I have a simple view of life generally. I do not much care for overly complicated thought leadership. I have spent much of my time this past two years as a grant-maker with a twist. Whenever I have tried to guide prospective grantees on how to de-complicate their massive fundraising dilemma - and trust me, that's what most small charity fundraiser's life amounts to - I have resorted to the Ready, Steady, Cook analogy as first defense against a fundraising strategy that doesn't actually make sense. 

All too often, small charity fundraisers - who are frequently also the founders, chief cook & bottle washer - are given 'helpful strategy advice' by their trustees. Trustees sometimes have very little actual fundraising experience. Would you take legal advice from a trainee lawyer? 

Trustees can be brilliant as connectors, constructive challengers and creative sounding boards. They have also usually been to lots of fundraising events - so their perspective is skewed to what they know. Heaven help us if they started advocating doing something that they didn't know.... 

As a result, guess what comes out tops as the recipe for fundraising success? Yes, events & gala dinners!

Here's my essential ingredients list for a successful recipe Gala Dinner Events - do not follow it if any of them are missing, not available in the stated quantity, or are of dubious origin:

1. Trustee or close supporter with a suitable venue that they are willing to donate at the right time, in the right location, that is inspirational enough for battle hardened dinner guests to want to go to.

2. A chef and hospitality team willing to knock up a meal for nothing, or at cost.

3. A donated wine cellar.

4. A cause, event or celebrity compere that 100-1000 people who have money to give will come to.

If - only if, you have all the above, should you embark on such a time consuming, high risk and unoriginal approach to funding your charity. Sorry, but that's all we know what to do - or that's what they expect, simply doesn't cut the mustard.

So what do you 'make' instead of a Gala Dinner/ event of any sort?

Ahh, easy! look at the ingredients you DO have first and then decide on the recipe for fundraising success that will suit your charity.

Make a list of all your Assets aka 'ingredients'  - some of which may be a little hidden. Such as, your people - what are the talents and contacts of your staff, volunteers, supporters and trustees? Such as, your cause itself - what does it 'lend' itself to? Then look to your beneficiaries - what could they bring to the 'recipe' itself? Is there an 'end result' in what you do? Could you rustle up some advocates perhaps? Advocates, in my analogy, are a bit like the amuse bouche that chefs in posh places send out 'with their compliments' to the waiting diners, so that they can spend more time preparing the starter and main course.

Ingredients I have 'uncovered' during my forays into helping charities see the strategic light, include:

So if you find yourself tasked with making a fundraising dish without a recipe and half the ingredients missing, look up, take a breath and forage a little deeper into the larder to make something half decent from what you do have. Of course, in some cases you need to purchase new ingredients - and that's also perfectly fine, just as long as the task masters get what you mean by asking for help and acknowledge that there's a cost involved in making that happen.