October 2025

Dear Reader,

October signals more than the start of cooler days – it’s a moment to reset and re-energise. As charities navigate tighter budgets, shifting donor patterns, and year-end campaigns (Giving Tuesday will be here before you know it, folks!), this edition offers the latest sector updates, insight-led guidance, and practical tips to help you lead with confidence and clarity.

Let’s get to it…

Latest from Our Office

Last month, Anthony and Mike attended the CIoF Insight in Fundraising Conference, where Ant took part in a Power BI masterclass with Josh Rosekilly of Sense and Alex Proniewicz-Brooks Depaul UK. We want to thank everyone who attended, and a special shout-out to those who shared questions and ideas. It’s always inspiring to see the growing appetite for stronger, insight-led decision-making across the charity sector. You can view the slides from the presentation here.

In other news, we’ve been genuinely delighted by the responses to last month’s question about creating a friendly, low-pressure space for charity data professionals. It’s clear there’s a real appetite for connection and peer learning, and let’s just say – we’ve been quietly working on something that might be exactly what you’re looking for. Keep an eye on your inbox for more information very soon…

We’ve also received some lovely feedback about the newsletter itself, so thank you to everyone who’s taken the time to share your thoughts. Knowing that these updates are helping you stay informed and inspired keeps us motivated to make each edition more useful than the last!

Insight of the Month

What the Latest Trends Tell Us About Fundraising in 2025

The 2025 Status of UK Fundraising Report from Charity Digital reveals some sobering signals: 54% of charities said their fundraising income stayed the same or declined over the past year. Among those, a lack of resources and a challenging economic climate were common causes.

Yet there remain glimmers of opportunity:

• Corporate fundraising is expected to grow, with over half of charity leaders backing its potential for 2025.
• Individual giving and regular giving are also forecast to bounce back modestly.
• The CAF UK Giving Report 2025 notes £15.4 billion was donated in 2024 – a strong signal that public generosity still has room to sustain the sector.

These shifts underscore how crucial it is to balance resource investment, diversified income streams, and supporter engagement heading into year-end.

Hints and Tips

Getting Your Board Reporting Ready for Year-End Conversations

As you approach Q4 board reviews, here’s how to turn data into meaningful decisions:

• Lead with key questions: Before diving into numbers, set 3–5 questions your board wants answered (e.g. “How are donor segments performing year-to-date?”).
• Ease comprehension: Use simple visuals (trend lines, red/green flags) and keep the narrative short.
• Align expectations: In your report cover note, flag decisions you’re seeking (e.g. budget reallocation, campaign priority).
• Add a reflection moment: Highlight what’s worked and what didn’t, to set the tone for adaptability.

Thoughtful preparation and clear visuals can transform board meetings from number-crunching to decision-making. If you’d like support turning your data into a story your board will act on, we’re here to help.

Claim what’s yours: Gift Aid made easy

Every year, UK charities miss out on thousands of pounds in unclaimed Gift Aid. It's often because submitting claims to HMRC is fiddly, time-consuming, and prone to errors. Our Gift Aid Submission Tool for Engaging Networks does the heavy lifting for you, handling validation, formatting, and submission in a few simple clicks.

Key benefits:

• Built-in validation checks reduce HMRC rejections
• Streamlined file generation and upload
• Saves hours (or days) of manual work each claim cycle
• Fully compliant with HMRC’s latest submission standards

Find out how it works →

Not with Engaging Networks? Stay tuned - we're updating our Gift Aid Submission Tool to work with every CRM in the very near future!

Did you know? Over £500 million in eligible Gift Aid goes unclaimed each year across the UK charity sector. Even a small improvement in your process can have a big impact!

Upcoming Events

Conferences & Workshops

• Safeguarding Essentials in Charities – Online, 11 November 2025​
  ​A one-day course introducing the basics of safeguarding within a charity context in England. It highlights effective safeguarding practices, ensuring that all voluntary organisations can keep the people they work with safe from harm.

Legislative & Sector Watch

• Sector Risk Alert: Failure to Prevent Fraud (Sept 2025)​
  Larger charities in the UK are now liable under the new offence of “failure to prevent fraud”, introduced in the Charity Sector Risk Assessment 2025. It’s vital for governance teams to revisit fraud risk frameworks, due diligence, and internal controls as the law tightens. You can learn more by visiting the GOV.uk website.
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• New Code of Fundraising Practice Kicks In Soon​
  We've been harping on about it for a few months now, but it's important to remember that, from 1 November 2025, the Fundraising Regulator’s new Code of Fundraising Practice takes effect. The updated Code introduces a principles-based approach, replacing rigid rules with flexible guidance that empowers charities to use good judgment in diverse fundraising settings.
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  Looking for a last-minute checklist to ensure you're ready? You're in luck! Check out our recent blog post and download your free copy today.

Ask The Experts

You’ve got the questions, and we’ve got the answers. Each month, Ant and Mike share their thoughts on common data challenges charities face and offer practical, actionable advice you can use today.

This month, Ant shares his take on building confidence with data, finding quick wins, and keeping things simple for smaller teams.

If you had to give one tip to a charity trying to make sense of all their data, what would it be?

"Audit where your data is, what you use it for, work out how frequently it gets updated, and ideally who in the organisation uses it to make what decisions."

What’s your go-to quick win when trying to make sense of messy spreadsheets?

"First thing is turning a messy spreadsheet into a table (CTRL + T) and then I like to look at the themes for the data in the spreadsheet so I can work out what it's trying to influence."

How can small charities start using data like the big ones without getting overwhelmed?

"The key is to get the basics right. Make sure you have one version of the truth, not spreadsheets that are squirrelled away by different team members. Remember, supporters are talking to your organisation, not just fundraising or services. It's you, so you need to know all of those external supporters are in one place."

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ICYMI...

Before we finish, we thought we would highlight some of our previous blog content from the ADA and AD websites, in case you missed it the first time around.

And with that, we're done for another month. Once again, thank you to those who have dropped me a line in recent weeks – your feedback is always welcome!

As I mentioned earlier, keep your eyes peeled on your inbox for word on what we've been working on, because our next project is genuinely exciting and I can't wait to share it with you all.

Until next time,