Konna Beeson - Gifted's new Director of Innovation

As a fundraising consultancy, we are always looking for ways to add value. From shaping new client services to sharing advice and resources with professionals across the sector, our role is to facilitate and promote ground-breaking philanthropy.

From April, we are delighted that Konna Beeson will be joining the Gifted Leadership Board to help us achieve these ambitions. As Director of Innovation, Konna will steer the development of new products and services that help charities harness the latest advances in data, research and artificial intelligence. This means building practical tools and approaches that can directly increase fundraising income, reduce the time teams spend on manual processes, and give trustees and senior leaders the clarity they need for confident forecasting and risk management at board level. Konna will also drive internal efficiency improvements across Gifted Philanthropy's own operations.

For our charity clients, this role represents a commitment to translating data, research and technology into tangible results.

Embedding data and advanced analytics into decades of fundraising experience

It’s no secret that within Gifted, Konna has long been revered as our resident ‘data-geek’. When he joined as a consultant in 2023, it was clear that he had a talent for using advanced data and analytics to transform fundraising outcomes. In short, he was embedding these tools into decades of fundraising experience and showing clients how to use their data more effectively.

Konna’s analytical work with akt, the National LGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness Charity was forensic. Supporting the charity team, together they discovered up to 60 potential new legacy donors, 50 major donor prospects, and £30,000 in potentially back-claimable Gift Aid. Importantly, he demonstrated how critical it can be to make the data you own really work for you.

The assignment also inspired Konna to write our popular guide on How to Conduct a Charity CRM Review which is free to download on our website.

“Konna’s appetite for getting to grips with data and making sense of the stats is nowhere more evident than in his sector-leading work in the trusts fundraising world,” says Gifted’s Chief Executive, Amy Stevens. “For the past three years he has produced highly regarded Insight Surveys and Reports in this area - and more recently, launched a powerful new AI platform, Granted Giving, that plans to save the sector £500 million a year in efficiency. We’re thrilled that Konna is joining the Board of Directors at Gifted and can’t wait to see the benefits he will bring to our diverse clients as part of a fully-rounded fundraising package.”

Since joining Gifted, Konna has worked with every type and size of charity including Heritage, Arts, LGBQT+, Community, Health, NHS, International Development and Research organisations.

“My passion,” he says, “is providing the greatest possible value for charities in the UK and overseas. Their work has the capacity to fundamentally save lives and change the world for the better. It’s the reason I chose to work in this wonderful sector and what drives me every day. As the data and technological landscape evolves at rapid pace, I’m excited to help ensure charities are not left behind, and instead, are able to take full advantage to deliver more change than ever before.”

You can read more about Konna and the full range of fundraising services we offer here. Or, if you’d like an exploratory conversation about your current fundraising ambitions and how a Gifted partnership could support these, get in touch.