#222 'Fundraising consultant to launching a start-up', Jenni Giblin founder of FundingHQ

Welcoming Jenni Giblin, CEO of FundingHQ to Purposely where she shares her founder journey as well as her expertise on fundraising for charities and for-purpose organisations.

Jenni Giblin, CEO of Funding HQ, shares her journey as a founder and her expertise in fundraising for charities and purpose-driven organizations. Living on a dairy and sheep farm in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, Jenni splits her time between her business and advising clients across the country. Married to a farmer and a proud mother of five grown children, Jenni balances her life on the farm, weekends mainly, with her work for clients and leading a business.

Funding HQ is a platform that helps build fundraising capability and capacity in a cost-effective way. For Jenni, it’s the culmination of an already highly successful fundraising career, having secured over $215 million for a wide range of New Zealand-based projects. Jenni has extensive knowledge of both the public and private sectors and an intricate understanding of fundraising dynamics in each.

Based out of her family farm near Waipukurau in Hawke’s Bay, Funding HQ is a purpose-built online capability-building platform developed to educate, support, and provide structure to not-for-profits, local governments, and community organisations needing to secure funding.

The platform provides tools and efficiencies to ensure that the fundraising journey is productive and enjoyable.

Using a monthly subscription model, Funding HQ offers end-to-end fundraising support across a wide range of funding streams and for a diverse client base. It ensures that charities and organisations can build their own funding capability successfully, helping them become 'funder ready' and think strategically about the outcomes they deliver in their communities and their compelling case for investment. It's all about providing the 'why'—why they would make an ideal partnership for potential funders.

Jenni explains, “We coach and support our members to develop a diversified funding plan where they look for a range of funding partners across central and local government, corporates, businesses, philanthropists, trusts, and community fundraising initiatives.” She has a dedicated team at Funding HQ with successful fundraising experience. “They understand the challenges and frustrations that our members face but have the energy and expertise to provide quality support and advice.”

For Jenni, Funding HQ has been her destiny. Generating funding is in her blood. Her first taste came while helping Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule raise $7.5 million in external funding for the Hawke’s Bay Opera House in 2005, followed by a Napier city council contract to secure funding for a new stand at McLean Park. After securing more than $175 million in funding over 16 years for projects across the country and witnessing many organisations struggle to secure funding and unable to afford large consultancy assistance, it was time to put her experience to work and launch Funding HQ.

“I wanted to help build fundraising capability and capacity in a way that was accessible and cost-effective,” Jenni explains, “so that a wider range of organisations could learn how to access funding efficiently and remain financially viable.” She believes New Zealand’s funding landscape is uneven, with a large proportion of funds distributed to a small number of charities due to their internal resources to access funds and maintain partnerships.

Like any new start-up, limited finance availability means Jenni has been “living on the smell of an oily rag” and allocating all her resources into the business. It’s a platform-based business that required significant development investment, and yes, like many others, getting it off the ground has taken longer, and cost more than originally planned.