Ignite: the Corporate Fundraising skills series
Companies give over £4 billion to charities in the UK a year. But just being a charity with a good cause isn’t enough to get a slice of the pie.
Ignite: the corporate fundraising skills series is an evidence-based, hands-on training series designed to help you actually win, grow and keep corporate partners. Across five modules, you’ll learn what really makes companies give, how to set ambitious but realistic targets and how to achieve those targets. We’ll include psychology-based shortcuts, insights from company decision makers and plenty of time to practice. Expect evidence (not anecdotes), fresh ideas and the chance to swap strategies with other fundraisers who get it.
Dates: 9:30am - 12:30pm on Tuesday 14th, 21st April and 5th, 12th, 19th May (online).
We’re offering a discounted rate of £599 + VAT for our pilot programme, and there are only 15 spaces.
To book your space, email Andy on andy@firesidefundraising.com with the subject line ‘Ignite’.
Who is it for?
This training is designed for Senior Officer, Manager and Head Of level Fundraisers. We’ll train you to be brilliant at the basics (including prospecting and securing first meetings) but we’ll also be diving into psychology, strategy and insight. As such, a basic understanding of either sales or fundraising is useful in order to contribute to group discussions, which is a core part of the training.
What you’ll come away with:
● An understanding of how companies decide which charities to work with - and the ingredients to ensure they choose you.
● The ability to identify and engage prospects that can give significant value,
● The knowledge of how to build evidence-based fundraising targets.
● Confidence in pricing, negotiating and upselling partnerships. You’ll also learn how to say no, and when to walk away.
● A checklist to ensure you deliver the kinds of partnerships that companies expect.
● A peer group of like-minded corporate fundraisers to run ideas, challenges and proposals past in future.
● A series of tools and templates, such as partnership agreements, prospect plans and calculators to price partnerships.
To book your space, email Andy on andy@firesidefundraising.com with the subject line ‘Ignite’.
How the training will run
The Corporate Fundraising Framework is a series of five three-hour modules, which will be run via Zoom. We will share a mixture of sector evidence, best practice examples and interactive exercises that allow you to roll up your sleeves and get to work.
One of the main advantages of this training is working with other corporate fundraisers: seeing what’s unique about your organisation from a sales perspective and receiving solidarity on common hardships. As such, there will be plenty of breakout rooms where you’re working to support each other.
Each module builds on the last, so we do ask that you’re able to attend (or at least watch the recording) of each module in sequence.
The programme in depth:
● Module A: Why Companies Give. You’ll learn about how companies decide which charities to give to, and how the decision gets made. You’ll learn the altruistic reasons as well as social value and ESG frameworks, as well as how to spot which one is truly driving a company. We’ll include psychology, insight from company interviews and examples. Then you’ll get used to telling impactful stories and create your own elevator pitch focussed on unrestricted funding.
● Module B: How to be ready for, and deliver, partnerships. You’ll learn about the drivers of donor loyalty, and how it’s different from the initial ‘sale’ process. You’ll learn what it takes for an organisation to be ‘partnership ready’, and the key internal conversations to have. From here, you’ll learn how to upsell/grow partnerships. If you have existing partnerships, this’ll start your path to ‘quick wins’ as far as they exist. If you don’t have existing partnerships, this’ll teach you about impact measurement.
● Module C: How to build a pipeline & fundraising target. With the fundamentals of how prospects and partners will decide to give to you, we’ll work through how to build evidence-based targets and then find the prospects that’ll get you to them. You’ll identify your priority industries and the tricks to identify warm prospects. You’ll also learn how to get companies coming to you.
● Module D: Starting conversations with companies. You’ll learn about how to go from a list of names of companies you think look good to a fully fledged pipeline. You’ll learn how to hold fruitful meetings, how to come up with bespoke offers that you’re confident you can deliver. You’ll come away with permission to follow up companies with fresh approaches and a new way of designing partnerships, and an understanding of when it’s time to walk away.
● Module E: How to negotiate and convert. You’ll learn about how to handle negotiations, and move from conversations into actual partnership. You’ll get practice identifying your own ‘no’s and how to handle ‘no’s from companies. We’ll explicitly cover how to handle conversations around restrictions and awkward scenarios. You’ll get practice pricing partnership ideas, handling objections and ensuring you have everything you need to move forward.
The cost
For our first ever Corporate Fundraising Framework, we’re offering an introductory price of £599 + VAT per person in exchange for a promise to fill in the feedback survey about how the training can be improved.
From late 2026, this training price will increase.
To book your space, email Andy on andy@firesidefundraising.com with the subject line ‘Ignite’.
The trainers
How to secure your space
To book your space, email Andy on andy@firesidefundraising.com with the subject line ‘Ignite’: we can arrange payment either by card or invoice.