Fantastic Mr. Fox

The festive break is a chance to switch off and our brains take the chance to think outside our usual norm, enjoying the reflective time and space without the pressure of deadlines and targets.

Fantastic Mr Fox model at The Design Museum

And so it was while I walked around the Wes Anderson exhibition at the Design Museum in London (which by the way is well worth a visit) that it came to me – why don’t we use more models to illustrate the work of our organisations ?

Much of our trust fundraising is one dimensional – words on paper, some causes are complex and it takes many words to describe to a funder the messages we are trying to convey. In an instant with a model or a miniature person, building, animal, tree you are giving a funder a sense of what is going on and you have something to talk to, to shape your narrative.

In the tree house of Fantastic Mr Fox, I could see the materials it was made from, the height, what was in each floor and how it was used. I didn’t have to imagine it through words that are open to interpretation, it was all there before me.

If I was talking about a shelter for homeless people I would be able to show exactly what we were raising money for without the funder having to come and visit and see for themselves, a true advantage in the initial stages of spiking interest and also would hopefully lead to an urge to wanting to see the project in real life.

As trust fundraisers we need to be more creative. We need to note what pulls us towards our passions and interests and if it’s not words on a page what is it ? And how can we replicate this in our fundraising.

What are you going to do differently in 2026 ?