15 Minutes with a Fundraiser - Kate Robertson

Kate Robertson, Director of Development & Alumni Relations at the University of Nottingham, reflects on her broad and varied career in fundraising to date as well as exploring the challenges and opportunities faced in international fundraising.

KR: I graduated from the University of Liverpool having completed a degree in history and drama at Chester College but I soon knew that working in a practical way in the theatre wasn’t for me. I really wanted to get a good classification so I decided to do my dissertation on how theatre is funded. The idea came to me because I had worked at Royal Insurance for a year before going to college - they were the largest sponsor for the arts at the time with their sponsorship of the Royal Shakespeare Company and I remembered how great it was, as an employee, to engage with the arts.  I loved every minute of working on my dissertation, which seemed unusual at the time, so it occurred to me that getting a job in this area might be a good idea.

I applied for a junior role at English National Opera. I had originally planned to go travelling and didn’t really intend to take the job; I just wanted to know what skills they were looking for. I went to the interview at the Coliseum and with the Kirov ballet rehearsing on stage I realised how much I wanted to work there. The world of fundraising and the arts seemed like a magical opportunity – travelling could wait!

I have loved every minute since - it has been a very rewarding career. After a fantastic time, effectively an apprenticeship, at ENO I then moved to the north west and worked at Tate Liverpool where I faced the daunting reality of being personally responsible for raising funds. I had some great support from my colleagues in London and the job gave me my first experience of co-ordinating strategies and approaches across different sites. After a stint at Arts & Business North West I realised I missed being part of a producing organisation so I moved to the Royal Academy of Arts where I headed up the corporate fundraising team. My time at the Royal Academy co-incided with a very successful period in corporate support for the RA – it was the time of blockbuster exhibitions like “Monet in the Twentieth Century and “Sensation” with the Saatchi’s band of Young British Artists. I learned a huge amount, very quickly, I moved on to become Director of Development for the Somerset House Arts Foundation, which supported the different cultural organisations based at Somerset House. Fundraising for the Ice Rink and an extra-ordinarily successful fundraising event with Elton John in 2002 were particularly memorable highlights. I feel very lucky to have worked where I have.

Following a short but long-awaited break to travel, I returned to the UK feeling that my career also needed a change in direction. I hadn’t considered higher education before but when a role at the University of Liverpool came up I thought the diverse portfolio of projects, which included some arts and heritage priorities, and the fact that it was my alma mater, made it a really good fit and I was thrilled when given the opportunity to set up a Development and Alumni Relations team there.  It was a very stimulating role.

KR: I think there are two aspects that motivate fundraisers: one is about enabling something to happen; the other is about raising the money. I probably lean towards the former - by seeing the outcome of our efforts and bringing projects to life. I also enjoy the extraordinary and diverse people that you meet inside and outside of the organization – working with them is a great privilege. 

KR: The greatest challenge for me is orchestrating everything so that things happen when they should - the ability to manage many different players, within and outside an organisation. It can be overwhelming at times: there can be a lot of plate spinning!  There are also cyclical challenges to deal with, such as the economy or staff turnover.

Your attention can be diverted every single day and sometimes that can be a good thing.  Getting the right balance between being opportunistic, reactive and keeping to the set plan can be a challenge.

KR: You need to be very good at reading people, and you need to be an active listener; your people skills need to be extremely good, whether working with alumni, donors or colleagues. A finely tuned instinct is also invaluable. You have to be willing to work extremely hard: you do need good work/life balance but you also have to allow these worlds to collide from time to time.

KR: Well of course, everyone needs to be sensitive to the different cultures when working overseas. Our overseas campuses, and our Chancellor (who is Chinese) probably make this easier for us to navigate than for some others. Effective co-ordination across the campuses is something we have to keep working at. Budgets need to work hard too. The upside is that we have so many opportunities to piggy-back on existing activity in Asia in particular.  Working with and from our campuses in Asia, as well as in Nottingham, enables us to foster a closer affinity with our alumni in Asia and beyond than might be possible for those without a substantial physical base in the region.

RA: How have you developed your fundraising strategy to incorporate the Asian campuses?

KR: We approach fundraising at Nottingham as one university across six campuses (three are in Nottingham) in three countries: fundraising is driven and supported by the University’s development team in Nottingham, but we are sensitive to the local environment of each of the campuses. We don’t want to alienate any of campuses by treating them as separate- we are all part of the same family. For example we’re rolling out Raiser’s Edge across our campuses so that we are all working from the same database. 

We’re developing our alumni magazine and other communications to ensure that we can be  more targeted for the different markets we operate in - we need a good balance of stories, email coverage and photos which play to the interests of our different groups of alumni. We are also facilitating opportunities for our alumni to access regular events, career mentoring, volunteering opportunities etc on a local level, wherever they are and not just if they are in the UK.

We do have a great advantage at Nottingham that there is a steady stream of staff who are routinely travelling to Asia because of our campuses and education programmes in the area, so we are able to have a consistent and regular dialogue with our alumni and donors there.  This makes meeting the challenges of fundraising in Asia just that much easier.

I should give credit to our alumni in Asia though – they do a lot of brilliant things without us too – they are organised, ambitious and have a wonderful ‘can do’ attitude. The Shanghai group for example organises some form of alumni activity or event every week - they are particularly supportive of young graduates and provide all sorts of very practical help, on a voluntary basis, to help young alumni build their career and social networks.

Students in Asia are also engaged in our alumni and fundraising activity - for example the alumni association in Ningbo China is run by students at our campus there. Students in Asia are very keen to tap in to the alumni network, using the experience of those that have gone before them to help them progress. 

RA: Where do you think there is the greatest need for good fundraisers at the moment on an international level and why?

KR: For me it would have to be Asia - there is so much potential. Our focus in Asia at the moment is weighted towards alumni relations - we will look to grow fundraising in the coming years. Currently we don’t have fundraising or alumni relations staff based in Asia but that time is coming, for our campuses as well as elsewhere - we envisage a role based in Shanghai that will co-ordinate alumni and fundraising activity across the wider Asia-Pacific region.

RA: Would you ever consider a career in international fundraising?

KR: I’m fortunate that my current role gives me lots of opportunity to take an active role in international fundraising, but I certainly wouldn’t rule out an overseas posting at some point in the future. However, if you have children who are at a critical stage in their education, the decision to relocate overseas becomes more complicated.

RA: How has the global economy made an impact on fundraising in your experience?

KR: Donors are inevitably and rightly taking a more considered approach to their giving.  There have been some up-sides:  we have experienced better fulfilment rates as more people are making (larger) single gifts which helps in the short term; everyone working a bit harder in articulating cases for support and focusing even more on effective stewardship is also a really positive outcome arising from the economic downturn. 

RA: What changes do you think we will see in fundraising on an international scale over the next five to 10 years?

KR: I think working across international borders will become an intrinsic part of all our activities and less of an incidental programme or two tacked on to the edges of our advancement strategies. For Nottingham, fostering ever closer ties across all our campuses, and with our other groups of alumni around the world, will continue to dominate our activities.  I am sure that all fundraisers will continue to keep a close watch on giving trends in China, India and the United States. 

I confess that I’m a bit of a technophobe but I really should start to embrace new media since I anticipate it will feature larger still in the future, as an everyday part of how we connect people, facilitate advocacy and attract funds for our institutions from all around the globe.


Interviewed by Jocelyn Kelty, Consultant at Richmond Associates