Emma@novafundraising.co.uk
Nova Fundraising & Associates is a fundraising consultancy dedicated to small charities – most of our clients are seeking to raise between £250,00 and £2 million and in reality, many are micro charities bringing in less and/or very much at the start of their income generation journey. We believe passionately that any charity, regardless of size can do excellent fundraising. We have developed a suite of practical and strategic support services and products aimed at small charities and the common challenges they face when it comes to fundraising. As well as working with small charities, we are extremely familiar with charities who need help to build their fundraising activity from scratch (we refer to this as developing ‘fundraising readiness’). We are very geared up to providing an extra pair of ‘fundraising’ hands for small charities where capacity is an issue, as well as charities that are embarking on their fundraising journey. Our services provide support during periods of growth and development or high workload that need more fundraising capacity.
Emma Low's speciifc contributions to client services at Nova Fundraising stem from her 30+ years of delivery, training and leadership in fundraising, communications and project management in health, social welfare and disability sectors; and the fields of women’s rights and international aid. At a practical level, Emma is an expert business planner and will add value strategically where organisations need to develop new business, or new income streams and her skills drive effective product-creation and outcome-led service planning. She has personally facilitated the design of innovative work programmes that have secured 6-figure grant funding (DoH, Lottery, EU, DfE, Grant-Makers, Corporates and Philanthropy), and her fundraising success is driven by commitment to initiatives that achieve social impact.
Emma's previous clients as a freelancer include:
Fight Bladder Cancer; British Hen Welfare Trust; SiMBA; Stop The Traffik ; Whitbread plc ; Healthwatch Bucks ; Child Bereavement UK; Asthma UK ; Diabetes UK, Buckinghamshire MIND; Crisis; Chiltern Society; Imperial War Museum.
Since being a partner at Nova Fundraising, clients have included Cats Protection; Open Age; Waterloo Community Counselling; RAFT; Animal Welfare Foundation; British Medical Association Charities; Community Impact Bucks; The Brandon Trust; EHE Rare Cancer Charity; Age UK Bucks; South Bucks Hospice; Dash Charity; Behind Closed Doors; Fat Macy's; The Nucleo Project; Care for the Carers; and Mesothelioma UK - to name but a few of our marvellous micro and small charities we have had the privelege of working with.
Masters in English Literature and English Language from Edinburgh University;
- Certificate in Management from The Open University;
- Diploma in Fundraising from the Chartered Institute of Fundraising;
- Certificate in Philanthropic Psychology.
Emma is a trustee of a local charity - Youth Concern, Aylesbury, and of national charity - Vision Care for Homeless People. Until 2022, Emma was Chair of the Chilterns branch of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.
In her career, Emma has had senior leadership roles at Crisis, Womankind Worldwide, Diabetes UK, Asthma UK and Child Bereavement UK. She has led departments, exceeded ambitious fundraising targets, delivered strategic, communications and fundraising reviews and given input to a host of trustee boards. At her work with Child Bereavement UK for example, between 2011 and 2018, her grant-writing and consultancy resulted in the annual grant income growing from £240k p.a to over £1.3m p.a. In Emma’s most recent ‘staff’ role at Fight Bladder Cancer, she developed a fundraising function from scratch.
Emma also has a history of leading on charity corporate partnerships and working on Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, including Body Shop; Marks & Spencer; Sainsburys; Transport for London; Costa; Premier Inn; Pret a Manger. Emma was responsible for working across business divisions and creating the CSR report for Whitbread 2015-2017. During this period she also facilitated Whitbread’s winning entry for Business in the Community, Environmental Business of the Year 2016.