The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has launched free fundraising training which is available to all small charities, and announced that the Foundation for Social Improvement will run the programme.
DCMS made the announcement on Friday and said that small charities could “sign up for a range of free and low cost training opportunities” through its small charities fundraising training programme. The scheme itself will be run by FSI, who won the right in a tender process, in partnership with the Small Charities Coalition, Localgiving and the Charities Finance Group.
The scheme, which will run until March 2018, includes a number of training options including: 30-minute online webinars, telephone advice sessions and face-to-face training in 17 locations across the UK.
The training sessions will cover topics such as ‘developing a fundraising strategy’, ‘fundraising from trusts and foundations’, ‘developing corporate relationships’ and ‘crowdfunding and online fundraising’.
In total, more than 4,000 “learning opportunities” will be delivered by FSI and its charity partners with the help of DCMS.
IoF calls for more 'coordinated effort' with small charities
The Institute of Fundraising have welcomed the announcement, but called on government to make a more “coordinated effort” to collaborate with the sector. Mike Smith, head of external affairs at the IoF, said: “This programme will make a big difference for those charities who are able to benefit and is a very welcome initiative.
“However, it will still only be a drop in the ocean when fewer than one in four local charities say they have the skills to run a successful fundraising campaign. We believe that there needs to be a more coordinated effort across government at all levels, in collaborating with the charity sector, to build fundraising capacity and ensure smaller charities can raise funds for their important work in a sustainable way.”
Charities interested in finding out more information, or signing up, can do so here.
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