Demonstrating the value
of Research during a
restructure
Natalie Westfall - NSPCC
The Fundraising restructure
• Proposal – split the team by activity and take on
a wider remit
• Perceived impact on our team – could lead to
missed fundraising opportunities and
growing inefficiencies
• Our response - gathered evidence to support
our view of keeping the team as one and show
where we think we can add most value.
Challenges
• Our remit
• New Prospecting process
• No financial target
• Researcher : MGO ratio (ours is 1:54!)
• Relevant measures: Income v’s Impact
Measures of value
• Workload Management
• Raiser’s Edge attributes
Measures as evidence
Per cent ag e Inco me ver sus t ime sp ent
50
45
40
35
30
%income
25
%AIR Time
20
15
10
5
0
Partnership
Local Fundraising
Volunteer Board
Fundraising
Corporate Partnerships
High Value Donors
Measures as evidence
Innovation
Stewardship
e-fundraising
SELS
Schools
Supporter care
Ad hoc queries and research work by Department - July
National events
Other
DDM
Legacies
Partnership Fundraising
Corporate
Local
VBF
HVD
VBF
Corporate
Partnership Fundraising
DDM
Innovation
HVD
Other
SELS
e-fundraising
Supporter care
Schools
Legacies
Stewardship
Local
National events
Measures as evidence
Costs
• An hour of a Researcher’s time = £25
• Research resources – by the hour, per Researcher = £3
• Total cost for Prospect Research = minimum of £28 an
hour
Question: what should we spend this money on?
Outcomes
• Team kept together but with a reduction in
resource
• Tighter remit of work agreed
• Keeping the team together secured our
continued objectivity
• Now part of a Strategy Unit that has a mandate
to challenge and influence.
Learning Points
• Measuring input can evidence impact and value
• Having impact is not all about money
• The importance of feedback
• Less resource has forced us to focus on what
we need to deliver.
Learning Points
• If we can’t justify doing a piece of work we
shouldn’t do it
• Understand other departments’ priorities and
use them to set our own
• Measures are important in demonstrating the
part Research plays in achieving Fundraising’s
strategic objectives.
Achievements since the restructure
• Creation of a new New Prospecting process
• Clear remit and mandate for how we work
• Smarter allocation of time to tasks and projects
• Smarter ways of working within the team and
with others
Next steps
• Implement new measures which feed directly into
our Fundraising Strategy
• Training others in basic research and sharing
access to sources
• Analyse the value of information sources
• Continue to challenge some information requests
Next steps
• Investigate if we can robustly link research to
income
• Track donor entry points
• Use strategic objectives to drive prospecting
• Gather feedback from FMT and refine processes
Conclusion
• Measures can be used to great effect
• Gathering feedback is a key piece of evidence
• Even one measure can make an impact if it’s the
right one
• Have confidence in the value you add!
Questions?