Fundraising in the UK received several hammer blows in 2016, on top of a continuation of strong negative currents for some income streams, and uncertainty over Brexit and worries over the US elections didn’t help our donors or trustees confidence either. The resultant mood around our Top Table gatherings of the leading fundraisers was sometimes grim, but as the resourceful and optimistic natures of fundraisers kicked in new trends and possibilities began to emerge on which I have based my predictions for 2017.

Naturally these are also flavoured by our experience as consultants and it may be significant that the first three proposals we have sent out in 2017 are all in response to organisations expanding their international reach in one way or another.

1. Overseas expansion

So, the first prediction is that international NGOs will step up their fundraising in new countries and new continents. This trend we saw take off in 2016 as we did market entry analysis in Latin American, Africa and East Asia. This is a step change from expansion across Europe which was perhaps stage one in the process of NGO globalisation.

We see this not just as asking local staff to raise funds where they happen to be, but the setting up of fundraising offices worldwide, the training of staff and investment in research and a variety of fundraising techniques.