Fundraising Bright Spots Rob Woods, Bright Spot
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- Education
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A podcast for fundraisers who want ideas, examples and inspiration to help you raise more money for your charity or non-profit.
Rob is an author and award-winning fundraising trainer. Each week he and his guests share examples of successful fundraising, as well as lots of practical tips to help you apply these techniques in your own job.
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151. Game-changing grants from trusts – 4 keys, with Caroline Danks
What can fundraisers do to increase our chances of securing large, multi-year donations from trusts and charitable foundations?
Rob was delighted to talk to Caroline Danks, a wise fundraiser with 20 years’ experience of working with Trusts and Foundations. In the last two years, three different charities she’s worked with have received six-figure, multi-year grants. Caroline noticed a clear pattern across all three examples.
Caroline and Rob discuss the four factors common to all three successes and explore ideas and tips to help you make use of them in your own fundraising with trusts and foundations.
We’d love to know what you think! And thank you for supporting our show, for instance by sharing it with colleagues or on social media. We are both on LinkedIn and on X / twitter Caroline is @LarkOwlUK and Rob is @woods_rob. -
150. High Value Fundraising using LinkedIn, with Michelle Benson
One greatly under-estimated tool for building relationships with potential funders, corporate partners and major donors, is LinkedIn. But what’s the most effective approach?
Rob was delighted to talk to fundraising and LinkedIn expert Michelle Benson. After many years as a fundraiser and grant giver, Michelle has found that most fundraisers are failing to make the most of this potent tool for success in major donor / trusts / corporate partnerships fundraising.
Michelle and Rob discuss an approach which is different to what most people usually do. Rather than you chase them, a better way is to attract your ideal funders and partners to seek you out and want to develop relationships with you! She explains exactly why it’s so effective to do things differently, as well as a few simple habits that will help you get conversations with the right partners and funders for your charity.
We’d love to know what you think! And thank you for supporting our show, for instance by sharing it with colleagues or on social media. We are both on LinkedIn (!) and on X / twitter Rob is @woods_rob. -
149. How to succeed in a tough fundraising environment, with Grant Leboff
There are plenty of factors that make fundraising difficult at the moment. Whether it’s the cost of living crisis, the pace of change, the sense of political chaos, shorter attention spans etc…it’s true that connecting with people who care about your cause can feel harder than ever.
So what can we do to defy the odds and achieve great fundraising results, in spite of the challenges?
For clear answers and encouragement, Rob was delighted to talk to best-selling author and marketing expert, Grant Leboff. He explains why taking steps to increase genuine human connection is so powerful and offers a range of things you can do to achieve this in practice.
If you want to share this episode because you think it will help other charities – THANK YOU! - we are both on Linked In and on X / twitter Grant is @grantleboff and I am @woods_rob. -
148. How to smash silos, Part 2, with Joe Jenkins
Is silo working inevitable in charities? Or is it possible to create a culture where it’s the norm for the different teams to proactively help each other, so that efforts combine to make a bigger difference?
This is the second part of Rob’s interview about integrated working with the brilliant Joe Jenkins. They build on the Team of Teams concept from Part 1, and the amazing difference it makes to both results and trust between teams. Joe shares how one charity applied these ideas in three important projects, improving results and working relationships with each iteration.
Finally he shares practical tips to help anyone ‘be the change they want to see’ in their day to day work, whether or not they currently hold a formal leadership position.
Let us know what you think! And thank you for supporting our show, for instance by sharing it! We are both on Linked In, and on X / twitter we are @MrJoeJenkins and @woods_rob. -
147. How to smash silos, with Joe Jenkins
One of the biggest sources of stress for people working in charities is conflict between teams. Many find that however committed they are, and however hard they work, the default structure and culture often hamper genuine cooperation and progress toward a common goal.
Given how difficult this problem can be, Rob was thrilled to talk to Joe Jenkins, who has given more thought and energy to solving it than anyone he has interviewed. Joe shares what happened when he worked for Friends of the Earth over a decade ago, when the leadership team did certain things to reduce silo-thinking and nurture conditions for success.
Joe explains it was this effort, especially in terms of structure, culture and a shared vision, that enabled the charity to later create the hugely successful and award-winning Bee Campaign.
If you’d like ideas and encouragement for how to build a co-operative, empowered and effective culture, we hope this episode will help.
Let us know what you think! And thank you for supporting our show, for instance by sharing it! We are both on Linked In, and on X / twitter we are @MrJoeJenkins and @woods_rob. -
146. Three More Key Listens, with Ben Swart and Rob Woods
Rob is again joined by Bright Spot colleague and fellow fundraising trainer Ben Swart to talk about some of the episodes that most inspired us in 2023.
Our discussion of fundraising ideas and examples includes: how to ace your event or media appeal (ie what content makes all the difference to results); ways to beat the Curse of Knowledge – and how one charity did this to raise five times more than the average through their appeal; ideas to help you succeed in spite of very competitive trust application processes; and how to create a culture where people genuinely value failure / learning as a way to grow fundraising results.
If you’d like to get in touch or share this episode with other charities, THANK YOU! You can find us both on Linked In and on X / twitter Ben is @benswart and Rob is @woods_rob.
Customer Reviews
Excellent
Very informative podcast. Great variety of topics covered with lots of practical advice and tips.