(How Tony grew Major Donor annual income from scratch to nearly £2m in five years) Working with High Net Worth individuals to raise funds for your charity can be hugely valuable. It can also be a challenging domain to navigate successfully. Because the way forward is rarely straight forward, one effective way to hone your judgement is to study strategies and insights gleaned by those who are already succeeding. In studying fundraising success for two decades, I’ve found that consistent success in working with major donors, as with any area of fundraising, usually leaves valuable clues. One of ..read more

3 Lessons from an inspiring campaign Why seek strategic corporate partnerships for your charity? Building strategic corporate partnerships can be a game-changer for charities, not only in terms of financial support but also, importantly, in helping them achieve their mission directly. For instance, many companies have resources in terms of expertise, products and reach which are many times greater than a charity can generate / pay for on its own. This is why we share lots of powerful techniques for identifying, approaching and building strategic partnerships in the Corporate Partnerships Maste ..read more

Why it’s so powerful, and examples of what’s possible. As some areas of fundraising now feel as competitive as ever, making your proposal stand out is increasingly important. In episode 120 of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast, David Burgess of Apollo Fundraising shared valuable insights on how to increase the chances that your applications to Trusts and Foundations will succeed. David has a valuable perspective on this subject, in that as well as many years as a fundraiser, he also has experience of what its like on the other side of the fence, in his occasional role as a grant assessor, m ..read more

How a thanking initiative helped halt decline in individual giving. In a tough fundraising climate where people are thinking twice about their charity gifts, taking extra good care of existing donors is obviously a solid strategy. They could be third-party fundraisers, event participants, individual donors at any level, or regular givers. In Episode 103 of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast, Alice Barley Chaudhuri, who at the time of the podcast interview was Head of Fundraising and Communications at Chance for Children, shared how the decision to organise a special thanking day in 2020 ulti ..read more

We’re excited to share that we’ve created some NEW Spotify playlists featuring popular episodes of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast, to help you more easily find content on a topic you’re interested in.  So whether you are a Major Donor fundraiser or Corporate fundraiser or are looking to boost your Story-telling Skills, your Leadership Skills, your momentum for Self Development or your Resilience, there’s a specially curated playlist for you below. As with all the shows on our podcast, they include not only ideas and advice, but also LOTS of examples of how they have paid off for oth ..read more

If you’d like to be doing more with digital techniques to help your fundraising succeed, irrespective of what kind of donors you work with, I’m excited to share Four Key Principles that Emily Casson explained in Episode 94 of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast. Emily is Digital Marketing Manager at the Salvation Army UK and a hugely experienced fundraiser. Think Big, Start Small, Scale Quickly, Fail Fast Emily explained that while the tactics vary, it is her core philosophy about digital fundraising that are at the heart of the phenomenal growth that she and her teams have achieved. There ar ..read more

In a world where most people are easily distracted what can we do to positively ‘break the script’? Is it possible to create positive surprise and connection in our supporters beyond what most would expect? In Episodes 88 and 89 of the Fundraising Bright Spots podcast, Clio Gressani describes the fabulous growth her high value fundraising team at Shelterbox has achieved in the last 18 months. She shared various tactics that have helped, including the strategy of creating special ‘wow moments’ to create delight and connection for supporters. Most interestingly to me, she explained that the idea ..read more

If you’re already a fan of Strictly (on the BBC on Saturday nights in the UK), you’ll be aware there was an especially moving moment on Saturday night, in Week 8 of Series 19. For their couple’s choice dance, Rose Ayling-Ellis, the programme’s first deaf contestant, and her partner Giovanni, did a contemporary dance to Symphony by Clean Bandit. Midway through their routine, the music fell silent… and the pair continued dancing as though along to the music. It was a magical moment in which we were given a tiny taste of what Rose experiences whenever she dances. The audience and judges enjoyed ..read more

In Episode 52 of the Fundraising Bright Spots Podcast, Jenny Crabtree of Navigate Fundraising shared her recipe for successful individual giving. Today we want to look at one of those ingredients – knowing your audience. This is crucial. If you don’t understand what your audiences cares about, then you can’t give them a clear, emotional and passionate reason to give to you. So how can you identify and understand your audience? Below are three of the methods we teach on the Individual Giving Mastery Programme that will run again in November 2021. Jenny and Craig are also hosting a taster webina ..read more

6 lessons from how one small charity created a transformational partnership during the pandemic. The default way many charities approach corporate fundraising is to apply through a Charity of the Year process, if it exists. The clear upside to this is that the company has made the decision to find a charity to raise funds for. One downside is how hard employee fundraising, which provides much of the money in these partnerships, has been hit during the pandemic. Another obvious one is the intense competition your charity faces to get chosen at all. Even if you work for a charity which is well-k ..read more