Transcript

[00:00:00] Multiple Voices: Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. Fundraising everywhere. , you don’t need to add me in there.

[00:00:31] Jade Cunnah: Welcome to the Fundraising Everywhere podcast. Your go-to place for fundraising tips and inspiration. Love what you hear. Get more insights straight to your inbox. Subscribe to our email list for exclusive fundraising resources, early access to training, special discounts, and more. Just head on over to fundraising everwhere.com/podcast to subscribe Now onto today’s episode, enjoy.

[00:00:59] Simon Scriver: Hello everyone and welcome to the Fundraising Everywhere podcast. My name is Simon Scriver. I am one of the co-founders of Fundraising Everywhere, and pleased to be your host today. Um, and today we are diving into the London Marathon 2026. And it seems ridiculously early to be talking about this, but that’s one of the reasons we’re talking about this ’cause it’s so important.

[00:01:18] Simon Scriver: This is, uh, the biggest, uh, marathon in the world for fundraising. And what, who we have on today is the wonderful Sam Gurry. Uh, from Just Giving because, just Giving, have just released, um, their Just Giving Guide to London Marathon 2026. So there’s a really, uh, huge chunk of information in this report for you, which I highly recommend downloading.

[00:01:39] Simon Scriver: Uh, we’ve got the link to that in the description, but we thought we’d invite Sam on just to have a bit of a chat through it and pull out some of the key insights for us. So, good day to you, Sam. How are you? 

[00:01:49] Sam Gurry: I am very well. Yeah. Thanks for having me on. Also calling me wonderful earlier. Yeah, 

[00:01:53] Simon Scriver: yeah. You like that?

[00:01:55] Sam Gurry: Yeah, I like that. 

[00:01:56] Simon Scriver: Gotta gotta get us off to a good start. But you are wonderful, Sam. You’re the senior account manager, uh, at Just giving, so what, what does that involve? What does your day-to-day look like? I. 

[00:02:05] Sam Gurry: So my day-to-day is working with, um, a section of the kind of largest charities that we have on the platform, supporting them with if they’ve got single charity events, so their own events, uh, making sure they’re getting the most outta the platform in terms of data and insight.

[00:02:20] Sam Gurry: Um, and then also third party events. And you can’t really talk about third party events about talking about London marathons. So at the moment is a lot of analysis, making sure that people are ready for next year, all of that kind of stuff. 

[00:02:33] Simon Scriver: Because you, I mean, I mean, I would’ve thought your time is so taken up with wrapping this up, but actually you guys are already looking forward, looking ahead to April, 2026, the next London marathon.

[00:02:44] Simon Scriver: Yeah. Um, and, and this report is very much about getting prepared for that and what, what charities can do to give their best shot at that. So what, how early is too early? Like what is it so important to be looking at it at this stage? 

[00:02:57] Sam Gurry: Yeah, I think it is. And I think too early, uh, doesn’t really exist, uh, for the marathon because as you know, people get so busy.

[00:03:05] Sam Gurry: Um, you know, it, you probably really need to start thinking about it before the event’s already happened. And I think, um, if you’ve seen any of the resources or, or kind of read any of the stuff we brought out about London Marathon, um, the big thing that we always talk about is early page creation. Um mm-hmm.

[00:03:24] Sam Gurry: Because we know that fundraisers who start early, more often not go on to fundraise more. So yeah, if, if charities are kind of thinking about, uh, what they should be doing now, what should be the first thing to do is, is aiming for page creation as early as possible. So you really want your peak page creation in kind of July, August time.

[00:03:46] Sam Gurry: Um. And then also thinking about how you activate those people as soon as possible as well. So, um, we did a bit of data analysis a couple of weeks ago now, and it showed interestingly enough that the earlier someone set up their page, it was actually the longer it took them to get that first donation. Um, so, you know, page creation is really important and.

[00:04:06] Sam Gurry: Charity should be looking at that. But it’s also about how you get those people to activate as soon as possible so that right now what we, in June, that would be my main focus as well as obviously offering out the places that’s the, that’s the key thing they should be looking at there. 

[00:04:19] Simon Scriver: There’s, there’s really interesting stat in your report about, um, people who, who set up their page before Christmas raised 24% more.

[00:04:29] Simon Scriver: And uh, you know, and Chris, even Christmas might seem early to some people, but you, I can see what you’re saying ’cause there’s a big long journey there. You’ve got like the summer gap in between, you’ve got the Christmas break and everything. You don’t wanna be caught short of these. So I can see why really mapping out those next 10 months are actually quite, quite crucial.

[00:04:47] Simon Scriver: Is that what you’re talking about with your clients now? Like where do you start with kind of planning, planning these next, uh, this next year or almost? Um, 

[00:04:56] Sam Gurry: so I think, yeah, like I said, it is getting the pages set up, getting applications done. Obviously people are gonna be absolutely. Swamped in applications, uh, at the moment.

[00:05:05] Sam Gurry: Um, so that’s the focus there. Get everyone set up as early as possible, get ’em fundraising as soon as possible, as well, encourage that as much as possible. Um, but then it is also about ensuring that charities are set up as success as well. So, um, make sure that you’ve got your campaign page. Set up all ready to go.

[00:05:24] Sam Gurry: Um, and then also get the campaign fundraising link as well. Um, because it’s really important when you’ve offered someone a place, um, you know, you, what you really wanna do is just get that link in front of them. Um, send it out in welcome emails in a welcome pack. Uh, I was talking to a charity the other day that when they do their.

[00:05:44] Sam Gurry: Acceptance calls, they say to the person, I’m sending you a link now. And almost try and get the, uh, fundraiser to confirm that they’ve got the, the page creation link there and then on the phone, which, you know, uh, each their own. But, um, yeah. So it’s just, it’s all about kind of yeah. Encouraging getting it, uh, as early as possible there, and.

[00:06:03] Sam Gurry: Also it is just looking at the, the stewardship at the moment as well. So what worked last year, um, what you can do to improve this year? I think there’s sometimes a, you know, sometimes a, a thing where people will send out surveys after they’ve. Stewarded people for London Marathon. And then a lot of the surveys will be like, how well supported did you feel?

[00:06:26] Sam Gurry: And it’s great when you get like a 7, 8, 9 across the board. Mm-hmm. Um, but I think it’s important to find out about what really landed well in your stewardships. I think like case studies, um. Certain tips, certain emails that went out that people really liked. If you can kind of dig into that, it means that then you can really look at your stewardship for the next year.

[00:06:47] Sam Gurry: So Ollie from Bernardo’s joined us, um, for our London Marathon Masterclass webinar in May. And she shared loads and loads of really insightful, um, tips and stuff. So if little plug, I’d go back and watch that, um, if you are planning. But one thing that, uh, I took away is the fact that. Making a stewardship journey that is really personal.

[00:07:09] Sam Gurry: It’s run centered. Um, to ensure that everyone feels supported and showing how much the difference that their fundraising is gonna make to the charity, basically, at this point, a well-planned, you know, well time journey. Um, make sure you’ve got fundraising tips, how it all links back, anchors it back to the fundraising, you know, it’s gonna, it’s gonna be really useful because not only are you gonna have a great London marathon, but it means that you can take other opportunities, um, get fundraiser loyalty, long-term support, um, all of the things that.

[00:07:38] Sam Gurry: We’re trying to do here in charity sector. 

[00:07:40] Simon Scriver: Yeah. I mean, they, they might not be doing the London Marathon next year, but they might, you know, there’s, there’s other places they can move to, other ways they can support you. So that, that supported journey is so important. I, I do wanna dive a bit more into that support supported journey, but you mentioned something there about, you know, that initial contact and getting them the link in the first place.

[00:07:58] Simon Scriver: I find that, so it’s so interesting because I remember working as a fundraiser. Starting to talk to people who signed up to like, raise money for us and you’d suggest, you know, suggest putting, sharing the page on their Facebook and things like this. And they hadn’t, some people had never even thought of that.

[00:08:14] Simon Scriver: Do you know? And for us as fundraisers, it’s like so obvious. It’s like, get the link, share it, push it out. But for, for nor normal people, for real people, like they, they don’t have that front of mind. So I, it’s really, um, encouraging to hear you talk about that kind of initial activation, that initial. Um, push to get people.

[00:08:33] Simon Scriver: Yeah. Is there, is there anything else, because you talk a lot about the campaign pages. Is there anything else that jumps out at you that really engages people to start fundraising? 

[00:08:42] Sam Gurry: I think, um, what’s really good, and I’ve seen charities doing it quite well this year, um, is like an activation incentive. A lot of people talk about.

[00:08:53] Sam Gurry: Incentives in a sense of, you know, hit 500 pound and you can get, you know, a headband or some golden shoelaces, whichever the, uh, whichever the choice is. Um, but I think that initial activation incentive, so if charities have got anything that they can offer as a prize, even just saying when you’ve, when you’ve offered all of your pages, um, places out, sorry.

[00:09:15] Sam Gurry: And you know, you are encouraging everyone to set up their page and start fundraising. If there’s a thing where you can say. Set up your page, have 20 pounds on it, buy it x date, and you’ll be entered into this prize draw. I think that’s the, we we’re seeing a really good kind of, um, reaction to that kind of thing.

[00:09:32] Sam Gurry: Um, and it’s just, yeah, getting, getting that initial bit of kind of action, I guess it’s just encouraging that. 

[00:09:39] Simon Scriver: Yeah, I like that. Even digital incentives, if you’re a small charity without much budget, like these little digital incentives and downloads and stuff could be, could be really helpful. May maybe you could speak a little bit more about the campaign pages.

[00:09:49] Simon Scriver: ’cause I, I mean. I, I always find one of the benefits of third party platforms like yourself and especially just giving is, is because you work with so many organizations, you kind of optimize your pages, your journeys, your campaigns as a default almost, you know, across, across the board. But obviously people can put some customization in this.

[00:10:08] Simon Scriver: Are there any other thoughts on those campaign pages and, and maybe some examples that really stood out to you or, or some best practices when we’re, when we’re putting those together? 

[00:10:17] Sam Gurry: Yeah, definitely. Um, so I think with the campaign pages, the really good thing I’m just giving is that you can, you know, we spoke about preparing and planning early, um, but you can basically get it ready to go for next year if, or even 2027 if we’re thinking that far ahead.

[00:10:32] Sam Gurry: And you can leave it in the draft and then you can set it to go live on a certain date or do then. So my first recommendation with the campaign pages and optimizing it would be just get it set up as, as soon as possible. Um. And then the, the next thing is similar to a fundraising page really is making it as personal to your organization as possible.

[00:10:53] Sam Gurry: Mm-hmm. One thing that you, we are trying to create with a campaign page is that sense of community. You know, when people use the campaign fundraising link and they join the page, you’re gonna see all of their fundraising together. Um, all of the fundraisers down the right hand side. So you can also use the story section.

[00:11:12] Sam Gurry: Um. To really let people know the, you know, the, the impact they’re gonna have on the organization. Um, a bit more about, you know, the team itself, the power of video is really good. So you can embed videos onto our campaign pages. Um, I’ve seen in the past charities share, you know, uh, videos about their kinda training days or previous teams or just to give people a kind of idea of what the day’s gonna be like.

[00:11:37] Sam Gurry: Mm-hmm. So just making sure that you’re kind of taking advantage of all of those things to make it as personalized as possible. Towards the organization. Um, and then also just the visual side of it. You know, making sure that you can, you kind of put a banner around the outside that’s on brand. Um, if you’re not using a video, having a really engaging cover, cover, uh, image there.

[00:11:58] Sam Gurry: And then even things within the story themselves, putting things like. Shopping list items. Yeah, making it easier for your fundraisers to quickly have a place they can go to and, you know, share with their donors how much the donor support is gonna make. And, you know, encouraging people to hopefully give, um, a slightly higher donation.

[00:12:17] Sam Gurry: So, you know, there’s a lot that you can do there, but I think making it personal towards the organization and telling that story is, is key. Um, so yeah. I’m, 

[00:12:29] Simon Scriver: I’m cur I’m curious, like on a personal level, ’cause you obviously see a lot of these pages yourself in your day to day work and, and it, you know, at times it’s a, it’s a job.

[00:12:38] Simon Scriver: Like on a personal level, is there anything that jumped out at you in the last year’s marathon or anything that kind of made you stop to think like someone was doing it differently? And I mean, just giving, you’re always so good at sharing case studies and, and, and in this report itself, I, I will, I will re remind people to download it ’cause there’s some great case studies in here and like example pages.

[00:12:57] Simon Scriver: Anything for you, Sam, that like jumped out. 

[00:13:00] Sam Gurry: Yeah, so there’s a few charities, um, that jump out. One of them, uh, was Bernardo’s, uh, I mentioned they obviously joined our, uh, call before, but they’re a really good example of what they did this year in terms of their stewardship. So they had basically four overlapping email streams, um, that spanned across their entire stewardship journey.

[00:13:19] Sam Gurry: Um, and it was really, really kind of impactful ’cause it basically incorporated all of that. Personal connection and talking to people on, in various parts of where they were in the journey in order to kind of drive that commitment. Um, and they also added in extra touch points, basically from their journey from the year before to kind of show fundraisers how valued they were.

[00:13:41] Sam Gurry: Um, so they had two rounds of phone calls and they had good luck calls, um, handwritten cards, personalized thank you letters. Um, they had a letter from the CEO for standout supporters, and then. One thing that I think this year is, has been the kind of thread that’s run throughout everything in terms of stewardship is WhatsApp groups.

[00:14:03] Sam Gurry: Um, like I said, we, we had a kind of session with some of our charities last week and when I’ve been speaking to charities on, on wrap-ups and kind of reviews, everyone’s talking about how impactful the WhatsApp group had and people were really talking to each other and I think. A few years ago it was Facebook groups, right?

[00:14:20] Sam Gurry: And then now we’ve kind of moved on and now we’re all talking about WhatsApp group. So that, it’s been really good to see that. Um, and to go back to the phone calls that I, that I mentioned earlier, we again recently did a little bit of, um, research through survey. So talking to fundraisers that had set up pages on just giving, and it’s quite interesting to see the, um.

[00:14:44] Sam Gurry: The kind of difference in terms of what fundraisers are expecting and what fundraisers in terms of charity, fundraisers, uh, see that are really impactful. So I think the option to receive a call was like fourth on, on the list of what, uh, runners wanted. But then when we, uh, surveyed charity fundraisers, all of them said that phone calls were still the most impactful, most effective kind of bit of stewardship.

[00:15:09] Sam Gurry: So I think it’s also important to kind of keep in mind that. It there, there’s some, there’s some things you’ve gotta do for effect, right? You need to try and get hold of people and kind of talk to them and, um, encourage them and just let ’em know that you’re there. Um, I think phone calls is still the, the best way for doing that.

[00:15:26] Sam Gurry: So it might, may be a bit old school, but I still think phone calls are great. 

[00:15:29] Simon Scriver: Well, I, I mean, it’s so interesting when you ask like, like people what they want. ’cause I mean, I mean, a great example is if you ask someone, do they want a thank you? I mean, almost nobody will say they wanna thank and don’t worry about thanking, you know, save your time, save your money.

[00:15:42] Simon Scriver: But I mean, in reality it’s probably a hundred percent of us want some sort of acknowledgement or thank you. And I do like to just giving, put so much emphasis on that kind of supporter experience, that journey that goes on to it. Maybe you could talk, remind us a little bit about the tools you have.

[00:15:57] Simon Scriver: ’cause I know you kind of have these email journeys you can build almost conditional in terms of how people are communicated with, what are, what are your just giving users using on just giving to, to help these journeys along? 

[00:16:10] Sam Gurry: So in terms of journeys, we basically have our, um, our fundraiser lifecycle that everyone.

[00:16:18] Sam Gurry: On the platform, um, received. So we kind of went live with that in, in 2020. Um, and we, we ab tested it and we optimize it massively, and we see that people that receive that journey receive, um, 6% more. They, they raise 6% more on average. So we continue to optimize that. One thing that we are, um, adding this year is our fundraising heroes leaderboard.

[00:16:44] Sam Gurry: So. All of the charities that have places in London Marathon and, and used just given in order to, um, set up their pages will benefit from the, the heroes board. And essentially it’s, it’s a leaderboard that has an additional stewardship journey alongside it, letting people know when they’ve, um, unlocked badges in order to gamify fundraising.

[00:17:04] Sam Gurry: Um, you know, trying to create that little bit of friendly competition by letting people know where they are on the leaderboard. Um, mm-hmm. We’ve seen some really, uh, good success with that so far, um, and, and really good engagement. So by the time 2026 rolls round, we’ll, um, we’ll have that live across the, across the platform.

[00:17:22] Simon Scriver: Nice. Nice. That’s really smart. I mean, that gamification, it works so well, and I think it, it really, you know, especially for like London Marathon is, or any event, fundraisers. It really leans into the fact that it’s, it’s not all about the charity. Do you know? The charity is really important, but it’s also just about that experience and that fun and that you know, what the person is getting out of it individually.

[00:17:44] Simon Scriver: And I think you guys are so good at putting that forward. Um, in terms of, um, like throughout the rest of the report. ’cause it’s a chunky report, you know, like it’s really, uh, there’s a lot of meat in it and I highly recommend people download it. But what else jumps out for you in terms of insights in it that you would be kind of talking to your current.

[00:18:02] Simon Scriver: Uh, charities, um, portfolio about, like, what would you be recommending and pushing out there? 

[00:18:10] Sam Gurry: Um, I think in terms of if they’re planning, uh, and they’re thinking about the, the steps they’re taking for next year, it’s, um, it’s just thinking about the, the objectives. Um, so every charity is gonna have a very different objective, depends on how many places they’ve got.

[00:18:26] Sam Gurry: And I think if you’ve got less places, it may be more about kind of, um. How you’re gonna be recruiting people that that may have a higher average paid value to make up that gap. Or if you’ve got the charities that have got more places, it might be a bit in about ensuring that you’re able to kind of support people at the same level and and maintain the, the level of fundraising you’ve got there.

[00:18:46] Sam Gurry: So, um, I think that’s the really important thing as well. People just need to be kind of looking at what is the objective for next year. Mm-hmm. Um, and I would set, uh, yourselves kind of like key. Performance indicators, basically. I think that’s the, that’s the key thing. Um, and maybe not have too many. So is it that you are gonna be looking to increase the amount raised per runner?

[00:19:10] Sam Gurry: Um, you know, lots of charities that I speak to are increasing their, um, average minimum kind of minimum fundraising target this year. Okay. Um, so, so what would that look like and how are you gonna support runners to that? So I think that’s a key thing to look at. Mm-hmm. Um, and alongside that, how. How do you encourage people to keep fundraising more?

[00:19:29] Sam Gurry: So we, we’ve spoken about incentives, but are you gonna have milestones throughout the journey? Um, can you add in more incentives? Like I said, it, they, they don’t have to be, um, big costly things. It can be that you get kind of put as the social media fundraiser of the week and, and things like that. Like it doesn’t have to be, like I said, for, for charities that maybe don’t have the, the bigger budgets.

[00:19:51] Sam Gurry: It can be anything. It’s just those kind of. Things that make people feel good about taking part. Yeah. Um, and then also just other things around, are you gonna be setting, you know, deadlines in terms of like, people have to raise something by a certain date or are you looking to collect certain things, um, from fundraiser feedback?

[00:20:11] Sam Gurry: So I think mm-hmm. That’s the, the kind of main thing I’ll be looking at this year is, is look at some key performance indicators on how you are gonna impact those in order to grow. The fundraising overall for next year and give people a better, better experience. 

[00:20:26] Simon Scriver: Yeah, and I, and I really like that you acknowledge, you know, the smaller charities or those without resources like you, you don’t have to, it doesn’t have to be overkill with the data that you’re measuring and in terms of, you know, what you’re trying to do, but it’s about kind of stepping back and having that clear plan about.

[00:20:41] Simon Scriver: What, what are we actually measuring and trying to work on? What is the goal of this? I think that’s really important. I mean, what, what is, what is the goal your clients are talking about? Like, I mean, I, I assume you want people to repeat fundraising, but there’s also that transition into becoming donors, isn’t it?

[00:20:56] Simon Scriver: There’s also that transition into their companies getting involved and things like that. How, how do you look at it from a holistic point of view where you’re looking at all your fundraising beyond the London Marathon? I think that’s, that’s the 

[00:21:08] Sam Gurry: big thing, right? Isn’t it? And, and. The London Marathon fundraisers, sometimes, um, they will be fundraising for some charities because they wanna run a London marathon.

[00:21:18] Sam Gurry: I think that’s, we all kind of, yeah, yeah, yeah. Accept that. But it is also then a really good opportunity to, um, turn those people who may not necessarily know much about the organization or they may support it, but they may not have been a support before. And you can turn them into really, like, quite, uh, strong supporters.

[00:21:35] Sam Gurry: I think. Um, again. When we had a session with, um, some charities a few weeks ago in the room, they were saying that there’s not many other parts of charity fundraising or, um, events, fundraising, or even when you look at kind of like individual giving or high value, where one person will get such a personalized 

[00:21:56] Simon Scriver: Hmm, 

[00:21:57] Sam Gurry: constant support over, you know, over, over a year.

[00:22:00] Sam Gurry: Sometimes if they’ve set up their pages straight away. So. It’s really important that you kind of support them and then afterwards look at what is the, what’s the journey afterwards? So straight after the event, um, are you gonna be encouraging ’em to take part in, in other things? Is it that you’ve got a, a retention event where you’re gonna get everyone back together and you’re gonna kind of, you know, you can do small awards ceremonies and things like that to, to kind of keep them, um, to keep them retained, but.

[00:22:31] Sam Gurry: Yeah, I think it is, it, it really is a really, um, important part of it is you’re turning these into supporters for life and like I said, the the amount of contact you’re gonna have with those people is, it doesn’t really happen anywhere else in, in charity fundraising. Really? 

[00:22:48] Simon Scriver: Yeah. That’s funny. It’s a really amazing point ’cause I’ve never really considered it like that.

[00:22:51] Simon Scriver: It is this like super unique. Communications channel where you’re, it’s like almost hyper-personalized, but you’re really embedded in their life for a, like an extended period of time, which, which is a really strange way to approach it. So again, I think that just leans into the point that you keep making about really planning this as a it, as it is a very specific audience and working with the tools you have to try and try and, um.

[00:23:16] Simon Scriver: Have a strong communication strategy as possible. So I, I mean, I don’t have a whole lot of time with you, but in terms of, um, just giving a, you know, I always sing just giving praises ’cause you guys have so many resources and, and your team is always so helpful when charities reach out. But what other kind of, um, support would you recommend people turn to with you guys?

[00:23:34] Simon Scriver: What, what else should they be taking advantage of that maybe not everyone is taking advantage of? So I’d say that 

[00:23:40] Sam Gurry: the London Marathon Guide is definitely, uh, the, the kind of first place to go, especially for London Marathon and the London Marathon Hub as well. So, we’ll, we’ll be linking out, um, to that, to make sure you have a look, but there’s loads of online charity resources.

[00:23:56] Sam Gurry: Um, so if you are, if you’re having any kind of questions about how to set up pages, how to set up campaign pages, um, you can head over to our, uh. The fundraising hub and there’s lots of articles there on, on getting set up and best practice. Um, I’d also recommend that everyone subscribes to our blog. So if you head over to blog dot, just give.com.

[00:24:20] Sam Gurry: That’s where we share all of our charity case studies. So, um, obviously I mentioned a couple on the call, but there’s so much, there’s so much good work that’s happening out there. And, um, so you can kind of see what other charities are doing. News about our product updates as well. Um, mm-hmm. So, like you said, we’re kind of constantly optimizing, adding new things so you can find out all about that.

[00:24:42] Sam Gurry: And then also just the latest insights and tips across, I mean, a range of topics. Obviously we’re talking about London Marathon, but there’s a huge, uh, array of things on there that we can kind of support about. Um. Then also we have our charity support team as well. Um, so I’d always kind of recommend if, if people do need help, then heading over to our help section on, on this site.

[00:25:07] Sam Gurry: And you can kind of talk to live chat or you can, um, email into our support team. Um, and actually my recommendation always for the charities that I work with is ensure that if you are kind of getting a lot of questions about just giving, um, from your runners. 

[00:25:23] Simon Scriver: Mm. 

[00:25:24] Sam Gurry: Just make sure if it’s about just giving kind of point ’em in the direction of our support team.

[00:25:29] Sam Gurry: Um, you know, we can take the questions off of the charity. Charities have got a lot on their plate. You’re trying to look after stewardship and everything else. So, you know, encourage, you know, fundraisers to kind of reach out to us as well if they need any support or they need help. Um, 

[00:25:44] Simon Scriver: yeah. Yeah, I mean, don’t rack your brain trying to solve a problem that’s already been, you know, exactly.

[00:25:49] Simon Scriver: Happening hundreds of times somewhere else. So yeah, I highly recommend that you guys are not yet. AI customer service. So I still recommend, um, people getting in touch ’cause it’s always that human help. Really appreciate that. And, and Sam, I um, where do people find you? Do you, do you frequent link LinkedIn these days or can people get, follow you for stuff on there?

[00:26:08] Sam Gurry: Uh, yeah, yeah, I’m on, um, I’m on LinkedIn, so, um, if anyone wants to, um, look at my profile, which isn’t hugely interesting, I guess, but, um, I’ll, I’ll put out a few of the updates that we’re up to here. Um, just giving, um, and kind of various charities that I’m, that I’m working with, um. But yeah, I’m, I’m, I’ll be sure to, I’ll be happy to have more connections on there.

[00:26:31] Sam Gurry: So, 

[00:26:32] Simon Scriver: yeah, appreciate that. Yeah, do reach out to Sam and, uh, and again, remember to download this report. We’ve got a link in the description there, so please go ahead and download it. There’s lots more insights in there. Really good to see the stats that are out there and some, I mean, your reports just given, put out so many regular reports, but they always have actual practical.

[00:26:49] Simon Scriver: Applyable tips, which I always think are great, but well done on this because, I mean, looking at the numbers, you know, like upwards of 40 million pounds so far raised mm-hmm. Is still going. And the volume of fundraising pages and people that are doing this is, it’s, it’s mind blowing, isn’t it? 

[00:27:05] Sam Gurry: Yeah, 

[00:27:06] Simon Scriver: it’s amazing.

[00:27:06] Simon Scriver: And I 

[00:27:06] Sam Gurry: think the, the events just showing no signs of, of, of stopping really, like mm-hmm. Year over year we’re seeing average page values go up. Um, like you said, activation rates, um, we’re seeing more engaged fundraisers as well. So yeah, it’s, it’s great to see, and I think that’s the other thing, that’s why it’s such a important part for us to be able to support that.

[00:27:29] Sam Gurry: It’s such a huge part of not only obviously, the UK fundraising calendar, but. Worldwide as well. So, um, that’s why we kind of have a big, big focus on making sure we’re being able to support charities with it. Um, and I should probably mention as well, if, if you do have any questions or you want insights in terms of your specific London Marathon performance, either get in touch with our success team, um, or get in touch with our, uh, account management team if you have an account manager.

[00:27:57] Sam Gurry: And yeah, we are all more than happy to, to help out with that kind of stuff. So yeah, make sure you take advantage of that as well. 

[00:28:04] Simon Scriver: Amazing. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your insights and thanks for talking us through that. Uh, and good luck to everyone who’s beginning, uh, or beginning to begin or thinking about beginning, uh, their London Marathon 2026 planning.

[00:28:17] Simon Scriver: There’s some really good stuff to get you started there. Um, but yeah, it just sounds like that kind of considered time and there’s still lots of opportunity there, so that’s brilliant. Sam, thank you so much for your time. It’s been such a pleasure to chat to you. Uh, I hope it hasn’t been too painful and, uh, and we might chat to you again next year when we’re kicking off 2027 if you, if you, uh, yeah.

[00:28:36] Simon Scriver: Still in, uh, able, in one peace of mind, able to deal with it. 

[00:28:41] Sam Gurry: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Appreciate you having me on. It’s been, um, yeah, it’s been good to talk about it. Thanks so much. 

[00:28:46] Simon Scriver: Amazing. And thank you all to everyone. Uh, my name is Simon Reiber. I’m the co-founder of Fundraising Everywhere. Reminder to download that report.

[00:28:53] Simon Scriver: Uh, the link is in the description. Um, but otherwise please do subscribe and we’ll be back for another episode. But as always, you can get in touch or find out everything that’s happening and going on in the fundraising everywhere world@fundraisingeverywhere.com. Take care everyone. Thank you.

[00:29:09] Alex Aggidis: Thank you so much for listening to the Fundraising Everywhere podcast. If you’re enjoying this podcast, why not share it with a fundraising friend? And if you would like to give us a little like or subscribe, it really helps more fundraisers like you find us. Thank you so much. See you next time.

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