Vulnerable circumstances training
One-Day Course for Fundraisers
A one-day, in-depth training course built specifically for fundraisers and supporter care teams. Created for the Code of Fundraising Practice 2025, this course is built around the Vulnerability Managers frameworks that are already used by the Fundraising Regulator, the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, and major UK charities.
Delivered by Matt Radford, as an internationally recognised specialist for fundraising with people in Vulnerble circumstances.
What this training equips your team to do
Fundraising sits in the place where vulnerability is found frequently - people experiencing harm and real disadvantages in life because of circumstances where they've experienced loss or significant change - and the world around them isn’t supporting them in the same way it does for most people. Equally or Equitably.
This is extremely common in circumstances involving bereavment, financial change, disability or people in crisis. The Fundraising Regulator's standards reflect the need to support the people you work with, and they probably need support now.
A team that knows how to recognise and respond well is the team that keeps supporters safe, and keeps fundraising transparent and efficient.
Practical. Plain-spoken. Built around real situations from your own work.
Contact us
1. Email us at hello@vulnerabilitymanagers.com with a message about how we can help.
2. Free call. We’ll arrange a 30 minute video call to clarify the details for the support you want.
3. Written proposal. Sent to you within 5 working days, including a project outline and exact price.
8,400+ professionals trained
2,100+ organisations supported
33 countries reached
Working since 2012
Advising the people who set the standards.
Matt Radford (Director of Vulnerability Managers) is Deputy Chair of the CIOF, sits on the DMA Governance Committee, leads vulnerability on the DMA AI Council, and is on the AFP IDEA Committee.
The frameworks taught here have been used by the Fundraising Regulator, the Chartered Institute and used in their own guidance.
Vulnerability Managers has advised six major industry regulators and professional bodies on professional ethics, marketing, and vulnerability management — shaping the frameworks that organisations are now audited against.
Fundraising Regulator (UK)
Chartered Institute of Fundraising (UK)
Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (New Zealand)
Federation of European Data and Marketing (FEDMA)
Data and Marketing Association (UK)
Association of Fundraising Professionals (US)
One-day agenda
A six-and-a-half-hour day, in five sessions, with breaks and lunch. Adjustable to the team's start and finish times.
Agendas can be adjusted to start later, finish earlier, or be split across two half-days. The information and order below the most most common request we have for training and content.
Session 1, Foundations.
What we mean by "people in vulnerable circumstances”.
The four main types of vulnerability.
Why vulnerability sits in the circumstance and the system — not in the person.
Session 2 — The 'Before, During, After' model
The framework that anchors the rest of the day.
What to set up before a fundraising interaction.
What to do in the moment.
What to follow up afterwards — including recording, signposting, and supporting yourself.
Session 3 — Codes and regulators
The Code of Fundraising Practice 2025 and the Fundraising Regulator's guidance.
CIOF guidance on treating donors fairly and donations acceptance and refusal.
Session 4 — Live case workshop
The team's own examples, discussed and learnt from with our trainer.
The aim is not theory — it is to leave with a clear approach to specific situations the team has actually encountered.
Session 5 — Embedding what you have learned
Escalation pathways for your actual workflow.
Where the work goes after today — supervision, peer review, and signposting routes for the supporters who need more than fundraising can offer.
Optional - Strongly recommended
Lived experience co-delivery
The single most consistent piece of feedback on our training is the effect of hearing directly from people with lived experience of vulnerability.
A trainer can describe a scenario. A lived experience specialist can describe what it actually felt like to be on the other side of the call, the door-knock or the legacy conversation. This shifts how teams think about their own practice. Lived experience specialists are paid, integrated, and treated as colleagues — not as case studies.
Lived experience co-delivery for this course is available depending on the scope and duration of the specialist's involvement.
The specialist is selected from Vulnerability Managers' partner network to match the focus of your team — for example, where the team handles legacy work, a specialist with relevant lived experience. We discuss this during scoping.
Pricing
Single fixed price per session, and includes up to 20 people, 6.5 hours training (in person or online) and a 30 minute individual session with each attendee for personal development after the session.
Discounts are available for smaller organisations, groups and different formats. Contact us for more details.
One-day course (up to 20 people) -
£8,850 (excluding vat)
Lived experience co-delivery (optional) -
Starting from £1,500 (excluding vat)
Contact us
1. Email us at hello@vulnerabilitymanagers.com with a message about how we can help.
2. Free call. We’ll arrange a 30 minute video call to clarify the details for the support you want.
3. Written proposal. Sent to you within 5 working days, including a project outline and exact price.