I've got something special for you today!

Over the past few years, I've recorded several Why Do People Give? podcasts with Giles Pegram CBE, which have always been well recieved. We've typically discussed specific issues affecting the sector, such as COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis, providing insights and recommendations for fundraisers.

However, we both had thoughts about bringing other voices to your attention, both within and outside the sector. So, we've created a new video podcast on YouTube – but you can also listen to the audio here.

It's called Two Ps on a Pod, with the first episode launching today. In this episode, we discuss some of the statistics and findings from my recent LinkedIn videos and share our plans for the coming months.

You'll learn more about the £5.5 billion wealth transfer in the UK that will transform fundraising over the next decade, the importance of responding to donors' needs, reasons why donors lapse, how giving attitudes change with age, and the necessity of integrating appeals over time instead of having everything look the same.

But it’s the next episodes that are particularly exciting as we’ve got some great guests lined up:

A CEO of a major UK charity discussing their views on the fundraising function and its integration into the charity's strategy.

A senior regulator offering insights on the future of fundraising and potential considerations for the next government.

A branding specialist talking about what charities get right and wrong about branding, and sharing stories about famous UK TV ad campaigns.

Donors sharing their giving experiences, ranging from those giving hundreds to millions each year, providing fascinating perspectives on decision making.

That's just the beginning! In the following months, we plan to speak with people from Supporter Services departments, a patron on two, a head of a significant foundation, a psychologist, market researchers, academics, and a journalist. We'll also have a few fundraisers coming on to share some background into some significant fundraising campaigns. You'll find out what worked and what didn't.

There will also be plenty of episodes where Giles and I discuss current sector happenings and topics that should be of interest. Hopefully everything we share will help you become a more informed fundraiser.

We are planning to publish new episodes every two weeks moving forward so if you'd like to share thoughts and ideas for future shows, please let us know in the comments!

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.