It’s Spotlight Wednesday! I had the pleasure to speak to Jamila, the founder of Tabitha’s People.
Jamila’s story is very interesting, from corporate to the charity sector to being a sole trader!
But where does the name come from?
Tabitha is a woman in the Bible that only appears for a couple of lines, but she is described as well-known and respected in the community.
Jamila is a fundraising expert helping charities, CICs and businesses with a social purpose to get funding.
Tabitha’s People was set up as a way for smaller enterprises/ charities/ etc, to be able to afford a fundraiser expert without having to pay for a full-time fundraising role. But Jamila also loves this set-up as she can focus on many different projects.
It all started in 2020 as she started freelancing part time, which was a great experience for her as Jamila was able to focus on honing her skills and really understand what she loves doing.
By 2023 Jamila had a stream of customers and was having an impact on small charities, enabling them to keep going.
At the same time, she learned about Hackney Impact and she immediately signed up to Start Your Business.
Even though her business was going well and she had already started three years earlier she joined SYB because she needed to take a step back and really think about her business instead of being caught up in everyday activities.
The course was very valuable because it taught her a lot while also making her think in different ways that are beneficial for the business.
But what was her journey to land as a freelancer fundraiser for social enterprises?
Jamila learnt about charity giving sitting at her mum’s feet while she wrote checks to charities at Christmas.
Then at church she was part of the social and fundraising committee while working a corporate role. She got into charity work only in 2015 and just because a friend referred her to a job, she didn’t know you could have a career in the third sector!
She noticed that the charity that she was working for could not sustain itself only relying on individual donations so she took it upon herself to learn and she started getting a diploma in fundraising. However, three months into her training and the charity she worked for closed.
After that, she went freelance and just in the first year she worked with 30 charities! She hasn’t looked back since.
However, as with every business venture there are things that go less smoothly.
What Jamila struggles with is the cash flow and having her invoices paid in time.
She learnt that there needs to be an open and communicative channel as she often struggled to send out invoices because she felt like she hasn’t done enough.
Her proudest moment is knowing the impact she has on charities. She once had to raise £5k and she raised them within the first 8 hours! And she even raised 3k more for that charity.
This truly speaks to her abilities.
She often speaks about how following up and keeping that relationship is essential in business and in life.
Her tips for people wanting to start or just starting is simply having a go at it. Failure happens all the time but learn from it as that gets you a lot further.
And to anyone having a charity or CIC or social enterprise, make sure to give Jamila a shout for your next fundraiser.
See you next time.
B.
Comments