Fundraisers donate £20,000 to the Fundraisers Fund in memory of Gill Astarita

Friends of Gill Astarita – the well-known fundraiser and chief executive of Volunteer Reading Help, who lost her battle against cancer in September 2008 – have donated £20,000 to the Fundraisers Fund.

The donation will be administered through this website (www.fundraisersfund.org) as The Gill Astarita Memorial Bursaries, which have been established by her husband Mark, director of fundraising at the British Red Cross. The money will be used to provide support and training to fundraisers in Africa and Asia. To spread the fund as far as possible, the Gill Astarita Memorial Bursaries will only be used to provide training for fundraisers within their own countries.

“Gill would have been delighted with this fund,” says Mark. “She was passionate about supporting and developing anyone who chose fundraising as a career and I feel sure this is something she would have herself wanted to give to.

“I hope that between 15 and 20 bursaries will be made in the first year, and I've agreed with the Resource Alliance that we will attempt to spread the funding over a five-year period. During that time I hope we will have been able to have supported some 75 fundraisers and who knows, one or two of them may be the stars of tomorrow going on to raise millions.”

Half of the donation has been provided by the trustees of the Private Equity Foundation (PEF), which is a supporter of Volunteer Reading Help.

Shaks Ghosh, chief executive of the Private Equity Foundation, says: “Volunteer Reading Help was one of the first charities the Private Equity Foundation invested in. We worked very closely with Gill and know how passionate she was about fundraising. Our trustees were keen to make a donation to Gill's memorial bursaries fund to commemorate her work and to invest in a programme that will bring a future social return to people in the developing world.”


Simon Collings, Former CEO of the Resource Alliance, says: “I am extremely pleased that we have been able to help Mark celebrate Gill’s life in this way. Perhaps her spirit will be able to live on in some of the up-and-coming fundraisers in countries where funds will be used.”

Gill spent her entire career in the voluntary sector, starting as a temp at War on Want and working for a number of charities, including Prisoners Abroad, Addaction and the Pre-School Learning Alliance. She is particularly well known for her role as director of marketing and communications at Action for Blind People, where she pioneered the charity's use of face-to-face fundraising and helped its income grow from £3m to £13m. 
After leaving Action for Blind People, Gill joined Volunteer Reading Help as chief executive.

The Institute of Fundraising is to rename its 'Fundraiser of the Year Award' as the 'Gill Astarita Fundraiser of the Year Award'. Mark Astarita has been asked to present the first award at the 2009 National Fundraising Convention in London.