You've heard of match funding. But do you really know how to make it work for your charity?

In this episode, we sit down with Alex Day, Managing Director of Big Give, the UK's largest digital match funding platform, to find out what separates the charities that smash their targets from those that don't, and why this tool is far more accessible than many smaller charities assume.

From the origins of Big Give to a bold goal of raising £1 billion by 2030, this is a conversation packed with practical insight for fundraisers of every size.

What you'll hear in this episode

• How match funding actually works and why it's simpler than you think
• What smaller charities need to have in place before applying to Big Give
• The most common mistake charities make with match funding campaigns
• What the charities that consistently smash their targets do differently
• How Big Give is evolving as the fundraising landscape shifts

Useful links

• Big Give: https://donate.biggive.org/
• Alex Day on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-day-63b97b62/
• Big Give Christmas Challenge: https://biggive.org/blog/2026/02/09/reflecting-on-the-2025-christmas-challenge/
• Love Oliver: https://loveoliver.org.uk
• Hartcliffe City Farm: https://hartcliffecityfarm.org.uk

Get involved:

• Listen to The Charity Show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favourite platform
• Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠thecharityshowpod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Send a voice message to TheCharityShow
• Find every link you need: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/thecharityshow⁠⁠⁠⁠

Enjoyed the episode? Leave a five-star review and follow/subscribe to support the show!

💡 If you enjoyed this episode, hit follow or subscribe on your podcast app, and please leave us a five-star rating — it helps more people find conversations with real charity experts across the UK.

This episode is produced by The Good Studio – Creating great content for good causes. From podcasts and campaigns to film and copywriting, The Good Studio helps charities tell powerful stories that make people care.👉 Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thegoodstudio.co.uk⁠⁠⁠

We often talk about the power of giving. But what if the way we give is part of the problem?

In this episode, we sit down with Professor Niki Banks, co-founder of One World Together, to explore a bold challenge to the traditional charity model, and why ensuring that more of your money helps the people and projects you want it to, may mean giving differently.

From funding flows to frontline impact, this is a conversation that might just change how you think about donations.

What you’ll hear in this episode

• The hidden complexity behind big charity funding models
• Why small, community-led organisations can outperform larger charities
• The case for unrestricted funding and why flexibility matters
• How One World Together claims to make donations up to 40x more impactful.

Useful links:

• One World Together: https://oneworldtogether.org.uk/
• Niki on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-banks-03249459/
• From Me To You: https://www.frommetoyouletters.co.uk/
• Ailsa's Aim: https://www.ailsasaim.co.uk/

Get involved:

• Listen to The Charity Show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favourite platform
• Email us at ⁠⁠⁠thecharityshowpod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠
• Send a voice message to TheCharityShow
• Find every link you need: ⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/thecharityshow⁠⁠⁠

Enjoyed the episode? Leave a five-star review and follow/subscribe to support the show!

💡 If you enjoyed this episode, hit follow or subscribe on your podcast app, and please leave us a five-star rating — it helps more people find conversations with real charity experts across the UK.

This episode is produced by The Good Studio – Creating great content for good causes. From podcasts and campaigns to film and copywriting, The Good Studio helps charities tell powerful stories that make people care.👉 Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠www.thegoodstudio.co.uk⁠⁠⁠

In episode 45 of The Charity Show, Tim and Piers sit down with Martin Bisiker, founder of Legasee Educational Trust, for a fascinating conversation about one of the most quietly urgent missions in the heritage sector: capturing the testimonies of veterans before their stories are lost forever.

Martin's path to founding Legasee is an unconventional one. A career in television - including filming Julia Bradbury from a microlight over Victoria Falls - gave him both a love of storytelling and a growing unease about what was disappearing. When the last surviving First World War veteran passed away, something clicked. Armed with a camera and a sense of urgency, he began interviewing Second World War veterans, and what started as a personal project became a registered charity in 2012.

Legasee Educational Trust now holds an archive of over 700 filmed interviews, freely available to view online, spanning conflicts from the Second World War through to more recent campaigns.

Together, Tim, Piers and Martin explore:

• How Legasee grew from a nagging feeling that something important was about to be lost, and the chance encounter with a former Age UK executive that helped turn a personal project into a charity
• Why Martin insists the archive is freely accessible to everyone - not just researchers and academics - and the thinking behind that decision from the very beginning
• The art of the veteran interview: why open questions matter, how you create the conditions for people to open up on camera, and the moments that stay with you long after the recording ends
• The new Aden Emergency Project - a forgotten conflict from 1963 to 1967, now the subject of a National Lottery Heritage Fund-backed project based in Blackpool, including a remarkable collaboration with a drama college to bring veteran testimony to the stage
• Legasee's growing podcast output, from the acclaimed five-part D-Day series to the Berlin Airlift, and how volunteer expertise has shaped the quality of every episode
• The Local Heroes programme - Martin's plan to teach young people how to build their own archives, and why that feels like the natural next step for Legasee's mission

Useful links:

• Legasee Educational Trust – https://www.legasee.org.uk

• National Literacy Trust / National Year of Reading – https://www.literacytrust.org.uk
• Sheppey Pulse Network – https://www.sheppeypulsenetwork.co.uk/
• HANAH – Help Against Bullying and Mental Health – https://www.hab-antibullying.com/
• The Good Studio – Great content for good causes – https://www.thegoodstudio.co.uk

Get involved:

• Listen to The Charity Show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favourite platform
• Email us at ⁠⁠thecharityshowpod@gmail.com⁠⁠
• Send a voice message to TheCharityShow
• Find every link you need: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/thecharityshow⁠⁠

Enjoyed the episode? Leave a five-star review and follow/subscribe to support the show!

💡 If you enjoyed this episode, hit follow or subscribe on your podcast app, and please leave us a five-star rating — it helps more people find conversations with real charity experts across the UK.

This episode is produced by The Good Studio – Creating great content for good causes. From podcasts and campaigns to film and copywriting, The Good Studio helps charities tell powerful stories that make people care.👉 Find out more at ⁠⁠www.thegoodstudio.co.uk⁠⁠