C Bayer
Manager, Corporate Partnerships & Supporter Relations
Earthwatch Institute (Australia)
attended FIA Skills 1

First of all, I would like to thank you kindly for the support and opportunity to gain valuable training through the ASI ‘SMART Company’ Scholarship Fund.  I was recently able to attend the FIA Skills 1 training course on a fully-funded scholarship and am incredibly grateful for that opportunity.

My employer, Earthwatch Australia, is a not-for-profit environmental research organisation that has very little or no budget for training.  The opportunity to attend this course has been of great benefit to my role as well as being perfectly timed in the current and future direction of Earthwatch Australia.

Being quite new to the fundraising sector and with no prior experience, I have taken on a role that will present many challenges and I personally will enjoy those challenges!  Suffice to say however I must be actively obtaining training, new skills and increased knowledge in the fundraising realm to conquer those challenges successfully.  Attending the Skills 1 course has given me a valuable platform upon which to build this new set of skills and understanding.

Skills 1 I believe was quite different to other fundraising seminars and short training sessions I have attended to date.  I felt that the networking opportunities were more sound and useful, purely by spending three days with the same people rather than a fly by for half a day.

Starting from scratch and working through the fundamentals and principles of fundraising, as was the course schedule, has given me confidence that I am heading in the right direction with what I have picked up during my short time in this field.  However, what the presenters, whom were all highly respected people, brought to us each day through their incredible amount of experience, knowledge and wisdom was invaluable.

The group exercise on the final day in which we made a presentation to a mock Board on the development of a 3 year fundraising strategy based on all we had learnt in the preceding three days was very worthwhile.  It will contribute highly to the requirements of my role internally and was a fantastic learning experience.

With the aid of further funding from the ASI ‘SMART Company’ Scholarship Fund, I will also be attending the FIA Skills 2 through your kind generosity and again your Board’s support of my endeavours in this field.

For that I am truly grateful, as is my employer, Earthwatch Australia.  Our vision and strategy from here into the future is set on growth.  We have an incredible team working together right now, with myself being an integral part of that team.  For me to have the opportunity to take on this training and with the intention to complete all three stages of Skills 123, it takes a lot of pressure off our small organisation.  It will in fact inject a whole lot more into the future of our organisation and achieving our mission of engaging people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding necessary for a sustainable environment.

Once again I thank you for this opportunity and for your support through the ASI ‘SMART Company’ Scholarship Fund.

M Clarebrough
Fundraising Relationship Manager
Very Special Kids
attended FIA Madison Down Under 2009

From conversations with past participants of Madison Down Under my expectations of what I wanted to achieve a Madison Down Under were high. Madison Down Under delivered all that it promised and more! I have worked in the Not for Profit sector for over 6 years and attend many conferences and seminars within the fundraising sector, Madison Down Under was most definitely the most beneficial and worthwhile professional development program that I have participated in. Madison Down Under was an extremely beneficial use of my time. 

The facilitators and guest speakers provide great insight, with the value added of many years of experience in Bequests and Donor Giving. There were ample opportunities for discussion which my group embraced with passion. Track 5 – The Gift That Goes on.. had participants from a variety of organizations (small to large) across the sector, bringing with them a range of experiences and ideas.

Madison Down Under delivered in providing me with the opportunity to not only develop key elements of a program in the areas of Bequests to benefit Very Special Kids now and into the future but to also develop strategic relationships within the fundraising industry.

Being a residential program there were ample opportunities to network across the entire not for profit industry, with likeminded individuals who draw on a broad range of experiences. I have already facilitated communication with my new contacts and am attending a web2 seminar care of one of those contacts.

The sessions were inspiring and provided an opportunity to build a realistic plan of action to fit with the resources that you have available at your organisation – whether you are a one man band or an organization with 4 bequest officers – every participant walked away with new inspiration and ideas.

One the final day each member of my group spoke enthusiastically about what they would implement on return to their organisations and this included me. I believe that I am now adequately resourced with a clear direction to develop and implement a successful financially viable Bequest program for Very Special Kids. I am enthusiastic about moving the Very Special Kids Bequest Program from passive to active within the next 6 months.

MDU Tracks is an excellent way to stay on track professionally in your organisation and personally within your profession.

Sincere thanks to all at ASI for providing me with this opportunity. I am looking forward to next year already – even if I have to invest in it personally!

K Topp
Membership and Fundraising Officer
Carers Victoria
attended FIA Skills 1

      
In July 2009, I was awarded an ASI ‘SMART Company’ Scholarship to complete a Fundraising Institute Australia – Skills 1 – the Foundations of Fundraising course.

The course was a fantastic opportunity and learning experience for me.  It taught me about the legalities and the practicalities of fundraising including ethics and legislation and database management, as well as the strategies of fundraising such as relationship management, donor-centred fundraising, marketing and communications, direct marketing and special events.

However the greatest value of the course was in the practical and networking component.  As an assessment for the course we were to present a fundraising strategy with a team of 5 other attendees to a foundation and the hypothetical board of the foundation.  This was hard work in utilizing all the strategies and skills that we had just learnt, however it allowed us to consider the strategies in the context of a real life situation in regards to what would be successful and the cost benefit ratio for each strategy.

Additionally it was great to meet peers and potential mentors in the fundraising sector.  The opportunity to network will allow me to share ideas with others in the sector and also to learn from their experiences.  It may also provide opportunities for Carers Victoria to partner with other non-profits in our sector.

Carers Victoria represents and supports unpaid family carers who care for someone with a disability, mental illness, chronic condition or who is frail aged.  There are 2.6 million carers in Australia who by caring in an unpaid capacity save over 30.5 billion dollars.  Carers can derive a lot from their caring experience, however caring does have financial and emotional impacts, with many carers unable to work due to their caring obligations and many carers experiencing low levels of health and wellbeing.

I am passionate about supporting and representing carers in our community and thank you for providing me with the opportunity to learn so that I can better contribute to our cause.  I have already begun to use my new skills!

C Hornby
Community Relations Coordinator
Cystic Fibrosis Queensland
attended Madison Down Under 2009

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to ASI for providing me with the scholarship to attend Madison Down Under.  The opportunity to learn from leading fundraising experts and other peers was nothing short of amazing.

I attended the “Ask and You Shall Receive” track and was grateful to receive practical advice and strategies for direct response developed specifically for the not for profit sector.

The conference started with an overview of the days ahead and sessions on the elements of success of donor direct.  It was highlighted that our regular givers are our greatest prospects to develop into major gifts and in turn those that will leave bequests.

Statistics show that not for profits lose 20% of their donors each year to natural attrition.  We were given strategies on how to keep our donors engaged developing them into regular and major givers by communicating with them in the correct ways.  We also looked at generational marketing and ways and strategies to engage the different generations.

The importance and cost of keeping a donor engages as opposed to acquiring a new donor were discussed at great length and is one of things I have since shared with my work colleagues.  We are now focussed on re-engaging our lapsed donors, upgrading our existing donors and developing major gifts and bequests programs.

Paramount to all successful direct response campaigns is the quality of the list we use to communicate with our donors.  I now have valuable tools and formulas to segment our donor database to retrieve past giving histories, to find our lapsed donors, our regular donors and major givers.  I will be able to use this information to set donor goals, communicate with our donors according to their giving characteristics and build on these relationships. 

We received sample 12 month communication plans, extensive advice on mailing campaigns from a reputable mailing house, many ask campaign samples and a number of other useful resources.

Attending Madison Down Under affirmed that at Cystic Fibrosis Queensland we are one the right track with our direct mail appeals other than a bit of tweaking here and there.

On my return from Madison Down Under I have briefing my Chief Executive Officer on all that I learnt sharing with her the tools and strategies that could be easily introduced to our existing practises to enhance our direct response campaigns and in turn benefit our organisation.

Thank you once again to ASI for allowing me this opportunity – I am very grateful.

The Review Panel for the September 2009 Round of funding will consist of:

• Paul Ramsbottom - ASI Managing Director (and Chairman of the Fund)
• Julie Willett - ASI HR/Facilities Director
• Martin Angelin - ASI Business Development Manager (on rotation)

The Fund received a massive number of applications (particularly for MDU) requesting more than $67,000 in funding in the June round.  We are pleased to announce 7 scholarships were awarded.

Approximately $10,000 will be made available for the next two rounds of funding for 2009.

Congratulations to the following Scholarship recipients:

Part A – Fully Funded Education Scholarships

Linda Maher, Guide Dogs Qld
FIA Skills 2

Larissa Brown, Centre for Sustainable Leadership
FIA Skills 1

Kate Topp, Carers Victoria
FIA Skills 1
 
Judi Herschell, Ovcare National Cancer Centre
FIA Madison Down Under (MDU)

Coralie Hornby, Cystic Fibrosis Qld
FIA Madison Down Under (MDU)

Allie Townsend, Griffin Theatre Company
FIA Madison Down Under (MDU) - partial scholarship

Marcelle Clareborough, Very Special Kids
FIA Madison Down Under (MDU) - partial scholarship

Part B – Education Subsidies for ASI Customers

no scholarships awarded

Part C – Education Grants for ASI Customers

no scholarships awarded

We thank all the applicants for taking the time to prepare their applications.  Applicants - successful in this round or not - are encouraged to consider applying again in future funding rounds (annually in December, March, June and September).