Meet the team
Head office…
John Baguley
In his 35 years as fundraiser, director and consultant, John Baguley has taken charities of all sizes to new heights – and earned an international reputation for excellence in the process.
John is the Chair of Group IFCo, which includes the various country IFCos, assisting the country directors to deliver the best possible service to their clients.
In his 35 years as fundraiser, director and consultant, John Baguley has taken charities of all sizes to new heights – and earned an international reputation for excellence in the process.
John is an experienced and accomplished management and fundraising consultant, international speaker and trainer with an entrepreneurial flair. He offers a unique combination of practical and theoretical experience in the voluntary and private sectors having specialised in fundraising and the international development of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Specialisms include strategy, management, capital appeals, major donor development, digital and international fundraising.
Well known for galvanising Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth in the 80s and 90s, he also worked for Oxfam and the Freedom from Torture.
He launched the International Fundraising Consultancy in 2000 and has undertaken consultancy and lectured around the globe. Clients include the Council of Europe, WHO, UNICEF, Cancer Research and numerous others worldwide.
Successful Fundraising, his guide for fundraisers of all disciplines, is now in its second edition and is also available in Russian. His PhD thesis, The Globalization of NGOs, is published by VDM. All his books and e-books are available on Amazon.
John has established First Fridays, the forums for free fundraising advice alongside IFCo’s branches in London, Ottawa, Milan and Amsterdam. John also founded Wikifund.info the wiki for fundraisers and has a blog on UK Fundraising and the IFCo website.
John was a Trustee of the Institute of Fundraising UK from 2006-2012 and is the Co-founder of the Institute of Professional Fundraising Ukraine. He is now a Fellow of the Institute of Fundraising UK.
He is on the Council of Europe expert panel for Ljubljana II Process for the sustainable development of Europe’s cultural heritage.
In 2013 and 2014 IFCo was awarded Best Strategic Fundraising Consultancy by the Institute of Fundraising UK.
In 2016 he was awarded the Institute of Fundraising Lifetime Contribution Award.
Sarah Gray
Sarah is a results-driven fundraiser with over 25 years’ experience in building philanthropic partnerships, developing major donor strategies and managing multi-stakeholder partnerships with the private sector.
A self-starter and strategic thinker, Sarah is passionate about client satisfaction and works with her clients at a strategic level to achieve innovative solutions to their fundraising challenges. Sarah joined IFCo as Senior Consultant in 2012 and became a Director in 2019.
Her recent clients include The WHO Foundation, the Autism Research Trust (affiliated with the University of Cambridge), Burma Star Memorial Fund and a number of Further Education colleges. During 2015/2016 she worked as a Consultant Appeal Director for the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London. She was responsible for advising the Museum on a fundraising strategy to enable completion of their £23.75 million capital project.
Sarah's other recent consultancy projects include advising the JIM Foundation in Poland on developing their fundraising strategy, and the launch of a corporate fundraising programme for the Black Cultural Archives. Sarah also worked for AIDS Orphan, a charity working across the world to support and provide for children and infants who have been infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
Sarah has previously led the Fundraising and Marketing teams of the New South Wales Division of the Australian Red Cross. She was also Head of Marketing at the V&A Museum in London. She spent 10 years of her career working in the City of London in a variety of Marketing and PublicAffairs roles which underpins her work with good grounding in commercial and corporate practice.
Bill King
Bill has over 25 years fundraising experience, for a wide range of organisations and covering most areas, including trusts and foundations, community, event, corporate, membership development and major gift fundraising.
Bill has over 25 years fundraising experience, for a wide range of organisations and covering most areas, including trusts and foundations, community, event, corporate, membership development and major gift fundraising. He is a respected trainer and exceptional mentor.
Bill has had particular success with major appeals, directly managing a successful £30million plus capital project at Chetham’s School of Music, working as Charitable Trust Fundraiser for Manchester Children’s Hospital Appeal, and advising a number of organisations on setting up and running big appeals ,including the WHO Foundation, Royal Free Hospital and the National Army Museum. He has secured major grants from statutory funders, trusts and foundations, businesses and individuals.
Bill joined IFCo in 2010, initially as Senior Consultant and later as UK Director. He was appointed CEO in 2016. He has advised clients on strategy setting and fundraising in numerous countries including the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Thailand, Cambodia, India and Uganda, working with clients including World Animal Protection, The International Whaling Commission, UN Human Rights Office, UNESCO and Syria Civil Defence (the White Helmets).
He is a regular speaker at conferences, including leading panel sessions, running workshops and presenting at events in the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Ukraine, Uganda and China.
Bill is Chair of the Association of Fundraising Consultants. He holds a Masters in Philanthropic Studies, degrees in Biochemistry and Theology, and a Diploma in Fundraising from the Chartered Institute of Fundraising UK.