Alan Clayton gave me one lesson I will never forget 

One lesson I will never forget was from Alan Clayton, CEO at Revolutionise International. I was attending his annual lecture in London and he said, “the most successful fundraisers have lots of coffees and lunches.”

It sounds so simple, but it was such valuable advice for me. In fact, it reminded me of one of the highlights of my career. 

When I was at Action for Children I was invited to a horse racing corporate hospitality day. I’m not a great fan of horse racing, but I accepted the invitation because I thought it might be a good networking opportunity. And I was right! 

I arrived at 11am and was immediately offered a glass of champagne. Indeed, the food and drink was high quality and plentiful throughout the day. 

I started chatting with the other guests in our hospitality box and there was one person who I really got on with. I will call him Mark, (I’ve changed his name to protect his privacy). Mark told me he ran a company based in London, but he was more interested in hearing about what I did. 

I told him I worked for Action for Children and we were focused on preventing youth homelessness. I also shared a story about one of the young people who we had supported. 

Mark said his company was looking for charity to be the beneficiary of their Christmas raffle, so I should get in touch afterwards if I was interested. 

When I went into the office the following day I did some research on Mark, and I discovered that his company was one of the fastest growing in the UK and he was in the top 100 richest people in the UK. 

I followed up with him and secured the support of his Christmas raffle that raised an incredible £76,000! Since then Mark has gone onto become one of Action for Children’s most valuable supporters. 

I think you will agree that this story shows that Alan Clayton is right when he says, “the most successful fundraisers have lots of coffees and lunches.” 

What is the most valuable lesson that someone gave you? I would love to hear from you.

Please email jonathan@remarkablepartnerships.com 

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