The challenges faced by charities, communities and culture throughout the centuries are as relevant today as they always were, as Marina Jones highlighted so beautifully in last month’s C&BS insight on the history of fundraising.
This Forum will focus on the questions of ‘why’ and ‘how’ to scope out your future funding landscape, from inspiration on the importance of self-evaluation and insight on how to engage donors in your cause, to a deeper understanding of why philanthropists invest in culture.
Why is it important to measure your organisation’s impact and how can you even make it enjoyable and fun? Why can psychology play a part in engaging donors and how can you use decision science to transform your ability to secure major gifts? Why do businesses, foundations and people invest philanthropically and how can you better understand their decision-making?
Martha Lester-Cribb will give us an inspirational insight into impact measurement, talking about the value of evaluation and the different reasons to evaluate. She’ll explain how ESS can help if you want to get better at it and provide an overview of their free resources, training and tailored support. And, she’ll reveal to you the unlikely fact that evaluation can be enjoyable and even fun!
So, you finally got in the room with a donor who can make a significant difference with a major gift. What can psychology and neurology teach you about how to engage them, to get them committed, and maybe even to double the level of gift they’re going to make? In this eye-opening session, Bernard Ross will introduce you to 20 key tools based on decision science which will transform your ability to secure major gifts.
After interval refreshments, James Naughtie will moderate a panel discussion with people from across the world of philanthropy: Nancy Bikson, Mark McKeown, Anne McFarlane, Nick Addington, Samantha Pattman and Sir Ewan Brown. The conversation will cover topics including the idea of a national philanthropy strategy, donor-advised funds, philanthropic motivations and how to inspire donors.
Come along to explore the reality the future holds from a private funding perspective and take this pre-festive opportunity to remind yourself exactly why you do what you do, and how you (and your donors, funders and sponsors) truly make a difference to your beneficiaries.
Presenters:
Martha Lester-Cribb | Deputy CEO, Evaluation Support Scotland
Bernard Ross | Director, =mc consulting
Panellists:
Nancy Bikson | Managing Director, Chapel & York
Mark McKeown | Legal Director, Turcan Connell
Samantha Pattman | Philanthropy Manager, Baillie Gifford
Anne McFarlane | Chair, The Ryvoan Trust
Nick Addington | Chief Executive, William Grant Foundation
Sir Ewan Brown CBE FRSE | Businessman
Moderator:
James Naughtie is a special correspondent for BBC News, and one of the country’s best-known broadcasters. He presented Today on Radio 4 for 25 years, and has hosted every edition of the network’s Bookckub since 1998. He has chaired the Booker Prize, and has judged many literary awards, from the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction to the Everyman PG Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. Reflecting his varied cultural interests, he is a patron of Southbank Sinfonia and the Borders Book Festival, president of the Association of Literary Societies, and a trustee of the Dunard Centre – the project building a new concert hall in Edinburgh. He is the author of books on politics and music, and an account of travels in the United States, and has published three novels. He lives in Edinburgh.