She once doorstepped Rod Stewart and got a £5,000 donation and if you don't ask you don't get believes charity fundraiser Margaret Darnley
Fundraising has always been part of my life. But it wasn’t until I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2007 that I devoted myself both volunteering and raising cash.
I’m from Perth and have won Regional Fundraiser of the Year four times. I don’t devote myself to one cause but experience has told me health-based charities tend to capture the public’s attention more.
Few people ever say no if you ask them for donations directly. Having a wide network of contacts is important if you want to raise cash effectively. But the best way to fundraise these days is probably via the corporate route. I ran the London Marathon in 2009. Although I had been diagnosed with MS I unashamedly used it to my advantage raising over £20,000.
It was the first time I got corporate backing. I worked for as a fund manager for State Street in Edinburgh back then and decided to give a big presentation to our head of corporate responsibility when he came up one day from London.
She pledged £10,000 if I wore a State Street t-shirt. Despite me leaving the group in 2011, it is still very generous whenever I go to cap in hand.
I’ve used a similar pitch with other corporate sponsors. Banks are actually very good. Because they work in the community they are very eager to back local efforts. To be fair they have always been good: I get a lot of cynical people telling me I’m only getting cash from them because they have a guilty conscience.
That may be the case but all the major banks have been giving generously to my various fundraising challenges since long before then.
It’s easier now that donations sites are so easy to use. It’s a boon. It wasn’t so long ago the vast majority of fundraising was done via cash. Sites like Justgiving make it so much easier and have enabled fundraisers like me to raise significantly more cash.
Best piece of advice I’d give any fundraiser is be innovative. People want to see a challenge; the harder the better and the more cash you’ll raise.
People want to see you suffer. Sounds harsh but I truly believe that. They want to see you put through it but to succeed. They want you to work for their cash.
I’m self-employed these days but I’d never consider fundraising as a profession. I’d get turned off by the regulation and all the bureaucracy. The best events are those which are impulsive: you think of the challenge, then think it won’t work before convincing yourself it will and spending the coming months regretting it. At least that’s how it works with me.
My biggest claim to fame is that I got £5,000 from Rod Stewart. I met him at a fundraising night at Celtic Park in 2010. I told him I was raising money for its foundation and asked him for a few quid as a joke. He gave me his agent’s card and told me to call her.
A week later I had a cheque for £5,000 which went to help build a new playground in the east end of Glasgow which the Celtic Foundation was financing.
It just goes to show: if you don’t ask you don’t get. And I just can’t stop asking.
