What our clients say

Our clients are truly invaluable assets to us, and we take great pride in showcasing their perspectives regarding the relationships we have cultivated with them.

As a small team, Wycombe Abbey has benefited enormously from flexible, strategic external support that could both complement capacity and strengthen our strategic direction. Cairney & Company has provided trusted counsel, helping us clarify our fundraising strategy and develop a compelling case for support, while working seamlessly alongside our team. Their insight, adaptability and understanding of our needs made them a highly effective partner.

Alice Edwards
Foundation Director (Philanthropy), Wycombe Abbey

Working with Cairney & Company has been a valuable experience for the College. Their team approached our fundraising review with professionalism, sector expertise and a deep understanding of how to engage with busy senior physicians and volunteers. Through careful research, they surfaced clear insights into our strengths and translated these into a compelling case for support that articulates RCPE’s unique value proposition.

As a membership organisation with limited fundraising history, they’ve helped us understand the opportunities in our existing data and define where philanthropy can support our mission, from international programmes to heritage and education. Our Board of Trustees found that their detailed report provided actionable recommendations on the systems, staffing and governance required for philanthropy to become a viable income stream for the College.

We are now working with C&C on the next phase, including creation of a new legacy strategy, further prospect research and an external feasibility study. We continue to value their thoughtful challenge and collaborative, evidence-driven approach.

Keith McKellar
CEO, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE)

Following a period of change in the Development & Alumni team at the University of Glasgow, it was important to support staff to grow into their new roles, particularly those working in major gifts. I felt strongly it was a coaching – rather than training – approach that would work best. We chose to work with Cairney & Company - and in particular Karen Cairney, CEO and Colin McCallum, Cairney Partner - for three reasons: they came with years of practitioner experience and knowledge of our sector, giving them huge credibility; they are straightforward, direct and authentic in their approach; and the firm offered the balance of expertise across major gift fundraising and executive coaching that I was looking for - a balance that is rare in my experience. They worked with nine members of the team over six months in 1:1 confidential sessions to build their confidence and resilience post re-structure and to develop them as members of a team that is reenergised and motivated. Having given the team this space in a very challenging lockdown environment I am now seeing the results and impact. Some of my observations of the impact of the Cairney & Company coaching have been greater focus on targets and meetings with donors, positive outlook on the future, greater resilience and coping mechanisms, and cohesiveness in the team.

Frances Shepherd
Director of Development & Alumni, University of Glasgow

Cairney and Company’s meticulous approach and deep understanding of our goals were evident throughout the assessment of our two pivotal student employability programs, the Westminster Working Cultures Programme and Westminster Enterprise Network. Cairney and Company Ltd demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to delving into the nuances of these initiatives, providing invaluable insights and recommendations that will undoubtedly elevate and fortify our efforts in fostering student and graduate success. Their team's professionalism, strategic guidance, and keen eye for detail were pivotal in unravelling opportunities for enhanced fundraising strategies tailored specifically to our programs. The depth of their analysis and the clarity of their recommendations were instrumental in shaping a strong foundation for the future of our student employability initiatives which we look forward to delivering in, and under the digital umbrella of, our new enterprise centre: Zone29. We're so grateful for their friendly approach, hard work and smart suggestions and we would definitely recommend them to anyone needing help with their fundraising initiatives. I look forward to working with the team again in the near future.

Jordan Scammell MinstF(Dip)
Head of Development and Fundraising, University of Westminster

Last year we appointed an Associate Director to the newly formed Gardens, Libraries, and Museums (GLAM) fundraising team at Oxford. We chose to work with Cairney & Company to provide support to the new leadership through a series of coaching and team development sessions, as they brought a combination of being senior level professionals within the development profession, and senior accredited executive coaches. We were keen to support the new Associate Director to bring together a number of previously independent teams and individuals, and to help identify a common purpose and team ethos. C&C took time to talk to the key stakeholders and establish areas of shared interest, which they were then able to feed back to us, to support the activities planned to work with the whole team. Their input helped us to explore issues faced by the team members and address concerns through the year. We were also able to use some of their time to support individuals within the team, which has helped to address concerns raised by the significant changes in the team structure.

Development Office
University of Oxford

Along with our collaborative partners the University of Edinburgh and UNICEF, we chose Cairney & Company through a competitive process to support the Data for Children Collaborative to better understand our potential to secure funding beyond the initial funding from the Scottish Government and the Data Driven Innovation Programme. Karen and the team really took the time to fully understand the drivers for the consultancy services that we were seeking before putting in an application. They built up trust and an understanding of our needs very quickly, and could then readily reference their relevant experience.

Cairney & Company interviewed a number of key stakeholders, conducted a stakeholder assessment and mapping, researched potential funders and how best to manage our relationships, and also provided us with a well-thought out and planned approach to ensure our future fundraising success and financial viability. We worked closely with a focused and dedicated team of experts which included, Karen Cairney, CEO, Colin McCallum, Leigh Dilks and their Strategic Delivery Partner, Michael Lavery (CEO of Brand & Reputation) who collectively delivered a significant piece of work. Cairney & Company’s insights have provided us with a robust set of recommendations that will challenge our own thinking and that of our board, but also a set of quick wins that we can move on now.

Alex Hutchison
Director, Data for Children Collaborative

NMITE engaged the services of Cairney & Company (C&C) to assist us with the research and development of our fundraising case for support, as well as a specific piece of work looking at developing an innovative scholarship model. These two pieces of work were crucial to NMITE’s fundraising strategy, allowing us to approach potential donors confidently and with clearly articulated and compelling messages.

By spending time with our team, at both executive and board level, and consulting with a wide range of stakeholders, Karen and her colleagues ensured that both pieces of work were informed and capture the essence of what NMITE aspires to achieve. Both the case for support and scholarship report are very high-quality pieces of work. C&C also reviewed existing materials and conducted research on trends that would inform future strategic fundraising planning.

Cairney & Company continue to provide on-going, excellent service, supporting the fundraising function at NMITE. We are most grateful to them for their professional manner, knowledge of the sector and their credibility.

Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon
President and Chief Executive, New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE)

Cairney & Company’s (C&C) President Karen Cairney, Partner Colin McCallum and Senior Consultant Leigh Dilks, undertook an internal review of UCLan's alumni and development programme, engaging with the senior leadership team of the University. It was during this time the C&C team demonstrated their innate understanding and expertise in advancement in Higher Education, as well as their sensitivity to the wide range of participants involved in the consultation, while driving home key recommendations.

This subsequently led to Leigh Dilks undertaking a 6 month project directly with the alumni team to support the delivery and implementation of an integrated alumni relations programme. Leigh’s passion for her profession and commitment to UCLan have been invaluable to me, the alumni team, and wider External Relations department. Cairney and Company are thorough, professional and always have their clients best interests at heart.

Ruth Connor
Chief Marketing Officer, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)

Working with Karen and the team, in a very short space of time, has challenged our own thinking around the best campaign model for ECU. ECU is a very entrepreneurial university focussed on not only ensuring high employability outcomes for our students but also how we support the entrepreneurial ecosystem in WA, Australia and beyond. The campaign planning with C&C explored a non-traditional model of funding as our alumni are young and developing in their careers. We are exploring how we can maximise our potential and leverage relationships across the University to attract new partners, donors and investment in ECU, guided and challenged by the capable hands of C&C. C&C have also opened up a whole new overseas market for us in Asia, with great energy and insight they are a pleasure to work with.

Sonia MacKay-Coghill
Director of Enterprise and Development, Edith Cowan University (ECU)

We have had the pleasure of working with Cairney & Company (C&C) over a number of years and for a variety of different reasons within the philanthropy team and across the broader university. Cairney Partner Alex Scott supported the development of our case for support for the Student Potential Fund. He helped to bring our needs to life in a way that demonstrated the compelling need to donors and the impact that their philanthropy would have. We have worked directly with CEO Karen Cairney on engagement with our Vice-Chancellor and senior leadership on their role in fundraising and also engaging with some of our key donors on testing our priorities. We found working with Karen and the team to be insightful and productive. We are a small team that is often pulled in many directions, their support has kept us on track and enabled us to make strategic steps forward in key areas of our philanthropic journey. As a team they walked the talk, as a truly critical friend working alongside us, they have helped to shape and challenge our thinking and bring a warmth and friendliness to their approach.

Marnie Middlemiss
Director of Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement, University of Brighton

Karen spent six months as Interim Director of Development at the University. Here she coached the Development and Alumni Relations management team and six members of the development team, instilling a culture of high performance following an assessment and period of change. Karen led a series of workshops and one-to-one sessions with the team on values and behaviours, offering a warm, insightful, and ultimately invaluable resource. As well as coaching, Karen provided her expertise to guide the development of our strategy, the Case for Support and cultivation of key prospects.

Christina Turner
Director of Development and Alumni Relations, University of Liverpool

More thoughts from our clients…

Robert Fleming, Director of Development – University of St Andrews

We have been working with Cairney & Company CEO Karen Cairney, and Partner Alison Bond, to design, develop and conduct team workshops, including our development team leadership, for the past two years. Karen and Ali have spent time with myself and Heather Edie, Head of Campaign and Donor Relations, to understand our objectives: bringing the team of 45 people together in an engaging and inclusive way, to explore what is working well and what areas need additional focus.
Both Karen and Ali bring a unique blend of experience as both senior level accredited coaches as well as being former development professionals who have led senior teams across fundraising and alumni relations. They have engaged with the whole team ahead of each session, through surveys, to get their thoughts and inputs for the workshops, and have shaped content that is engaging, informative, thought provoking and challenging. Although some of the tools used are tried and tested coaching tools and methodologies, they have been delivered in a bespoke manner to address the St Andrews Development team’s current situation.
Karen and Ali are supportive, insightful, collegial and professional while ensuring that the team dig deep on the day to create concrete actions and outcomes for the year ahead. That works on a personal and collective level, whilst also bringing the team together in interactive sessions which break down any silos in the team. Through their work with us we are building a stronger, more cohesive and motivated team working on a major campaign for the University.
Andrew Lyall, Head of Development & Alumni, Gordonstoun

As the Head of Development & Alumni at Gordonstoun and a former Old Boy and teacher, the world of development was a new entity to me when previously in an interim role before being appointed as the Head last year. Cairney & Company (C&C) have been by my side each step of the way with a guiding and mentoring hand and have supported the shaping of the fundraising strategy for the School, reviewed our systems and processes, advised on the challenges with our current CRM system and have put in place a robust prospect management process.
I have worked closely with Karen Cairney, CEO over the past year and she has been a virtual member of the team as I have built my knowledge and expertise and developed my team and structure of which Karen also helped to shape and participated in the hiring of the team. Karen is not afraid to challenge or debate but always with the best interested of the team and school success at the heart of it. Karen’s knowledge of working with donors and helping me to shape approaches to donors and pushing me outside of my comfort zone has resulted in a number of successes.
We continue to work with C&C as we shape the needs for our ambitious Master Plan and to shift the School’s thinking from one that fundraises to a ‘Fundraising School’ and integrating all development activities throughout the School.
Lady Susan Haughey, CBE, Director of Kilbryde Hospice and Philanthropist

We contracted KWC Consulting and Managing Director Karen Cairney to work with the Hospice to conduct a review and assessment of the Hospice’s fundraising activities. We are a small organisation and new hospice with very lean resources and we wanted to explore how we could maximise our potential. Given the sensitive nature of a hospice environment Karen carried out the work personally with great care and thoughtfulness.
She spent time with our clinical and fundraising teams to better understand the Hospice’s direction and what would work best for Kilbryde at this point in our evolution. Karen and KWC created a detailed fundraising plan with key recommendations on how the Hospice could maximise and resource their fundraising efforts - taking into consideration our current limitations but providing us with great aspirational thinking. KWC provided us with great insight into our fundraising operations - it can often be more difficult to see the way forward when you are involved in the daily operations.
Karen has a wealth of knowledge in fundraising planning, but delivered the work in a bespoke manner and with great consideration for Kilbryde’s needs and current circumstances.
Professor Steve West, Vice-Chancellor - UWE and President – UUK

Over the past few months, I have been working directly with Cairney & Company, along with my senior team, to help UWE shape the future vision and ambitions for a potential major income generating initiative with philanthropy being a component.
I have engaged directly with the CEO Karen Cairney and Partner Colin McCallum who have helped us not only shape our proposition and case for support, but they have engaged directly with our governors and the University’s leadership team to challenge our thinking, refine our ambitions and have brought clarity to the roles, systems and processes required for success.
Throughout the process they have been by my side as a critical friend and partner on this journey and have brought their wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise to the table and to the benefit of UWE.
Rachel Franklin at Breast Cancer Now

Cairney & Company and CEO Karen Cairney are seasoned fundraising professionals and consultants who bring many years of practitioner expertise to their work.
I have enjoyed many a conversation with Karen around the impact of COVID on the charitable sector, how charities can build on their excellent work in mass fundraising and extend this into working more with high value donors and how to build and shape the right teams for success.
We have not as yet found the right project to work on together but can attest to the knowledge and expertise that Karen and her team have and therefore the value to their clients.
Deakin University, Australia - Jimmy Buck, Chief Advancement Officer

At Deakin University, we’ve worked with Cairney & Co on two important projects over the past year. Karen and her team provide advice and insights based on experience they’ve earned across multiple continents over several years.
They’ve been where we are, and they’ve helped us chart a course toward where we’d like to be. They’re personable and clear in their communications across every level of our team, including our Vice-Chancellor. They deliver helpful and sometimes sobering feedback. Despite the distance between us, they’re responsive to our queries and proactive with ideas for how we can solve problems better.
Alex Reedijk General Director, Scottish Opera

Colin McCallum provided great support and advice over an extended period from 2006 that helped me to take our fundraising forward significantly. The feasibility study that he led in 2010 with our ambitious Theatre Royal Campaign was vital to its success and helped me and the Board of Scottish Opera in many ways, including making the commitment to commence the project.
Dame Anne Gloag, OBE

I have known Karen Cairney for over 10 years and my first interaction was during the scoping of a major project that I supported at Edinburgh Napier University. At that time Karen and the Napier team worked with me personally to ensure the scope of the project aligned to the impact I wished to achieve as a philanthropist. Karen then led on the ongoing communication and stewardship of this major initiative and interaction with me. I was therefore delighted, that more recently, she agreed to become a Trustee of the Freedom from Fistula Foundation, which I founded in 2008 and is supported through the Gloag Foundation.
Karen has brought her extensive knowledge and experience in fundraising to the activities of the Foundation and has made connections in the US as we look to grow and expand our work. She has very quickly grasped the work of the Foundation and has brought a renewed energy and fresh insight into how we can forge new paths to support women in our clinics. She is at ease in every situation and always focussed on the task at hand.
Christina Harcus- Director of Development and Alumni Relations, University of Nottingham Ningbo

I have worked with Cairney & Company in my previous role as Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Liverpool where they helped support the development of our team as well as exploring our potential for income and engagement with alumni and donors internationally, specifically Hong Kong. In my new role as the inaugural Director of Development & Alumni at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China we have been working with Cairney & Company to determine our approach to achieving the greatest success in our fundraising approach. This has been a comprehensive process and has included the development of a case for support, benchmarking, engagement with our Management Board and esteemed volunteers and political party members, a competitor analysis, engagement with alumni and potential high value donors and ongoing strategic counsel.
They have been by our side as a critical friend providing challenge and support while listening to our needs and making adjustments along the way. The team bring a wealth of experience from across the globe and their input has been of immense value to me and my team and to the Management Board of the University and one that is tailored to our needs.
Robin Sharp Director of Development - Bradford Grammar School

At Bradford Grammar School, we have worked with Cairney & Co on the delivery of a Campaign Planning Study. Karen and the Cairney & Co team provided valuable insights and advice based on their global experience. They understand where we are, and where we would like to be, and throughout this process, they have helped us map a path to achieve this. They’re personable and clear in their communications with our team and external stakeholders.