In August I was invited to give a presentation on how I would ‘devise and present your approach to developing a fundraising strategy for a special collection and/or archive at the University of Kent'. The attached presentation may be useful to those academic libraries seeking to develop their fundraising strategies and tactics, especially for archives and special collections.

1. Towards sustainability for special collections and
archives at the University of Kent
Stuart Dempster
August 2017

2. The opportunity…
‘Devise and present your approach to
developing a fundraising strategy for a
special collection and/or archive at the
University of Kent’

3. Strategy Outline
Timeline
Phasing: One to Four
Case Study

4. Timeline

5. Milestone One: Research Phase
Leadership and stakeholder engagement
Business intelligence and market analysis
Governance and management

6. Milestone One: Leadership and stakeholder
engagement
 Identify, consult and engage key internal (and subsequently
external) leaders and stakeholders, using UX techniques where
appropriate to identify:
Key drivers and players
Key datasets and documents
Key communication channel(s)
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

7. Internal stakeholder engagement analysis
Research
Phase
Information
Services
Alumni
Office
Development
Office
Faculty
Office of
Philanthropy

8. External stakeholder engagement analysis
Research
Phase
Greenwich/C
anterbury
Christchurch
European
Sites
Global
PartnershipsFunders
Mission
Groups and
Strategic
Agencies

9. Milestone One: Business intelligence and market
analysis
 Conduct analysis and produce initial feasibility reports for
Milestone Two:
Desk research to update potential funders report (See
Wellcome Library Handout), including funding criteria,
eligibility, relevance and scope.
Model optimal options appropriate for the collection(s) e.g.
Private funders, UK agencies, alumni campaign etc.
Competition and collaboration analysis, based on long-listed
candidate collection(s). Benchmarking ‘USP’.

10. Milestone One: Business intelligence and market
analysis
Data analysis, collection condition, collection uniqueness, usage,
audience(s) etc.
Impact on learning, teaching and research. Potential new
opportunities for the Student Experience, (NSS & TEF) inter-
disciplinary research (REF & UK Research & Innovation).
 Alignment with University 2015-20 Strategy and Information
Services strategic objectives.

11. Milestone One: Governance and management
 Establish or join existing steering group to oversees and steer
strategy and funding applications, acting as a critical friend.
Utilise university programme/project management methodologies
(MSP, Prince, OE etc.)
Establish task and finish project group(s) to address specific
specific research questions, such as collection(s) prioritisation .
Establish shared-documents and clear communications, for
reporting and feedback.
Garner a clear sense of purpose to drive strategy.

12. Milestone Two: Preparation Phase
 Scope and develop strategy and supporting programme, using UX
methodologies e.g. workshops, focus groups and survey tools, where
appropriate.
 Capability and capacity coherence check validated, as part of the
programme plan. Ensure objectives are SMART.
 Draft strategy and supporting programme plan for the steering group using
findings from Milestone One and Two, including :
 Vision statement
 Benefits realisation plan
 Blueprint to translate vision into deliverable outputs and outcomes
 Business Case(s) to validate and justify costs/benefits
 Leadership and stakeholder engagement
 Risk and issue(s) management

13. Milestone Three: Application Phase
 Schedule agreed application(s) timetable with key stakeholders
 Draft boiler plate texts, utilizing Mile One and Two outputs, including
impact on funders objectives.
 Draft application documentation, supported by project plan(s) for
review by the steering group and external experts.
 Final coherence check to ensure all stakeholders can deliver their
commitments, according to the submission(s).
 Finalise the application and sign off by steering group.
 Submit application

14. Milestone Four: Implementation
• Trigger project plan
• Project manage
• Communications and marketing commences
• Successfully deliver and launch
• Utilise outputs for next project

15. Case Study: Theatre
 Rationale:
Collection Strength
Relevance to UG and PG courses
Impact: NSS Score and
REF Impact
Collaboration Potential
Funder Alignment
Public interest & engagement

16. Case Study: Theatre
 Collection Strength
Boucicalut, Daw Programmes, Melville, Pantomime, Playbill and
Rayner collections.
 Course Alignment
BA (Hons) Drama & Theatre, MA European Theatre and Theatre
Making
 Impact
NSS Score @92% (Drama) and 39% 4* in REF (School of Art,
Music & Fine Art)

17. Case Study: Theatre
 Collaboration Potential
Over 25 special collections with potentially relevant assets for future
joint ventures in the UK. Several overseas collections, e.g. New York
Theatre Archive (NYPL).
 Funder Alignment
Several large UK funders, including the AHRC, Arts Council and
HLF. Plus a number of private funders with interests in the theatre.
 Public interest & engagement
Turner Gallery generated £13.9m towards the Kent economy in its
first year. Over half overseas visitors engage in the arts/culture.

18. Case Study Scenario…Great Theatre…
 In this scenario, we might consider a funding proposal for a phased
project to include a number of facets, including, but not limited to:
Enhance cataloguing and digitisation of collections using the IEEE
standards, and with open data and an API;
Engage users with a competition to build innovative interfaces and
interpretations, via the API in an “Innovation Festival’;
Engage wider engagement with joint ventures with theatre
companies and community groups to perform ‘new’ material
originating from the collections;
Create Learning Objects to enhance the study of the collections;
Enhance Wikipedia entries, to improve the discovery and use;

19. Thank you…and any questions
Stuart Dempster
E: Stuartsw4@gmail.com
T: 07402-909-709
Copyright: Stuart Dempster
Licence: CC BY SA