Case Studies - Menu

Case Study 2: Institute of Cancer Research  -Legacy Marketing Strategy

Case Study 3: Sailors’ Families’ Society Fundraising Strategy & Capital Appeal (£260,000)

  (Click on Case Study Number for more information.....)

Sailors’ Families’ Society Fundraising Strategy & Capital Appeal (£260,000)

The Sailors’ Families’ Society has been supporting needy seafaring families for over 180 years.  In the past the Society housed orphaned children at its Newlands site. Today it supplies welfare grants and other kinds of grants (e.g. education, emergency and holiday grants) to families throughout the UK and is developing innovative ways of supporting local and regional ‘looked after’ children. 

For many years the Society was carrying out some ‘traditional’ fundraising and they contacted Paddy to suggest how they might improve their fundraising techniques.   

Paddy visited them, free of charge, talked with them for some time, studied their accounts and fundraising records and suggested that, together with the fundraising staff, he produce a comprehensive Fundraising Strategy.  The trustees agreed to this and emphasised the importance of legacies (they were raising about half of their income from legacies). So Paddy then agreed to concentrate particularly on the Legacy Marketing part of the overall Fundraising Strategy first. 

Within three months the Society had a new Fundraising Strategy (that naturally emphasised legacy marketing) and a whole list of recommendations that included the change of emphasis from time-consuming events to database work, legacy marketing, trusts fundraising and networking towards the Private Phase of a capital appeal they wanted to launch.

Subsequently, Paddy worked with the Society for two days a month over a year and in that time identified a £200,000 gift towards a £260,000 capital need, tripled trust income, started the beginnings of a donorbase and produced an excellent legacy leaflet & pack fronted by someone who is highly regarded locally by the Society’s known older people.

"We didn’t get everything right as a ‘Hull-wide Swimathon’ event didn’t take off at all and was a disaster to say the least!  But we learnt from the mistakes and planned a similar (larger) event for the following year (minus the mistakes) plus a national Sailing Event as well where Paddy managed to get free inserts for 23,000 leaflets in Yachts & Yachting magazine and persuaded the sailing gold medallist Shirley Robertson to front it! 

“Thanks for all your hard work and energy Paddy.  Needless to say that since you started to work with us we are doing things very differently.  Our whole emphasis has changed from a string of events to a more strategic way of thinking and acting.  I still refer to your original Fundraising Strategy and am very pleased with how we worked together on the legacy materials."

Bob Procter, Fundraising Manager, Sailors’ Families’ Society

Back to top

How to contact Paddy Hunter-Murphy