Are you responsible for trust fundraising at your charity?

Do you feel like you lack some of the essential skills, tools and knowledge to do it really well?

Have you been sending out applications... but not hearing anything back?

Is this all new to you and you're simply not sure where to start?

Read on... you're in the right place.

There are currently 8,000 Trusts and Foundations giving away £8bn each year in the UK.

Yet despite this:

there is a growing gap in public sector finance in the UK
individual giving across the UK has stagnated
there are fewer trusts with open programmes, supporting wide ranging and multiple causes
competition for funds is increasing as new causes enter the market: schools, Community Interest Companies (and other types of charitable organisations), leisure centres, libraries, individual GoFundMe pages, Crowdfunders...the list goes on...
there is a trend towards ‘public voting’ style grant giving which can exclude charities with smaller supporter bases

And on top of all of this, we're living through a cost of living crisis, where suddenly everything is changing month to month.

This does not mean that charitable trust fundraising is no longer the viable and sustainable income stream that it used to be. For many charities, it still delivers (and will deliver again after this current crisis is over) essential and sustainable income.

There is also an increase in philanthropists (mostly self made) pledging to 'give away their wealth in their lifetimes' (as a fundraiser, this is music to my ears, though I feel slightly bad for their kids!).

I'm guessing you would like a slice of the pie?

(mine's a vegan key lime pie please...)

I have raised millions for charities over my 20-year career. Now I’m ready to share my strategies for success so that you can replicate them.

Trust the Process is my step by step online training that walks you through my personal approach to fundraising from trusts and foundations.

My consistent approach to this area of fundraising has generated millions for good causes. I want you to enjoy the same success.

“I was excited to try out Trust the Process as I've never been properly trained in trust fundraising, despite 15 years in the sector.

Caroline has a very calm, patient and empowering presentation style. By the time you finish the course, you're ready and raring to go.

The section on target setting was especially helpful to me. I'm now much more confident in explaining our targets to my CEO and can back up the numbers with evidence.

I would recommend this course to anyone starting out in trust fundraising and also to existing fundraisers who would like a bit of reassurance that they are on the right track.”
Marie Preece, Two Green Magpies

This self-led course is for you if:

You're completely new to trust fundrasing and are excited to make the most of your new role
You've been handed the responsibility for trusts and foundations, but feel nervous about your lack of experience and need to learn the basics fast
You're managing a team member who has responsibility for trusts and foundations, but lack practical experience yourself, and would like to support them better
You're a trustee, looking for some professional trust fundraising support, but you're not quite ready yet to work one on one with a consultant
You're willing to put into practice the learnings from this course and are committed to trying new things

This self-led course is NOT for you if:

You are an experienced and knowledgable trusts and foundations fundraiser with many years' experience
You are already raising more than your charity needs from trusts and foundations each year
You are a corporate / individual giving / community fundraiser with zero interest in how trusts and foundations work!
You feel you are too busy for learning / self development at the moment (we recommend a minimum commitment of 12 hours over 4 weeks to get results from Trust the Process)
You're expecting a financial return within 6 months from this product (trust fundraising done well is usually fruitful around 6-9 months after starting)

“I found the course thorough, easy to follow and easy to understand. For the first time, I have a realistic target for income generation which I can show to my boss.”
Rob Pryce, The Spark

By the the end of Trust the Process, you will be:

able to identify genuine, potential trust prospects for your charity or non-profit
the creator of a trust fundraising strategy, with a target and objectives for the coming year
able to confidently articulate how you set your target and why it's realistic for your charity
the author of two template proposals, which are beautifully presented and informative and which answer the top questions asked by most funders
newly confident to make contact with funders for the first time
equipped with a toolkit of documents, templates, letters and scripts to support your trust fundraising programme in the future (once they're done, they're done!)

Providing you are committed to dedicating time and energy to trust fundraising once your learning is complete, you will see a significant return on your investment.

Caroline Danks

Caroline Danks has worked in the social good and non profit sector since she was at school and used to volunteer for her mum (who was also a trust fundraiser).

Aged 21, armed with a music degree and a realisation that she was unlikely to be the next Britney Spears, Caroline interviewed for Bill Bruty's fundraising training programme, secured a job in the trusts team at Centrepoint and never looked back...

She specialises in capital appeals, charitable trusts and major donors and has experience of working with large and small charities across different sectors.

Caroline fell in love major gifts fundraising and has been building on her major gifts experience over the years, raising funds for both multi-million pound capital appeals and sustainable annual revenue. She has met all sorts of interesting characters, heard their stories and facilitated their philanthropy for the mutual benefit of both donor and charity.

In the past five years, Caroline has raised over £2m from trusts and foundations towards the building of a new hospice, £200,000 towards the restoration of a scheduled ancient monument in Cornwall and £250,000 towards a new inpatient unit for young people suffering severe mental illness.

Between 2012 and 2015, Caroline managed the campaign for the restoration of the National Trust's Castle Drogo in Devon which raised over £7 million.

Caroline lives in Devon and runs LarkOwl with her partner Tony. In May 2019 they launched the first freely available benchmarking study on Return on Investment in UK fundraising in six years.

In her spare time she likes swimming in the sea, experimenting with vegan cookery, reading books on personal development (not 'self help'), obsessing over her new allotment, dance classes at the gym and playing Exploding Kittens and MarioKart with her family.

Trust the Process is my step by step online training that walks you through my personal approach to fundraising from trusts and foundations