Plenary presentation from Cath Lee, CEO of Small Charities Coalition at NCVO Sustainable Funding Conference 2011: Adpat, Gain, Grow.

1. Cath Lee CEO

3. Looked at in terms of a social business we are insolvent: we need £15k per month and are taking in £10k per month. Special fund raising efforts mitigate losses but we are transferring capital from the repairs reserve to stop gaps in monthly inc/ exp account. Of course we are also considering whether we can pare down the wage bill even further (we have no FT employee left now) but this would mean closing some days per week. We have a review group discussing how to relaunch but any solution calls for investment funds. We have connected governance issues .

5. Quote 1 “ Natalie's help has been fantastic. It's been like having my own tailored training in fundraising and marketing. We had an initial quite long conversation and then I sent her through some of the draft documents we had prepared which she looked over and made a series of really helpful comments on. I played about with them taking her comments on board and we eventually came to a version that she thought was a ‘serious improvement’ on the originals” “ Throughout she was exactly the sort of ‘critical friend’ that we really needed’. “ She really made me understand more clearly how to define our 'message' for potential donors to help us launch our first ever individual donor campaing. We went live in September using the work that Natalie did to support us”

6. Quote 2 “ Working with Jo has been invaluable personally and professionally. Through the questions and challenges she has put to me, she has taught me a great number of things, raising my standards, benefitting my charity and the people with I whom I interact.” “ In the time Jo has been my mentor we have achieved several grants, developed the charity website, trialled various avenues for promoting the charity, and even redefined our charity vision”

7. Quote 3 “ It has been interesting to see how some of the tools and techniques that I use at CRUK can be applied on a much smaller scale. I’ve found it very rewarding to learn that some the things that I have come to think of as common-sense are new and useful to the organisation, it’s made me realise how much I’ve learnt over the years.”

8. Quote 4 “ I volunteer because, small charities resources are usually limited, but what they have to offer is a wealth of expertise and experience. Sometimes we think that because we are small we cannot achieve change without a large investment in time or money, but as a collective we can network and cross fertilise, which may save us time and money, but will also help to build stronger bonds that might help us in the future.”