Fundraising Bright Spots

One of the factors most likely to affect fundraising results is the extent to which your colleagues understand and care about fundraising. So the fact that the Portsmouth Grammar School (PGS) now raise over 15 times more per year than they did 5 years ago is in part thanks to how hard the leadership and development team have worked to create a culture that cares about funding bursaries. You may ha...

Major donor income is now very important for many charities that need to make up for the COVID-induced shortfall in other areas. So to help, I’m excited to share this excerpt from my interview with the always-inspiring Louise Morris, Director at Summit Fundraising. Together we created a new learning bundle on major donor fundraising for members of my learning platform for fundraisers, the Bright S...

All charities have needed to adapt during the pandemic and one powerful technique for engaging and inspiring your audience continues to be the Facebook Live. For examples of how charities continue to transform their results in this way, I was excited to interview Laura Croudace. In addition to her job at Cirrico, Laura has mentored hundreds of fundraisers in the last decade, and has helped lots of...

In schools and higher education development we are starting to see more fundraising through Giving Days. There are clear benefits to creating a focal point for donations to a particular need, at one moment in time, and to do so digitally. To help fundraisers who are weighing up the idea of organising a Giving Day, I’m excited to share my recent interview with Mel Bushell, Director of Development a...

We strive to do our best with every fundraising opportunity, but inevitably some have greater potential than others. An invaluable skill is being able to spot these chances. And crucially, once you have identified one, what can you do to really make the most of it? Today’s episode explores these themes as we talk to Dan McNally and hear the story of a young, heroic supporter of his charity, Muscul...

Caroline is an experienced voice-coach who helps actors, leaders and fundraisers to grow their confidence and impact. She is the author of several best-selling books including Gravitas and Find Your Voice and has worked with Rob Woods to create two learning bundles for the Bright Spot Members Club, of which this episode is an excerpt. Relationships within charities and non-profits are sometimes di...

As in all complex organisations, relationships within charities are sometimes difficult. And negotiating with supporters can be far from easy. Clearly these challenges can affect our stress levels and our ability to work positively with others to raise funds and further your charities’ goals. In this episode I’m delighted to share an interview from within our Bright Spot Members Club, with the bes...

Many charities see the advantages of creating strategic, long-term partnerships with companies, as an anti-dote to the many intense challenges of applying for those intensely competitive Charity of the Year partnerships. But how do you go about approaching companies where there is a good fit with your charity? And even after you get that first meeting, and they’re interested, how do you solve the...

Even before the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, gaming was growing ever more popular and across all demographics. This hobby is now so popular that some of the people who care about your cause almost certainly enjoy gaming on a regular basis. In recent years many larger charities have developed strategies for fundraising with gamers. If you’ve not considered this before, or you’re interested in the op...

An important ingredient in fundraising success is engaging your community. An effective communications strategy makes a big difference. In this episode I talk to Henrietta Carter-Mayers, Director of Development at Godolphin and Latymer school. In recent years the school has implemented communications strategies that have helped engage its audience, with increased numbers and greater involvement. T...

As some income streams have been hit so hard, attracting major gifts has been more important than ever for many charities. But how do you do this, in spite of all the other pressures during the crisis? In this episode, Rob is excited to share his recent interview with a wise, experienced fundraiser named Angie Turner. A fundraiser for 30 years, Angie has learned a great deal about effective fundra...

During the pandemic, the leaders of the small music charity, Ensemble Reza have been determined that their organisation should continue to make a difference for their community. In fact, by continually trying new tactics to solve their many challenges this year, the charity has grown its audience, doubled its fundraising income and transformed its impact. In this, the second half of my recent inte...

In a crisis, its more tempting than ever to keep rushing to get things done. Sometimes, taking the time to make decisions about how you’re going to operate is immensely powerful. In this episode, I talk to the brilliant Davinia Batley, about the decisions she made in March 2020, as the pandemic took hold. She explains the conclusions she came to and the key values she decided to embed in her leade...

If your charity works wants to win and grow corporate partnerships, then one really valuable asset is a proposition or first step that is both easy to understand and enticing to those companies. This is by no means easy, so I was fascinated to hear the way Laura Webb approached it for Leeds Hospitals Charity. In mid-September 2020, she got inspired by the brilliant Snowflake Appeal at Sheffield Ch...

Clearly fundraising has been immensely challenging for many hospices and small charities this year. It’s also true that the public still care about deeply about their favourite causes, so high value and individual giving fundraising have become especially important. So I was excited to have the chance to talk to Paul Courtney, Director of Fundraising at Children’s Hospice South West, to hear about...

Fundraising has been especially hard for many hospices and small charities this year because community and events fundraising has been so disrupted during the pandemic. Similarly, as so many companies have had their own problems to deal with, generating corporate partnerships income has also been a massive struggle. So I was intrigued to hear about the remarkable results that have been achieved by...

One of the biggest headaches for many fundraisers is encouraging colleagues see things from the donor or partners’ point of view, and to want to take actions that would be good for relationships with those supporters (and therefore good for fundraising growth). And in corporate partnership fundraising, we know that great partnerships are never possible if they’re solely driven by your own desire a...

Raising funds has been hard for so many charities this year, but its been especially hard in the arts and for small charities. Ensemble Reza is both these things and yet they’ve found ways to not only keep serving their audience (and grow it significantly), they’ve even done remarkably well in fundraising terms too. Responding to the challenges, they’ve actually DOUBLED fundraising income compared...

For the last five years, the pace of change (including in the fundraising environment) has been greater than ever. And since the pandemic began, it’s felt turbo-charged. Since change seems unlikely to slow down any time soon, it is now more important than ever that we embrace learning as a key value. Unless we make time to keep learning, as individuals, fundraising teams and organisations, we will...

The pressure to handle more urgent fundraising challenges mean that strategies to promote legacy giving often gets put to one side. Dr Claire Routley is one of the UK’s experts on legacy fundraising. In this clip, we explore ideas to help you find and bring to life your legacy proposition; and ideas to help you promote those ideas consistently, so that both colleagues and supporters feel this is a...

Major donor income is so important to many charities looking to make up for the continuing COVID-induced shortfall in other areas. So in this episode we are looking at a crucial element of high value fundraising, that is, ideas to help you deepen relationships with supporters. This is the second part of my interview with the brilliant Louise Morris, Director at Summit Fundraising. Together we’ve c...

Do want to increase regular or one-off donations? Perhaps the effects of COVID on other income streams mean you need to improve how your charity approaches Individual Giving. If so, or if you’d just like ideas to help solve your current challenges, then we hope you’ll find this episode really helpful, because this time I got the chance to pick the brains of an experienced and very practical fundra...

As other income streams have been hit, high value fundraising has become more important than ever for many charities. But amidst all the challenges of the pandemic, how do you deepen relationships and inspire people to donate? One charity that has tried a range of tactics in high value fundraising this year, with great success, is St John’s Ambulance. In this episode, I share an interview with Jul...

If you’d like tangible examples and wise principles to help deliver successful fundraising during the pandemic, I hope you’re going to find this episode really helpful. It’s the second part of an interview with a brilliant fundraiser named Richard Turner, who shares highlights from a new piece of research carried out by the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s Supporter Experience group. Over rece...

I’ve now been making this podcast for just over year, and now that there are nearly 50 episodes, I wanted to reflect on five episodes that I think are especially relevant to the challenges fundraisers are facing as we start another difficult year. To help me reflect, and pull out the juiciest insights from these conversations, I’m joined by Ben Swart, my long-standing associate at Bright Spot. Our...