David Johnson

<strong>David Johnson | Director of Strategy and Programmes | Cause 4 </strong>David is Director of Strategy and Programmes, leading on Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy and The National Lottery Heritage Fund Business Support Programme Heritage Compass, empowering arts and heritage organisations nationally to improve their fundraising success and business development. In this role, David has delivered training and coaching to a wide range of cultural and heritage organisations across the UK, including Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM), South West Museum Development, and Share Museums East. David joined Cause4 from the Albany in London, where he was responsible for earned and raised income generation, partnership development and contract management. During his tenure, the organisation more than doubled its turnover. He also spent a year seconded to ARC in Stockton, leading on business development for the venue. He also has worked for outdoor arts organisation Emergency Exit Arts, and as part of the Cultural Programme team at London Borough of Hackney. David is a Trustee of Babylon Arts, in Ely.

Resources by David Johnson

A red heart over a stream of digital 0s and 1s.

How can we use digital to improve our fundraising

David Johnson, Director of Strategy and Programmes, Cause4 takes us through a step-by-step guide to developing and actioning a digital fundraising strategy. From setting objectives to evaluation, and everything in between, this guide includes lots of examples to inform and inspire.

A pink piggy-bank wearing a face mask surrounded by stacks of coins and candles

How to turn digital into earned income

How do we justify investing in digital at high cost, when the likely returns are minimal and when audiences still expect digital content should be free or minimal cost? David Johnson, Director of Strategy and Programmes, Cause4 looks at how to balance live and digital activity to maximise income.

A woman kneels inside a canopy of fine net and small lights. She is wearing a virtual reality headset and holding a joystick.

Using Virtual Reality to tell your fundraising stories

Virtual Reality (VR) and immersive technology can be a powerful tool for fundraisers to tell stories that stand out in people’s minds and encourage potential donors to engage. The arts and cultural sector is beginning to embrace these new areas to create distinctive, memorable work that captures audiences’ imaginations. Our role as fundraisers is to harness this creativity and to build it into the stories we tell.

The reconstituted cutaway view of the first Rose, by William Dudley, incorporating material by Jon Greenfield and C. Walter Hodges, taken from the guidebook, ‘The Rose, Bankside’s first theatre 1587’.

How online events had a positive impact on audience engagement and donations for a small heritage organisation

David Johnson from Cause4 talked to Celia Gilbert from The Rose Playhouse in Southwark, London about this small heritage organisation’s experience of moving its events online and the positive impact this had on its digital fundraising.