Frances Carlaw, Kippen Community Hall

I worked as a professional fundraiser before I retired, and in that capacity, I had benefitted from the Chartered Institute’s offer for many years.

I was living in France and moved back to Scotland in 2022 to be closer to family in my retirement. We moved to Kippen – a small village near Stirling in Scotland, and in the centre of the village is a hall that had served the community for over 100 years.

The hall needed refurbishment so that it could continue to remain at the heart of village life.

I became the volunteer Chair and only fundraiser for the Kippen Village Hall Committee and I knew from my experience that a small organisation such as ours would benefit from the greater knowledge and good communications that the Chartered Institute offers members.

Kippen Village Hall Committee joined the Chartered Institute as an organisational member and small organisations such as ours are, in many ways, the most community-driven organisations and in most need of support.

The thing we value most about our membership is the information that is shared, and the feeling that we are not alone with the challenges in the current climate.

Although the committee have made me responsible for the fundraising, I believe that all members of volunteer committees have a duty to help with fundraising in whatever ways they can – ultimately it is teamwork that gets results.

If you work for an organisation that isn’t already a member, I’d say that you should join! Membership will help your team access greater knowledge and create a shared understanding.

Raising the money needed for such an ambitious project in a community of just 1,100 residents is an enormous task but we rose to the daunting challenge and set about drawing up plans to raise the cash to update and improve the hall’s facilities.

Thanks to initial crucial help from Stirling Council and the local Kippen Community Trust, we raised a small sum that led to larger grants and further applications until we had managed to raise over £154,000 in just ten months.  

The balancing £30,000-plus is already applied for and we’re awaiting results at the end of September. This will complete the refurbishment of the entire building, with just the outside works to do next year and the appointment of a caretaker.

The Village Hall is once-again a vibrant hub with many people of all ages using it daily. I’ll continue to work just as hard to attract more funding and hopefully in the next ten months we’ll reach the total target to give our lovely village hall a brighter and sustainable future.

In the meantime, I am thrilled to have been selected as a finalist in the BBC’s Make a Difference Scotland Awards. I’m so proud of everyone who has been involved and the recognition in the fundraising category is just the icing on the cake!