How to seize an unexpected major fundraising opportunity

Third Sector Podcast

Lucinda Rouse is joined by Paul Watkins, fundraising director at Leeds Hospitals Charity, to reflect on the charity’s delivery of a £6.8m appeal for a new motor neurone disease care centre.

Paul describes the integral role of the late England rugby league player Rob Burrow, who was diagnosed with MND in 2019 and died earlier this year, in mobilising a community of some 17,000 individual supporters, who each donated an average of £35, and colleagues from the rugby world.

Paul emphasises the importance of storytelling in motivating people to donate and explains how the charity, whose largest previous appeal was just £1.2m, was able to adapt to take up an immediate and time-sensitive opportunity.

Also in the episode, Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the RSPCA, joins to talk about the latest report by the Charity Reform Group, which calls for greater representation of charity leaders in national debates.

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