The Professional Fundraiser

What The Professional Fundraiser does

The Professional Fundraiser Ltd is a UK-based fundraising agency founded in 2012, headquartered in Astwick, Bedfordshire, with a second office in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. The firm serves large UK charities through four service lines: face-to-face private-site fundraising, telephone fundraising, direct and digital fundraising (launched 2020), and lottery management (added 2017). Operations are powered by a proprietary fundraising management system developed in-house since 2014, complemented by a dedicated fundraising app, contactless direct debit capability, and QR/SMS-enabled sign-up workflows. Field fundraisers operate at private sites and 500+ events per year, including BBC Good Food, Crufts, the Ideal Home Show, the London Marathon, Pride events, and ComicCons, while telephone fundraisers are based at the central office handling acquisition, conversion, reactivation, legacy discussions, Gift Aid, stewardship, events promotion, and inbound response.

Revenue is generated almost exclusively on a B2B transaction-fee basis with charity clients, using cost-per-acquisition and cost-per-contact pricing for fundraising services, alongside lottery management revenue under an External Lottery Manager licence issued by the UK Gambling Commission. The customer base consists of major UK charities, anchored by founding client Cats Protection (since 2012) and including the Royal British Legion, British Heart Foundation, NSPCC, Cancer Research UK, PDSA, Alzheimer's Society, Prostate Cancer UK, Erskine, and Birmingham Children's Hospital Charity. The firm holds ISO 27001, ISO 14001, and ISO 9001 certifications, is a Certified Supplier of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, and has been recognised in the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Places to Work.

The Professional Fundraiser is privately held, has not raised external institutional capital, and operates exclusively in the United Kingdom. Go-to-market combines enterprise field sales for face-to-face contracts, an inside-sales motion for telephone campaigns, and a year-round exhibition and event presence for donor acquisition. The company is differentiated on a quality-over-quantity proposition, claiming sector-leading attrition rates backed by an unrivalled attrition guarantee, and has made a public commitment to reach Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 with a 50% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.

Name

The Professional Fundraiser

Legal name

The Professional Fundraiser Ltd

Website

https://theprofessionalfundraiser.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Professional Fundraiser is a UK-based fundraising agency that provides face-to-face, telephone, digital, and lottery fundraising services to large UK charities. Founded in 2012, it operates a proprietary fundraising management system and serves clients including Cats Protection, the Royal British Legion, and Cancer Research UK.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Charity Fundraising Services

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Fundraisers & Charity Events (Gala/Walks excluded) (MPAGAEAK)

Keywords

• Face-to-face fundraising
• Telephone fundraising
• Donor recruitment
• Charity fundraising services
• Lottery management

Headquarters

HQ city

Astwick

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Telephone Fundraising Services: The company runs telephone campaigns for charity clients including supporter acquisition, conversion, reactivation, upgrade and cross-selling, legacy discussions, Gift Aid processing, stewardship, events promotion, and inbound response. Pricing models include cost-per-acquisition and cost-per-contact.
2. Face-to-Face Fundraising Services: Private-site and event-based fundraising services for large charities seeking national campaigns. The company recruits supporters through direct engagement at venues, exhibitions, and events. They focus on quality donors with low attrition rates.
3. Lottery Services: Prize-led giving campaigns and lottery management services. The company is an External Lottery Manager with the Gambling Commission and provides all telemarketing campaigns to recruit and retain lottery players.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Professional Fundraiser is a UK fundraising agency that recruits and retains regular donors on behalf of charity clients through face-to-face private-site fundraising, telephone campaigns, and lottery management. They run national campaigns at private sites, exhibitions, and events, as well as telephone-based supporter acquisition, conversion, stewardship, Gift Aid processing, legacy discussions, and lottery player recruitment, charging charities on transactional cost-per-acquisition and cost-per-contact models.

Product overview

The Professional Fundraiser is a UK-based fundraising agency offering two core services: Face-to-Face Fundraising and Telephone Fundraising. The Face-to-Face Fundraising service focuses on private-site national campaigns for large charity partners, recruiting quality donors with sector-leading attrition rates. Telephone Fundraising encompasses supporter acquisition, conversion, reactivation, legacy discussions, Gift Aid management, stewardship, and lottery services. The company expanded in 2020 to include Direct and Digital Fundraising. Additional offerings include seasonal fundraising programmes, contact centre supporter care, and lottery management services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Face-to-Face Fundraising
• Telephone Fundraising

Quantifiable outcome

• Sector-leading attrition rates with unrivalled attrition guarantee
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Bright Future FundraisingminorOthers · 1 January 2012A related company under the same corporate family. Linked as part of 'Our family' on the website with separate branding at brightfuturefundraising.co.uk.
• Greenlight (Mystery Shop Provider)minorOthersGreenlight is referenced as the company's internal Mystery Shop provider for compliance monitoring. The company also works with external mystery shop processes conducted by charity partners and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Wood for Trees: UK-based fundraising analytics and insight provider serving UK charities with data-driven fundraising support. Partial overlap with The Professional Fundraiser's analytics and reporting capabilities, particularly relevant as TPF expands its digital fundraising and data-driven donor acquisition offerings.

Direct peers

• Home Fundraising: UK-based door-to-door and private-site fundraising agency serving major charities with regular-giving donor acquisition. Closely comparable to The Professional Fundraiser in customer base (large UK charities), service model (in-person fundraising), and emphasis on quality donor recruitment.
• Blue Zebra Fundraising: UK face-to-face fundraising agency operating private-site campaigns for charities nationwide. Comparable to The Professional Fundraiser in target market (large UK charities), delivery mechanism (field-based F2F), and revenue model (transaction-based sign-ups).
• I-COM: UK telephone fundraising agency delivering supporter acquisition, stewardship, and reactivation campaigns for charities. Directly comparable to The Professional Fundraiser's telephone fundraising service line, sharing the same cost-per-acquisition and contact-based pricing model.
• Inspired Fundraising: UK face-to-face fundraising agency running private-site campaigns for national charities. Direct competitor to The Professional Fundraiser across the same charity client base and delivery format, with comparable transaction-fee revenue model.
• QPM (Quality People's Marketing): UK-based face-to-face fundraising agency providing private-site and event-based donor recruitment services to charities. Comparable to The Professional Fundraiser in operating model, client profile (large UK charities), and emphasis on quality donor outcomes.
• Rapport Fundraising: UK face-to-face and telephone fundraising agency serving major national charities with regular-giving donor acquisition. Directly comparable to The Professional Fundraiser in service mix, target clients, and emphasis on compliance-led fundraising.
• Unity4: UK contact-centre fundraising services provider offering telephone fundraising, lottery management, and supporter care to charities. Comparable to The Professional Fundraiser across telephone fundraising, lottery management, and B2B charity client relationships.
• Personal Fundraising Services: UK fundraising agency specialising in private-site F2F regular giving campaigns for major charities. Directly comparable to The Professional Fundraiser in target market, geographic scope (UK), and recruitment of long-term regular-giving donors.
• Global Fundraising: UK-based face-to-face and telephone fundraising agency providing donor acquisition services to major charities. Directly competes with The Professional Fundraiser for private-site F2F contracts with large UK charity clients, employing a similar field-sales-and-call-centre delivery model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/theprofessionalfundraiser
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-professional-fundraiser

Compliance7 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Professional Fundraiser