SUCCESS STORIES
“No job is too big or too small and we have raised millions of pounds for all types of charities from those working at a grass root level to those helping people throughout the UK.”
St Barnabas House Hospice
Andrew covered the trust fundraising function during my maternity leave, and it was a relief to know that things were in capable hands while I was off. The records have been kept up to date, all key relationships have been maintained, and reporting requirements have been met. Andrew also helped develop relationships with new funders, and we have secured £1,000s which we would not have been able to access without Andrews help. He is a joy to work with, the whole team – fundraising and clinical – have enjoyed working with him. We all have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Andrew and using his expertise in the future! Judith Owen-Phillips, Fundraising Development Manager.
Carousel
Carousel has worked with Salvia Fundraising over many years. As a consultant and friend to Carousel, Andrew has given us thoughtful and wise advice on our fundraising strategies and events; he has carried out research on different funding opportunities, helped us with a large lottery application and provided bespoke training and mentoring for our staff. He is always supportive of our work and our team, and it's great to have a friendly face to call on in these challenging fundraising times. Liz Hall, Director.
Gateway Christian Church
Andrew has done a great job for us in our fundraising efforts for our new building. He has a wealth of knowledge in the area of grant making trusts and works methodically and efficiently to ensure all applications are completed well. Jason Cottingham, Assistant Minister (Operational)
Grace Eyre Foundation
We have been successful in securing over £66,000 for the Grace Eyre Foundation’s Travel Buddy Scheme. The Foundation supports people with learning disabilities throughout Brighton and Sussex. Eva Jarvis, Director, said “Grace Eyre has been able to secure funding for a very important project thanks to Salvia Fundraising that we otherwise would have had to close. We are impressed with the results gained by Salvia Fundraising and have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone who is trying to secure funding in this very difficult environment.”
Heart of Kent Hospice
Salvia Fundraising was initially taken on to raise funds for an exciting, new venture called the Accommodation, Aid and Advice Project that HOPE would run for Kent Probation clients. Successful funding applications raised £75,000 and along with funding from Kent Probation this scheme is now the sole referral route for probation clients into private rented and supported accommodation. At the beginning of 2012, Salvia Funding successfully boosted the funds of this scheme by securing a further £90,000 grant to enable us to recruit an experienced manager to oversee the scheme for the next 3 years. Without the assistance of Salvia Fundraising this project could not have succeeded. Further successes have also resulted in funds towards the mortgage and refurbishment of our Ramsgate project. This was a major project for HOPE and we are extremely grateful to Salvia Fundraising for their enthusiasm and commitment to our cause. In total, we received £75,000 towards the mortgage and £119,700 for refurbishments; an incredible achievement!
Steve Claringbold, Chief Executive of HOPE said, “Before Salvia Fundraising came on the scene raising funds to provide services to ex-offenders had been extremely hard work. Their successes have enabled us to continue to provide valuable support to a client group that historically has been hard to fundraise for. Not only have Salvia Fundraising raised enormous amounts for our cause but they have also been instrumental in providing ideas that steer our organisation’s thoughts on new ventures. Funds have also been successfully raised for our Rent Deposit Schemes, Fresh Start Appeals and CCTV costs. I am extremely grateful to Salvia Fundraising for their continued help and assistance in raising funds for HOPE and wholeheartedly recommend them to others.”
The JPK Sussex Project
“The JPK Sussex Project has been formed to provide a Supported Living Centre for people with a learning disability in Eastbourne and for those currently living in the surrounding areas of East Sussex. The JPK is a multi-million-pound project to build a Community Training Centre and Accommodation for 24 residents. Although the Trustees, all being voluntary, have been successful with fundraising for this project and others before, but their time is limited but it was felt necessary to ‘up our game’, to be able to raise the funds sooner rather than later, and therefore sought the assistance of a Professional Fundraiser. Andrew Devon, Salvia Fundraising Ltd is an experienced fundraiser and has proved essential to the JPK in the last two years. He is professional, yet friendly, with excellent record keeping, consults at all times and is able to access funding streams from various sources. He has the experience and knowledge of how to approach and write to possible donors, undertake and update budgets and to keep possible donors abreast of progress within their various timescales. Andrew is willing to adapt to the needs of the various charities that he works with and will adhere to the signed contracts but will also be willing to work more flexibly. Through Andrew’s valuable assistance over the last two years, we have been able to raise the funds required for the building, refurbishment work and equipping the JPK Community Centre. Our grateful thanks Andrew”. Mrs Jill Parker MBE, Chairman
Mind - Coastal West Sussex
In 2018 Coastal West Sussex Mind needed to fund-raise to sustain and develop some of our really important community mental health services: Our services that support parents (Families in Mind), older adults (Communities in Mind) and our community anti-stigma project (Open Minds).
Over a 4-5 month period in Autumn 2018 and Winter 18/19 we asked Andrew to identify all the potential grant and trust opportunities available to us for these services and to then prioritise and write and submit bids accordingly on our behalf. Andrew was able to use his significant experience and contacts to very quickly find potential sources for us and then wrote bids in an amazingly organised and efficient way - The phrase quality bid writing machine springs to mind!
We couldn't be more delighted with the results - We have been successful at getting a substantial 3 year (£340K) Big Lottery award for our Families in Mind Service and so far a further £25K for other services. We still have a number of bids pending. Andrew also helped us to better understand how we need to effectively fund-raise and that if we do we can get results. I felt Andrew was very very good value for money because he was able to use existing contacts and relationships and also worked very efficiently. We would certainly use him again and also definitely recommend him to anyone looking for a fund-raiser.
Reigate and Redhill YMCA
“We used Andrew Devon to help us raise money for a new Move On accommodation project in Redhill. He wrote a great case for support, identified suitable trusts to approach and helped us raise £114k of charitable funds. He is quick to learn and soon became part of the team and we would definitely use him again for future fundraising.” Ian Burks, Chief Executive - Reigate and Redhill YMCA
Samaritans
Salvia Fundraising has helped the Samaritans increase their funding income by 30%.
Trevor Marshall, Deputy Director for Outreach and Fundraising of the Bognor Regis, Chichester and District Samaritans said: “I write to thank you for the knowledge I have gained at your courses. Last year we struggled to find funds. After undergoing your expert training packages I am pleased that this year our funding income is currently 30% above budget and climbing. You have helped me to develop a funding strategy with our branch and evolve multi funding streams to establish sustainable funding”.
Sammy Community Transport
Fund raising is as tough as ever, but I would just like to let you know that having been to your very useful funding soirées early in my career, I have been able to secure a £440,000 grant (over 5 years), to buy 4 new minibuses and finance overheads, from Big’s ‘Reaching Communities’. Thanks for all help; I would regard myself as a ‘Salvia’ success story”.
Stable Family Home Trust
David Rule, Chair of Trustees, the Stable Family Home Trust. "We were very pleased with the way in which Salvia worked with us in defining a strategy for the development of our fundraising : it was friendly and caring , leading to an incisive set of clearly expressed recommendations appropriate to our situation and all of which are being implemented. We will not hesitate to come back to Salvia if we need more help".
St John’s Church (Meads, Eastbourne)
David Scott-Ralphs, PCC Chairman - August
St John’s Church in Meads, Eastbourne, undertook a £400,000 ‘Building for the Future’ Appeal in autumn 2017. The appeal was to allow a re-ordering of the church space to make it more accessible and flexible in its use. Also included in the appeal was funding for much-needed repair work to the 19th century church tower, to enable us to reopen the small chapel at the base of the tower and to open to public visiting our War Memorial honouring those from the area who lost their lives in the First World War.
While we envisaged securing a lot of support from our own congregation, we recognised that we also needed to apply to external funders. The PCC therefore commissioned Andrew Devon of Salvia Fundraising to research a target list of grant making trusts to which to apply. Andrew quickly identified a list of around 20 trusts that offered the best prospects for an appeal. We then further engaged Andrew to make the initial applications, creating our case for support template that we were then able to adapt. Included in this work was the preliminary application to the Heritage Lottery Fund in connection with the church tower.
The church’s investment in Andrew’s time yielded a return approaching ten times and the success rate was very high among our target list. Furthermore, the groundwork that Andrew laid enabled the church to go on to secure a £100,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in July 2018. With a small amount of funding still to be raised, we have so far secured over £155,000 in external grants, with good prospects for several others. Andrew was very much the initial architect and catalyst for this. We would certainly use his services again.
St Raphael's Hospice
Salvia Fundraising and Andrew Devon have helped St Raphael’s Hospice for several years. Firstly as a “one off” analysis of our Trust fundraising, making suggestions as to new funders we could approach. And the first application brought us a grant of £12,000!
Since then Andrew and his Team have taken on the role of our Trust Fundraising on an on-going basis helping to achieve a good increases in our regular annual support from Trusts and Foundations. The knowledge and expertise which Salvia brings is hugely valuable and I would have no hesitation in recommending any charity wanting to expand its fundraising to talk to Andrew. I first met Andrew via the Institute of Fundraising and he has a wealth of experience. Keith Witham - Director of Fundraising and Communications
St Wilfrid’s Hospice (Eastbourne)
John Summers, Donor Development Manager
“Andrew Devon has been instrumental in the development of St Wilfrid’s Hospice (Eastbourne) Trust Fundraising achieving a ten times return on investment and increasing not only our funding from Trusts and Foundations but additionally introducing us to new funding streams. Notable successes have included the funding of a new minibus”
The Therapy Garden
Susie Gault, The Therapy Garden. "I'm completely new to fundraising and have really valued Andrew's support as a result of which we have been fortunate to gain two substantial core funding grants. I work in a small charity where I am the only fundraiser so I am continuing to work with Andrew as a mentor. He is boosting my own confidence as well as teaching me new skills and sharing his substantial experience".
West Sussex Association for the Disabled
"Just to let you know, that thanks to all your Fundraising Training here in the Bognor Regis and Littlehampton area, we are still going strong despite of our head office having shutdown two years ago. Life does not get easier attaining grants, but we are managing to swim against the tide thanks to you." Sylvia Belcher, West Sussex Association for the Disabled.
“We offer a friendly service, an honest opinion and we are open and communicative. What is important to us is that we give you the tools to carry on fundraising successfully".