Iona
Bergius

Senior Fundraising Consultant

My superpower is helping charities grow their unrestricted and flexible income

For over 15 years I've worked on high value fundraising for UK and international NGOs large and small secular and faith-based with causes ranging from child protection and climate justice to humanitarian response and education.

I help organisations articulate what makes them unique and use that to build sustainable income streams, whether unrestricted funding or the "hard sell" costs like salaries and overheads.

I cut my teeth at household names including the NSPCC and Christian Aid, where I went on to lead the Trusts and Foundations team and secured the charity's first Gates Foundation grant, among others.

As Head of International Partnerships at Friends-International in Cambodia, I led the pandemic fundraising response, growing donor income by nearly 50% and boosting reserves by 40%.

More recently, I held Philanthropy Director roles at Africa-based charities KHULA Education and Tiko, developing diversification strategies and securing new multi-year partnerships, before joining Gifted Philanthropy, where I have the privilege of offering my expertise to clients across the voluntary sector.