Attempting to increase 'Friends'

FOLLOWING its second failure to recruit ‘Friends' in anything like meaningful numbers (Chugging companies blamed again), Canal and River Trust (CaRT) is now recruiting a ‘Supporter Engagement Manager' to bolster its Individual Giving Team, writes Allan Richards.

Salary will be £40,000 to £45,000 with the new manager reporting to CaRT's Individual Giving Manager, Daniel Charles, who in turn reports to Ruth Ruderham, Head of Fundraising (salary over £70,000).

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According to advertisements appearing in the press the new manager ‘will play a leadership role within the Individual Giving Team with the aim of developing strong, long-term relationships with our supporters that cross all channels and forms of engagement'.

The adverts go on to say that the new person will ‘work closely with the Head of Individual Giving to develop a three years rolling Individual Giving strategy that will enable the Trust to recruit 100,000 Friends and generate £10 million of additional voluntary income by 2022'.

The Trust's second Annual Report reiterates that recruitment of individual ‘Friends' (donors making regular monthly contributions) remains at the heart of CaRT's fundraising strategy.

The reality

However, as of March 2014, the Trust had just 5,500 ‘Friends' (March 2013—2,700). This 5,500 includes regular donors transferred from The Waterways Trust.

The report also states that individual giving generated just £300,000 of a total of £1.2m in donations. However, the Trust expended £2.2m in raising this £1.2m in donations.

That's a loss of £1m last year attempting to increase income by voluntary giving.