Success Stories

“I wanted to attend the School to improve my knowledge of the big strategic issues underpinning arts and cultural fundraising, especially since The Stage is an unusual semi-commercial agency I wanted to gain a deep understanding of how fundraising can work.”

“As a CEO I need to know how fundraising works. The NAFS programme gave me that strategic overview — and helped me see what my role could be in delivering a sustainable programme. It also helped me focus our energies to where the money was. A terrific insight for a CEO.”

“I have been able to bring fresh thinking to my work. The skills and approach learnt has been practical and invaluable, particularly through the last year and as we increase our fundraising over the coming years.”

“Having just taken on a new organisation, a fundraising team, and a major festival to raise funds for, NAFS came at the perfect time in my career to give me the strategic overview, skills and confidence to deliver significant financial results.”

“Fundraising is a large art of my job and having the skills that I developed through NAFS helped me to raise over £1.2 Million for community led cinema.”

“Whilst I had specialist knowledge and experience in Trusts, NAFS enabled me to expand my skill sets and get up to date practice and knowledge, which has transformed my fundraising career. It built up my confidence and helped me build new networks.”

“I fell into fundraising through project management roles, and quickly wanted to know more. I knew there was lots I needed to learn, and could see the potential for better supporting local organisations, so signed up to NAFS.”

“The School team have helped us on our journey from local authority department to ambitious cultural development agency. We began by sending two team members and since then have used NAFS consultants to help us on a range of projects.”

“NAFS training really helped me to feel confident in the fundraising direction we were taking and provided practical tools to help me and the team go on that journey.”

“NAFS genuinely helped to launch and shape my career in fundraising. Within two years, I was a Fundraising Manager at the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland, raising a six-figure sum each year. ”

“As an International student at NAFS, the school worked hard to adapt the programme materials to my context to help keep my learning relevant. Having learnt from top fundraising experts, I’ve gone on to further develop my corporate fundraising endeavours successfully.”

“Today our team received about £1.5M funding for the reconstruction of the Museum of Sculpture in Moscow. Thank you for the inspiration, insights – and everything. The School was really easy to adapt to my situation in Russia. The programme proved that key fundraising principles are pretty universal.”

“I took away so many valuable & memorable tips, plentiful resources and ongoing support & I especially enjoyed learning the secrets of Decision Science. Now I have the confidence to fundraise for anything.”