Chugging companies blamed again
Its 2013/14 Annual Report is expected to show that it is well below its recruitment target for the year.
Individual giving
Individual giving and, in particular, the recruitment of regular donors (or 'friends' as the Trust calls them), forms the backbone of CaRT's plans to develop a charitable income stream. However, the high cost of recruitment means that the Trust will actually lose money in the early years building a base of regular donors.
The intention is that, in the first ten years of the trust, 70,000 regular donors will be recruited. This figure includes a prudence factor of 25% with some still talking in terms of about 100,000 'friends' in ten years.
Went bust
A year ago, CaRT's marketing and fundraising director, Simon Salem, put the blame for low 'friends' recruitment on top chugging company CM fundraising who went bust during the year. This time around he is blaming lack of brand awareness and the chugging companies for refusing to work with him.
In January, Chief Executive Richard Parry, told Trustees that the number of 'friends' at year end was expected to be just over half the target. However, this number will have been boosted by an unknown number of regular donors being transferred from the Waterways Trust to CaRT.
Reluctant
With chugging companies reluctant to work with the Trust, its in-house team which has been operating in the London area has been expanded and is now operating in other areas including Birmingham and Manchester.