Meet our recruiters

We are compliant with fundraising regulations, consistent with best practice in the industry and ethical in our dealings with members and the public. To survive as an effective organisation and to achieve our charitable aims, we need members, so we employ a range of fundraising and recruitment techniques.

We do, however, treat our members and the public with respect, so, for example, we take care not to take advantage of the vulnerable, we don't use aggressive selling techniques even if they are legal, and we do not go beyond boundaries that we feel are right or compassionate, even if that means missing fundraising opportunities. We are a member of the Fundraising Regulator and the Institute of Fundraising and we adhere to the professional standards of these organisations as a minimum, whilst applying our own standards above and beyond this.

Members' support is vital for our conservation work, for the income it provides and as a source of volunteers.  Membership subscriptions are our only reliable source of revenue. We utilise a team of part-time fundraisers to visit venues such as retail outlets, garden centres, shows and fetes around the county to ask if people would like to join Dorset Wildlife Trust as members. They have display boards and literature about the Trust's conservation and education work.

We have found this to be a highly cost-effective method of finding new members and typically the cost of recruitment is paid back sevenfold.

We are only interested in attracting people who genuinely want to support a local nature conservation charity for the long term. For this reason, our face-to-face membership recruiters do not pressurise people to become members.