About IDFM

About Us

Our Founding

IDFM was founded in 2016 by a group of dedicated charity executives, each bringing extensive experience from working with over 58 different charitable organizations, 12 international NGOs, 12 government ministries, and 4 United Nations agencies.These diverse experiences shaped our understanding of the charity sector’s importance, purpose, and the critical need for funding.

A Shift in Approach

“Pre-Pandemic I worked for a number of different international consulting firms, providing in-person training that was around £800 per day to organisations, charities, and local authorities around the UK. Not only was this exhausting for me, but it was expensive and I couldn’t help feeling that the cost for delivering the strategy maps and coaching sessions seemed overpriced even for me! When the pandemic hit, all in-person training and consultation work immediately had to stop.

However, thanks to video conferencing being the new normal, I have the ability to provide the same training to charities across the UK at 1-20^th the cost provided directly to organisations, with no agency fees yet the same critical strategies and content. Along with partners of IDFM we focus our time now on helping charities who cannot afford huge agency fees to still learn the same skills and develop the same cutting-edge expertise in their organisations with our highly practical training sessions

— Samuel Davies IDFM Founding Partner

History

When we started out over 10 years ago we were quite literally in the thick of it- catching rats, hiding from armed rebels, digging through rubble, you name it we worked in some of the most-extreme environments and loved every second of it. However, there was something terribly troubling about the two polar opposite experiences we were in; the disconnect between high-level consulting and the work actually going on- on the ground. One month we could be digging waist deep in mud during a landslide or helping to build and send updates to donors on a new hospital in Kenya. Next sitting in Geneva drinking espresso discussing plans for the global rabies elimination blueprint. At the time this was a dream jobs, everyone wants money, but as time continued we could no longer ignore the apparent disconnect in funding allocation, with large costs be spent at the international level of salaries experts and ‘technical meetings’ whilst the work on the ground would end up with just a small percentage of this funding.

Our Mission

This disconnect became the driving force behind IDFM. Our goal is to find a cost-effective way to support smaller grassroots organizations that are truly dedicated to helping people, not just chasing paychecks. We believe that the organizations doing the best work should receive the most funding. To us, this principle is simple, and we strive to make reality reflect this belief.

We provide the same level of training, consultations, support, and events as we would for multi-million dollar INGOs. However, instead of charging £350 per day for consultation, we charge a minuscule amount—literally only 1.7% of what other firms charge. Our fees are designed to cover only basic software and running costs, with most of our speakers and contributors volunteering their time and effort to ensure that every charity can afford our support.