This month, we spoke to Sally Fraser, LandAid’s Events & Individual Giving Manger. Sally supports the events and fundraising team in meeting and exceeding income targets that allow LandAid to fund hundreds of frontline charities that support young people.
What brought you to LandAid in the first place?
I was drawn to LandAid because of the opportunity to create real impact through fundraising events supporting projects across the UK and ending youth homelessness. I was really excited because the LandAid’s events weren’t events I had run before, and I loved the challenge of trying new projects that could make such a meaningful difference.
I studied International Events Management at university and worked part-time at The Prince’s Trust, helping to raise vital funds through events like Lunch with an Old Bag. My dissertation focused on the social impact of charity events, and I also volunteered with several charities and even hosted my own gala dinner for a small local grassroots charity, which gave me hands-on experience in creating meaningful events. After that, I spent three years working for a fashion brand, running high-pressure events and developing my project management skills. But I realised I missed the feel-good factor of fundraising and was excited to return to the sector to apply my experience in support of LandAid’s work.
What’s your role, and how do you help end youth homelessness?
I am the Events and Individual Giving Manager at LandAid, and my role is to support the events and fundraising team in meeting and exceeding income targets. I work to increase engagement with the property industry, enhance our current portfolio of events, and introduce new events to our calendar. I project-manage several physical fundraising events each year, with my main project being the LandAid Trek, as well as supporting our SleepOut, Gala Dinner, and other events in our portfolio. My key responsibilities include project management, budgeting, venue management, supporter stewardship, logistics, and event evaluation and analysis.
Another part of my role is managing our Individual Giving programme. I oversee donations from supporters, nurture relationships, and grow income from individuals and companies through stewardship campaigns, digital giving, appeals, and recurring giving opportunities.
What’s one project or moment that made you proud to work at LandAid?
The moments that make me most proud to work at LandAid are when we work directly with beneficiaries from the charities we support. I’ve been lucky to meet a few and invite them to speak at our events. Hearing the stories from young people really brings everything together and reminds me why we do what we do. I’ve met some incredible, resilient, and inspiring people, and it’s amazing to see the impact we can make on someone’s life through our work. Those experiences make all the effort worthwhile and motivate me to do more, raising funds to help even more young people out of homelessness.
What’s one challenge LandAid faces in this work that you think more people should know about?
A key challenge for us is that we rely entirely on donations and are not government funded. We are supported by the property and wider built environment industry, and the more support we receive from this sector, the greater the impact we can make. Last year, 124,000 young people in the UK approached their local council for housing support which was a 6% increase from the previous year. At the same time, there were 391,000 people employed in the UK real estate sector in 2024.