Small Charities Fundraising workshop

Hear from RESTART Lives, who are hosting a free fundraising workshop for small charities.

Twelve months on from when most of us learned what ‘lockdown’ meant, small charities and grassroots organisations now face the prospect of rebuilding their fundraising strategy in a world that’s starting to move on from Covid-19.

This free interactive workshop is aimed at staff, trustees and volunteers involved in raising funds for small charities, grassroots and community organisations.

Our Chairman, Nick Gandon, will lead the workshop, where we will consider:
• What makes a charity fundable?
• From where can financial support materialise?
• How to identify funders
• Looking through the eyes of a funder
• The funding process

The workshop will be hosted online via Zoom at 10am-12.30pm on Thursday 15 April. To register, please sign-up here.

The workshop will also be run a second time on 10am-12pm on Thursday 6 May. To register, please sign-up here.

About Nick Gandon, Chairman, RESTART Lives:

Nick Gandon was a school-teacher for over twenty years. In 2003 a mid-life moment led to his appointment as Director of the Cricket Foundation and allowed him to merge his love of cricket with a means by which to earn a humble living. "At the time I knew nothing about charities, about development, fundraising or the funding landscape. But I was willing to swim in the deep end and to try to learn as much as I could as quickly as I could."

At the Cricket Foundation, Nick devised and implemented the Chance to Shine programme. Launched in 2005, Chance to Shine was set up as a £50m project to regenerate competitive cricket across state education. When he left the Cricket Foundation in the Summer of 2009, Chance to Shine had generated the best part of £38m and its programmes were being delivered to wide acclaim across the country.

In 2009 Nick co-founded Cause4 and in 2013 set up Aureus Social Ventures. "Aureus is small and fleet of foot. Our client work with charities and social enterprises is very important, but no less so than the work we are undertaking in developing social ventures with private sector partners and social investors."

Outside professional life, Nick chairs RESTART Lives homeless charity, chairs a recreational cricket club, serves on the MCC Committee, is a trustee of several other charities. He is the President of the Haileybury Society, the alumni organisation of his alma mater. He also still plays cricket while impersonating a cardboard cut-out!

About RESTART Lives:

RESTART Lives is a homelessness charity, based in West London, supporting homeless people (our guests) to break the cycle of homelessness and move towards independent living, feeling more empowered, confident and resilient.

Our aim is to support rough sleepers and vulnerable adults to overcome the challenges of life on the streets by assisting them to secure accommodation, find employment/income, improve social relationships, mental health and wellbeing.

In 2019, RESTART forged a new link with St. Columba’s Church, Knightsbridge, where it continues to welcome homeless or vulnerable guests, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, nationality or faith, to the drop-in.

Our key principles underpinning our work include:
• the provision of food and temporary shelter are important starting points in meeting basic needs but alone will not create transformational change
• any effective response to homelessness must address root causes (not just symptoms) by seeking to address mental health issues and promote positive wellbeing
• for many homeless men and women, long-term, sustainable employment is essential if they are to lead fulfilling, independent lives
• if effective impact is to be made, we must work collaboratively and strategically with other organisations determined to delivery dynamic change.