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PODCAST

Fundraising Bright Spots

Rob Woods, Bright Spot

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.

education non-profit

All Episodes

29:26

194. Why Giving Days Keep on Giving, with Mel Bushell

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2026/04/09

If you've ever wondered whether a Giving Day might work for your organisation — or how to make an existing one even better — this is the episode for you.Mel Bushell is Director of Development at Winchester College and a hugely experienced fundraising leader. She has found Giving Days incredibly effective.This rich and practical conversation explores: the recipe behind what was at the time the most successful school Giving Day ever run in the UK; the lasting fundraising benefits that a

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35:19

193. Small Shifts, Big Results, with Sarah Pryer

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2026/03/11

Relatively small shifts in what you say, and how you say it, lead to big differences in your fundraising results. Rob has always been fascinated by these distinctions and how they affect your applications, conversations and pitches for funding.He was very excited to talk to the brilliant Sarah Pryer, who is Director of Fundraising and Marketing at Bristol and Weston Hospitals Charity. Inspired by a team training day with Bright Spot a year ago, Sarah’s team have been creatively applying

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29:12

192. Tenacious Fundraising: How to Keep Going When...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2026/02/27

Every fundraiser knows the sting of a donor saying “no.” An invaluable skill is knowing when to step back and when to learn, adapt and try again. In this encouraging conversation, Sarah Tavener, Head of Global Philanthropy at Mines Advisory Group (MAG), shares the remarkable story of how she secured a multi-million-dollar donation after 19 years of thoughtful persistence with the same funder! We hope Sarah’s insights will help you be tenacious and creative when your idea or proposal still

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38:01

191. Brilliant thanking and stewardship, with Laura...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2026/01/29

Obviously great fundraising involves building great relationships with your supporters and donors. But how do you do that in practice?One charity that has been making wonderful progress in recent years is Rennie Grove Peace Hospice. For instance, for their recent Big Give campaign they took on their biggest ever target… and they hit it in just over 24 hours. Laura Elliott, Head of Supporter Fundraising, talks about a range of effective strategies that have been inspired by listening to the

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36:20

190. Four Habits for Your Best Fundraising Year Ever,...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2026/01/06

If you'd like to make 2026 your best fundraising year ever, this episode is for you.Fundraising trainers Rob and Ben share four powerful habits that transform your results - without adding more to your to-do list.We explore how to: improve your results by getting laser-focused on what matters most; deepen relationships with your most valuable supporters through one simple shift; gain clarity about where to invest your precious time; and identify the leverage points that solve your biggest

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29:52

189. The Die Hard One - Four listens for any season,...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/12/29

If you’d like handy tips and inspiring examples from our fundraising podcast in 2025, or ideas for what to listen to next, we recorded this special show for you. Fundraising trainers Rob and Ben pick four episodes to inspire you. These ones are a good listen in any season, but they’re even better if you’re listening in December / January. We pull out highlights including: the pitching strategy that one fundraising team used to win three massive Corporate Partnerships in a row; how to solve

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28:00

188. The Comeback – Adapting strategy under pressure...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/12/15

In times of rapid change, all charities and social good organisations are having to adapt if we are to survive and continue to make an impact.The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) has faced plenty of challenges in the last five years, given the turmoil that the hospitality industry has faced since the COVID pandemic. In December 2024, income was so low that the organisations’ very survival was at risk. One year later, they have had their best year to date, passing £1m in revenue. In

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38:26

187. Outward Mindset, with Max Newton and Lindsay...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/12/01

The biggest source of stress for most fundraisers is usually conflict with other teams in your organisation. What can you do to improve internal relationships and have your fundraising project succeed?In this episode Max Newton (Cerebra) and Lindsay Tilston Jones (Shelter) discuss with Rob Woods an approach that has hugely helped the success of their fundraising.They explain that the most important resource in any charity is not people, but relationships between people. With examples, they

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32:48

186. Entrepreneurial Mindset, with Sam Squire

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/11/10

As the funding environment becomes ever more competitive, being ambitious, open to opportunities and willing to adapt is extremely valuable for charities. Inspire to Ignite is a small, fast-growing not for profit organisation based in Cambridgeshire in the UK. Rob was delighted to talk to the co-founder Sam Squire to understand how they’ve managed to quickly grow to serve so many young people in just three years. In this down-to-earth conversation, Sam shares examples and tactics that have

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39:17

185. Fundraising for a small charity, with Laura Harte

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/10/23

Leading and raising funds for a small charity is demanding enough. The stakes get even higher when you need to raise a lot more money for a capital appeal.The Berin Centre is a small community charity in rural Oxfordshire in the UK. To better serve their community, they decided to build a new cafe. Laura Harte is Director of the charity. In the podcast she shares why this project was so important for people, examples of how they raised the funds and practical tips. She also explains why

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33:31

184. Major Donor Fundraising - Success Secrets, with...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/09/29

Major Donors can make a huge difference to fundraising income, but fundraising with High Net Worth people can also be really challenging. Debbie Johnson has been making wonderful progress in her fundraising. In the year she took part in Bright Spot’s Major Gifts Mastery programme, she increased major donor income for her wildlife charity by 200% compared to the previous year... and these wonderful results continue to flow.In this podcast she and Rob discuss several powerful distinctions

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24:09

183. Growing Community Fundraising, with Punyapriya...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/09/18

Community fundraising is an invaluable income stream for many charities, both through income raised directly and all the value these relationships add in other fundraising areas.Punyapriya Singh is Senior Head of Supporter Engagement at Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice, and was named Fundraiser of the Year in the CIOF National Fundraising Awards. In this conversation, she explains the approach which has helped her charity achieve fabulous growth in public fundraising income in recent years.In

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33:08

182. Fundraising with Trusts and Foundations –...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/09/08

Fundraising with trusts and foundations has become ever more competitive recently.What can you do to increase your success rate with these funders? Atul is a curious and shrewd fundraiser who has spent many years exploring how to grow fundraising income in this area. In this conversation Atul and Rob discuss several of his most effective strategies. It includes ways to find more funders who definitely care about your cause; what to call your project (spoiler, it makes an astonishing

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30:34

181. Understanding Donors, with Amy Swart

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/08/13

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

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31:45

180. Books To Inspire Fundraisers, with Rob Woods and...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/07/28

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

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34:34

179. How to change what’s not working, with Craig Linton

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/07/06

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

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38:32

178. Growing your confidence to talk to supporters,...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/06/16

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

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33:56

177. David and Goliath - how to beat tough odds, with...

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/05/28

How do you beat tough odds in fundraising? For many fundraisers, the odds are now tougher than ever. Whether its 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

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36:10

176. The power of your Why, with Cara Jean Petersen

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/05/01

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

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31:32

175. How to attract younger donors, with Lisa Greer

Fundraising Bright Spots ·

2025/04/22

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

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191 results

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