Individual

Archive services may approach their users or other interested individuals to support their work. There is a range of techniques for services to develop donor relationships, for example fundraising events and sponsorship activities, legacy giving (including a gift to an organisation in a will), regular giving schemes or one-off donations opportunities.

Friends groups are useful for encouraging individuals to give either time or money to archive services. A friends group is, for example, Friends of Somerset Archives or Friends of Hackney Archives. Organisations might find it helpful to consider how they can give time, as well as money, to support archive services through developing volunteering programmes. 

Crowd-sourced funding

It is now easier for organisations to engage with a wide range of individuals to support projects and initiatives through online giving. Examples of this approach can be seen at:

• The Big Give
• JustGiving
• Sponsume
• Angelshares
• Kickstarter
• WeDidThis
• Sponsume  This recent blog post draws on the experience of the Hamish Henderson Archive Trust

Legacy fundraising

From April, anyone leaving 10% of their taxable estate to charity will qualify for a reduced rate of inheritance tax. This tax change is part of a wider campaign to encourage more people to include charitable giving in their wills.

For more information see the Legacy10 website. Roland Rudd, Chair of Legacy 10 has produced a report for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and a 10-point plan to encourage legacy giving. 

Resources on developing relationships with philanthropists can be found on the Philanthropy UK website, including Why Rich People Give, by Theresa Lloyd.

Other useful sources of information include:

• Arts and business
• Gift Aid
  

Using Friends Groups to support fundraising: Guidance for archive services (PDF, 0.01Mb)

This page contains PDF files. See plug-ins and file formats for help in accessing these file types.