fundraising

In this episode of the Fundraising Everywhere Podcast, host Cam St.Omer Donaldson is joined by two graduates of the JustGiving Digital Learning Grant Programme — Kayleigh Wingate from Cambridge Cyrenians and Claire Caborn from Dove Cottage Day Hospice.

Both fundraisers work in small charities where wearing multiple hats is the norm, and both came into the DLG program with different goals — Kayleigh to build her fundraising foundations after a background in copywriting and marketing, and Claire to take her charity’s first steps into digital fundraising ahead of a landmark 30th anniversary Big Give Christmas Challenge.

Seven years ago, we asked ourselves a simple question: how do we make learning and networking in the charity sector accessible to everyone, not just the people with the biggest budgets?

We were in the sector ourselves, and we saw it happen over and over. The same people getting the opportunities, and the same people missing out.

We knew what that felt like, because we’d been there too.

And so a whole 2555 days ago, Fundraising Everywhere was born.

In this episode of the Fundraising Everywhere podcast, host Cam St-Omer Donaldson is joined by Claire Stanley, Director of Policy and Communications at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, to unpack not only what the new rules mean, but also where charities are still looking for greater clarity.

Together they explore the distinction between the ICO’s legal guidance and the Fundraising Regulator’s fundraising framework, discuss some of the grey areas charities are navigating, and explain how the Chartered Institute of Fundraising is working with regulators to represent the sector’s experiences and help shape future guidance.

JustGiving has partnered with online learning community Fundraising Everywhere to launch the next round of its Digital Learning Grant. The initiative aims to help 250 charity professionals build the skills needed to thrive in an increasingly digital world.

Now entering its fourth year, the partnership has already supported 550 people across the charity sector, providing access to more than 2,000 hours of online learning.

Last week, I took to the stage at the Pizza for Losers. It’s a safe space where we strip away polished LinkedIn updates and shiny results decks at conferences, to talk about the messy, and sometimes painful, realities of failure.

I shared a story about burning out in a role, a time defined by 60 hour weeks, office bathroom panic attacks and the erosion of my self-belief. When I finally made the decision to resign with no backup plan, a director handed me a parting gift. He told me he’d never liked me, weaponised the time off I’d taken during my time at the company, and told me I’d never make it as a freelancer.

I did make it. It took me a long time to build my confidence and self-belief, but I’ve now  co-founded a thriving digital fundraising agency, Hynt. 

But when I stepped off that stage, the conversation shifted from a personal story to a systemic one.

In this episode of the Fundraising Everywhere Podcast, host Sarah Crowhurst — Founder of digital fundraising agency Hynt — sits down with three brilliant sector leaders ahead of her own talk at Pizza for Losers, the event that celebrates what happens when things go wrong.

Sarah is preparing to speak about professional burnout and a knock to her confidence that left her questioning her future. To calm her nerves and sharpen her thinking, she chats with:

Henry Rolling (Flying Cars Innovation Agency) — who shares how his first Christmas appeal at the Refugee Council went out without a return envelope, why failure is easier for some people than others, and what cracking an apple with your bare hands has to do with persistence.
Lesley Pinder (Compass) — who spoke at the very first Pizza for Losers about burnout and missing the warning signs. She reflects on the “vulnerability hangover” of opening up on stage, and why having your team in the front row cheering you on can change everything.
Harpreet Kondel — who opens up about being the only person of colour in the room for 32 years, the roles she was never offered, and why she refuses to let others define her worth.

We’ve gathered our top 5 On-Demand sessions this month so that you can see what’s been popular in our community. You can check out the sessions by clicking on the thumbnails below.

What does return on investment actually look like in corporate fundraising — and what can the numbers tell us about strategy? In this episode, host Simon Scriver brings together Caroline Richardson (Lark Owl) and Andy King (Fireside Fundraising) to dig into Caroline’s latest benchmarking research on corporate partnerships. What does return on investment actually look like in corporate fundraising — and what can the numbers tell us about strategy?

They explore why more charities than ever are doing corporate fundraising, what the data reveals about success rates (including why 50% of respondents had a 100% success rate — and why that’s not necessarily the full story), and how ROI for corporate partnerships is trending. Caroline and Andy also unpack the key strategic difference between a high-volume and a quality-over-quantity approach, why corporate fundraising has more in common with major gifts than trusts, and why it’s very much a team sport.

The charity sector is built on purpose, fairness and a desire to make a positive difference. But there is an uncomfortable truth we still need to acknowledge. As a sector, we’re not as diverse as the communities we exist to serve.

Recent research from Charity People and Oxford HR, Beyond Representation: How diverse is the charity sector?, shows that while some progress has been made, momentum has slowed in key areas. For fundraisers, this is not just an internal people issue. It directly affects income, influence and long-term sustainability.

The digital fundraising landscape is changing. How are you navigating it? If you get your digital engine room (Meta, Google and Email) in order, then you can continue to get value out of digital, despite the ongoing restrictions put on charity advertisers looking to grow their share of voice and share of money.

Join Josh Leigh, Director at Hynt in this session that will equip attendees with practical strategies and tools to navigate the ongoing changes in digital advertising: charities need to know WHY they exist, and work in the middle of the marketing funnel to bring it to life.

Is email the most underrated tool in your fundraising toolkit? In this episode, host Simon Scriver sits down with Anya Muir Wood, Head of Creative at Forward Action, to explore why email deserves far more attention than it gets — and how to make it work harder for your cause.
Anya shares how Forward Action takes a data-led, human-first approach to email fundraising, helping organisations of all sizes move from sporadic sends to strategic, story-driven campaigns that genuinely connect with supporters.

The to-do list for your charity’s upcoming auction is likely miles long. Securing high-value items for attendees to bid on, finalising the menu, and tracking registrations as they come in are all critical tasks, but they’re only the first steps in running a successful event. For your charity, the true challenge lies in maintaining momentum in the room from the opening bid to checkout. 

In this guide, we’ll explore practical, scalable ways to design an auction experience that engages and excites guests throughout the entire evening. By implementing the right pre-event workflows and on-site tactics, you can keep donors actively invested, competitive, and closely connected to your mission.

Con­fused about the impli­ca­tions of using AI-gen­er­at­ed imagery in your fundrais­ing? The Salt­ways recent­ly pub­lished a full research report and a set of use­ful free guide­lines to help your char­i­ty nav­i­gate the legal require­ments. You’ll also learn the prac­ti­cal steps your team can take today to ensure you’re using AI images ethically.

What does it actually feel like to be a donor — and why does it matter more than you think?

In this episode, host Simon Scriver is joined by Steven Dodds (Managing Director) and Paul Seabrook (CEO) of Beautiful Insights, a full-service market research agency specialising in the charity sector. Together they explore one of the most overlooked challenges in fundraising: how do you measure the emotional experience of your supporters, not just the financial data?

The conversation covers:
Why satisfaction alone doesn’t predict donor loyalty or generosity
The SAFE Index — Beautiful Insights’ benchmarking tool for measuring non-financial supporter KPIs
How donors often vividly remember why they first gave, but rarely recall anything about the ongoing supporter experience
Why feeling “useful” might actually be a warning sign in your donor data
How charities can compete with commercial brands that have mastered emotional advertising
The difference between transactional stewardship and communications that genuinely move people
This episode sets the scene for Steven and Paul’s session at the upcoming Individual Giving Conference, where they’ll dive deeper into the specific emotions that drive donor retention — and which ones should have your attention.

Find out more about the SAFE Index and Beautiful Insights at beautifulinsights.com
Join us at our Individual Giving Conference 2026

In this episode, host Simon Scriver is joined by Natasha Evans (About Loyalty & Your Experience May Vary podcast) and David Amos-Reeves (Prostate Cancer UK & Experience Hub) to reflect on Fundraising Everywhere’s recent Supporter Experience Conference.

Together, they unpack some of the conference’s key themes – including the “relevancy crisis” facing charities, why so many organisations struggle to turn their commitment to supporter experience into real organisational change, and what it truly means to reflect a supporter’s motivations back to them.

They also explore the differences between large and small charities when it comes to delivering great supporter experiences, share standout moments from the conference (including a powerful session on storytelling from Lisa at Fireside Fundraising), and look ahead to what’s coming; from AI’s role in closing the relevancy gap, to protecting the irreplaceable human element in fundraising.

In late 2024, Cassie asked Lime Green Consulting if they knew of any good mental health resources available specifically for fundraisers, based on a hunch that this might be a gap for the sector. They agreed – and Cassie very kindly offered to write this blog as a way of starting a conversation about the topic. Over to Cassie…