CLAN Cancer Support

My second day started with an interview with the Trusts and Regular Giving Team Duncan and Jackie. During the interview, I got the opportunity to ask lots of questions regarding their roles in CLAN. Duncan’s and Jackie’s roles are both to keep CLAN running smoothly. They are responsible for applying for grants and bringing funds into CLAN.

When applying for grants they take into consideration both what CLAN wants and what the funder needs. With thousands of charities all applying for the same grant it is near impossible to actually receive a grant, but that’s when the genius of Duncan and Jackie come into play. Both of them are excellent at standing out and catching the funder's eye when applying for grants. Whether it be using stories or statistics Duncan and Jackie have lots of different methods to attract the funder to CLAN.

Once they have received the grant they will use the money in all the different CLAN bases across the north-east. The Children and Family department and the Complementary Therapies are the two most common departments where the funds will be put towards. An example of a grant was when Children In Need funded CLAN with a grant of £110,000 over a 3-year basis. This was all put towards the Children and Families service in Moray and had a huge impact on CLAN.

After my interview with Duncan and Jackie, I got the opportunity to go to a press call regarding CLAN’s £25,000 grant from Tesco. I got to go down to the hub of the CLAN House where we met TESCO representatives who gifted the Trusts and Regular Giving Team the £25,000 cheque. After some discussion between the Tesco representatives and the CLAN team about the services that CLAN offers we decided to get a group photo together to send to the local newspapers. We then said farewell and thanked Tesco for this amazing grant that they had gifted us. The whole experience was incredible for me and really helped me to get an understanding of what happens in the business world.

After the press call, it was lunchtime and when I walked into the lunchroom I was greeted by a monster cake home-baked by Fiona (Head of Fundraising) who decided to schedule an interview with me later on in the day. In the interview, Fiona explained to me the different roles in which she has. Fiona looks after community fundraising, CLAN charity shops, fundraising events and funding applications. As well as these four income streams, Fiona is also part of the Senior Management Team - this means she has the responsibility of the overall income throughout the year. 2.6 million is the total that needs to be raised each year and Fiona has a large responsibility of making that happen.

As a member of the Senior Management Team, Fiona has lots of responsibilities about the running of the business and is essential for the wheels to keep turning. Fiona is a great team player and her colleagues and staff are everything to her. Fiona stated, “CLAN wouldn’t be anywhere it is without the team we have” this quote sums up her working style perfectly. This was a great lesson for me as it really emphasised how important having a good, hard-working team is.