Career in fundraising - too late to start at 50?

[raisingthebarbell]

I've had various jobs in sales, comms inc. copywriting, community events etc plus I volunteer for a club helping with (small) event planning, fundraising & volunteer recruitment. I've had enough flitting from one job to another and would like a proper career with potential for development and progression and think fundraising would be a good fit but not quite sure where to start! There are so many different types of fundraising roles (and no idea what some even involve!) so accept I may have to start in a fairly junior role, but many of my skills are transferrable so hoping not entry level.

Is it madness to effectively start at the bottom age 50 and is there an obvious role that would give a good overall grounding in different types of fundraising before working out what area I want to specialise? I feel like I need to learn the basics before I can specialise in one area & trying to find training courses but all are quite pricey.

Any tips & advice much appreciated.

I'm no expert in sales or fundraising but one of my closest friends started a new job in charity fundraising 2 months ago. She's never done it before, is in her early 50s and loves it.

Just here to say go for it! What got her the job was tons of transferable skills and a love of the charity - it was an internal move.

I'd say go for it. Maybe contact the institute of fundraising to learn more?

Another area that could use your maturity and experience is the Grant Making and Grant giving sector who are trying to diversify who makes funding decisions in the communities they serve. They increasingly value lived experience.

Do message me if you want to find out more about that as there are funded places available on talent programmes

Entry level roles in grant Making are often Funding Officer roles which is sorts like the opposite of Fund Raiser

Not too late at all. Try and decide if you want to work for a charity, an arts organisation, in education (private schools have people who fundraise for bursaries etc). And also whether you would be more interested in big corporate donors or individual giving.

Your copywriting skills will be very useful, as will anything to do with people. Donor stewardship is so important.

I work in fundraising. Rather than pay for courses I’d just do some volunteering. At the charity I work for we’d love to have someone volunteer for a bit whilst they gained experience and applied for jobs. Age isn’t an issue either.

There’s lots of different types of fundraising- events, community, high value, corporate, challenge events, trusts. At a smaller charity you’ll do a bit of everything.

DM me if you want more advice.

I work in fundraising and absolutely love it, it is such a rewarding job . There are lots of different types of fundraising I work in a corporate fundraising team . So we work to deliver partnerships that generate £500k plus. There is Community fundraising, trust , major donor , events, sports ... Lots of different avenues .I have worked in the sector since I left uni and worked for some of the bigger charities.

If you want exposure to lots of different avenues you would be best working in a smaller charity to start, the bigger ones you just focus on your role. Smaller charities you will understand what the different teams do a lot more. I started in a smaller charity in corporate and got a great undereating of how the other teams work.

It's never too late to start. I love it but it's not an easy job !

There is a group in Facebook called fundraising chat . You can join that and ask for advice in there as well :)

I’m a fundraising manager and I say go for it. Age isn’t an issue when I’m recruiting onto my team. Neither is fundraising experience actually. It’s useful obviously, but I can teach that - what’s more important to me is personality and passion for the cause. It depends what kind of fundraising you want to do - our trusts team are incredible, but it’s very much a desk job. My role is around community / corporate / events and no two days are the same. It’s hugely varied, you’re out and about a lot, can start the day talking to children in schools, meeting people who have taken on amazing challenges, putting a pitch together to take to a big business to ask for support, doing risk assessments for mass participation events, asking for prizes for an auction at a gala dinner, then doing a talk at a rotary club in the evening. It can be hugely demanding time wise and also emotionally - you really have to keep an eye on your work life balance! But it’s an amazing job and I wouldn’t want to do anything else!

i’d say a sales background is a great start with transferable skills. You need the confidence to meet different people every day, present to groups, and to stay positive even when you’re knackered and you’ve had one of those days where everyone has said no to you! Resilience is a biggie.

Happy to help if you have any more questions!

Recruitment is so tough in fundraising at the moment so it’s a good time to move into the sector.

I’d have a chat to Ashby Jenkins or a similar fundraising recruiter - they can give you advice and show you the types of roles you could start with.
As others have said it’s rewarding and there’s a lot of progression opportunities.