Linda Allen
Linda Allen, the director of fundraising at the countryside conservation charity, takes us behind the scenes of the charity's fundraising team
- How many fundraisers are there?
We have a team of eight people, split into those focused on individual giving and others who work on trusts and high-net-worth individuals. There are two part-timers who focus on supporting the efforts of our branch network and developing new areas of fundraising.
- What does the team do?
We're focused on generating cash from our appeal programme, promoting legacies and growing our high-net-worth income from trusts and middle to major donors.
- How much do you raise?
This year's target is about £3.8m, with roughly a third of that coming from legacies, a third from membership and the rest from a mixture of cash appeals, higher-level donations, trusts and grants.
- What's in the pipeline?
We've been trialling more integrated campaigns. We're implementing a new database and launching a telephone campaign to improve our membership retention rates and income. In addition to this, we're investing in new recruitment activity, including face-to-face fundraising and telemarketing tests. It's a very busy time and everyone in the team is working really hard to make the most of all of this investment.
- What's it like in the office?
We've just moved to lovely offices and get to see other departments much more frequently now, which makes such a difference. There is lots of healthy debate among colleagues.
