Over the last month, I've shared a series of videos on LinkedIn looking at the reasons behind the fact that since 2005 we've seen individual giving income shrink – in real terms – by £5 billion.

I'm joined today by fundraising consultant, Giles Pegram where we dig into the reasons behind this decline and make a few suggestions about what we have to do as a sector if we want to turn things around.

Today's podcast features Louis Diez, the founder of the Donor Participation Project (DPP).

Louis set up the DPP with a single goal – to try to reverse the decline in the number of people giving to charity. Until recently, its members have predominantly been US fundraisers, but increasingly, more people from around the world are joining and the group is now 1,500 strong. I recently signed up, and if you listen to what Louis has to say, I think you will too.

Membership (which is free) offers access to monthly, 45-minute online discussion sessions where the group gets together to share ideas and thoughts about what's moving the needle of giving in the right direction. These are backed up with loads of great content shared on the DPP LinkedIn group. They have also just launched their first online conference. 

The conference is a series of two-hour sessions where one or two core speakers lead with their thoughts on a specific area of fundraising and a group of other practitioners then share a single piece of insight in two-minute lightning presentations. Everything is pulled together in the chat. This Friday's session (6th May 2022) is on scrappy innovation and next Friday they are looking at the future of major gift fundraising. If you are interested you can find out more and sign up here. There is a small payment for the conference but you'll also get access to videos of the previous sessions. The first was on how donor's preferred communications styles are changing and the second looked at how we can grow engagement amongst people from under represented groups (where you'll see me appear in a lightning session sharing an important finding from our new research into attitudes to giving amongst British Hindus).

The DPP is building a community of fundraisers who care about growing their understanding of what is working – and sharing what they learn. They know there is no simple answer and recognise that hearing many different voices increases the chances of producing incremental advances. But they also realise that these have to be delivered through a system that makes ideas and new approaches accessible. 

To that end, they work with three pillars – understanding the dynamics of content delivery, appreciating how a community functions and finally, how to best make that ask. It's all straightforward stuff, but what makes it so exciting is that the focus is on low-cost solutions - often driven by free tech. 

So take a listen and see what you think. You'll hear that Louis is a Higher Education fundraiser so we do spend some time talking about alumni giving before moving on to broader fundraising topics, but everything is relevant to all sectors. Sadly, sound quality isn't brilliant but the content is great. I hope I'll see you amongst the DPP-ers at the next meet up.

The two books mentioned are Get Together by Bailey Richardson, Kevin Huynh and Kai Elmer Sotto, and  The Socratic Fundraiser by Dr Russell James. 

It’s been a while, but I’ve moved away from video back to the podcast for another great chat with Giles Pegram.

Giles joined me to share his thoughts about what fundraisers should be doing to prepare for 2021. But most importantly, he spoke about a great new project that has produced some essential reading for us all – Fundraising in The Time of Covid-19, recently published by the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s Supporter Experience special interest group. 

Giles and I met about ten days ago, but because of pressure of work, I’ve only just been able to sit down and get our chat edited. In the discussion, you’ll hear Giles talk about a very exciting webinar that the team behind the guide are presenting on the 25th of November at 2pm (GMT).

So check your watch and calendar. If you still have time, you can sign up here. It’s free. If you’ve missed it, I’ll add a link to a recording as soon as one is available. 

In the guide, you’ll be introduced to six key principles necessary to deliver a great supporter experience:

• It’s about the donor not you.
• How to develop the right organisational mindset.
• Why your supporters still believe in your mission. And why they want to give.
• Why you shouldn’t assume that you are providing a great supporter experience.
• Why charities should invest in fundraisers.
• Why charities should invest in fundraising.

What makes this guide so important – and useful – is that it goes far beyond just telling you to be nice to donors. It actually shows you how to do it. And how to do it well. It’s packed full of examples of how charities have developed and implemented these ideas for you to learn from. You can also use them to persuade a nervous senior management team (SMT) of the sense in investing in this approach.

In the conversation you’ll hear us talk more about the guide, about the importance of continuing to fundraise during the current time and how our approach needs to change in response to the needs of supporters – as they evolve under the influence of the ever changing pandemic. We also discuss some of Bluefrog’s latest research findings.

Apologies that the quality of the recording isn’t brilliant. It’s fine, but you’ll hear a few of those Zoom glitches that are a trademark of our daily working lives.