From Film-making to Fundraising
Mick Le Moignan writes…
At the time, in 2004, it seemed like a radical, mid-life career change. After 20+ years as writer, script editor, director and producer in film and television in Australia and the UK, I suddenly had a grown-up job. It was certainly the first time I had gone to work in an office every day and kept (comparatively) normal business hours.
Fundraising wasn’t a new challenge for me. Anyone who has produced independent documentaries, has heaps of experience of trying to persuade investors to share your passionate belief in a project – which will only spring to life if those investors agree to put their money where your heart is.
I accepted the position at Gonville & Caius College, largely because it would enable me to work with the most brilliant fundraiser I know, Dr Anne Lyon, now the first woman Emeritus Fellow of the College.
I had met Anne some years previously, when she was the Director of Development at my Cambridge alma mater, St Catharine’s College. I was there to make a programme in my BBC-TV series Turning Points, short films about celebrities reflecting on a decisive moment in their lives. With Lesley Lamont-Fisher and Dean Arnett, I produced 80 of these films for our independent production company, Fly By Night Films. The film we were making at the College was about the theatre director, Sir Peter Hall, who told the story of his original interview with Dr Tom Henn, the Director of Studies in English, whom I, too, recall with enormous gratitude and affection.
Sir Peter’s visit was marked by a splendid lunch with the Master. I found myself sitting next to Anne, who asked me politely why I had never given a donation to Cath’s. I explained that life as an independent film/tv producer was precarious, carrying no regular salary or entitlements. Quick as a flash, Anne said: ‘Well, you could make a film for the College, couldn’t you?’ I had to admit that I probably could – and on reflection, I felt that I’d like to express my gratitude to St Catharine’s in that way.
A year later, I had made a 40-minute film entitled A Sense of Belonging – to St Catharine’s, outlining the College’s history and explaining why, at a time of rapidly reducing government subsidy, it was vital for alumni to make some payback for the (often free) education they had received, and help the next generation to enjoy similar benefits, notably in the form of the uniquely personal Oxbridge supervision system.
I asked for copies of the film, on then-ubiquitous VHS videotapes, to be made freely available to anyone who requested them. The tapes were sent out and, over the next six weeks or so, more than £250,000 was received, in cheques large and small. More significantly, a successful venture capitalist watched the film with his family over the Christmas holiday and came to St Catharine’s in the New Year with a gift of £1 million, to endow a Lectureship in perpetuity. I was invited to one or two special College Feasts, having not previously figured on the guest lists, and then I went back to my normal life – but Anne Lyon had two more surprising invitations in store for me, first to make a similar film for Gonville & Caius College and then to join her there as her Deputy Director of Development. This unexpected switch has brought me many new friends and a great deal of pleasure and intellectual fulfilment.
In 2009, it enabled me to come back to Sydney, which I have always regarded as my spiritual home, to work with two more luminous women, Professor Kim Walker, then-Dean of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and Ms Jennie Lang, then-Vice-President for Advancement at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.
I found educational fundraising infinitely easier and more rewarding than fundraising for films. I have met many generous benefactors who have made life-changing gifts and bequests, ranging from small amounts to multi-million dollars. People joke about hiding their wallets when they have lunch with a professional fundraiser or being persuaded to give against their will. In my experience, that never happens. I don’t believe any of the many donors I dealt with ever regretted their decision: on the contrary, most of them learned the significant lesson that it is not only nobler to give than to receive, but hugely satisfying and much more fun!
Anne Lyon always says ‘It’s important to keep the fun in fundraising’ – and that’s very true. My golden rule is never to fundraise for any cause unless I believe in it 100%. With that proviso, you can be sure, not only that donations will be well and wisely used, but that the donors will come to feel a very real pleasure in helping to achieve worthwhile outcomes.
I love fundraising and I am always happy to share my knowledge and expertise with others.
Fundraising Experience
Mick Le Moignan, MA (Cantab), Dip.LL
Fundraising Experience
2004-2009
Deputy Director of Development
Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge
2009-2012
General Manager, External Relations
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
2012-2016
Fundraising Consultant
Creator of fundraising collateral
UNSW Sydney
2005-2020
Editor, Once a Caian…
Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge
Link to Issue 20 of Once a Caian…: https://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Once%20a%20Caian%209-20%20FINAL.pdf
2019
Sponsorship Manager
Northern Beaches Pickleball Association, Inc.