The Canal & River Trust will bring its face-to-face fundraising programme largely in-house, as part of its Covid-19 recovery plans.
Over the next few months the charity plans to advertise 24 roles via its website. These roles will be based across the Trust’s 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales.
Nine agency fundraisers, on assignment at the Trust from agency Inspired People, have been invited to apply for the in-house roles.
Last autumn the charity halved its face-to-face fundraising team, and about 20 people lost their jobs with no notice or severance pay because they were agency staff employed via Inspired People.
The charity said the recent decision to move to a largely in-house team is based on a review of the alternative models and the ways of working that it thinks will bring the best long-term benefits to the Trust to help fund its work.
The Trust currently has just under 28,000 regular monthly donors. This is down from 30,000 prior to the pandemic, which has resulted in a halt to towpath engagement and fundraising activity.
Hamish Shilliday, head of individual and legacy giving at the Trust, said: “The Trust, like all in the sector, has been impacted by the restrictions in place as a result of coronavirus.
“With the easing of restrictions, we are relaunching our face-to-face activity and, following an in-depth review, we are excited to be changing the way we operate to drive our Covid-19 recovery plans and future performance.
“The new roles are benchmarked so that the Trust is able to attract the best candidates and the move to an in-house team will allow the charity to give more direct input and support for its fundraisers day-to-day.”
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