has always relied heavily onincome from legacies. A largebequest in 2000 allowed newkennels to be built and for many

years the annual income fromlegacies was in the region of300,000-400,000. However, in2007 BCDH experienced anunexpected drop in this income,which highlighted how unpredictablelegacies could be; although theyusually knew who had made pledges

in their Will, they had no idea whenthis money would arrive. With thenew kennels and increased numberof animals coming through theirdoors as a result of previouscapacity-building bequests andcontracts with local authorities,they now have 56 members ofstaff and considerable overheads.

Sarah Thorn, Fundraising Manager,

realised that they needed to lookfor other sources of unrestrictedincome that would create a stablebase: Because its an animalcharity there always had been verygenerous legacies, and generallyspeaking its fine, but you only haveto have a year when you dont haveany and youve got a problem.

Developing the trading idea

Bath Cats and Dogs Home alreadyhad a charity shop in the nearbytown of Frome that was widelyconsidered to be under-performing. The charity also had asmall petfood shop in the receptionof the Home, that they saw ashaving considerable potential andwere keen to expand, perhaps viaonline shopping.

The recession seemed like a particularlygood time to be expanding charity

shops as premises were availableand shoppers were keen on buyingcheaper products. However, theyknew that in order to upscale theirtrading ideas successfully theywould need an injection of funds.The Friends of Bath Cats and DogsHome - a separate charity thatraises money locally and givesgrants to BCDH - was very keen onthe idea of developing a chain ofcharity shops, as they favour

projects that will become self-sustaining. If Sarah could convincethem of the financial viability ofBCDHs plans, then the Friendsmight be a good source of start-upfunding.

First, BCDH set up a trading sub-

committee, comprised of thosewho could help to get tradingoff the ground; two trustees, thefinance manager, the chair of theFriends, and later, Jeff (who wasto oversee the charity shops),Sarah and the administrator. Theysuccessfully applied to NCVOsOnly Connect scheme to visitHelen and Douglas House to learnhow to transform the fortunes oftheir existing shop and develop it

into a small chain.Research, Sarah says, was crucial -they spent three to four monthson solid research, exploringeverything from types of flooringto the ideal size of the shop.And Sarah was surprised by howhelpful people working in othercharity shops were: people werevery very friendly - amazingly.Some told us how much theirtakings were! From this researchBCDH was able to put togethera good business plan, based onrefurbishing the Frome shop,investing in staff and putting inplace systems and processes thatwould easily extend to more shopsin the future at minimal cost.Originally, theyd estimated thatthis would cost around 15,000.However, after their researchthey realised that in order tomake the shops successful, much

more would be needed. Theresearch enabled BCDH to beable to demonstrate why this wasnecessary and secured 28,500 ofstart-up funding from the Friendsof Bath Cats and Dogs Home.

Date

Based on an interview withSarah Thorn, FundraisingManager, October 2009.


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Placing trading into a broaderSustainable Funding Strategy

Sarah is aware that charity shopsare a good platform for thecharitys other fundraising activities:It has other benefits - you havethe income from the shop itself,but you can also push events, youcan raise the profile of the charity,

you can sell merchandise - so youhave a whole plethora of otherbenefits - you can even give outdonation forms.

One of Bath Cats and Dogs Homeskey strengths is the way that theirfundraising activities are so joinedup. Every piece of literature has adonation form on the back, as theyare aware that their supportersmay donate to a shop, become avolunteer dog-walker, then help

with events and maybe eventuallyleave a legacy.

But BCDH has not always had sucha joined-up approach. Not too longago much of their printed materialwas photocopied and there wasno clear brand. The refurbishmentof the charity shop in Frome gavethem a good opportunity to refreshthe image of the charity. Sarah saysthat this did not cost much money -they found a sympathetic designer

who understood what they neededand was happy to undertake thework within their budget. Theyvealso managed to get a lot of theprinting for free by working witha company who sells advertisingspace in their re-homing packs. Thisre-brand has helped to strengthenthe organisations local identity- something that is especiallyimportant because as a branch ofthe RSPCA, many supporters haveinadvertently sent their donations

to the national charity. They nowhave leaflets about leaving a legacy,in memoriam giving and becoming

a paw pal (sponsoring an animalby direct debit) alongside visitorinformation and becoming avolunteer, plus their regular printednewsletter.

Knowing your supporters andmaking the most of them

Sarah says that they know theirmain source of income will alwaysbe from individuals - the trick isto know who is likely to give to

your cause, what they respondto and to make the most out ofthat. The Homes leaflets includecase studies of abandoned animalstheyve helped, plus informationabout what donations can help topay for, such as 500 for a Cat Pod.They know that supporters arelikely to have animals of their own,and therefore they run a book of

remembrance for pets and a petcemetery.

One of Bath Cats and Dogs Homes key strengths is the

way that their fundraising activities are so joined up.


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BCDH is fortunate to have so many volunteeringopportunities available...

BCDH attend networking eventsorganised by local businesses and

find out which senior managersown pets, then target thosecompanies for support anddonations. For instance, one localcompany has many staff whovolunteer at the Home but Sarahfound out that that their ManagingDirector is not an animal person.The volunteers are extremelyvaluable, but there is unlikely tobe much point in spending timetargeting their employer. Onother occasions theyve found

out that a person adopting ananimal is a manager of a companyand successfully approached thatcompany for support.

Aware of the constraints of therecession, BCDH often starts by

asking companies for in-kindsupport or offering partnershipsto sell products. Their biggestcorporate supporter, JamesWellbeloved, benefits from sellingpet food through their pet shopat the Home and other localcompanies, such as Bath AquaGlass, give a donation for everypaw print item they sell. Manycompanies also get involved withevents, run fundraising activities orcollect in-kind donations, such as

cat and dog food.

The Home has even managedto engage schools with their

fundraising. They give talks andpresentations, often deliveredby volunteers, that fit in withthe National Curriculum forprimary schools and offer workexperience placements to olderstudents. Many pupils go on torun fundraising events - raisingcash but also the profile of theorganisation in the community.


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The crucial role of the volunteer

BCDH is fortunate to have so manyvolunteering opportunities available;from dog-walking to painting walls,helping with open days to working

in the shop. Volunteers can evensign up to be a kitten cuddler!Recognising the importance ofvolunteers, the organisation employsa Volunteer Manager who coordinatesopportunities.

When the ideas for the refurbishmentof the shop in Frome were discussed,several of the volunteers were stronglyopposed to them. In common withmany charity shops, BCDHs shop

was staffed by a team that hadbeen working there for a long time,did not necessarily have commercialexperience and who believed thatspending money on the shop waswasting money that should bespent helping animals. Armed withthe facts and figures

from their research, Sarah convincedmost of the need for investment.However, several of the most long-standing volunteers resigned,

causing tension in the team andmeaning that new volunteersneeded to be recruited and trained.

BCDH has places in several halfmarathons, it runs challenge eventssuch as abseiling and organises acouple of sponsored walks each

year, in addition to a programme ofevents such as art sales and musicnights. Theyve made a concertedeffort to get volunteers involved

and have managed to increase theirfundraised income during 2009by 20% - at a time when manycharities have seen sharp declines.The recession has actually presentedthe Home with opportunities fortheir appeals, as the number ofanimals being abandoned has

markedly increased and supportershave responded strongly to thisincreased need.

The biggest fundraising event forthe Home is their annual OpenDay, which relies on an armyof volunteers. In 2009 it raised38,000 and saw 5000 visitors -an opportunity to keep existingsupporters in touch with BCDHswork, bring new supporters onboard and, of course, re-homeanimals. The Homes skills atkeeping a large group of verycommitted, very active volunteers

engaged during a period ofchallenge and change has enabledit to grow to be one of the fourbiggest charities in the region.

Theyve made a concerted effort to get volunteers

involved and have managed to increase theirfundraised income during 2009 by 20%


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Whats next?

2009 was the year for re-branding

the organisation and re-launchingthe charity shop at Frome. In 2010Bath Cats and Dogs Home hopesto build on this enhanced imageby investing in their website andensuring that their strengths inkeeping supporters engaged istaken into the digital age, includingdeveloping an e-newsletter. Theyplan to open more charity shopsin the area, which they should beable to do at a much smaller cost

now theyve invested in the systemsand technology, and increase onlinesales from their petshop. Furtherin the future they are consideringmore trading ideas, such as anon-site caf, puppy behaviourclasses or even dog hydrotherapy;making the most of skills theyalready have in-house. They hopethat this investment in tradingopportunities will mean that the

year-to-year income of the charityis stabilised, paying for the corecosts and allowing legacies topay for capital projects such asrebuilding the cattery.

Bath Cats and Dogs HomesTop Tips for organisations

looking to run charity shops Research, research and then do

some more research. Visit othercharities who are doing the samething and think about what works- everything from whether youorganise your stock by colour towhether you hang clothing onmetal or wooden hangers. Allthese things make a difference.

It is always likely to be thecase that some volunteers andperhaps some trustees arentkeen on change. Try to convincethem with well-researchedproposals and include them asmuch as possible, but at the endof the day you need to do what isbest for the organisation.

Make sure you invest enoughmoney into doing things right!BCDHs Epos system (that takescare of the different types of

income coming through the till,including gift aid) cost 11,000,but each additional shop will onlycost 1,000. The shopfitters cost15,000 - but were worth it!

The Sustainable Funding Project is an NCVO

initiative working in partnership with the Big

Lottery Fund and Charity Bank.

NCVOs Sustainable Funding Project is the

sectors premier provider of tools and

resources encouraging and enabling voluntary

and community organisations to develop and

implement a sustainable income strategy.

Visit our website at

www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfpor call us

on 020 7520 2519 for further information and

to subscribe to our free monthly e-newsletter.

Contact

Bath Cats and Dogs HomeThe Avenue, Claverton Down,Bath BA2 7AZ

Tel: 01225 [email protected]

www.bathcatsanddogshome.org.uk

building a integrated funding base with legacies, gifts and trading

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