In almost all capital appeals that we direct, I am the Campaign Director. Where I have brought in others, I retain responsibility with regular contact with the client and the appeal.

Keith Martin & Associates is a compact, focused, family based firm. Keith Martin is the Principal Director, Margaret Martin heads administration and Andrew Martin looks after the Internet Site and helps with administration.

For the Client, this means that their Campaign Director is experienced and known. Other consultancies can claim more funds raised over time because there are more hands at work, but, there is not the certainty that the Campaign Director that is assigned to your appeal is part of that history. With Keith Martin & Associates, your Campaign Director is known and has a checkable track record.

This is my story…

Liking an interaction with people, I first found satisfaction in a sales career working with the likes of Mobil, Xerox and IBM. I also had experience in social welfare working as a District Officer in the then Department of Native Welfare in Western Australia.

It was not until we settled in Wodonga (my wife, Margaret, four children and now, eight grandchildren) that I was able to bring the two strands of welfare interests and marketing ability together.

In Wodonga, while earning a living in various sales activities, I headed a refugee resettlement group which was then among the most successful in Australia and a model for others and I became involved in other community issues including, through my children, schooling.

My first contact with professional fundraising was a building appeal at Catholic College Wodonga, of which I was then Chairman of the Advisory Board.

The Uniting Church Stewardship Promotion Agency directed that Appeal and I joined them as a Director of Parish Planned Giving programs in 1981.

In 1983, I moved to Compton Associates and the world of capital fundraising.

By 1987 it was time to move into an independent position and, through Keith Martin & Associates Pty Ltd, I have been directing capital appeals and Catholic parish programs across Australia ever since with a great deal of success and personal satisfaction.

My client, the Cohuna District Hospital, won the Fundraising Institute-Australia Award for Excellence at the National Convention in March 1996 for a $500,000 appeal, which eventually passed $900,000 at a canter! In 1995, The Cohuna District Hospital sought an initial $500,000 to upgrade their operating theatre, build a new midwifery suite and upgrade ward accommodation. In an eleven-week campaign, we had over $800,000 in gifts and pledges. The total since passed $900,000. From a population base of less than 4000 people.

In 1998, I was engaged to run a national appeal on behalf of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference. Funds were needed to complete a new, national, diocesan seminary in Auckland.

Despite being a stranger to New Zealand, in less than five months we had conducted a feasibility study, set up six diocesan appeal teams (Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Palmerston North, Hamilton and Auckland) and raised over NZ$1,500,000. The total finished at NZ$2,200,000.

This proved the point that it is not local knowledge alone that drives a successful fundraising appeal: it is experience and expertise. I can - and have - walked in to any locality as a complete stranger and start making meaningful contacts from day one.

I am a Member of the Fundraising Institute-Australia . I am qualified by examination as an Associate of the then Institute of Sales and Marketing.

I have attended a short Train the Teacher course at Wodonga College of TAFE to better my presentations at seminars and workshops and continue to attend short, relevant training courses and seminars.

My experience is extensive and practical. I am also recognised within the fundraising profession through presentations to seminars and conferences at both chapter and National level, including the National Conferences in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane (1996, 1998, 2004) and the Second National Conference of the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand in June 1998.

I would expect to be the principal campaign director on any appeal. I no longer employ staff so that I am able to provide a more personal and direct service to clients. However, I do have an extensive network of colleagues with whom I work or who I can call on for backup or specific expertise.

I am rather proud to be able to say that I have personally directed fundraising appeals every year since 1981. This is a record of experience and achievement few can match.

In twenty-six years of active fundraising, I have worked with over one hundred clients in parishes and community, and raised more than Fifty million dollars:

+ Capital Appeals
+ Corporate and Trust submissions
+ Bequests
+ Direct mail
+ Community Fundraising and Parish Programs
+ Capital cities
+ National Appeals
+ Metropolitan, Regional and Rural appeals
+ Consultancy and on-site management.

My vocation as a fundraising consultant has taken me to over a hundred towns and cities across Australia and New Zealand: From Broome to Burnie to Brisbane; Sydney to Sale to South Hedland; Melbourne to Meekatharra to Myrtleford; Perth, Port Hedland, Port Pirie and Pennant Hills; Kununurra, Kyabram and Kerang, Auckland to Dunedin … and a plethora of other cities and towns beyond and between. I haven't been everywhere yet - but I do know Australia and New Zealand better than many and I certainly know fundraising better than most.

And, I have fundraised across New Zealand; North and South Islands.

I am always interested in people's backgrounds because I believe that you do not know a person until you know what shaped them.

Fundraisers come from many backgrounds. It is only in recent times that a specific educational path is emerging for those who see fundraising as a career path or an important step on the way.

When I look at fellow Capital fundraisers I see some who have come out of welfare but many from public relations or advertising or the armed services. Indeed, at least one of our great - or once great - consultancy firms had a policy of recruiting from the services because of their disciplined background, and, I suspect, their ability to take orders as well as to give them.

I, hopefully, come from different stock: a top salesman but a drop-out from the white shirted, buttoned down world of IBM; one who prefers action to paperwork; one who works to a deadline not by the clock; one who chases results, not excuses.

If you are looking for a practical, experienced, "hands-on" fundraiser, do, please, give me a call.