St John International

St John International is the beating heart of a worldwide family of charities with a mission to lead globally in first aid and medical responses to community healthcare needs. At the core of their work are more than 160,000 volunteers who embody the organisation’s esprit de corps; showing love to one’s neighbour through the delivery of Gold Standard care.

Across the world, the St John mission includes training over 2.2 million people in first aid across its charitable landscape, operating more than 10,000 specially equipped ambulances and supporting over 425,000 patients in Mother and Baby clinics throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

Big ambitions around a grassroots ethos

Since its foundation, the generosity of St John International’s supporters has been critical to delivering global health outcomes with a grassroots with a local heart ethos. The importance of building this vital philanthropic income and enhancing the delivery of services form part of a three-year strategic plan. By raising as much as £8m a year globally, St John International is aiming to expand collaborative global health projects with a compassionate local heart.

An international challenge

In November 2024, we were appointed to deliver a Feasibility Study to test the potential of launching a major fundraising campaign for St John International. Our brief also examined the question of how to increase unrestricted giving across the various regions in which the organisation operates globally. There were two key parts to the challenge:

1. Persuading the 44 St John Priories, Foundations and Associations across the world to collaborate more effectively on fundraising and recommending how best to support them in this endeavour.

2. Identifying how much unrestricted money St John could raise globally without stepping on the toes of its partner Priories and Associations. This included advice on which regions to focus on and who to target, e.g. HNW individuals, corporates, trusts & foundations etc.

We provided St John International with a gift policy and gift acceptance procedure and a 3-year income and expenditure forecast. This was all about giving confidence to the charity and its donors. We devised a clear stewardship plan, provided guidance on fundraising systems and delivered training in asking for the team. Our work also covered advice on due diligence protocols and appropriate naming and recognition schemes.

Staying true to its roots

We often say to clients that their fundraising message or story will have far greater resonance if it convincingly captures their DNA and clearly demonstrates the impact of their work. In this case, we could see how important it was for St John International’s Christian roots to be given equal prominence to its healthcare narrative. Of course, shaping this message for individual donors will be an important part of the charity’s future fundraising – as will the need to consider the shifting sands of current geopolitics and how these are likely to affect the wider philanthropic environment. We’re delighted to be continuing our work with this world-leading organisation to mobilise the fundraising operation ahead of a new Director of Fundraising taking post in the coming months.