corporate partnerships

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.

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 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.

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…

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.

It takes a lot of different things to ensure that fundraising is successful in an organisation: talented people, adequate budget, a convincing case for support and often a drop of good luck. But there’s something else that too often gets overlooked: organisational culture.

During our training courses and strategic planning work, we talk a lot about the importance of having a whole-organisation approach to fundraising and a fundraising-friendly culture – but it can be difficult to explain what this really means.

For me, a fundraising-friendly culture is when everyone in your organisation – whether that’s five, 50 or 500 people – recognises the importance of good fundraising to the bigger picture of your work, understands all the little things they can do to support your fundraising efforts, and feels motivated to play a part.

The charitable soft opt-in ICO guidance has just landed.

For many charities, this is the biggest shift in supporter communications rules in years.

And our inbox and membership chat are already full of questions:
Does event attendance count as expressing interest?
What about volunteering, buying a raffle ticket, or clicking a link?
Can we now contact people we previously couldn’t?
And just as importantly…Where are the grey areas charities need to tread carefully?
To help the sector unpack all of this quickly, we’re hosting a session with Mark Burnett from Hope & May.

Get access to the full webinar & 30 minute Q&A.

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to hit follow and enable notifications so you’ll get notified to be first to hear of future podcast episodes. We’d love to see you back again!

And thank you to our friends at JustGiving who make the Fundraising Everywhere Podcast possible.

In this episode of the Fundraising Everywhere podcast, host Nikki Bell, Co-Founder of Fundraising Everywhere and Creator of Pizza For Losers is joined by Josh Leigh, Co-Founder of Hynt and Matt Middler, Transformative Coach to discuss the transformative power of embracing and learning from failure.

The trio dives into their personal experiences, share impactful stories from previous Pizza for Losers events, and highlight the significance of creating safe spaces for candid conversations within the fundraising sector. Get ready for an honest, inspiring, and fun-filled conversation that also teases insights from this year’s exciting Pizza for Losers event.

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.

A new generation are redefining what generosity looks like. Fia Ewings explores how charities can close the Gen Z engagement gap through transparency, digital-first experiences, and authentic relationships that turn values into action.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my first proper fundraising role.

I was one of two fundraisers in a small organisation. And when I say small, I mean small. My “office” was a spare bedroom in a housing estate that had been converted to a business park.

The kind where you’re never quite sure if you’re meant to be working or apologising for being there… I had to make a business case to buy a hoover.

But despite being scrappy, we had big ambitions. Proper, change-the-world kind of stuff. Having seen the work in person, I knew how much it mattered.

But day-to-day? I was scrabbling around in the dark.

I knew what we were trying to do. I just didn’t always know what to do next.

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.

Finding new donors and reactivating lapsed supporters is a huge challenge for any charity. However, Age Action in Ireland wanted to give it a try. Their recent direct mail appeal combines a long letter with hardworking lift pieces and a super matched giving offer. 

In doing so, they have created something special. The appeal is emotive and starts a conversation between the donor and the supporter. 

US-based fundraiser Pamela Grow recently said, ‘lapsed donors are not lost causes’ and this appeal proves she’s right. Keep reading to find out how Age Action reactivated lapsed donors, recruited new ones and secured large average gifts too!

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued guidance on the new “charitable purposes” soft opt-in under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). This allows charities to send certain electronic marketing without explicit consent, but only in limited circumstances.