Working with Midas
 


Charity: The Chellington Centre 

Cause: Young people, leadership. Midas fundraiser: Catherine Farrell

Assignment:  A £1.2 million capital appeal and funding for the first member of staff.

The Chellington Appeal was officially launched in October 2002.   Chellington was a medieval redundant church in South Bedfordshire and the Chellington Project Team, chaired by trustee John Tusting, a member of the local parish, launched a £1.2 million appeal to carry out extensive upgrading and extending the church to create a residential centre for young people.   

Catherine Farrell worked with the board of Trustees to make major appeals to national trusts, local trusts and local people.  Networking played a significant role and was a key factor to the success of the project – along with the Chairman's enthusiasm and commitment to make the project a success. 

The biggest gift was £335,000 from a charitable trust, and other major gifts for the building, landscaping and equipment were secured through the Landfill Tax Credits Scheme.   Building work commenced in October 2004.  With the bulk of the money raised from trusts, landfill operators, livery companies, Lottery and local individuals for the building itself, Chellington needed the funding for its first member of staff – a coordinator – and this was raised from a major grant-making trust. 

Chellington has been open now for two and a half years and has proved to be very popular, weekends are booked well in advanced throughout the year and midweek bookings which are vital to the future financial sustainability are continuing to improve. A bursary fund has also been set up to assist disadvantaged young people who would otherwise not be able to benefit from a residential experience. The bursary has been supported again by local individuals and trusts.   Find out more at http://www.chellington.org.uk/

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Charity: Kith and Kids

Cause: Learning, physical and sensory disabilities. Midas fundraiser: Fabienne Poulet

Assignment:  To raise revenue funding for existing and new services  

Fabienne Poulet first worked with Kith and Kids in Haringey, North London in April 2003.  In 2003, Fabienne raised around £60,000 for projects from grant-making trusts and the Lottery. In 2006, Kith and Kids approached Midas again to raise funds for existing and new projects. This resulted in a five-year grant of £470,000 from the Lottery for an existing project and four grants (a total of £124,000) from charitable trusts for new work.  

Thanks to the breathing space provided by these major grants, Kith and Kids was able to commission Fabienne to develop the charity’s first three-year fundraising strategy.  Fabienne now works 2 days a month with Kith and Kids’ Director, implementing the statutory and trusts fundraising elements of the strategy and has been asked to raise core costs for their family support service.  In parallel, Martin Shaw is mentoring Kith and Kids’ Corporate and Community Fundraiser. Find out more at http://www.kithandkids.org.uk/

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Charity: The Women's Counselling Centre 

Cause:  Counselling women and young people, domestic violence. Midas fundraiser: Lesley Hynes 

Assignment:  To raise revenue funding for women’s counselling and core costs. 

Lesley Hynes began working for the Women’s Counselling Centre (WCC) in Hitchin, Hertfordshire in November 2007.  She works 4 days a month for them and has been asked to raise core costs for their counselling service – circa £250,000 per annum.  She has undertaken a networking exercise - initiating visits with key supporters and Vice Patrons - and is beginning the process of approaching contacts at national and regional trusts, as well as submitting bids to well-targeted trust sources.  She is working closely with the Centre Director who remains the external point of contact for all fundraising or networking activity.  Each month Lesley submits 2-3 major applications for funding.  The Centre Director is still involved in fundraising but using Lesley has freed up a great deal of her time to concentrate on managing WCC and focussing on strategy, resources and staff. 

In addition, Lisa Dowling (see House Doctor service) is carrying out some pro bono work for the Women’s Counselling Centre on governance and sustainability. 

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Charity: Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice 

Cause: Palliative care.  Midas fundraisers:  Catherine Farrell, Nancy O’Brien and Martin Shaw 

Assignment:  To develop and implement fundraising within the hospice and to assist in the long-term development of the organisation. 

This has been an ongoing assignment since January 2007. Three Midas fundraisers have been involved.  Catherine Farrell has been concentrating on networking and securing major donors, and has held two successful major donor events.  Nancy O’Brien has been working on making a large number of applications to charitable trusts and foundations, while Martin Shaw has been involved in the development of staff posts and all aspects of recruitment. He has been helping Noah’s Ark in other areas of its development, including finance.   The Midas team worked closely with Gill Dodge, the CEO and with the board of trustees. 

Towards the end of 2007, Midas took the view that Noah’s Ark needed to build its own team of fundraising and administrative staff, and so both Martin and Nancy withdrew almost exclusively in March 2008.  Catherine has stayed involved and continues to work on major donors. Find out more at http://www.noahsarkhospice.org.uk/

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Feasibility studies

Midas can undertake feasibility studies ahead of capital appeals or other major appeals.  Each assignment is bespoke, but depending on how well we know the client, the costs would range from 8-12 days work @ £395 + VAT per day.

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Fundraising strategies

We can also undertake fundraising strategies.  Costs again will vary depending on our knowledge of the client, but would range from 5-12 days work @ £395 + VAT per day.