What people are saying…

  • “Ciara was just fabulous to work with. For a start, she's a great listener and when pitching my project to her, she not only immediately got it's scope, scale and possibilities, but saw well beyond what I had imagined - bringing both promise and realism to our proposition. I unhesitatingly recommend her talents to anyone in the business of wanting to raise funds for their projects."

    — Julian Marshall
    Director
    Julian Marshall Ltd

  • "Ciara worked with one of the East of England Co-op’s supported groups Co-op Juniors (The oldest amateur dramatic company in the UK) to develop a fundraising strategy and to prepare fundraising plans on their behalf. I regard Ciara as a highly experienced Fundraising professional and her work undertaken on our Society’s behalf with the Co-op Juniors revealed a number of new funding sources that will hopefully help sustain this group for many years.”

    — Niall O’Keeffe
    Joint Chief Executive Officer, Membership and Marketing
    East of England Co-op

  • "Ciara was recommended to come and assist with developing our corporate fundraising and building charity of the year relationships. It was a pleasure to get to know Ciara. She is professional and hard working and fitted in with the team extremely well. Our project was only ever going to be short term but I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending her or asking her to work with my team again on a wide range of income streams."

    — Hannah Bloom
    Director of Income Generation
    St Elizabeth Hospice

  • "Ciara and I have worked on various projects together over the years, and she is always professional, creative, thoughtful, diligent and conscientious. She cares deeply about the organisations that she gets involved with and works hard to build trust and relationships. I wouldn't hesitate from recommending her for relationship-based fundraising advice and support."

    — Judi Newman
    Development Director
    St Elizabeth Hospice

  • "Ciara’s task was to propose and co-ordinate OOP’s £120,000 fundraising campaign to restore and install the Peter Collins organ, formerly of the Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton University, in Orford Church, to which the instrument had been gifted. Time was tight: the campaign began in November 2018, and the organ was due to be completed in time to be dedicated at Easter 2019. ​ Working with me as project manager and curator of OOP, under the oversight of Orford Church’s fundraising committee, Ciara set about the task with great energy, bringing her experience and an acute strategic sensibility to a campaign which embraced trusts and individual givers. She developed a campaign which emphasised that this project was a benefit not just to the church, but also to the wider community, which it would continue to serve for generations to come. Other professionals in the field commented on the effectiveness of the developed approach. ​ Ciara was extremely methodical, and meticulous in documenting the progress of formal applications and general fundraising; she was keen not only to conduct face-to-face approaches, but also was able to advise on technical matters such as the use of JustGiving and Gift Aid. She showed experience and skill in the preparation of copy for the printed materials. The efficiency of her work was enhanced by a clear understanding of what would not work and waste time, as much as what would succeed. ​ Ciara’s personal warmth and charm helped us stay focussed and optimistic through some occasionally difficult periods: in our view, Ciara was the perfect professional for the difficult job in hand. By the time her contract came to an end, we had reached 94 percent of our fundraising target, a not inconsiderable achievement."

    — Graeme Kay
    Producer, Classical & Digital Hub and Project Manager and Curator, Orford Organ Project
    BBC3, Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra

  • "My work with Ciara Scallon was based on my law firm sponsoring Aldeburgh Music concerts at Snape and Ipswich over the past five years or so. Ciara was our key contact at AM. Ciara brings a personal touch to the work and attention to detail, so that we had confidence that when we brought our guests to events, they would have a good experience. She also understands the lead times that we need to build sponsorships into our planning, so she always talked to us in good time about new projects. We did not always go for the projects she proposed to us, but we felt she always had us in mind."

    — James Skellorn
    Senior Partner
    Barker Gotelee LLP, Legal 500 Law firm

  • "I have worked with Ciara over the past few years, through being a corporate sponsor of Snape Maltings. During this time, I have found her to be knowledgeable, approachable and thoroughly professional at all times. She has taken the time to understand our business, so that she can suggest opportunities which are a good fit and always has a positive attitude. Overall, Ciara is a pleasure to deal with."

    — James Stacey
    Owner
    O&C Butcher, Established 1884