Testimonials
Kind words from some of the charities I have supported
ReachOut Creative Futures CIC
Trish Hoskin and Gordan Trafford, Directors (2021 - 2024) say
“ReachOut Creative Futures has been using Elanor Hoskin Consultancy since 2021, as a small CIC securing funding to support our alternative education provision is vital to allow us to support young people with many forms of neurodiversity. We were struggling to find the time and lacked the expertise to cover our own fundraising programme, so we commissioned Elanor to take this role on for us. Elanor’s level of dedication, professionalism, and knowledge of the third sector is second to none. She is able to use the experience she has gained over many years working in fundraising to find appropriate grants to apply for grants we didn’t have the time to do, missing out on opportunities to increase our income. Thanks to Elanor we have been able to run projects to support young people struggling in education and help them improve their mental health.
Elanor has also been able to provide strategic support to help our Directors. Give us advice on marketing strategies and policy making. We will continue to use Elanor for all our fundraising projects and can’t recommend her enough for the help she has given to ReachOut Creative futures. ” (2021 - 2024)
Seachange Devon
Chris Davis, Chair (2018 to 2022) The League of Friends of Budleigh Salterton Hospital says
“Elanor Hoskin certainly knows the business of fundraising. She started working for our charity in 2021 and has introduced a complete process tuned to our needs. Her approach is well tested, thorough and effective. She is imaginative, stimulating ideas in other areas as well.. She has already exceeded our expectations in the first year of fundraising activity. ” (2021 - 2023)
Dr Richard Mejzner, Chair of League of Friends (2022 onwards) says
"As chairman of the League of Friends of Budleigh Salterton Hospital I am delighted to provide a testimonial for the work Elanor has done for us. We contracted Elanor for her support with fundraising for our local charity Seachange , which is an integrated Health and Wellbeing Hub at the site of the former Budleigh Salterton Hospital.
To continue to be viable and provide a wide range of services for often the most vulnerable in our community Seachange will need to consistently raise significant funding from a variety of charitable sources.
Elanor has given us crucial help in formulating a business plan going forward , helping us understand what will be required and how to go about raising funds , and actively starting that process. We plan to work with Elanor for three years and have just finished our first years' work together. Elanor has surpassed her and our target for the first year's revenue by at least 30 %. During this time Elanor has supported a fundraising assistant, new in post, to learn how to go about applications for grants, develop a database and establish an ongoing plan for fundraising , to take on Elanor's work in the future.
Elanor has been a very easy to work with, she gets on well with our colleagues at Seachange. Elanor is easy to contact, responds quickly to any concerns and is straightforward and transparent in what she is doing . We would be happy to recommend her services. ." (2021 - 2023)
Marc Jobson, Centre Manager, Seachange says
“Seachange has been working with Elanor prior to the formation of our charity and over a year since. Elanor has been fabulous in guiding us through the complexities of major grant donations. Her previous experience, not only in fundraising but also as a charity CEO has provided us with a rich source of information and intelligence. Elanor also understands the basics and has helped us implement effective fundraising procedures and recruit our fundraising team. ” (2021 - 2023)
The Hollow Lane Club
Amelia Robinson, Current Chair, Daisy Binnie, Past Chair (2021 - 2024) says
“ Elanor Hoskin has become an essential support for the Hollow Lane Club team. We brought her on board to support us with our fundraising: sourcing and completing applications for funds and sending reports as requested – she has done this with good success securing the core funding needed to ensure we can continue to deliver our out of school clubs. She has brought her years of charity knowledge to carry out this task with intelligence and added value. In the current challenging climate for all charities seeking funds to carry out the work they do, we are glad to have her working with us.” (2022 - 2023)
First Light
Lynn Gooding, CEO First Light says
“The global COVID-19 pandemic brought with it significant challenges for First Light, not least how to mobilise our services to remote working whilst at the same time maintaining support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
To assist us we commissioned El to help us navigate, identify and secure additional funding to help us maintain and grow our service offer. Her ability to grasp our mission, vision and values together with the needs of our organisation, was matched by her ability to quickly develop bids that met the complex funding criteria, which would often disappear as quickly as they appeared.
Her work with us secured an impeccable 100% success record, so if you are looking for someone who is adaptable, flexible and skilled in accessing additional grant funds for your organisation, then look no further than El, her skills, expertise and success record in this field speak for themselves.” (2020)
Lynn Gooding, CEO First Light says
"We commissioned Elanor to refresh our Organisational Strategy as well as develop a new Fundraising Strategy. The timescales for this piece of work were very tight, yet the quality of the final products produced were excellent. Elanor’s naturally engaging style enabled her to engage a wide range of key stakeholders, securing valuable feedback to help inform the future direction of our service.
The knowledge and understanding she acquired of our subject area were truly impressive, enabling her to develop a fundraising strategy that captured the essence of First Light, whilst providing a clear direction to help us improve our financial position in the market. If you are looking for someone to develop and deliver a quality product within challenging deadlines then you will not find anyone better than Elanor, she is a real pleasure to work with and has brought such a positive difference to our organisation." (2019 - 2020)
Cornwall Care
Jan Burns, Head of Fundraising says:
‘I have worked closely with Elanor to review our fundraising activities in order to develop a robust and achievable Fundraising Strategy. Elanor is able to draw upon her many years of Third Sector experience to offer practical and sound advice. Her passion and dedication for fundraising is a testament to her desire to enable charities to grow and succeed. Working with Elanor has proven to be invaluable. Her integrity and good humour makes her an absolute pleasure to work with and I know we will continue to work closely with Elanor for many years to come.’ (2020 - 2021)
The Hugs Foundation
Laura Dennis, The Hugs Foundation says
“Elanor has been incredible to work with. She is driven, experienced and knowledgeable and has really helped our Charity and progressed me as a fundraiser.
She has many talents which can help Charities including; planning fundraising strategies, risk registers, help with policies, general Charity strategies and budgets.
She was brought in to mentor myself but has proved a huge help to the whole team. Thank you Elanor and we highly recommend your services.” (2019 - 2020)
Cornwall Heritage Trust
Cathy Woolcock, CEO, Cornwall Heritage Trust says
“We first worked with Elanor when she helped us with a very last-minute major fundraising campaign; Elanor was able to confidently steer us through creation of a case for support and oversaw the research required to formulate a fundraising strategy.
Despite the short timescales the campaign was very successful due to her enthusiasm and hard work. Moving forwards, we also worked with Elanor on a governance review which started by looking at our constitution and then progressed onto examining our decision-making structures and the associated policies.
Elanor has a wealth of experience to draw on and is a positive, confident person to work with; she is able to communicate with a wide range of stakeholders and having worked with her on two very different projects we have been delighted with the outcomes and would highly recommend Elanor Hoskin Consulting.” (2020)
Cathy Woolcock, CEO, Cornwall Heritage Trust says
"The Trust appointed Elanor just over 10 months ago with a brief with an extremely tight timescale. In that time Elanor and her team have raised over £190K from trusts and foundations towards a large scope
heritage capital project. This was from a standing start! Her work included researching prospective supporters, prioritising approaches, writing personalised cases for support and liaising directly with donors.
We have also benefited from the team’s advice and experience in other governance areas such as Gift Aid and GDPR. This was a first (very large) step into fundraising for the Trust and we have benefited greatly and learned a great deal; our knowledge of this area has increased hugely as a result. We very much hope that working with Elanor and her team will help us to become more sustainable in the future." (2017 - 2018)
Helford River Children's Sailing Trust
Charles Richardson, Co-Chairman, HRCST says
“Elanor has had a very positive impact on our small, ambitious charity this year. We first engaged EHC to review our corporate governance and help to write a 'case for support' for a major fundraising campaign.
Elanor quickly gained a good understanding of HRCST and delivered excellent output on each of these tasks. We subsequently asked Elanor to act as our recruitment support to find a CEO and we were delighted with both the process and the high-quality candidates who applied for this new role.
We wouldn't hesitate to recommend Elanor for similar assignments”. (2017 - 2018)
Sowenna Appeal
Sarah Fisher, Head of Communications, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, says
“We commissioned Elanor to provide expert fundraising advice and to develop the Sowenna Appeal plan. Elanor acted as our Interim Appeal Director and worked with us to recruit an internal team. In the role of Interim Appeal Director, Elanor kick-started the delivery of the appeal plan, identifying and building relationships with funders (and securing income early on in the process), working with stakeholders to create a suite of resources (budget, case for support, fundraising pack), mentoring the appeal team and managing a programme of trust fundraising.
Elanor hit the ground running and we would recommend her services to anyone looking for an expert fund raiser with a proven track-record.” (2018 - 2019)
Stephanie Pomeroy, Sowenna Appeal Fundraising Manager, says
“Elanor Hoskin supported me in my first professional fundraising role and in our NHS Charity’s first ever capital appeal. Elanor was a joy to work with and worked tirelessly to make our campaign a success, often against the odds.
Elanor’s knowledge and experience was of huge benefit to me personally as someone new to the industry, and to our organisation and she provided valuable guidance, advice and support throughout our time working together.
Elanor’s involvement in the project at a critical time in the lifecycle of the Sowenna Appeal built the foundations for a successful campaign and helped make me a better Fundraising Manager.” (2018 - 2019)
Calvert Trust Exmoor
Teresa Turner, Trustee Calvert Trust Exmoor, says
"Elanor joined us around a year ago to help us expand and develop our approach to fundraising and strengthen the team. During this time, Elanor has remained clear sighted, calm and focussed, helped us to develop our strategy, improved our reporting and streamlined the way we work.
Elanor has also helped us to recruit additional team members and her experience and support were invaluable." (2018 onwards)
Andrew Laming, Centre Director, Calvert Exmoor, says
"We first commissioned Elanor to develop and implement a sustainable strategy to secure ongoing revenue funding and create a step change in our fundraising function.
Her knowledge, experience and common-sense approach have proved invaluable in identifying a clear way forward and supporting the charity to put this in place. This strategy is now paying dividends and we have been able to increase the amount of revenue and core cost funding significantly.
Calvert Exmoor like most charities was impacted by Covid 19. Elanor was able to step in and offer support in identifying and securing additional funding at a significant level – developing bids that met complex funding criteria, understanding the changing environment the charity found itself in whilst working to challenging and often moving deadlines.
Elanor’s confident, calm and focused approach continues to have a positive impact on our team, and we would not hesitate to recommend her services to charities wanting to grow their funding streams and secure sustainable income.”
St Minver Community Hub
Christine Boswell-Munday, Trustee, says
“Elanor worked with us on the St Minver Community Hub (CIO) in the early stages of the project with a colleague conducted a feasibility study and helped to draft a Fundraising Development Plan.
Elanor provided expertise, advice and support with the Fundraising process, helping us to understand what fundraisers require and helped us to understand the Charity structure and how to set this up.
Elanor, has a wealth of knowledge in the Charity sector and can provide relevant and ongoing support across a whole range of subject areas.” (2017 - 2018)
CHICKS
Marion Luckhurst, Chair of Trustees, says:
“During her time at CHICKS she has been an exemplary employee, her commitment, loyalty and dedication have been outstanding. She has led the charity with unerring judgement and has a refreshing ‘down to earth’ outlook that cuts straight to the root of the problem. Elanor also has the rare gift of common sense which is invaluable in the day to day running of the organisation. She is versatile and can converse with both senior officials in business and the most junior member of staff"
2004 - 2016
Third Sector Awards, Winner of
'Rising Chief Executive for outstanding contribution to your organisation, or the wider sector, during the first two years in post'
Judges said:
“Hoskin has steered the charity through challenging economic times; in late 2011, she put in place a number of efficiency measures in order to safeguard its future. These included a new performance-management system, designed to help make Chicks "a great place to work" and ensure that a culture of respect and dignity was embedded across the organisation. The charity has also started to run breaks over Christmas so that children who would otherwise miss out would be able to enjoy the fun of the festive season”. (2013)
Fundraising and Gift Aid Consultant
Mr Phil Robson, Fundraising & Gift Aid Consultant says:
"I have known Elanor in a professional capacity since 2005 during her time at CHICKS. I am delighted that Elanor is offering her extensive charity experience to the sector. What marks Elanor out is her dedication, drive and passion for her work which has so tangibly delivered fantastic results for CHICKS, evident through the expansion of their services to children. Elanor inherited a regional charity and has delivered a nationally recognised organisation.
From Fundraising to Chief Executive at CHICKS surprised no one who knows Elanor, her grounding in fundraising is borne out of hands on experiences, leading a team and overcoming the challenges faced by any not for profit organisation needing to upscale operations, and yet not compromise quality and delivery of service to the children.
Elanor will be an asset to any organisation investing in her services."
