MARTIN KAUFMAN

Director of Training & Research, UK

Martin Kaufman has had more than 16 years’ experience in fundraising management and consulting and has been a Brakeley consultant since 1998. He was born and brought up in central London, and educated at schools in St John's Wood, Hampstead and Ealing. As an undergraduate, he studied Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford, and then went on to do postgraduate studies in architectural history in the Fine Art department of Reading University.

He worked for many years in various communications fields, and in particular helped to set up several sales and marketing operations in the small business sector. His move into fundraising took place with a conscious commitment to help unite the business and marketing acumen of the commercial world with the ethical values and social commitment of the not-for-profit and campaigning worlds.

Immediately before joining Brakeley, he was Appeal Manager at The Hackney Empire Theatre, responsible for securing partnership funding to complement a major Lottery bid to restore an old variety theatre and make it fully accessible. Earlier positions in fundraising included three years as Director of Development at The Architectural Association (AA), architectural school and learned society. He helped organise the first major auction in the UK of contemporary architectural drawings and models, and an international telephone fundraising campaign to alumni using students of ten nationalities to call five continents.

At the London School of Economics, he helped set up the LSE Foundation, and was responsible for a programme of approaches to high-earning former students, soliciting personal, corporate, trust and legacy benefactions. Before that, for two years he was Appeal Manager at Sutton House in London's East End for the National Trust.

Since joining Brakeley, Martin has provided services to a wide range of clients, including: Chalmers University of Technology, Uppsala University and the School of Music in Piteå in Sweden, the Museum of London, RIBA Trust, Topolski Memoir Project, Hanover Foundation, the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Girton College, Cambridge, Wadham College, Oxford, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, University of Liverpool, Royal Holloway, University of London, St George's Hospital Medical School, Swansea Clinical School, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, West Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, City University, Glasgow Caledonian University, Nottingham Trent University, Thames Valley University, University of Northampton, Canterbury Christ Church University, University of Hertfordshire and Sheffield Hallam University.

Martin’s particular expertise addresses strategic campaign planning, capacity building, major gifts and prospect research, and volunteer leadership engagement. He is widely sought after for his training in asking for major gifts on a person-to-person basis, and has successfully worked with vice chancellors and senior management teams, campaign and trustee boards, development directors and all those who have to be involved in the challenge of getting major and mid-level gifts.

In addition, he has worked with clients around recruiting development and volunteer leadership, alumni fundraising and co-ordination with alumni relations, legacy marketing, membership group fundraising, co-ordinating of fundraising with public relations, managing small and large events, together with UK National Lottery strategic planning and implementation. 

As Director of Research and Training, he is responsible for development of Brakeley services and for staff, client and professional training, which he has undertaken in Europe, Africa, South-East and East Asia. He carries out training and consultancy for a range of educational, arts and professional organisations. He was a founder member of the London Group of the Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers (ICFM, now Institute of Fundraising), and has spoken at conferences and workshops organised by the Institute of Fundraising, the Council for Advancement and Support for Education (CASE), including as a Faculty Member at the prestigious Spring Institute, at Henry Stewart Conference Studies and the European Association of Planned Giving (EAPG), for Artful Fundraising and Cass Business School at City University.

In addition to his professional career as a fundraiser, Martin has been a volunteer in a number of organisations in education, housing and theatre. He has been vice chairman and is currently a singing member of a 150-strong male voice choir (descending from second tenor down through baritone and now settled as a bass).