Grants from big funders
ADD's turnover is roughly £3 million per annum. Almost two-thirds of this comes in the form of large grants from funders such as the UK government's Department for International Development and Comic Relief (who organise Red Nose Day in the UK every two years), and in smaller grants from charitable trust funds.
A key part of ADD's ethos is promoting independence and sustainability and so we give training and support to our overseas programme staff and partner organisations in fundraising for themselves. Only around 3% of the total income comes this way at the moment, but this is set to increase.
Donations from the public
The remaining £1 million comes from members of the public, a large number of whom donate regularly, which is especially valuable as it allows us to plan ahead. Since ADD is relatively unknown in the UK, finding new supporters by advertising and sending appeals through the post has proved far too costly. Instead we find that approaching people face to face works extremely well. We strive to always approach people in a positive and respectful way, as the following quote demonstrates:
"I was walking down the Strand in London when I was approached by a canvasser for ADD. Now, this happens to me all the time, I must have one of those faces, however, I do do all of my donating direct, usually on the basis of prior knowledge of the organisation from research or personal experience.
The reason that this occasion was different was that the canvasser who aproached me on your behalf was not only polite, knowledgable and passionate about the charity but also did his job exceptionally well in that he knew exactly how to make his pitch asking the right questions so that I was not patronised."
We have fundraisers who work in teams to fundraise on high streets and in shopping centre. We do this through Gift Fundraising, who we have been working with since 2002.
We also have a small number of individual fundraisers who approach people at home in the early evening. Tim Lilley Fundraising Consultancy employs people to do this on behalf of ADD.
All this work is regulated and monitored by an organisation called the PFRA (Public Fundraising Regulatory Association) of which we are a member and there are also standards published by the Institute of Fundraising, which we adhere to. We are currently in the process of registering with the recently formed Fundraising Standards Board and will be happy to abide by their standards of operation.
If you would like any further information about any of our methods of fundraising, please do contact us at the UK office.