Debby Boon

Fundraising and Digital Communications Consultant

Hi, I'm Debby. I'm a freelance consultant based in Berlin
and I'm passionate about helping charities engage supporters to deliver powerful campaigns, raise vital funds, and drive change together.

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Since 2011 I’ve been helping charities deepen their relationships with their supporters and turn that increased engagement into more effective campaigns and higher incomes. I’ve learnt so much over the years and am always excited to share that knowledge with my clients.I do this in a number of ways, these include:▶ Strategy – I help charities analyse where they’re at, where they want to get to, and the steps it will take to get there. I am good at identifying sticking points and how to get past them.I know from experience the kinds of challenges charities face – from those where capacity and budget are the primary obstacles, to much larger organisations where the sheer volume of output can sometimes make it hard to take a step back. But I also understand that each organisation is unique. I take the time to get to know and understand my clients and provide strategies and solutions appropriate to each.▶ Delivery – I help charities turn plans into actions through offering support in a number of ways including:• Email marketing – whether it’s support with copywriting, building emails, or designing journeys that engage, convert and retain supporters, I can help.• Campaigns actions – I help charities identify actions that will both drive forward campaigns in a meaningful way while also engaging supporters. I write copy that persuades, and support with page building on platforms like Engaging Networks and Impact Stack.• Facebook ads – I help charities recruit new supporters and maximise the potential of existing ones through engaging creative, effective targeting, and a results-driven approach.• Direct mail – post continues to be an essential means by which to raise vital funds. Done well it should also engage your supporters with your work and bring them closer to your charity.▶ Analysis – whether it’s a shared project, or something much broader, I help identify the data that’s needed to assess results and performance, and turn that into something much more digestible that will help improve future performance.Since going freelance I’ve worked for a diverse range of charities including Debt Justice, War on Want, Versus Arthritis, FOUR PAWS, The Leprosy Mission, Liberty, Refugee Action, Child Poverty Action Group, Burma Campaign, and Friends of the Earth Europe. As well as working for some of the most well-known agencies in the sector – Forward Action, Platypus, more onion, and Root Cause Collective. I’m also an Engaging Networks accredited partner.

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About

I don’t know about you but I’m forever grateful that I didn’t listen to my careers advisor. I’d already known for a few years that I wanted to work in the charity sector when I went to her for inspiration as to what that might mean in terms of a career. But all I received was a talk about jobs in administration and essentially got told to brush up on my secretarial skills. Surely there’s more to the charity sector than this, I thought!Certain that this must be the case, I went on to study Social Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Sussex before beginning my first job in the not-for-profit sector 17 years ago, back in 2005. My early career taught me the importance of proper customer care, and also how much I enjoyed representing an organisation and making sure the people interacting with it had a positive experience.Then, back in 2011, I began my first position with an NGO. I started as an intern in campaigns and policy at Global Justice Now and little did I know, back then, that I would still be there eight years later – in a pretty different role. But I quickly realised that I missed that customer care element to my work and it wasn’t long before I moved into supporter care and engagement, and from there into fundraising and communications.If my careers advisor had understood the sector better, or got to know me, I’m sure this is the direction she would have recommended. It combines so much that I love. I can dig into data while also writing engaging copy. I can plan and strategise while also enjoying the changes that every day can bring. I can use all this to improve the daily experiences of supporters – but more than that, those improved experiences translate into better outcomes for causes I believe in. I was right – there really is so much more to the charity sector than admin!Since going freelance in 2019, I’ve enjoyed working for a diverse range of charities including Debt Justice, War on Want, Versus Arthritis, FOUR PAWS, The Leprosy Mission, Liberty, Refugee Action, Child Poverty Action Group, Burma Campaign, and Friends of the Earth Europe. As well as working for some of the most well-known agencies in the sector – Forward Action, Platypus, more onion, and Root Cause Collective. I’m also an Engaging Networks accredited partner.I am always excited to hear from new organisations to discuss how we can drive change together. So if you have a project you think I could be a good fit for, then don’t hesitate to get in touch. I’m already looking forward to hearing from you!

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Testimonials

Jack York

Innovation Manager at Versus Arthritis

"I have worked with Debby on a number of projects at Versus Arthritis as we developed a new strategic approach to supporter journeys and digital mobilisation. She has always been brilliant to work with and brings a wealth of experience and expertise that has brought huge value to our fundraising and engagement programme.She has helped us to develop a very effective engagement strategy which has enabled us to build more meaningful relationships with our supporters, increasing activation and retention. Debby is able to analyse and present complex data to draw out meaningful insight. She has also helped us to work through complex data problems and made clear recommendations for improvements to our processes. I would highly recommend her to any organisation who is looking to develop and implement a supporter centric engagement strategy and fundraising strategy."

Heidi Chow

Executive Director at Debt Justice

"Debby helped us develop our organisational individual fundraising strategy. We really appreciated her strategic and methodical approach - she took the time to really understand how our processes work to conduct an internal audit of our strengths and weaknesses. This was followed by an external audit to understand our fundraising performance in the context of similar organisations. She then used all of this information to develop a set of key recommendations specifically tailored for our context and aspirations that covered all aspects of supporter fundraising. We are a small organisation with no dedicated fundraising staff and so we are now using Debby’s strategy as our guiding document to steer us towards improving the quality and frequency of our fundraising communications and materials as well as improve our back-end data collection and monitoring. Debby is an exceptional fundraising professional and I highly recommend Debby for her fundraising expertise, experience and insight which have all been hugely invaluable to our organisation."