Five ways to combat work related stress

Fundraising is fun. The clue is in the name. But it can also be stressful. There are deadlines to meet, stakeholders to please, ever-changing regulations to stay on top of, and a constant need to generate funds.

As it’s World Mental Health Day on October 10th, we’ve put together a list of strategies you and your team can use to keep your stress levels under control. 

Spotting the signs

We all react to stress differently. Some people internalise it, others get agitated, and some people don’t realise they’re stressed at all.

Some of the warning signs to look out for include:

• mood swings

• feeling overwhelmed

• being withdrawn

• loss of motivation, commitment, and/or confidence

• increased emotional reactions – being more tearful, sensitive, or aggressive

• multiple sick days

It’s all very well knowing what to look out for, but what can you do to stop things from escalating in the first place?

Here are a few pointers. 

Take care of your body and mind

If your first reaction to stress is to overeat, mainline Haribo or stop eating altogether, it’s not going to do your health any good.

Yes, you have deadlines to meet, but you still need to take care of yourself.

Sleep, food, and a solid self-care routine will help keep your mental and physical health in good shape – both at work and home. 

Swap multitasking for chunking

Multitasking is touted as a great way to maximise time and get more done. But it doesn’t work for everyone. For some people, splitting their focus makes them less productive and more prone to making mistakes.

If you’re one of these people, try another cognitive strategy like chunking. 

Establish a support network

Contrary to popular belief, talking about your feelings isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s taking charge of your well-being.

Identify one or two friends/colleagues/family members you can talk to when times get tough. You’ll feel better for it.

Balance your home and work life

In the UK, we work the longest hours in Europe, meaning we don't spend enough time doing things we enjoy.

Working 24/7 is a surefire way to burn out. For the sake of your mental health, it’s important to create boundaries between your work and home life.

Set aside two nights a week for R&R. On those evenings, overtime, office talk, and work calls are banned. 

Burned out and looking for a new job in fundraising? We can help. Give us a call on 020 3750 3111 to get the process started.

3 inspirational fundraising campaigns to get your creative juices flowing

Every fundraiser wants to make a difference. But changing the world is no mean feat when there are so many charities trying to get their voices heard.

How can you make your voice stand out and raise the funds you need? With a killer fundraising campaign.

Here are three inspirational campaigns to kick off your brainstorming session.

Cancer Research UK: #nomakeup selfie

In 2014, women from around the globe reached for their makeup wipes and bared all in the name of cancer, by uploading ‘no make-up selfies’ to social media and asking others to do the same.

The trend was not instigated by cancer charities, but by social media users who were inspired by the bravery of cancer sufferers and wanted to show their support. However, Cancer Research UK spotted the #NoMakeUpSelfie hashtag and reacted quickly.

They tweeted a picture of their science information officer holding a sign saying, ‘We love your #NoMakeUpSelfie’ and included a text code for donations.

Within 24 hours, Cancer Research UK had received £1m in donations. Within 6 days, the campaign had gone viral and raised a phenomenal £8m.

Why did it work?

Cancer Research UK was able to piggyback on the trend because they monitor social channels for opportunities to raise funds.

They responded quickly and appropriately, reacting to the trend as it evolved. And they reaped the rewards as a result.

Cancer Research UK

Save our Children: If London Were Syria

In 2014, a harrowing, 90-second film started doing the rounds on the internet.‘The Most Shocking Second a Day’ depicts a young British girl experiencing the effects of civil war on the streets of London. It starts with a shot of her celebrating her birthday with family and friends and ends with her staring blankly at a candle on a birthday cake from a hospital bed (by the end she is homeless and fatherless).

The closing caption reads, "just because it isn't happening here, doesn't mean it isn't happening."Within a week of launching, the video had gone viral, and Save the Children had seen a 25% surge in donations.

Why did it work?

People shared the video as it packed a strong emotional punch. Research by Dr Karen Nelson-Field found that ‘On average, videos that elicit high-arousal emotions gain twice as much sharing as those that elicit low-arousal emotion.’

In other words, our brains are wired to react to strong emotions. The shock factor made this Save the Children’s most successful fundraising campaign to date.

NHS Charities Together: Captain Sir Tom Moore

No fundraising campaign round-up would be complete without mentioning the late Captain Sir Tom Moore.

In April 2020, the then 99-year-old accepted a challenge set by his family: to walk 100 lengths of his garden and raise £1,000 for NHS Charities Together, before his 100th birthday at the end of that month.

With the help of a Zimmer frame, the World War II veteran inspired the world by walking 10 laps of his 25ft garden each day, completing lap 100 on 16 April 2020.

By the time his fundraising page closed, Captain Sir Tom had raised over £32m.In addition to raising millions of pounds for health service workers, Sir Captain Tom lifted the nation's spirits and inspired millions to support the NHS, during the COVID crisis.

We can help you achieve the same success

The success of these three campaigns was down to the hard work of their fundraisers. If you’re in the market for top fundraising talent, give us a call on 0203 750 3111 to get the process started.

Nine tips for crafting a killer job description

The bad news: 99% of job descriptions are painfully long and boring.

The good news: 99% of job descriptions are painfully long and boring.

Few charities invest in crafting quality job descriptions. And they’re missing out on quality candidates as a result.

With this in mind, here are nine tips to make your job descriptions sparkle:

1. Keep the job title simple

If you’re having trouble recruiting a ‘Major Giving Guru’, there’s a reason.

Creative, witty, or quirky job titles are great for showing off your personality. But your job description isn’t the place to do it.

Jobseekers search for job titles they’re qualified for. If yours is unclear, non-descriptive, or too wacky, you risk alienating great candidates.

2. Avoid superlatives and extreme adjectives

Avoid using phrases like ‘best of the best,’ ‘ world-class’, or ‘perfectionist’. This will alienate people who have been brought up not to ‘blow their own trumpet.’ You also run the risk of turning off qualified workers who don’t identify with the terms.

3. Describe ‘a day in the life’ on the job

While a bullet point list of responsibilities is fine, a ‘day in the life’ paints a richer picture. It’ll enable you to inject a bit of personality into the content and bring the role to life.

This description of a Community Specialist from Meetup is a great example:

4. Trim the job requirements

Sure, it would be great if the candidate had a minimum of 5 years of experience, but is it a deal breaker?

A lot of job seekers won’t apply for a role unless they meet every single requirement. If you’re too specific, you could miss out on top talent.

Summarise the most important skills/qualifications in 4-5 bullet points.

5. Make it skimmable

Lengthy, dull, difficult-to-read, or overly complicated job descriptions will turn candidates off. Embrace short paragraphs, bullet points, and headers, so applicants can see at a glance if they’re qualified for the position.

6. Address candidates directly

Adding a bit of personality to your ads will keep readers on the page. Rather than talking in the third person, talk to candidates directly.

Replace ‘the ideal candidate’ with ‘you’ and ‘essential requirements’ with ‘you’re good at…’

If your job description is stuffy or lacking in energy, you’ll receive lackluster applications.

7. Get input from your current employees

Job descriptions tend to sit in a drawer in the HR department gathering dust. When a job becomes vacant, they’re whipped out and reused - often without being updated.

If you’re guilty of this, you aren’t doing yourself any favours. After all, jobs evolve over time. If you don’t take the time to review and amend your job descriptions, they won't reflect the skills and experience needed at that time.

It’s good practice to involve your current employees in the review process. After all, knowing what they need and the type of candidate that will be a cultural fit is crucial for long-term success.

8. The devil is in the detail

Just as you judge candidates’ on their CVs, they judge you on your job descriptions. So, spell-check, grammar check, and proofread them.

Then, go back and do it again.

9. Be innovative

Job seekers spend a lot of time poring over job descriptions. If you add a creative or innovative touch, you may catch their eye and hold their interest.

Why not incorporate a video of the hiring manager talking about the role, and explaining why they love working at the charity?

We can help

Nail the job description and you’ll attract top candidates and speed up the recruitment. It’s a win-win.

If you’re struggling, our employer brand specialists can help you market your role the right way. Give us a call on 0203 750 3111 to find out how.

3 top tips for nailing your next fundraising interview

You just got the call. Your potential new employer loved your application and wants to meet you. Now there’s just one thing standing between you and your dream fundraising job; the interview. As you hang up the phone, you’re ecstatic, but then you start thinking about the interview and promptly break into a cold sweat.

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. 93% of people experience pre-interview anxiety, according to a recent survey. And it’s no surprise. Sitting opposite a bunch of strangers as they scrutinise your professional life and fire questions at you can be extremely unnerving.

However, approached in the right spirit, interviews can be rewarding and enjoyable. Think about it - how often do you get to wax lyrical about how wonderful you are?

With this in mind, here are 3 ways to supercharge your interview skills and present yourself as an irresistible candidate.

1. Swot up on the charity

Like most things in life, preparation is key. The more you know about the charity, the better.

Before the interview:

• Familiarise yourself with the charity’s annual reports. Look at their overall income and the breakdown of it. What’s their fundraising target? Also, look at trends in donor retention over the past few years. Has it remained consistent?

• Identify the organisation's key players. Who’s the CEO? And the chair?

• Look at their website and social media accounts to get a sense of who they are and how they present themselves.

• Google the charity and look for nuggets of information you can bring up as talking points in the interview. Have they hosted an event recently? Have they won any awards? While you’re at it, do some snooping on your interviewer/s on LinkedIn. If you don’t know their names, ask. Look for anything you can use to make a connection. If you have something in common with them, be sure to mention it. It could earn you some brownie points!

2. Prepare yourself

So, you’ve swotted up and know the charity inside out. The next step is to figure out how you’re going to sell yourself. The last thing you want is dead air, awkward mumbling, and sweaty palms while you scramble to think of answers to their questions.

Be sure to study the job description and person specifications. These are your cheat sheets - your handy list of everything the charity is looking for.

Be ready to prove you’re a good fit by having a list of real-life examples to back up each of the competencies/requirements. Practice saying them out loud so they become second nature to recount.

It’s worth noting here that very few candidates meet 100% of the competencies, but that’s okay. You can get around it by working out where you’re lacking experience and finding ways to compensate. Think about times when you got to practice the skills missing from your resume. Have you had to use any of them in an internship, voluntary work or course?

These are all places you can look to find skills you never knew you had. 

Uncomfortable questions

Most of us have a habit of avoiding uncomfortable questions. But you can’t brush an interview under the rug. If there’s a question you know you hate being asked, tackle it head-on.

The most commonly asked ‘tricky’ interview question is 'what’s your biggest weakness?’Everyone dreads this one, but the key is to avoid cliches like “I’m a perfectionist”, or “I work too hard”.Think about it from a different angle. Are there areas where you’ve seen improvement? For example; perhaps in the past, self-confidence issues have made you reluctant to accept criticism. Explain how you overcame it and add that you now embrace constructive feedback, which in turn has helped you improve your skills as a fundraiser.

If you take some time to plan, answers to even the most uncomfortable questions will roll off your tongue.

3. Quiz your interviewer

Ok, that’s enough about you. Now it’s their turn to get grilled. Interviews are a two-way street, so it’s time to figure out if this is the right road for you.

Coming prepared with questions is always a good idea. Just don’t jump the gun and start asking about holidays and bonuses. You want to get a better understanding of how they do things.

A few well-informed questions will show them you mean business.

Think about what matters to you. What’s the working culture like? Are there opportunities for training and progression? Do you want to know more about the team you’d be working in? What are the charity’s funding priorities?

Final Word

So there you have it, 3 top tips to take you a step closer to your next fundraising job. Remember every interview is an opportunity to improve your skillset so be professional, friendly, and be yourself.

If you want to discuss any of our roles, or get some more advice about nailing your dream fundraising job, give us a call on 020 3750 3111. 

Spotlight on Aquatic Life Institute

Fish are the most utilised animals on the planet. A whopping three trillion are killed each year for food, and demand is growing.

Until recently, most of the world’s supply has been caught in the wild, but, with fish stocks depleting due to overfishing and climate change, aquaculture (the farming of fish, seafood and aquatic plants), is on the rise.

The problem with aquaculture is that farmed fish spend their lives in cramped, filthy enclosures. Many suffer from infections, diseases, and debilitating injuries.

Considering research has shown that fish are able to feel pain, pleasure and other emotions, the treatment they receive is inhumane.

The Aquatic Life Institute is leading the charge for change.

If you’re fanatical about fish welfare, read on, as this fin-tastic charity is hiring.

The Aquatic Life Institute: Balancing the scales for fish

Formed in New York in 2019, the Aquatic Life Institute is all about reducing aquatic animal suffering.

They do this by:

• Funding research into welfare interventions and advocating for the implementation of the most promising initiatives

• Building coalitions with academic institutions, industry stakeholders, and the general public, with the common goal of reducing fish suffering.

The 8-person strong team have made great strides in the three years they’ve been operating. Among their many achievements, they’ve:

• Formed no less than five coalition groups, (with 30 global NGO members each), to address the issues facing aquatic animals.

• Produced a first-of-its-kind guide to welfare in aquaculture

• Conducted a first-of-its-kind study on aquaculture producer sentiments on animal welfare

And they’re not done yet. This passionate lot has big plans – and needs more staff to see them through.

Featured Job

If you’ve got leadership experience and a passion for aquatic animals, you could be the ideal candidate for this role.

Managing Director

Up to $90,000 P.A.

Part-time or full-time

Permanent

Remote, anywhere globally

Full Job Spec: https://www.bamboofundraising.co.uk/ALI-MD

Perks

• Flexible working hours

• 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year

• A fun, company-wide annual retreat!

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see that this is a fantastic oppor-tuna-ty to make a difference to the lives of our ocean-dwelling counterparts. If you want to join this innovative, forward-thinking charity, don’t flounder about. Give us a call to chat on 020 3750 3111