Practical fundraising support for small charities

With over 10 years' experience across charities of all sizes, I help organisations strengthen their fundraising strategies, secure income, and grow in confidence.

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Flexible fundraising support tailored to your charity

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    Strategy & Growth

    I will review your current fundraising activity, identify opportunities and develop a realistic plan to strengthen income and achieve sustainable growth.

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    Bid Writing

    I help charities identify a pipeline of funding opportunities for grant income from Trusts & Foundations and support them to write compelling bids with the aim to secure valuable funding.

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    Recruiting

    Using my experience of the sector, I can offer specialist support for charities looking to recruit their first fundraising professional to their team. From role design, interview support through to recruitment and onboarding. Follow up mentoring and peer to peer support is also available.

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    Advice & Support

    I also offer flexible consultancy, mentoring and fundraising guidance when you need an experienced sounding board, or you want to chat something through with an outside ear.

Hi, I'm Lucy!

I’m a freelance fundraising consultant with more than 10 years' experience helping charities grow their income and strengthen their fundraising across all income streams.

I want to hear from you first and take the time to really understand the important work you are doing and where you want to get to.

Having worked in small, medium and large charities, I bring experience spanning fundraising strategy, bid writing, community fundraising, corporate partnerships, special events and major donors.

Most importantly, I understand the realities facing smaller charities and help them to identify opportunities for growth. My aim is to make successful fundraising seem achievable and fun!

Your organisation deserves support and I hope to help you reach YOUR supporters and funders with a focus on engagement and collaboration.

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I’ve worked with charities to secure multi-year grants from funders including The National Lottery, Garfield Weston Foundation, BBC Children in Need and City Bridge Foundation.

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Why work with me?

I have experience across every stage of the fundraising journey.

My career has included:

  • Head of Fundraising for a London-based environmental and educational charity

  • Community & Corporate Fundraiser at a £18m children's hospice

  • Campaigns & Special Events Manager for a national grant-giving charity

This breadth of experience allows me to understand fundraising from every angle and provide practical support tailored to your organisation.

Trusted by charity leaders

Lucy was an invaluable asset in our recent fundraising consultant recruitment campaign. She provided extremely useful expertise helping us to design the job description, decide on an appropriate day rate, and used her networks to help advertise the post. She also provided excellent support in shortlisting and interviewing candidates. Ultimately, we received a high number of good quality applications and are delighted with the appointment we made.

I'd highly recommend Lucy's services.

Chloe Dunnett, CEO at Sitopia Farm

Lucy was brilliant in supporting our charity. As a very small organisation with no in-house fundraising expertise, having access to Lucy and her breadth of experience was invaluable.

She supported us with the recruitment of our first fundraising team member, offering insightful guidance on what to look for in a candidate and how to approach the recruitment process.

I would absolutely recommend Lucy to any charity needing additional support or expertise in fundraising.

— Fran Box, MD at Tasted

Our Standards

Lucy Gray Freelance Fundraising Consultant adheres to the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Practice which outlines the standards expected of all charitable fundraising organisations in the UK. I research widely and network regularly with charities and fundraisers from across the voluntary sector, as well as meeting regularly with other fundraising consultants and freelancers. This helps me stay abreast of emerging trends and best practice and enables me to continue deepening my fundraising knowledge and experience.

Ready to strengthen your fundraising?