Most fundraisers know how crucial it is to build genuine relationships with people who care about your cause. But doing it in practice can be far from easy! Amy Swart is a very experienced relationship fundraiser and is Director of Fundraising and Communications at the suicide-prevention charity James’ Place. Building warm, two-way relationships with supporters, including major donors, trusts and foundations, is fundamental to the charity’s approach. This mindset has been a major factor in the w...
Aug 13, 2025•31 min•Ep. 181
There are plenty of really good books specifically about fundraising. We’ve also found it invaluable for fundraisers to read well-written books on related subjects. But which ones are worth your time? If you’re on the lookout for a good read and some different perspectives, we’ve created a Books that Inspire Fundraisers – The Super Six, which you can access with this link . And in this episode Bright Spot trainers Rob and Ben share the first three on our list. We explain why we love each book, a...
Jul 28, 2025•32 min•Ep. 180
How to change what’s not working. Sometimes in fundraising, things aren’t working, you feel overwhelmed, and you don’t know where to start. The excellent book Reset by Dan Heath is all about how to turn things around when you feel stuck. In this podcast Rob talks to Craig about ways you can apply the Reset techniques to solve difficult fundraising problems. Heath suggests that in most difficult situations there is one crucial ‘leverage point’ – something that will potentially make the biggest di...
Jul 06, 2025•35 min•Ep. 179
Growing your confidence to talk to supporters makes a big difference. What’s the key to increasing High Value Fundraising Income for your charity? Build stronger relationships with people who care about your cause. There are many ways to do this, but even in this tech-savvy era, the most effective thing is to have actual conversations with those people! And a greatly under-used way to do that, is to call them on the phone. Obviously, it’s not always possible. But when it is, we’ve noticed that v...
Jun 16, 2025•38 min•Ep. 178
How do you beat tough odds in fundraising? For many fundraisers, the odds are now tougher than ever. Whether it's because your cause is less popular, or your charity is small or less well-known… There are many reasons you may feel like an underdog. Interestingly, some charities do secure valuable gifts, partnerships and grants, in spite of big disadvantages. Clearly this fact does not make life fair or make fundraising easy. But it means that if we seek them, we can find valuable insights. Havin...
May 28, 2025•33 min•Ep. 177
The power of your reason why can be immense. Charities often focus too much attention on how they help. They act and speak as though what they do is the most important and interesting thing. When you clarify and reconnect to the reason why your charity exists, it can be a fabulous catalyst for growth. You get new creativity and energy. When the South African non-profit Feenix did this in 2017, it unlocked a period of extraordinary growth. During the next five years up to 2022, fundraising income...
May 01, 2025•36 min•Ep. 176
How to attract younger donors is a valuable issue for a charity to solve. Younger supporters tend to see the world differently to older generations – as charities, how can we respond? For answers and encouragement Rob talks to philanthropist and best-selling author Lisa Greer. As a so-called ‘major donor’ Lisa has a valuable perspective on charity relationships with High Net Worth individuals. And one of the fascinating themes in her latest book The Essential Fundraiser’s Handbook is how chariti...
Apr 22, 2025•31 min•Ep. 175
‘We aced all three big pitches – here’s how.’ As most fundraisers are all too aware, pitching to funders is a complex and difficult process. In recent months, the UK charity Refuge created the chance to pitch for three corporate partnerships. For all three, the stakes were high. In fact, one of them is worth millions of pounds and will make a massive difference to their services protecting women and children from domestic abuse. All three pitches were successful. In this episode Rob Woods talks ...
Apr 06, 2025•29 min•Ep. 174
High performance culture is invaluable for charities seeking to make a bigger difference. What can we do to encourage an approach to fundraising that strengthens relationships and increases fundraising income? The High Value and Legacies fundraising department at Alzheimer’s Society has achieved impressive growth over the last 5 years. Rob talks to Charlotte Matier, Associate Director at the department to hear about the culture, processes and priorities that have helped achieve these results. In...
Mar 19, 2025•36 min•Ep. 173
What do Great Fundraising Organisations do, that is different to the rest? Relatively few charities and non-profits achieve impressive, sustained growth over several years. But a few do. And as a result, they are able to make a much bigger difference for the communities they serve. For more than ten years, Alan Clayton has carried out detailed research into what makes the difference. In this episode he and Rob discuss the valuable distinctions he has discovered. And Alan brings these ideas to li...
Feb 26, 2025•37 min•Ep. 172
Growing existing partnerships and winning new ones – these are the two main ways to increase corporate fundraising income for a charity. But they are easier said than done. Since joining her charity in a newly created role focused on corporate partnerships, Charlie (Charlotte) Richardson has grown partnerships income in both ways. In this interview she shares the techniques she learned on the Corporate Partnerships Mastery programme that she’s used to deepen relationships and add value with her ...
Feb 05, 2025•27 min•Ep. 171
Thinking (more) is a powerful way to grow results. Of course, in our busy and ever more distracted world, it’s not always easy to find time to think. That said, we’ve noticed that fundraisers who are very effective and also resilient, usually find a way to deliberately build thinking time into their week. If this idea appeals, but you often struggle to do it in practice, this episode is for you. Jhumar Johnson is Chief of Staff to the Vice Chancellor at the Open University. Her demanding role in...
Jan 22, 2025•34 min•Ep. 170
Looking for ideas or fundraising inspiration? Look no further than this special highlights episode. Rob is again joined by Bright Spot colleague and fellow fundraising trainer Ben Swart to talk about four episodes that proved especially popular and inspired us in 2024. Our discussion of fundraising strategies, tips and examples includes: how to take advantage of the opportunities and resources already available to you (many of them are currently hidden); how to smash silos and help your whole ch...
Jan 14, 2025•31 min•Ep. 169
If you’d like practical lessons and some inspiring examples from our fundraising podcast in 2024, or you’d like tips on what to listen to next, we recorded this special episode for you! Rob is joined by Bright Spot colleague and fellow fundraising trainer Ben Swart for this round up of our podcasting year. They pull out highlights from some episodes they’ve found most inspiring to listen to, including: how to influence your colleagues, for example to support your fundraising project; how to attr...
Jan 07, 2025•33 min•Ep. 168
How do we defend philanthropy? There have always been criticisms of charity in general and philanthropy in particular. But in recent years it seems that this has become more widespread, and that this issue may be having a detrimental effect on donations at all levels. If we work for a charity, understanding the issues is valuable for our own confidence and for the sector as a whole. For help and encouragement, Rob was delighted to talk to Dr Beth Breeze, Director of the Centre of Philanthropy at...
Dec 18, 2024•36 min•Ep. 167
Building a transformational strategic partnership is not easy. But this example shows it can be done. And the reward in furthering your mission is so great, for many charities it is absolutely worth aiming high and developing even stronger relationships with the very few partners who can make the biggest difference. In March 2024 Bowel Cancer UK launched a three-year partnership with Andrex, the UK’s leading toilet roll brand. This award-winning partnership is changing attitudes, as well as incr...
Dec 04, 2024•36 min•Ep. 166
Pitching or presenting to a group is a valuable skill in fundraising . Many people see the purpose of a presentation as sharing information . But we’ve found you get better results if you instead see it as a chance to persuade people to actually do something (or something different.) After your presentation, would you like your colleagues to actively support your fundraising project? Or perhaps you’d like the funder to share your proposal with fellow trustees… or for your audience to choose your...
Nov 25, 2024•33 min•Ep. 165
Pitching or presenting to a group is not easy! It can feel stressful. In fact, many fundraisers dislike presenting so much they try to avoid it all together. And yet, after helping thousands of people to improve various skills that are useful in fundraising, Rob and Ben have found that everybody is able to become more skilful in this area. It is entirely learnable. And it’s certainly worth the effort, because being able to effectively share your ideas with a group is incredibly valuable. In spea...
Nov 06, 2024•34 min•Ep. 164
How do you attract and support content creators to help your charity? There are many thousands of people who create their own content and have a thousand followers or more. Many of them also care about good causes and would enjoy raising funds for charities that support those causes. This time Rob talks to Tom Downie of Tiltify. They discuss the content creator economy and the opportunities it represents for charities. Every year Tom sees how hundreds of charities operate in this fast-growing ma...
Oct 21, 2024•33 min•Ep. 163
How do you get the result you really want for your fundraising project or campaign? How can you increase your chances of achieving your outcome when things are not working? We all get stuck sometimes! When this happens, it pays to change our approach. To help you get ideas Rob and Ben share three stories of charities who solved very difficult problems by doing things differently. One was struggling to recruit volunteers…and took a risk which transformed their results. And when the citizens of a ...
Sep 30, 2024•25 min•Ep. 162
Starting a new project or side hustle, and keeping it going, isn’t easy. Kenneth Foreman and James Wright are both busy fundraisers and in their spare time for the past seven years, they have created the excellent Do More Good podcast. In this episode Rob hears why and how they got started, ideas that have inspired them and lessons they’ve learned. They also offer advice and encouragement for anyone considering starting something new on top of their day job. Perhaps you’ve been daring yourself t...
Sep 16, 2024•34 min•Ep. 161
How do you convince companies that partnering with your charity is valuable to them too? Good corporate fundraisers have always known that the best charity partnerships are genuinely win/win. But not all companies understand this, which is a major reason they may be reluctant to consider a partnership, or to give more. How can you help them see it, and so be more open to the possibility? Ben Swart shares advice to help you be confident about the value of corporate partnerships and skillful in co...
Aug 29, 2024•41 min•Ep. 160
Many of the most difficult challenges for fundraisers involve influencing your colleagues. Whether it's persuading someone in another team to support your idea or getting your proposal signed off by your Chief Exec, it can feel like an uphill struggle. For practical ideas and plenty of encouragement, I was excited to talk to the always-inspiring Paul McKenzie. Paul is a very experienced fundraising leader, and he is convinced that we have far more power to positively influence people within our ...
Aug 14, 2024•37 min•Ep. 159
Have you ever thought about creating a podcast to engage your community? This time we look at an award-winning podcast, The Log Books, which has run for three successful seasons. Rob talks to Stephanie Fuller, CEO of Switchboard and Adam Zmith from Aunt Nell, who collaborated to create the show. We explore why and how they made it, how it helps the charity connect with its community, and other benefits the show has brought. Thank you for supporting our show, for example, by sharing it with colle...
Jul 21, 2024•34 min•Ep. 158
In our second interview with the experienced philanthropy advisor Tom Hall, we share a fundamental element that most wealthy philanthropists are looking for when deciding whether to make a major gift. Tom is Managing Director, Global Head of Social Impact and Philanthropy at UBS and over the last ten years he has had conversations with more than 4000 High Net Worth Individuals about their philanthropy. Through these conversations and in witnessing many transformational donations Tom has gained v...
Jun 17, 2024•22 min•Ep. 157
What do wealthy donors most prize when they weigh up whether to make a major investment in a charity? In 10 years as a philanthropy advisor at UBS bank, Tom Hall has had conversations about philanthropy with more than 4000 wealthy people, and he has witnessed a vast number of major gifts. This opportunity has given him precious insight into their psychology and the factors that have the biggest impact on their decisions. In this conversation Tom and Rob share which one element of your charities’...
Jun 09, 2024•28 min•Ep. 156
One of the best ways to grow fundraising income is to find ways to add value to relationships with supporters and partners. This makes sense in theory, but how do you do it in practice, and with consistency, especially if your resources are limited? Events can be very effective! Though many charities use them to raise funds directly, it is less common to regularly use events for stewardship and to inspire subsequent support or partnerships. In this episode Chris Salt describes the event strategy...
May 19, 2024•29 min•Ep. 155
There are many ways to deepen relationships with people who care about your good cause. At Bright Spot, one of our favourites is to create Wow Moments - something that makes them feel great or helps them connect with your charity at a deeper level compared to what most would expect. Sometimes this involves a creative, ambitious approach that other charities wouldn’t even think of. But just as often, the ‘wow’ is experienced by your supporter because you do something thoughtful and bespoke, rathe...
Apr 30, 2024•29 min•Ep. 154
When you concentrate more effort developing relationships with a relatively small number of supporters or corporate partners with high potential, it becomes much easier to grow high value income. We’ve also found that although this idea makes sense to many people in theory, it can be hard to apply in practice. So what can you do to overcome the various barriers to more focused and effective relationship-building with partners / supporters / funders? Using examples of successful partnerships and ...
Apr 02, 2024•30 min•Ep. 153
An effective way to grow fundraising income is to add value to relationships with high value supporters. But how do find ways to do it? One approach is to start looking at your existing resources differently. When you ask yourself what potential assets you could make use of, rather than what is difficult for your charity; and what you can give (to relationships with supporters) rather than what you can get from them… amazing things become possible. To help you look again at opportunities (that m...
Mar 26, 2024•33 min•Ep. 152
