Welsh National Opera

Welsh National Opera (WNO) is one of the UK’s three regional opera companies, touring Wales and central and southern England from its base in Cardiff. As well as this ‘core’ UK touring WNO performs around the world and has established an enviable reputation for its artistic standards, a reputation maintained and strengthened in recent years by its Music Director, Carlo Rizzi. In 2005 WNO moved into the magnificent new Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) in the regenerated former docklands of Cardiff Bay, a move which brought opportunities and challenges in equal measure.

Under the leadership of its then Director of Development, Lucy Stout, WNO had generated substantial fundraising income, especially from corporate sponsorship and from trust funds. However, despite some successes, a lack of resources prevented the organisation from committing to a consistent programme of fundraising from individuals. Lucy and her colleagues were determined to seize the moment of the move to the WMC and establish a long-term individual giving programme.

At the same time the Director of Marketing, Lucy Shorrocks faced a formidable challenge: the high-profile opening of their new home a the WMC would bring WNO an unparalleled opportunity to reach large numbers of potential new audience members but at the same time, with 85% more seats than the New Theatre, their previous home in Cardiff, a tough marketing job.

The simultaneous aims of achieving a dramatic increase in audience numbers and in recruiting large numbers of new donors from the audience required the Marketing and Development departments of WNO to work closely together. Both departmental directors wanted to ensure that the initial enthusiasm for WNO in its new home was not just a short-lived phenomenon but the start of a long-term increase in ticket sales and in individual donations.To this end, in late 2004, they jointly engaged David Dixon and marketing specialist Katy Raines (working as DixonRaines Ltd.).

Lucy Shorrocks and her colleagues in the WNO Marketing Department created a new subscription programme which has proved extremely effective, not only in the first year of WNO at the WMC, but for subsequent seasons too. Meanwhile, the Development Department embarked on a programme of donor recruitment using telephone and mail. Key to this twin track approach was a combined Communication Plan created with the help of David and Katy which ensures that marketing and fundraising approaches to audience members are coordinated. This Plan allows the Development Department to schedule phone and mail campaigns away from the main ticketselling periods, to coordinate donation approaches to subscribers and to agree prioritisation of access to
cultivation events. The Plan covers WNO’s performances in Cardiff and around the UK.

The Development Director, Lucy Stout, required support at the highest level for her strategy, not least because the recruitment process using phone and mail would require an investment of over £110,000 (and a new member of staff to manage the project), the largest single investment in a fundraising initiative in the company’s history. Supported by her opposite number in Marketing, she was able to demonstrate to the Board and Senior
Management colleagues that the Communications Plan ensured a joined-up approach which would strengthen WNO’s audience relationships. She also presented an investment plan and a projected cashflow for a three-year cycle of donor development prepared by David Dixon. Lucy Stout says that her colleagues “were not sceptical, but did need to see the proof that this investment was justified.”

David was very helpful in this process, according to Lucy, because, she said, “he has an unusually wide range of experience and intellectual energy. David brought an objective focus, was sympathetic and trustworthy and had credibility with Boards and Senior Management”.

David and his colleagues continued to provide support to the Development Department of WNO as its plans were implemented during 2005. The campaign began with a test of telephone fundraising run by an external agency using data from Cardiff (previous New Theatre bookers) and a touring venue, the Birmingham Hippodrome, to check that the initial projections were realistic and could be replicated away from home. This was followed throughout 2005 and 2006 by a rolling programme of telephone fundraising taking in all of WNO’s touring venues and concluding with Cardiff again, this time using data on new attenders at the WMC.

Naturally, WNO had no intention of stopping there. Early in 2007 it began a process of ‘donor development’ following a plan drawn up by David Dixon which consisted of a) feeding back about the success of the appeal, b) contacting people who initially made a single gift and asking them to convert to a regular gift and c) contacting regular donors and requesting they increase their contribution. In this way the number and value of donations increased over time. Such a programme provides an underpinning of guaranteed income each year to complement other fundraising which can be secure.

With advice from David Dixon, the decision was made early on that no benefits would be offered to donors in exchange for their gift. This made the ‘ask’ very straightforward and saves a great deal of time on administration as well as saving cost on the benefits themselves and makes the entire amount eligible for Gift Aid. WNO already has benefit-led Friends programme and wished to keep a clear distinction. In fact, many Friends also
became donors. WNO is confident that offering benefits would have added cost and complexity without increasing the number or level of gifts.

Lucy Stout describes the success of the audience fundraising programme as a big boost to the morale of the organisation as a whole since it demonstrates in a very concrete fashion the loyalty and support of audiences at all the venues where they perform. She said:
“David Dixon has intellectual energy, an objective focus, and credibility at Board and Senior Management level.”