Role: Director of Income Generation
Company: Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke
Track Record: A positive and motivated attitude is essential to Kerry Anderson’s work in the charity sector.
Give a brief outline of your career to date.
I’ve always worked in the charitable industry and have a real passion for the local non-profit sector. I’ve been extremely lucky to have enjoyed all of my career experiences to date and still to be continually learning – every day’s a school day. My career in the sector has spanned 18 years in a small number of charities namely cross border charity, Co-Operation Ireland; the helpline, ChildLine; local cancer charity, Action Cancer and now leading the fundraising at Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke.
What was your favourite subject at school?
I loved English and amateur dramatics. No matter what the school play was I was in it.
Did you go on to further/higher education, if so what did you study and where?
I studied a joint BA Honors Degree in Psychology and English at Queen’s University Belfast and since then I have completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing.
How did you get into your area of work?
After university I did a graduate training programme called Premiere which offered learning on basic business principles for graduates from a non business degree background.
The programme offered work experience and this lead to my first experience in the charity sector. It really suited me because it offers the opportunity to continually test new ideas, develop mutually beneficial partnerships and satisfaction of making a meaningful difference to the lives of those facing a really difficult time.
Is this what you always wanted to do?
Not at all. I was one of those people who didn’t really know what they wanted to do. I knew I always wanted to work with people and in a creative area – so the charitable sector is a great fit.
Were there any particular essential qualifications or experience needed?
My skills have developed as the years have gone by. A fundraiser doesn’t necessarily need a specific qualification but a positive and motivated attitude is key, as it’s a challenging area to work in. Experience in developing relationships is vital as well as good communication and budget management experience of course.
Are there alternative routes into the job?
The charitable sector offers a wide variety of routes. For example, it wouldn’t be unusual for a volunteer to become a member of staff or for a transition from the public and private sector into the charitable sector. Many of the skills and experience are highly transferrable and the sector is so dynamic.
What are the main personal skills your job requires?
I am a work in progress at all of these: organisational skills, flexibility, interpersonal skills and being results driven and creative.
What does a typical day entail?
A typical day involves the fact that somewhere across Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke is helping someone affected by a chest, heart or stroke condition and working to prevent these illnesses. Care and prevention has been at the heart of what we do since we started as an organisation 70 years ago. As for fundraising, typically we are sharing stories of the impact of our charity, to inspire people to support us. Fundraising ideas often involve the ‘non-typical’. For example, at the moment we’ve come up with a new local event called Red Dress Run which is challenging the people of Northern Ireland to don their best red dress or red clothing, and walk, jog or run 5 or 10k at Stormont on February 11 2017. Recent statistics have shown that heart disease is the biggest killer of women in Northern Ireland and almost three times as many women are dying of heart disease than breast cancer. For me it has now become typical to find me red faced on the treadmill at the end of the day training for our run – I’m not a natural runner!
What are the best and most challenging aspects of the job?
The best involves meeting the service users that we have helped – just a few weeks ago I attended one of our young stroke activity support groups that was having a ‘Jolly Jumper’ Christmas fundraiser in aid of NICHS. Despite the challenges faced, the atmosphere is one of positivity and support. Many of the members have had strokes at a young age, like Philip who was just 19 when his stroke happened and Beverly, who at age 40 had a stroke with just a 50% survival rate and had to learn to swallow, talk and walk again.
As a local charity reliant on the generosity of the Northern Ireland public, our annual need for circa £3m is undoubtedly an on-going challenge. Sustainable income requires a fantastic team of fundraisers with the right skills and attitude, a balanced and ethical fundraising mix, good budgeting, and simple yet powerful communication to build trust and inspire support. At NICHS fundraising is vital and is supported across the organisation and through our Board of Trustees. As a result, we find that the people of Northern Ireland are extremely generous in their support of NICHS.
Why is what you do important?
Without the income generated through fundraising, NICHS would be unable to help 4,000 people each year, invest circa £350k annually into local research of chest heart & stroke conditions and be the voice in campaigning local government and educating children in schools, workplaces and in local communities about lifestyle choices to reduce risk of these illnesses.
What advice would you give anyone looking to follow a similar career path?
Consider the values of the particular sector or organisation that you are interested in and ensure that there is an alignment with your own personal values. At NICHS, our values are caring, excellence, integrity and inclusion and they are actively lived out through the culture, so this is important.
If you weren’t doing this what would you like to do?
Something equally creative and also satisfying in terms of impact, as well as fun. Perhaps be the marketing manager of an ethical toy company.
What is the one piece of advice you would give to yourself on your first day?
Be prepared, have an open mind and figure out the coffee situation!
Describe your ideal day off.
A lie-in would be a fantastic start as it is a rarity with my three year old daughter, Scarlett. The ideal day would involve spending time with Scarlett, my husband James, and family, then maybe some retail therapy, a nice walk on the beach in the sun, a meal out and some time with the girls – is that asking too much in one day?!
And finally, what’s the key to any successful job search?
Have an open mind.
Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke’s Red Dress Run takes place on February 11 at Stormont, register online now at www.nichs.org.uk/reddressrun