19 episodes
The Fundraising Radicals Craig Pollard
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- Business
The Fundraising Radicals podcast is hosted by Craig Pollard. Our aim is to turn the world of fundraising downside-up, to bring global voices and perspectives with new ideas and inspiration for fundraising leaders everywhere.
These are unscripted conversations with friends and colleagues, old and new, ordinary and inspiring people who have deep passion, experience and expertise - they are fundraising and leading nonprofits, community projects, movements - in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
This is about creating space for new and too often ignored voices, perspectives, and ideas.
Together we’re going to explore and push the boundaries of what fundraising is, where it can be done, who can do it, and how - so I’ll also be talking to people beyond the traditional limits of the nonprofit and fundraising world - people who are running social enterprises, entrepreneurs, people working in the private sector.
I deeply believe that fundraising knowledge and tools are for everyone, everywhere - and the Fundraising Radicals exists to engage, empower and equip people like you to fundraise effectively and efficiently, for your community, cause, charity or to make some change.
This podcast is also about challenging the barriers and myths of fundraising that get in the way of people like you, raising the donations you need to fund your community, your cause, your charity, your change - whether you live in Manchester or Manila, whether you’re a seasoned professional or have never done this before.
To find out more about our work, please visit https://fundraisingradicals.com
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Funding Partnerships for Advocacy in Malawi with Bessie Ndovi | Ep 5
Today’s conversation is with Bessie Ndovi, who is one of four senior regional advisors from the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network.
Bessie is based in Malawi and from there is supporting civil society organisations in 15 countries across East and Southern Africa.
Now, advocacy work is a really hard thing to fundraise for:
it's inherently political
it's difficult to measure
it can cause friction between partners, and
it takes a long time to demonstrate the impact of advocacy funding which means that it stretches beyond the traditional funding horizons of most donors.
But Bessie, knowing this, raised the funding to build and sustain an independent civil society organisation in Malawi that grew to ten members of staff within five years.
During our conversation, Bessie shares how she did this and sets out clear and simple steps that anyone else can follow to build trust and position for major funding partnerships.
Some of the key points from my discussion with Bessie include:
the importance of positioning, of being visible and discoverable
the dominance and decline of institutional funding on the operation and cultures of civil society organisations in Africa, so often the only viable option for civil society organisations in Africa
the vast barriers that civil society organisations in Africa face when trying to prove themselves worthy to receive northern funding
the starting assumption of suspicion from northern institutions that is still grounded in colonial and white supremacist views of Africa and African civil society
small, under resourced organisations have to micromanage every part of their work and demonstrate excellence in communications, partnerships, governance, financial management before they even receive funding
I know you’ll enjoy hearing and learning from Bessie’s inspirational conversation today.
For more detailed reflections on this conversation with Bessie, head to our blog which can be accessed via the website at https://www.fundraisingradicals.com/blog
Resources and links mentioned in this episode:
CSONA https://www.suncivilsociety.com/alliances/civil-society-organisation-nutrition-alliance-csona/
Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network https://scalingupnutrition.org/about-us/our-governance/our-networks/sun-civil-society-network
Concern Worldwide https://www.concern.net/
Connect with Bessie on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/bessie-ndovi-0273b853
I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode of the Fundraising Radicals podcast and that this conversation has challenged, informed, and maybe even inspired you and your fundraising leadership practice.
This podcast has been made possible by the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network, Care International, the Ashmore Foundation, and our growing community of strategic partners.
We're excited to explore and share alternative views and experiences so we can all move beyond the narrow experiences that dominate global fundraising practise today so that we're all better equipped to resource our causes and communities wherever in the world we are.
Please do subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice.
New episodes drop on the 1st & 15th of every month, so make sure to tune in to get more global perspectives on fundraising and leadership in the non-profit sector.
More about Fundraising Radicals:
If you want to find out all the ways in which we’re working to empower, equip and engage fundraisers all over the world:
Visit our website https://www.fundraisingradicals.com
Read our blog https://www.fundraisingradicals.com/blog
Follow Fundraising Radicals on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/fundraisingradicals
Follow Craig on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigpollardfundraisingradicals
And we're always looking for new perspectives. So if you would be willing to share some of your experience of global fundraising within a future episode of the podcast, please do emai -
Building Cities and Finding Contentment In The Gambia with Taf N'Jie | Ep 4
Today’s conversation is with Mustafa N’Jie Taf who is based in the Gambia in West Africa. Taf is a successful and well known businessman who builds cities, literal cities of affordable houses in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia, and 6 other countries in West Africa.
Now many projects that require funding in West Africa will identify Taf as a potential funder due to his regional profile here, his foundation, and his commitment to solving Africa's chronic housing shortage.
As you're about to find out, Taf is full of enthusiasm and passion. He was born, raised, educated, and lives in the Gambia, and wears this lifelong connection like a badge of honor. He has his own YouTube channel and more than 50,000 followers on TikTok.
During this episode, three takeaways stood out amidst our discussion:
First, Taf's lifelong immersion in the Gambia fascinates me. It feels like a deep and authentic connection to his community and a grounding for the values that underpin his business choices.
Second, that the accumulation of wealth does not have to be separate from social impact. And Taf's feels more authentic in some ways than the many Westerners who self identify as philanthropists, who have made their fortunes historically without real consideration of social justice, and then make a major philanthropy pivot in later life.
And third, there's this wonderful idea of finding contentment that bounds ambition and wealth and brings satisfaction. A sense of having done enough.
Enough. That's another powerful word to leave you with today. Both in relation to the understanding when donors give, how much they give, but also enough in relation to the limits of our own organisation's ambitions, goals, and growth. Because if our leaders can't define what enough impact is, then fundraisers will always be catching up and burning out, which leads to a very different expression of enough.
No conversation with Taf is ever dull, and I'm sure you’ll enjoy listening to my conversation with him today.
Resources and links mentioned in this episode:
Connect with Taf on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tafnjie/
I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode of the Fundraising Radicals podcast and that this conversation has challenged, informed, and maybe even inspired you and your fundraising leadership practice.
You can read more of my reflections on this conversation in my blog which can be accessed via the website at www.fundraisingradicals.com/blog
This podcast has been made possible by the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network, Care International, the Ashmore Foundation, and our growing community of strategic partners.
We're excited to explore and share alternative views and experiences so we can all move beyond the narrow experiences that dominate global fundraising practise today so that we're all better equipped to resource our causes and communities wherever in the world we are.
Please do subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice.
New episodes drop on the 1st & 15th of every month, so make sure to tune in to get more global perspectives on fundraising and leadership in the non-profit sector.
More about Fundraising Radicals:
If you want to find out all the ways in which we’re working to empower, equip and engage fundraisers all over the world:
Visit our website https://www.fundraisingradicals.com
Read our blog https://www.fundraisingradicals.com/blog
Follow Fundraising Radicals on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/fundraisingradicals
Follow Craig on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigpollardfundraisingradicals
And we're always looking for new perspectives. So if you would be willing to share some of your experience of global fundraising within a future episode of the podcast, please do email us. It's hello@fundraisingradicals.com -
From 1 Email to $2m in Lao with Keo Souvannaphoum | Ep 3
Today’s conversation is with Keo Souvannaphoum, who is the award-winning Country Director in Lao, for CARE International. She has also been an active and dedicated participant in the Global Radicals Fundraising Leadership Programme -generously sharing her experiences with others around the world.
Keo is an expert with deep experience of building high impact community programmes and institutional partnerships with international funders based in Europe and North America.
But I’m also hoping that she will share more details about an incredible funding partnership that she has built over the past three years, that began with an email enquiry and has now delivered more than two million dollars in funding for the Akha communities in Northern Lao, some of the most marginalised people in South East Asia.
During this episode, some of the topics we discussed were:
Authentic relationships - how they’re the foundations of all our work - whether we’re building them with the communities we serve, with the teams within our causes, and with those who contribute funding.
How authenticity helps to manage expectations - how we engage and involve donors in programme design and how we push back - confident in our own expertise and the quality of a respectful and equal partnership.
Keo reflected on how different it feels to have full control over a funding partnership - I’ve seen this time and time again all over the world - funding partnerships build confidence, bring joy, and enjoyment to the fundraising and partnership-building process - to the point where Keo now even enjoys attending those out of hours events!
I know you'll enjoy listening to my conversation with Keo today.
Resources and links mentioned in this episode:
CARE International https://www.care-international.org/
Connect with Keo on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/keoamphone-souvannaphoum-17817952/?originalSubdomain=la
I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode of the Fundraising Radicals podcast and that this conversation has challenged, informed, and maybe even inspired you and your fundraising leadership practice.
This podcast has been made possible by the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network, Care International, the Ashmore Foundation, and our growing community of strategic partners.
We're excited to explore and share alternative views and experiences so we can all move beyond the narrow experiences that dominate global fundraising practise today so that we're all better equipped to resource our causes and communities wherever in the world we are.
Please do subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice.
New episodes drop on the 1st & 15th of every month, so make sure to tune in to get more global perspectives on fundraising and leadership in the non-profit sector.
More about Fundraising Radicals:
If you want to find out all the ways in which we’re working to empower, equip and engage fundraisers all over the world:
Visit our website https://www.fundraisingradicals.com
Read our blog https://www.fundraisingradicals.com/blog
Follow Fundraising Radicals on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/fundraisingradicals
Follow Craig on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigpollardfundraisingradicals
And we're always looking for new perspectives. So if you would be willing to share some of your experience of global fundraising within a future episode of the podcast, please do email us. It's hello@fundraisingradicals.com -
Impact Investment and Innovation in Peru with Irene Arellano | Ep 2
My conversation with Irene Arellano was just too rich to fit into just one episode, so we’re rolling it into this second episode!
So, a quick reintroduction, today’s conversation is with Irene Arellano, who is the Head of Innovation and Business Development at CARE Peru.
During this episode, we’re talking about:
social innovation
selling impactful consultancy services to companies in Peru
the details of how CARE Peru is establishing a new impact investment fund
how social justice and climate justice link via circular economies
and much more.
In this episode Irene has offered us a step-by-step guide for starting and sustaining a social innovation programme and clear tactics that have led to the establishment of an $70m impact investment fund that drove financial inclusion for more than 40,000 women in entrepreneurship with all-important wrap around services to support their journeys.
Irene and her team have explored how social innovation walks hand in hand with climate change, pushing towards circular economies.
At the heart of this is recognising the evolving expertise of NGOs and exploring new ways of leveraging their unique positions to develop new sorts of partnerships, impactful financial products, and fees/funding that is unrestricted.
I know you'll enjoy listening to this continuing conversation with Irene today.
Resources and links mentioned in this episode:
CARE Peru https://www.care-international.org/our-work/where-we-work/peru
Connect with Irene on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/irenearellano/
I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode of the Fundraising Radicals podcast and that this conversation has challenged, informed, and maybe even inspired you and your fundraising leadership practice.
This podcast has been made possible by the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network, CARE International, the Ashmore Foundation, and our growing community of strategic partners.
We're excited to explore and share alternative views and experiences so we can all move beyond the narrow experiences that dominate global fundraising practise today so that we're all better equipped to resource our causes and communities wherever in the world we are.
Please do subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice.
New episodes drop on the 1st & 15th of every month, so make sure to tune in to get more global perspectives on fundraising and leadership in the non-profit sector.
More about Fundraising Radicals:
If you want to find out all the ways in which we’re working to empower, equip and engage fundraisers all over the world:
Visit our website https://www.fundraisingradicals.com
Read our blog https://www.fundraisingradicals.com/blog
Follow Fundraising Radicals on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/fundraisingradicals
Follow Craig on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigpollardfundraisingradicals
And we're always looking for new perspectives. So if you would be willing to share some of your experience of global fundraising within a future episode of the podcast, please do email us. It's hello@fundraisingradicals.com -
Social Innovation in Peru with Irene Arellano | Ep 1
Today's conversation is with Irene Arellano, the head of innovation and business development at CARE Peru.
Irene is working to build transformational partnerships between the cause and companies in Peru that are grounded in shared purpose. This is about bringing together funding, social impact and sustainability, and redefining roles so we can free ourselves to build new sorts of partnerships between causes and companies that aren't bound by traditional, narrow roles of who can deliver impact and how.
In this episode we unpack the ups and downs of building a social innovation programme from scratch. It feels like Irene has offered us a step by step guide for starting and sustaining a social innovation programme. But she's also given us clear guidance more generally for creating holistic, equitable partnerships between causes and companies.
As Irene describes, this starts with redefining our idea of value, the value that our causes can offer to companies, and to reimagine the roles of our nonprofits and companies in delivering social impact.
I've always been blown away by Irene's generosity, her willingness to honestly reflect on her experiences and to share what has worked and what hasn't, and I know you'll enjoy hearing from Irene today.
Resources and links mentioned in this episode:
CARE Peru https://www.care-international.org/our-work/where-we-work/peru
Connect with Irene on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/irenearellano/
I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode of the Fundraising Radicals podcast and that this conversation has challenged, informed, and maybe even inspired you and your fundraising leadership practice.
This podcast has been made possible by the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network, CARE International, the Ashmore Foundation, and our growing community of strategic partners.
We're excited to explore and share alternative views and experiences so we can all move beyond the narrow experiences that dominate global fundraising practise today so that we're all better equipped to resource our causes and communities wherever in the world we are.
Please do subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice.
New episodes drop on the 1st & 15th of every month, so make sure to tune in to get more global perspectives on fundraising and leadership in the non-profit sector.
More about Fundraising Radicals:
If you want to find out all the ways in which we’re working to empower, equip and engage fundraisers all over the world:
Visit our website https://www.fundraisingradicals.com/
Read our blog https://www.fundraisingradicals.com/blog
Follow Fundraising Radicals on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/fundraisingradicals
Follow Craig on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigpollardfundraisingradicals
And we're always looking for new perspectives. So if you would be willing to share some of your experience of global fundraising within a future episode of the podcast, please do email us. It's hello@fundraisingradicals.com -
Exploring and Sharing Global Perspectives and Practice in Fundraising | Season 2
This second season of the Fundraising Radicals podcast, we'll continue our exploration of global fundraising, sharing perspectives and experiences from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
We're going to delve into:
some of the challenges and opportunities of fundraising in Laos
social innovation and impact investment in Peru
community funding and solidarity in South Africa
the long journey to a major institutional partnership in Malawi
social enterprise in the Gambia
corporate partnerships in Sri Lanka
funding a climate and gender justice project in the Amazon
and much, much more.
We're excited to explore and share alternative views and experiences so we can all move beyond the narrow experiences that dominate global fundraising practise today so that we're all better equipped to resource our causes and communities wherever in the world we are.
If you'd like to find out more about our work, visit www.fundraisingradicals.com.
This podcast has been made possible by the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network, Care International, the Ashmore Foundation, and our growing community of strategic partners.
Please do subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice.
New episodes drop on the 1st & 15th of every month, so make sure to tune in to get more global perspectives on fundraising and leadership in the non-profit sector.
More about Fundraising Radicals:
If you want to find out all the ways in which we’re working to empower, equip and engage fundraisers all over the world:
Visit our website https://www.fundraisingradicals.com
Read our blog https://www.fundraisingradicals.com/blog
Follow Fundraising Radicals on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/fundraisingradicals
Follow Craig on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigpollardfundraisingradicals
And we're always looking for new perspectives. So if you would be willing to share some of your experience of global fundraising within a future episode of the podcast, please do email us. It's hello@fundraisingradicals.com.