Going it alone

We have used freelance fundraisers for Trust fundraising, and there is certainly a market out there. The key thing you need to do is to use the skills you undoubtedly already have to research who your potential clients may be - then approach them with a proposal in exactly the same way you would appraoch grant giving trusts. I'll eat my hat if some of them don't want to chew your hand off!

Thanks for the tip about the contracts. I am actually working part-time as an employee but the idea came up because a couple of personal contacts have asked me to do some work on the side, which my current boss is fine with as long as there's no conflict of interest. They aren't so concerned about the time it takes, as they think any money in is better than nothing. I thought perhaps the same feeling might be the case with some of the smaller charities who can't afford to employ a fundraiser but might wish to have someone advising and/or preparing trust applications for perhaps a day a month. I don't have any prospective clients lined up but thought I might wrtie on spec. Any advice on all of that?!

[quote]I have been doing Trust Fundraising for a couple of years but am thinking about going freelance. Do I need to have a contract?[/quote]
Definitely, I'd have thought - IoF has model contracts available for download, from memory.

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Are there many freelancers purely dedicated to Trust Fundraising, and is this a feasible route to go down?
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I'd have thought the main challenge is the long lead times for trust fundraising, unless you're selling your services as an application/appeal polisher. How much flexibility do you have in the timing of building up your freelance work: unless you have prospective clients already sitting waiting, it's a fairly volatile business.