[Fig. 1
Two Ps on a pod.
Mark Phillips and I have created a new podcast that you can either watch on YouTube or listen to as part of Mark’s 'Why do People Give?’ series. It's called ‘Two Ps on a Pod’, with the first episode launched in June 2024.
We will discuss all matters related to fundraising, sometimes joined by an interesting guest from within the fundraising sector or related to it. A psychologist, a world-wide branding expert, a seven-figure donor, journalists, academics, researchers, CEOs. And that’s just for starters: we will be spreading our net wide.
We'll also have fundraisers coming on to share the background of some significant fundraising campaigns. You'll find out what worked and what didn't.
There will also be plenty of episodes where we discuss current sector happenings. We hope that everything we share will help you become a more informed fundraiser.
We are planning to publish new episodes every two weeks and if you'd like to share thoughts and ideas for future episodes, please let me know!
⟶ View on Youtube[17 September, 2024]
Our Guest on Two Ps on a Pod today is Ken Burnett. We took a trip up to Suffolk to chat about the brand-new edition of Ken’s fantastic book on donor-centred fundraising, Relationship Fundraising. But rather than just tell Ken how brilliant the book is (and it is brilliant), we look a little more critically at why Relationship Fundraising has failed as an approach to fundraising. After all, there are very few significant charities that practice it today. That is in spite of evidence showing that it is the only long-term strategy that is guaranteed to increase lifetime and legacy giving. But perhaps the problem is, as Ken points out, the benefits from Relationship Fundraising are not realised until years after its implementation. This means that the new broom or innovation FOMO syndrome can destroy its impact, way before the real benefits are felt.
[27 August, 2024]
In this episode of Two Ps on a Pod, Giles and Mark meet up with Paul Amadi MBE, Chief Supporter Officer at the British Red Cross. In a wide-ranging discussion, we consider the rights and (mainly) wrongs of transactional fundraising, we look at where the Red Cross is looking to innovate and what the future of successful fundraising might look like. Paul shares his thoughts on how a charity can encourage people who give at times of emergency to continue their support when the news media moves on to other concerns. And we consider how the Red Cross brand is managed and whether it is important that the promotional focus of the charity should cover all aspects of the charity’s operations. Agree? disagree? Why not let us know. And if you've got an opinion you'd like to share, tell us why you'd like to join us on the sofas!
[12 July, 2024]
Giles and Mark discuss how fundraisers learn and how the sector retains and discards knowledge. We consider how conferences are curated and what content matters most – best practice (which can be dull) or the exciting new stuff (that gets tickets sold)? We look at innovation and discuss how considering history can help us develop existing ideas and (re)create new ones. We also dig into the tricky question of where does the responsibility actually lie for sharing best practice? (spoiler alert – we don't know). Agree? Disagree? Why not let us know. And if you've got an opinion you'd like to share tell us why you'd like to join us on the sofas!
[01 July, 2024]
In this video, we interview Sir Peter Wanless, CEO of the NSPCC. Sir Peter gives a few insights into his career journey that led him to heading up one of the most popular charities in the UK before he moves on to share insights into how CEOs view the fundraising function and his thoughts on the current state of fundraising in the UK. You'll find out just how much time he spends on fundraising, his thoughts on fundraising from different groups – from HNWI donors to the elderly couple who drop off a £2 postal order every month, his thoughts on meshing fundraising strategy with the overall charity strategy, and where he thinks fundraising might be going next.
[08 June, 2024]
Our first episode! We discuss some of the statistics and findings from my recent LinkedIn videos and share our plans for the coming months. You'll learn more about the £5.5 billion wealth transfer in the UK that will transform fundraising over the next decade, the importance of responding to donors' needs, reasons why donors lapse, how giving attitudes change with age, and the necessity of integrating appeals over time instead of having everything look the same.