Any NHS Charity CEO or Finance Director will tell you that unrestricted funds, while important in all charities, are essential to NHS charities because historically the majority of donors have given to “their ward” or “their doctor”. This means NHS charities can have thousands of pounds tied up in restricted funds for those particular areas, and yet no money to fund their running costs or invest in their fundraising programme, let alone fund essential and impactful grants programmes. Unrestricted funding is the single most powerful thing that donors can do to support charities. It enables charities to be agile and decisive … while planning as best we can for whatever the future holds.

So CEOs turn to their Directors of Fundraising and ask them to raise more unrestricted funds. This presents many challenges:

1. It’s much easier for fundraisers to ask for gifts for something specific, tangible and needed than to make the pitch for unrestricted funding.
2. It is always best to be donor-led. If a donor really wants to give to their ward / department, this shouldn’t be discouraged - particularly for a first gift!
3. If you want to introduce a grateful patient programme, clinicians won’t refer patients to you, if you ask them for an unrestricted gift. They are more likely to work with you, if you are working together to raise more funds for their department.
4. As a charity, you need to be able to articulate why your charity needs unrestricted funds - is it simply for running costs - which are entirely valid - or are you going to increase your impact?

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Case studies

So which NHS charities are doing it well?

1. Great Ormond Street doesn’t give donors the option to restrict their donations - all donations which aren’t major gifts automatically support unrestricted - including gifts to their new capital appeal!
2. Newcastle Hospitals Charity has a lovely proposition as part of their strategy which says; We are “Helping Our Hospitals Go Further”
3. ‍I can’t miss out Addenbrooke’s! The turning point was covid when we saw an outpouring of support from our local community for our “help your hospital” appeal. Unrestricted donations increased and we could see that the power of our hospital’s brand, Addenbrooke’s, meant that we could ask for general support. Since covid, “help your hospital” has remained one of our active campaigns and now there aren’t the urgent conversations about needing unrestricted income at board meetings anymore.
4. Many charities, including NHS charities, are now directing Gift Aid from all non-major gifts to supported their unrestricted needs.
5. Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital elegantly articulates the impact a donor will make by being as specific as possible in terms of the impact a donor could make e.g.

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By donating today you’ll be...

• shaping innovative approaches such as new treatments for tackling chronic back pain
• revitalising staff in times of crisis – supporting their mental health and wellbeing during the pandemic
• helping the most vulnerable people in the community through projects like Homeless Health
• backing ideas from the brilliant teams at Guy’s and St Thomas’ like new rehabilitation programmes for people in intensive care  
• supporting our diverse community – such as the Wellness Clinic testing for diabetes and heart disease in Black and Asian people.

I love Guy's and St Thomas' approach to this because it makes unrestricted giving feel like it has a purpose and an ambition! The need feels real and urgent.

My top tips to increasing unrestricted income:

1. Design a “support your local hospital” appeal, tethered to your hospital brand
2. Make a strategic decision as a charity what you’d like your impact to be, when you spend unrestricted funds. E.g. if you have a serious health problem in your area, focus on tackling it like Guy’s & St Thomas’ did, or consider specific themes for your grants programmes
3. Allocate Gift Aid to your Unrestricted Fund - unless the donor has asked you to restrict it
4. Ask major donors for a percentage of their gift to cover project management of their gift e.g. your time spent on stewardship, spending, reporting etc
5. Be brave! All you are doing is asking donors to support their local hospital
6. And my favourite tip? Implement a Grateful Patient Fundraising Programme. Sounds counter-intuitive? Maybe but when you recruit grateful patients to give to “their” ward, they willingly do so and are then happy to "upgrade" to an unrestricted gift with their second, third and future donations.