5. The business model to smash a £30million target | BigGive

Summary

Podcast Summary: James Reed: All About Business
Episode 5: The Business Model to Smash a £30 Million Target | BigGive
Release Date: December 2, 2024

Hosted by James Reed CBE, Chairman and CEO of Reed Group, Episode 5 features Alex Day, the Director of Big Give, the UK's largest match funding platform. This episode delves into how Big Give has successfully raised over £300 million for thousands of charities with a lean team of just ten people. The conversation explores the innovative business model, the psychology behind match funding, the advantages of a digital-first approach, and the ambitious goals set for the future.

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1. Introduction

James Reed opens the episode by introducing Alex Day, highlighting Big Give’s impressive ability to secure substantial funding for charities despite having a minimal team. Reed emphasizes the relevance of Alex’s insights for small business owners and entrepreneurs seeking scalable growth without extensive resources.

[00:00] James Reed: "I'm often asked by small business owners and entrepreneurs how they can grow when they have such small teams... So how do they do this without adding and hiring more employees than they can afford?"

2. The Big Idea Behind Big Give

Alex Day explains the core concept of Big Give: doubling the impact of donations through match funding. The platform targets three key audiences—champions (match funders like trusts and foundations), charity partners, and the general public.

[01:52] Alex Day: "The big Idea is about doubling the difference that people can make."

When the public donates, match funding champions double their contributions. Since its inception in 2008, Big Give has raised over £300 million by leveraging this model.

3. The Psychology of Match Funding

Reed probes into why match funding is so effective. Alex cites research indicating that donations increase in both frequency and amount when matched, likening it to a "buy one, get one free" strategy used in retail to attract customers.

[03:29] James Reed: "It's like a buy one, get one free offer in the supermarket... That's the same for our match funding idea."

4. The Digital-First Approach

Alex highlights Big Give’s digital foundation, contrasting it with traditional charity campaigns like Comic Relief. Founded in the mid-2000s, Big Give capitalized on the digital boom, allowing for automation and scalability that traditional models lack.

[07:18] James Reed: "You're really digital first. What's the sort of difference? And why do you think that's a better approach?"

[07:45] Alex Day: "Applying that model of matchmaking philanthropists and charities was really the sort of genesis of the Big Give."

The digital approach not only streamlined operations but also facilitated rapid growth, especially accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

5. Scaling with a Small Team

A standout feature of Big Give is its ability to function efficiently with a small team. Alex attributes this to three main factors:

1. Strong Team: Emphasis on hiring highly competent and motivated individuals.
2. Leveraging Networks: Partnerships with the Reed business provide free office space and back-office support, reducing overhead costs.
3. Advanced Technology: Automation and a robust digital platform enhance operational efficiency.

[12:09] James Reed: "How have you managed to keep it so lean?"

[12:21] Alex Day: "We have a really strong team... leveraging the power of our networks... and the technology that we've built."

6. Champion Partner Retention

Maintaining high retention rates among champion partners is crucial. Alex outlines their strategy:

• Clear Value Proposition: Emphasizing the multiplier effect of donations.
• Sustainability Support: Providing charities with training and resources to build long-term fundraising capabilities.
• Community Building: Creating a sense of belonging among champions through shared goals and public recognition.

[17:10] Alex Day: "The multiplier effect... building sustainability... and being part of a community."

Despite challenges in communicating the match funding concept, Big Give succeeds by demonstrating tangible impacts and continuously refining their messaging.

7. Ambitious Goals and Growth

Big Give sets and achieves "Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals" (BHAGs), inspired by business author Jim Collins. Recently, they surpassed their Christmas Challenge target, raising £33 million in a week, up from the previous £20 million target.

[24:17] James Reed: "You've got this target, this huge target of raising a billion for good causes by 2030..."

[25:01] Alex Day: "We smashed it. We got £33 million."

These ambitious targets are supported by foundational investments in technology and infrastructure, enabling scalable growth without proportionately increasing staff numbers.

8. Filco: Philanthropy in Business

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the Filco (Philanthropy Company) model, where a charitable foundation holds part of a company's shares. Alex advocates for more businesses to adopt this structure, citing examples like IKEA and Raspberry Pi.

[36:00] Alex Day: "Having foundation ownership baked into the organizational structure makes you more resilient... and it's a one-off change that has a decades-long enduring impact."

This model fosters trust, aligns corporate values with philanthropic goals, and enhances employee satisfaction and retention.

9. Values and Team Motivation

Big Give operates on core values of being trustworthy, purposeful, and generous. These values attract like-minded individuals dedicated to making a social impact. Alex emphasizes the importance of a motivated team that is eager to learn and grow, finding personal fulfillment in witnessing the tangible difference their work makes.

[35:10] Alex Day: "Our purpose is about doubling the difference... people want to be a part of that."

10. Future Vision

Looking ahead to 2030, Big Give aims to raise £1 billion. Alex discusses potential expansions, such as matched regular giving campaigns to address issues like the cost of living crisis. The platform seeks to remain adaptable, addressing evolving societal needs and continuing to innovate in philanthropy technology.

[41:51] Alex Day: "We hope by 2030 will have the Big Give in a position where we're nearing that big target."

Alex also underscores the enduring necessity of philanthropic efforts, anticipating that needs will persist and evolve, thereby ensuring Big Give's continued relevance and impact.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Alex Day on Match Funding Impact:

  [04:31] Alex Day: "For that trust who's putting in £100k, they've helped leverage £400k of sort of."

• James Reed on Digital Advantage:

  [07:18] James Reed: "What's the sort of difference? And why do you think that's a better approach?"

• Alex Day on Team Efficiency:

  [12:10] Alex Day: "We recruit well and we've got a really fantastic collaborative team."

• Alex Day on Ambition:

  [27:08] Alex Day: "If we're going to go from 20 to 20.1. That's not enough."

• James Reed on Filco Model:

  [38:16] James Reed: "So the CEOs come and go, but the charity foundation is still a shell."

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Conclusion

Episode 5 of James Reed: All About Business offers an insightful exploration into Big Give's innovative match funding model and its remarkable success in philanthropy with a lean operational structure. Alex Day's discussion underscores the importance of strategic partnerships, technological integration, and ambitious goal-setting in scaling impactful business models. Additionally, the conversation highlights the potential of integrating philanthropy into business ownership structures, advocating for a more purpose-driven corporate landscape. For entrepreneurs and business leaders, Big Give serves as a compelling example of how aligning business strategies with social impact can lead to sustainable growth and meaningful change.

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Listen and Learn More

For those inspired by Big Give’s approach and eager to contribute, visit biggive.org. Support a cause close to your heart and make double the impact through their ongoing campaigns.

Transcript

[James Reed]

Welcome to All About Business with me, James Reed, the podcast that covers everything about business, management and leadership. Every episode, I sit down with different guests who bootstrapped companies, masterminded investment models, or built a business empire. They're leaders in their field and they're here to give you top insights and actionable advice so that you can apply their ideas to your own career or business venture. I'm often asked by small business owners and entrepreneurs how they can grow when they have such small teams. With so much to do and so few resources, it can seem impossible to take the business to the next level. So how do they do this without adding and hiring more employees than they can afford? Joining me today on All About Business is Alex Day. He's the director of big give, the UK's biggest match funding platform, which raises millions for charity every year. Alex has garnered the support of some big names, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Dame Judi Dench and Stephen Fry with a team of just 10 people. That's why he's the perfect person to talk to us about raising millions in funding, even when you have a small team. Alex, very good to see you. Thank you for joining me today. You're the managing director of the charity platform, the Big Give. It's described as a match funding platform. What's the big idea behind the Big Give? How does it work? Because you've raised phenomenal amounts of money in pretty short periods of time, and I think it's something that could be a very exciting model for other people in other walks of life, but also people who want to get involved in supporting charities. So how does it work? What is the. What's the big idea?

[Alex Day]

Yeah, so the big Idea is about doubling the difference that people can make. And we talk about our audiences in three groups. So firstly, we work with match funders that we call champions. So traditionally that's trust and foundations, philanthropists, companies, governments. Second audience is our charity partners. They're the ones that raise money on the platform. And the third is the sort of donating public who are giving their 10 pound 50, 100 on the platform. And the model, and the idea is quite simple, is that when the public give to a charity on the Big Give platform, our match funding champions will double that donation. So your £10 becomes £20, £50 becomes £100, and it's a model that's proven really successful. So as you said, Since 2008, we've raised over £300 million for thousands of good causes. And it's a model that just continues to grow and culminate in a lot of good things happening for good causes.

[James Reed]

So what is it about doubling the differences? So what's the psychology here? So why do people come through the big give when maybe they wouldn't, wouldn't bother otherwise? Or how do you sort of connect? I mean, because that's clearly what's happening.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

And it's interesting that people seem to prefer to make donations in this way. So what are the real key ingredients?

[Alex Day]

Yeah, I think the. I think the really interesting thing, we commissioned some research back in 2016 and as a. As part of that research we served, we surveyed over a thousand people and the sort of key finding from that was that more people give and people give more when their donations are matched. So that really plays into the psychology. It's a bit like a buy one, get one free offer in the supermarket is the supermarkets do that for a reason. They know it's going to be a compelling way to attract people to buy that product. And that's the same for our match funding idea.

[James Reed]

So you're literally saying, you know, if you give 50 quid, I'll give 50 quid. And you've set it up to work in that way digitally. And I can see why that's appealing. More likely to get 50 quid if someone else is doing the same. Absolutely. But it goes beyond that, doesn't it? Because you've made it more sophisticated for big donors and philanthropists, corporations where they can multiply their money four or five times. Can you just tell me quickly how that works?

[Alex Day]

Yeah. For our match funders, we use a variety of match funding models. Our most successful model is called a pledge model, where the charities themselves also have to source some of the match funding. So if we have a champion who's, let's say, a trust and foundation that's putting in 100 grand, they will support a portfolio of charities who have also sourced £100,000 worth of match funding themselves. There's £200,000 in the match funding pot. And when the public come to give to those charities in one of our campaigns, that £200,000 is matched to become £400,000. So. And often it's a lot more when you factor in gift aid and unmatched donations. So for that trust who's putting in 100k, they've helped leverage 400k of sort of.

[James Reed]

That's very exciting. If you're a philanthropist or someone who's. Who's made some money and wants to give something to charity. Yeah, That's a good way of doing it because you're increasing your leverage or impact.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely.

[James Reed]

By going through the Big Give. And it's not. You're not giving to the Big Give, you're giving through the Big Give.

[Alex Day]

That's exactly.

[James Reed]

So tell me about some of the charities that you'd find on the platform. What have we got going on?

[Alex Day]

Yeah, so all. Everything that we do in the Big Give is through our campaigns and we run a number of campaigns throughout the year. Our biggest and most successful campaign is called the Christmas Challenge, that last year raised 33 million pounds in a week for over a thousand charities. And that is a cause neutral campaign. So we support everything from household charity names like the Prince's Trust or Friends of the Earth, all the way down to very small grassroots charities across, across the UK and everything in between. I think one thing that we're really proud of at the Big Give is that despite supporting some of these sort of larger charities, the median turnover of charities that we support is around the half a million pound mark. So, yes, we do support the big sort of charity names, but the long tail of charities that we support are these sort of small to medium sized organizations. So Christmas Challenge cause neutral. Really wide variety of charities taking part in that. We also run themed campaigns throughout the year and we took this decision sort of four or five years ago. We knew that we had this model of match funding that was working really well and we asked ourselves the question as an organization. Yeah. How can we apply this to areas where a, we know there's interest from our philanthropic community in doing more in this space and secondly, so where is there a need to raise more philanthropic capital? And some of the themes that came out from that discussion was the environment, women and girls, mental health and arts sectors that have been really under the crochet in recent years, but ones that we know there's a. There's sort of a telling need to raise more money. So we run those themed campaigns. We also have the ability to spin up emergency campaigns whenever there's a sort of domestic or international crises as well. So we can quickly, in an agile fashion, respond to things that are happening around the world. So it's a really broad range of themes and I think that's part of the attraction of the Big Give for our donors, is that there is something for everyone. So whatever injustice you're passionate about, whatever cause you care about, there will be something for you on the Big Giveaway.

[James Reed]

We're delighted that you're listening to this episode. Hit the follow button so that we can continue to bring you the best business insight and actionable advice to help your business and or career. That's fantastic. And I know the green campaign has really grown.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Forgive the pun.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

And that, you know, you have big ambitions for that going into the future because we've so much concern in the world at the moment about what's happening to the planet.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

So I wish you well with that. One of the things I observe is Big Give is very different to other previous big charity campaigns. I'm thinking of Comic relief or the BBC's Children in Need, which have relied on, let's call it, old media. You're the Big Give, you're really digital first. What's the sort of difference? And why do you think that's a better approach?

[Alex Day]

Yeah, I mean, we've got huge admiration for Comic Relief and children need going for sort of a number of years and what they've achieved in that time. But if you look at the sort of impact that they've had in recent years, you can see sort of a decline in what they're able to achieve and move away from that sort of more traditional telethon model. I think the fact that we were sort of founded in the mid-2000s at the time where digital was really sort of taking off and, you know, your father identified that sort of gap in the market, is that at that time, the read online part of the business was really growing. A place where job seekers and employers could matchmake online. Applying that to philanthropy was a really smart move. So applying that sort of model of matchmaking philanthropists and charities was really the sort of genesis of the Big Give. And I think that sort of digital approach has served us really well. It was great foresight by Cyrellic in terms of thinking that that would be a great place to position the Big Give. But I think it served us particularly well over the last few years. If you think about the COVID pandemic that accelerated everything digital, the way that we shop, the way that we bank, the way that we live our lives, sort of accelerated in terms of digital fashion. So we've seen sort of exponential growth since the pandemic. We've seen a sort of higher rate of growth on the Big Give because we were positioned to be a sort of digital offering for our charity partners.

[James Reed]

So easy to give now. I mean, I've been giving through the Big Give for a long time, but you can do it from your phone on Apple Pay and it takes no time at all. I mean, so the. It must have become an easier experience for the public or people who want to make a donation through this channel.

[Alex Day]

Yeah, absolutely. That's what we hear.

[James Reed]

And it's also, I imagine, easier to find the charities you want to support.

[Alex Day]

Yeah. And I mean, that's also, I suppose, a key difference between the Big Give and other sort of more traditional fundraising campaigns or models is that we have a choice for our donors to give to charities that, as we mentioned earlier, charities that really inspire or inspire them or that they're passionate about. Whereas, you know, Comic Relief is you give to a single charity and then they distribute money. This is kind of a new model where we're giving, putting the power in the hands of the donors to have that choice.

[James Reed]

Which is good, huh? I find myself making a nuisance of myself sometimes at tube stations, when someone's rattling at the can or trying to sign you up for a charity, saying, you should get on the Big Give, trying to reverse the sale.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Because, I mean, the other great thing is it. It's. It's viral, isn't it?

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

And you've been able to get organizations to promote themselves and with it the Big Give. Yeah, very effectively. I'm partly using sort of celebrity endorsement.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely.

[James Reed]

How does that work?

[Alex Day]

Yeah. So I think the. The power of the Big Give is in bringing people together at a moment in time. That makes sense. And the power of the Big Give is, you know, that classic adage of the sum is greater than the individual part. So all of everything that we do at the Big Give is through campaigns. And so bringing charities together at a moment in time and going out to the public and saying, anything that you give to this charity or a charity during this week will be. Will be matched. And we do that in times of the year. That makes sense. So our environmental campaign, which you. Which you mentioned, we launched that on World Earth Day. So on World Earth Day, the two hundred and fifty charities that are taking part in our green campaign, they could be doing their own thing, they could be going out to their audiences and saying, look at us, aren't we great? Look at the impact that we're achieving. But the fact that they're all talking about being part of a singular campaign collectively creates a lot more noise. As a result of that, it's trending on social media. Celebrities want to be involved, we get press coverage, and as a result of that, we get more passing trade traffic coming to the Big Give. So for our charity partners, it's a really effective way for them to meet new people, to connect with new audiences, to gain new supporters, and that's a real value add. Not just the pounds and pence raised through the Big give, but the sort of connections that they can make through our campaigns.

[James Reed]

There's a really interesting message to business in that by doing things together. Absolutely. You can achieve more often than just being competitive.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Which is. I think they call it coopetition.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Which I think think it's an interesting model. You run a tight ship, you have nine colleagues. I mean, many people are amazed that you're able to raise well over 300 million since 2008 with 10 or fewer people.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

How does that work? I mean, because we keep a lot of people worried about doing the charity because they think they're overstaffed. Lots of people on salaries, you know. Yeah. But the Big is different in that respect. How have you managed to keep it so lean?

[Alex Day]

Yeah, it's a good question. I think there's probably three things in that. I think the first team. First thing is the team itself is really strong and I think I would much rather have a team of nine highly competent, highly motivated colleagues rather than a sort of team of 30 average. And so we recruit well and we've got a really fantastic collaborative team. I think the second thing is sort of leveraging the power of our networks. So, you know, we have a great relationship with the Reed business and as a result of that, we get sort of free office, free office space and sort of back office support. So as a charity, that's a really excellent thing for us to have and sort of reduces our overheads. The third thing is the technology that we've built. As you mentioned earlier, Big Give is a digital platform. It's a digital offering. And as a result of that, we can automate a lot of the process and make things as efficient and as effective as possible. We are a charity, we are a registered charity, but we're also running a tech platform which is quite unique, I think, in the charity sector. And so I think we've been able to see gains from having that digital experience in house with our sort of development team. So I think those are probably the three things, James, that sort of helps us to be that effective, excellent team, power of our networks and friends that we have and the fantastic technology that we've built.

[James Reed]

So the two things I want to follow up on that really. I mean, you are what I would call a field tech pioneer, and there are many. But when I say filtech, I mean philanthropy technology. This is. This is applying technology that's widely used commercially into the philanthropy space. Yeah. You've done that, dare I say it brilliantly, because you're able to run this wonderful platform, so few people. And you said that you recruit great people. Now that's easy to say and in my experience, hard to do.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

What do you look for in those people?

[Alex Day]

That's a good question. I mean, I think for us, because we're a purpose driven company, our purpose is about doubling the difference and we are on a daily basis, sort of having a demonstrable social impact with our sort of partners. You know, we see that people are attracted to that and people want to be a part of that. So having a really strong purpose and values as well as an organization is something that we really sort of test in the recruitment.

[James Reed]

That's about you. I mean, what is it about them that you're looking for?

[Alex Day]

Right. I. I think most, the most sort of attractive proposition for me as a leader when I'm sort of bringing people into the team is a desire to learn and work hard. And I think that learning particularly is sort of what I've seen sets people apart. Really keen to grow better themselves, not just sort of be complacent with where they're at, but sort of that ambition to, you know, as cliched as it sounds, be the best version of themselves and that hunger to sort of grow. And I think we can support that at the big give. Despite being, you know, a small team, there's not sort of a natural, you know, necessarily a sort of career path upwards up the chain. But what we do do is really sort of value the, the people that work for us and sort of create an environment where they can learn and grow, make the role their own and sort of run with what they're passionate about and what they're sort of keen to invest more in.

[James Reed]

I mean, one of the great things about being in a small team is you can see the impact of your work.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely.

[James Reed]

And I think that's obviously rewarding to people. So the other thing that you've done, I think brilliantly is connect with sort of big figures in business, in philanthropy, you know, senior people, and not only connect with them, but you've managed to secure their support and funding. And a lot of the people in business are interested in that. Yeah. How do you reach out to people, win their trust, get them on board in a way that. And that works because, you know, they're fundamental, aren't they? These champions, as you call them, are fundamental to the success of the campaigns and to the growth of the big gear.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

How do you win them Over?

[Alex Day]

Yeah. I mean, I think there's probably a few things in that. I think, firstly, you know, success breeds success. And I think the fact that we have been able to grow, particularly over the last few years, quite, quite significantly, has meant that we are now in a position where we're getting people coming to us saying, how can we work?

[James Reed]

Let's roll that back, though. Yeah. Right at the beginning when no one knew who the hell you were.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Just starting out.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

I mean, you've been with a big give how long?

[Alex Day]

10 years.

[James Reed]

10 years. So 10 years ago was a different picture.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely.

[James Reed]

What did you do? I mean, how did you get that ball rolling?

[Alex Day]

I think it's being really clear about your value proposition for, you know, I talked about the three audiences that we have, our champions, our charities and the public. For each of those audience, me and the rest of the team are very clear on what the value proposition is, what we can offer people, what we can offer those.

[James Reed]

So I'm a potential champion. Yeah. Why would I choose to work with a big gig?

[Alex Day]

Yeah. So we've got a few sort of things that we talk about and we sort of work a lot on trying to understand the people that we have sort of conversations and relationships with. But there are a few sort of levers that we can pull in terms of discussions. So the first is our multiplication effect to the model that we talked about, the sort of four times, five times multiplier that is attractive for a lot of people. The fact that you can put in £1 and get £4, £5 return for the charities that you care about most, that's. That's a really important thing. The second thing is we're helping build sustainability into our charity partners. So we're not just giving them access to funds, we're giving them access to training. So all of our charities that take part in that campaigns have access to free training resources. So we're building sustainability into the organizations. Even if they only take part in one of our campaigns, we see that charities come off the back of our campaigns more confident about doing campaign planning, fundraising in future. So we're building sustainability. And the third is really being part of a community. So we bring our champions together, we connect them with like minded people, we can sort of give them publicity if they want. So we have sort of a lot of PR that goes on around our campaigns. And if our corporates, for example, are quite keen to sort of put their brand out there and align it with a big give campaign, we can offer that as well. So, yeah, the Sort of multiplier. The sustainability and the community are the sort of three things that we talk about with our. With our champions.

[James Reed]

And how. How do you make sure that they stay? I mean, what's the sort of.

[Alex Day]

The retention rate?

[James Reed]

Yeah, yeah. How does that work? And what's. What's the play in play there?

[Alex Day]

I think. I mean, our experience pleasingly, has been very high retention rates amongst our champion partners. And I think they see the value having sort of been in it and taste it. And sometimes, you know, sometimes one of the hurdles that we have to overcome sometimes is it sort of explaining this Match Funding thing. It's not a, you know, it's not commonly sort of understood concept. So that sometimes provides a bit of a hurdle to get people through.

[James Reed]

Yeah. But once they understand and once they.

[Alex Day]

Understand it, once they see it, once they hear back from the charity partners that are taking part in the campaign around not only the difference that the pounds raised and the Match funding has enabled them to achieve, you know, whether it's researching cancer or feeding children or making sure that older people aren't lonely, whatever impact they're creating. Not just that, but the impact that taking part in the Big Give campaign has had on them as an organization helped us collaborate better as a team. It helped us connect with new supporters, it helped us build our confidence in fundraising. So hearing the impact back, you know, has a. Has a big role to play in.

[James Reed]

Terms of keeping a lot of your job is in fact communications.

[Alex Day]

Right.

[James Reed]

You have to be a good communicator.

[Alex Day]

I hope so.

[James Reed]

Well, I mean, clearly, I mean, because you've got to communicate with the charities, you've got to communicate with the champions and ultimately with the public through the platform. Everyone's gonna have to want to get involved.

[Alex Day]

Yeah, yeah.

[James Reed]

So communications have a very important skill in that respect. What sort of problems have you encountered? I mean, what would stop someone becoming a champion? What's the sort of.

[Alex Day]

That's a good question.

[James Reed]

You know, not every sales pitch succeeds.

[Alex Day]

No, absolutely. I think there are, you know, I think probably the biggest thing is what we've just sort of been talking about in terms of that sort of misunderstanding what Match Funding is about or perceiving that doing it through the Big Give is just sort of adding an extra layer in the step and it's sort of relinquishing control, whereas not, you know, in reality, that's not the case. We allow our champions to choose the charities that they want to support specifically or the cause area that they want to support. For us, a few hurdles that we need to get over in terms of simplifying the message or ensuring that it's, it's well understood. And you know, that journey of communications isn't. It's, it's never solved. It's never, you know, we've sussed this and we've nailed the message. We're constantly iterating and refining our sort of messaging and learning what works or what doesn't work. So, yeah, that's sort of a never ending journey, I don't think for the big.

[James Reed]

I think for me, one of the things I like about it is you're solving a potential donors problem. If they've decided they want to give some money to a good cause, they want to support green charities and they want to do something for children, education, whatever it is. Yeah. You've given them a way of doing that that is, I would say, super efficient.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Because not only does the donation get multiplied four or five times if they do it in the right way, but it also, you do due diligence on the charity. So they know that they're bona fide places, though. Yeah. But the third thing I've heard people say is it sort of makes their giving much more efficient because they don't have all the administration around it, they can just do it through the big gear. Yeah. And also, and it won't surprise you, people don't like being asked for money very much, do they? Yeah, yeah, absolutely guilty myself.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

And so it's great to be able to say, well, I give it all through the big give because when I do that it's multiply fault.

[Alex Day]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[James Reed]

So those are sort of messages, I imagine.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely.

[James Reed]

I mean, I was land a bit with some of these people.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely. I was talking to one of our sort of champions the other day and you know, the sort of, the rationale for them as a. They were a foundation, you know, the rationale for them is how easy we make it for them. And actually, you know, giving money away sounds like a, a fun and easy thing to do, but if you speak to sort of people who are holding wealth, it's not. And it's difficult and it's challenging and it's burdensome. And so I think, as you know, you rightly said, a lot of people.

[James Reed]

Be surprised by that. Why is it difficult to give money away, Alex?

[Alex Day]

Well, I mean, I think it's, it's, I guess it's around, you know, if you, if you are passionate about a specific thing, firstly, have you identified what that thing is? And my hypothesis is Whether someone has taken the time to consider it or not, there will be one cause, at least one cause that people feel passionate about, whether they've sort of given time and space to sort of consider that. So, as I said, you know, whether it's the fact that, you know, in the uk, more than a million older people go over a month without speaking to anyone, whether it's child poverty. So if you take an average class of 30 children in the UK, because.

[James Reed]

I want to support those older people.

[Alex Day]

Right.

[James Reed]

What you're saying to me is, hard to give the money away.

[Alex Day]

Well, where would you go? Where? I'm asking you, how would you give?

[James Reed]

Help me with.

[Alex Day]

How would you start looking? Where would you go? The Big Give has expertise of sort of identifying charities partners doing the due diligence, identifying high impact charity partners that are working in sort of cause areas. So we can help you to put a portfolio of charities together to say you're interested in reducing isolation amongst old people. We've got this portfolio of charities that we've vetted, done the due diligence on and identified as good organizations to support high impact. And not only can you support them, but you can sort of multiply the impact that you're. You're having for those charities.

[James Reed]

So you're, in a sense, solving that problem for that donor.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Which is a really important, important thing.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely.

[James Reed]

So the other, the other thing I've observed with the Big Give is you keep setting bigger and bigger goals.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

So you've got this target, this huge target of raising a billion for good causes by 2030, which is the biggest goal of all. Yeah. And you recently stepped up the goal for the Christmas challenge.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Got another one coming soon. From 20 to 30 million. This is a big step up. Yeah. And it reminded me of that business author, Jim Collins, who wrote about big, hairy, audacious goals. Bee hags. This was years ago. Yeah. But you were actually doing this. So what's behind a successful B hack? Talk me through moving from 20 to 30. How do you do it or why did you do it and what happened?

[Alex Day]

Yeah, I think, I mean, I think first is it's definitely sort of around timing and ensuring that the building blocks, blocks are in place to sort of actually be able to sustain that. So, you know, so you just go.

[James Reed]

In the office and say to the 10 people who work with you, we're going to go from 20 to 30 and say, oh, thanks, Alex. Is that what happens, building blocks?

[Alex Day]

I mean, if you think about our technology or our systems or our processes, you Know, probably seven, eight years ago, we probably couldn't have been that ambitious. And we did a big, you know, technology change project back in 2018, 2019, which at the time was, you know, anyone who's lived through a big tech change process will know the pain that comes with that. And it was painful for us at the time. It was, it was short term stress and hardship, but we're sort of reaping the benefits from. From that now. So the sort of big investments in the technology, in our processes and our system. So having those foundational building blocks to enable us to scale was sort of really key. I mean, I think the second thing is that.

[James Reed]

So if you were an analog thing, you would be increasing your capacity, basically.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Digital is almost infinite.

[Alex Day]

As we've touched upon earlier, you know, that question around why digital and the sort of impact that that's had on us, it has enabled us to scale a lot more quickly than if we were. You know, I think again, we've got massive admiration for Comic Relief. They're raising sort of similar amounts of money to us each year, but employ sort of 150 staff. We're doing it on. On 10. So there is something to be said about sort of having this something.

[James Reed]

I mean, if you're a business person, that's a kind of huge difference, right?

[Alex Day]

Massive.

[James Reed]

You're running a company.

[Alex Day]

Yeah. And I think the other thing, James, is that I think people really value ambition, especially when it comes to social impact. Purposeful businesses like, like we are. You know, people look around and see the need in their communities, in the country, in the world, and not being ambitious. It's not enough. If we were to sort of say, well, we're going to go from 20 to 20.1. That's not enough.

[James Reed]

It's not very inspiring.

[Alex Day]

It's not very inspiring. And I think people buy into the fact that we have ambitions and we've got confidence in our own product, in our own ability to be able to deliver that. So it's not just sort of picking numbers out of the air to come up with a sort of big, you know, a big number is actually, we do have confidence that we can get that.

[James Reed]

Because it's not like you're running a boiler room with people hammering the phones there, is it? To get the numbers up.

[Alex Day]

Right.

[James Reed]

You're doing it through intelligent use of tech.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

And for. And relationships and good networks and relationships, which is very interesting.

[Alex Day]

Yeah. Yeah.

[James Reed]

Reid is proud to support the big give. If you would like to make a donation this Christmas and have it doubled. Please visit biggive.org all donations are doubled, which means you can make double the difference. When you think about the future, these sort of ever rising goals, does that daunt you?

[Alex Day]

I mean, obviously as you, you know, you grow, the sort of, the ability to grow gets harder and harder.

[James Reed]

Yeah. Where's that journey going? I mean, because you can't go to infinity and beyond.

[Alex Day]

No, absolutely. I think, I mean, I think for us it's about sort of continually to look at particularly those thematic campaigns that we looked at and sort of stay attuned to what our partners are saying about sort of areas of interest where they would like to grow more. So, yeah, we're having conversations at the moment amongst a group of stakeholders. There's a real strong interest in doing more for smaller charities in the uk. If you look at sort of survival rates of charities, unfortunately, because of the sort of climate over the last few years, a number of sort of small charities have sort of gone, gone under because they're, they're not.

[James Reed]

There's going to be a sort of Darwinism involved in that. Right. Just like there is in business. Some are going to be better run than others, some are going to be more relevant than others.

[Alex Day]

Yeah, 100%. But I think there is a sort of, in the, in the charity sector is this sort of squeezed middle where you've got the sort of very tiny organizations that have the, you know, don't have the overhead and sort of can survive and you've got these sort of big players that have the, have the networks and the brand awareness to survive. You've got these very often effective medium sized charities that don't have either of those two things and they are going under. And yeah, sadly, several of our charity partners over the course of the last 12 months even have, have sort of not been able to survive that, despite having great impact. And so I think there is that. Just going back to your question around, you know, how do we continue to grow? I think it's for us it's about sort of staying attuned to where the areas of interest in giving are and where the need is. But I also think it's about, you know, what we've really honed in on is being specialists in match funding and I'm excited to see how we can apply that in different ways. So for example, one thing that we are sort of considering and looking at at the moment is if you look at over the course of this last year or two with the sort of cost of living crisis, understandably a lot of People have canceled their regular gifts to charities, but as the economy seems to be stabilizing somewhat, we're considering doing a matched regular giving campaign to try and provide that incentive. Going back to what we know about match funding. More people give. People give more when their donations are matched. Could we incentivise the first three months of a new regular gift to reverse that trend of people canceling their regulators.

[James Reed]

And sort of bringing fresh thinking to the core idea?

[Alex Day]

Absolutely.

[James Reed]

It's another way of. Yeah, I like that expression, you know, when someone says, you know, someone should do something about this.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

And then they think, well, I am someone.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Yeah, you are actually doing something. Yeah. And I suppose listening to you there, I was thinking, well, the needs aren't going to disappear, are they? No, the needs of anything are going to grow, unfortunately. So there's a. There's a sort of constant demand. Yeah. And what you're doing, I believe, is trying to find an efficient way of meeting at least some of those demands. Yeah. Through very effective fundraising.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, I think generosity is contagious. And I think, yeah, I think the big give has a role to play in the, in the UK and, you know, potentially wider a field as well in terms of, you know, making us more generous as a, as a society, as a, as a sort of nation. And it's, you know, it is, as I said, it is contagious. Once you get a sort of taste of that, you can see and hear and experience the difference that it makes is people just sort of come back and want to do more. So I think we just need to sort of hook more people in.

[James Reed]

Yeah, I like that. And I like the jeopardy involved with the Christmas challenge because you only have one week to make your donation for it to be doubled. How does that work? Tell me about that because I like that.

[Alex Day]

Yeah, so as I said earlier, so all of everything that we do is, is in campaigns and what we, what we've tended to find and learn about over the last sort of decade that I've been around is that, you know, one to two weeks is about the sort of optimum time to time limited campaign. So you have that. You have that very sort of narrow window. You imagine if you got sort of an email from your favorite charity saying, great news, James, anything that you give to us will be matched, but you've got three months to do it. It doesn't really provide that sort of urgency for you to give. So doing it in those sort of time limited windows provides that sort of sense of urgency for people to get up and do something. And it is really exciting during the week of the Christmas campaign, you see, you know, you get addicted to sort of clicking refresh and seeing what the latest total is. And, you know, I think it's fair to say that last Christmas, you know, again, particularly given the sort of economic climate that we were in, we weren't sure how well it was going to do. And I think, you know, we net between us as a. As a team, we thought we might sneak 30 million.

[James Reed]

You'd increase the target to 30 million, right?

[Alex Day]

Exactly. So we smashed it. We got 33 million.

[James Reed]

So congratulations. Yeah, that's very good.

[Alex Day]

Thank you.

[James Reed]

So what's the target this year?

[Alex Day]

You put me on the spot and it's being recorded, so there's never. There's no way of getting back past it. I mean, I would love to see us go up to 40.

[James Reed]

That's a big, hairy, audacious story. I wish you well. And I hope anyone listening to this will take note and Visit the Big Give.org when the Christmas campaign starts, because it's a wonderful way to make a donation which will be doubled while funds last.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely.

[James Reed]

So, Alex, this is a strategy that clearly works well in the world of philanthropy, field tech. Philanthropy, technology. Is it a strategy that can be applied, do you think, in the business world?

[Alex Day]

Yeah, I mean, I think it can. And I think one thing that I'm sort of acutely aware of is my understanding, my hypothesis is that there are more and more sort of investors looking to align on values and purpose. And of course, you need to have a business and a model that is commercially successful. But I think where values really align is where people get excited. And I think, you know, if you think about any sort of relationship, that investor sort of business relationship is a. Is a relationship. And I think if I, you know, reflect on my marriage, for example, like I've been married 14 years now, and why is that? Why have we lasted that long? I think it's because we align on sort of fundamental things about what we believe in our own lives and how we see the world and worldviews. And of course, we have disagreements and we think differently sometimes, but I think the fundamental values are the same four values of the big give together. Trustworthy, purposeful and generous. And I think that, you know, when it comes to our sort of relationships with our. Our team, with our partners, with our stakeholders, those values are sort of really alive for us and something that we test and make decisions against.

[James Reed]

So your values are aligned. So what you're saying is it's about trust.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

And about relationships.

[Alex Day]

Yeah. And I believe sort of from, from an investment perspective, I think more and more people, particularly the sort of next generation of philanthropist investors, are wanting to align on purpose and values, not necessarily just commercial success, although you obviously cannot forget that.

[James Reed]

But I don't think they're separate. I mean commercial success for me comes. I mean, I suppose that you can be in certain industries which are long established.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Maybe aren't values driven. But I think having a clear purpose is a very important part of being successful in business.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Because it means you know what you're trying to do.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely.

[James Reed]

And you're trying to serve.

[Alex Day]

Exactly. I think we, I mean, you know, I've done some sort of research on this recently around sort of companies that place purpose and in, in our sort of, in our research, philanthropy at the heart of their business is that they are more resilient and they last more longer. They last longer and they're able to attract more and better talent.

[James Reed]

But in the big give context, you're clear about your purpose, which is raising money.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

As efficiently as possible through match funding. Because then your logo is a triangle, isn't it?

[Alex Day]

That's right.

[James Reed]

A triangle has three sides.

[Alex Day]

That's right.

[James Reed]

What are those three sides represent?

[Alex Day]

So they talk about our sort of three audiences that we work with, our champions, our charities and, and the public. And you know, the triangle is, is the strongest shape when it comes to sort of engineering.

[James Reed]

So that's a sort of three way collaboration.

[Alex Day]

Exactly.

[James Reed]

That works really well. Yeah. But in the business example you're talking about you, you've, you've come of the view that philanthropy companies, this is something we at Reed are aware of because we consider ourselves to be one which is a company that has more than 10 of its shares owned by a charitable foundation.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

In our case it's 18. But you're the view that a philanthropy company has certain advantages of other companies. What are they and why?

[Alex Day]

Well, it's a really interesting topic, James. If you look in to Europe and I don't think this is sort of well understood here in the uk but a lot of the big brands in Europe adopt this same model that Reid has, I. E. Having foundation ownership baked into the organizational structure. So ikea, Bosch, Novo Nordisk, which is the sort of company with the highest market cap in, in Europe, ikea, Heineken, Rolex, these are companies, big brands people will be aware of. But yet on that sort of ownership structure, foundation is, is sort of baked in. And this is something that we're keen to bring to the uk. This idea of having charitable foundations as part of your shareholding makes you more resilient, is more attractive to people to want to come and work for you. And ultimately has a bigger difference for your people and planet in that, you know, anytime you're sort of paying out to shareholders, you're also paying out to a charitable foundation and you're able to do great things with that. And I think that's definitely been the, you know, experience of, of Reed. If I speak to sort of colleagues at Reed about sort of why they're attracted to work for the business or why they stick around for so long, you know, you will often hear that sort of phrase of, well, we work one day a week for charity because just under 20% of the business is owned by a foundation. So effectively 20 of the value created is going to charity. And that's really a strong proposition. And people want to be part of something good and part of something meaningful and purposeful.

[James Reed]

So that attracts people to work in the organization and also is a part of them staying.

[Alex Day]

Right.

[James Reed]

I guess. Which is an advantage.

[Alex Day]

Right.

[James Reed]

But it's interesting, those companies, those well known brands, you know, they're old. I mean there's a, there's quite a lot of evidence that these companies that have longevity have different DNA.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

Because they've got this charitable element.

[Alex Day]

Yeah.

[James Reed]

And so this is what you're calling Filco.

[Alex Day]

Filco.

[James Reed]

Yeah. And you believe that more companies should become Philcos.

[Alex Day]

Yeah, and absolutely is, is the answer. And I think, yeah, there, there is an increasing move, I think, of, of sort of purposeful, purpose led businesses. And this is a sort of another addition to that menu, if you like, in terms of options for companies to be able to take.

[James Reed]

It kind of is the menu, isn't it? Because I mean, a lot of people are talking this stuff. These are people actually doing it.

[Alex Day]

Right.

[James Reed]

I mean this isn't esg, this is something, this isn't the, this isn't pages in the annual report. This is exactly changing the ownership structure of the business.

[Alex Day]

Exactly.

[James Reed]

To introduce a charitable foundation.

[Alex Day]

Yeah. And it's, it's, it's a one off change that has a, you know, decades long enduring impact. Yeah.

[James Reed]

The CEOs come and go, but the charity foundation is still a shell.

[Alex Day]

Exactly, exactly. And it's not something that can be untangled necessarily. It's a, it's a sort of decision in perpetuity for your business to have a social impact.

[James Reed]

So if you're an entrepreneur or you're a business leader and you want a legacy. This is a good thing to think about.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely, yeah. And again, I think, as we've said, those, those, these brands in Europe are sort of generations old, but we would love to see more sort of up and coming entrepreneurs, business leaders choosing to adopt this model. And you know, we were just talking the other day about Raspberry PI, which is a sort of low, low chip tech company based out of Cambridge, spun out of Cambridge University recently, IPO'd. But they decided to keep the foundation ownership baked into that structure. So a number of their shares sort of were, were listed, but they decided to keep that sort of foundation as a core part of that because it's such a big part of their identity and their sort of mission as a business.

[James Reed]

And they're doing really well.

[Alex Day]

And they're doing really well.

[James Reed]

Exactly. So this is a model that I, I would urge other business people to have a look at.

[Alex Day]

Absolutely.

[James Reed]

As well as supporting the Big Give.

[Alex Day]

Definitely.

[James Reed]

You know, I love Mondays. So what is it that gets you up on a Monday morning?

[Alex Day]

Yeah, I think there's probably a lot of things. Mostly my young son who often wakes me up, but. But what's going to get you out.

[James Reed]

When he's a teen?

[Alex Day]

Exactly. And I think, I mean, for me. Yeah. As we've talked about in our conversation, James, you know, the needs are not going away and I'm inspired. You know, we are in a really fortunate position at the Big Give to be able to support incredible, impactful work and one of the biggest privileges of the job is going to visit our charity partners and witness and see firsthand the impact that they are creating. And I only have to think to one of those, just one of those to get me out of bed on a Monday in terms of sort of that energy and drive to want to continue to grow and, you know, make the Big Give the best that it can be. So I think, yeah, the. As cheesy as it sounds, the sort of impact that we're helping to, to create the Big Give is. I mean, there's no better thing than that for me.

[James Reed]

Thank you. And the last question I'm going to ask you is where do you. This is one from my interview book, why you, which is out there on the table is, you know, there are 101 questions in that book. Yeah. So what I'm going to ask you is where do you see yourself in five years time?

[Alex Day]

When five years time, we'll be approaching 2030. And as you know, as we've talked about we have a big audacious goal to reach a billion by 2030, and I hope by 2030 will have. So we've got the Big Give into a position where we're, we're nearing that big target. You know, as we've said multiple times during this chat, there is, you know, the needs are not going away and by 2030, the needs will still be there and there may even be needs that we don't even know exist. And so I think the Big Give is in a sort of good position to be able to support and well.

[James Reed]

You might smash that target like you did last. So, yeah, I hope everyone listening will help you in your, in your ambition and goal to achieve that target because that would be a very good thing.

[Alex Day]

Thanks, James.

[James Reed]

Thanks, Alex.

[Alex Day]

Thank you very much.

[James Reed]

Thank you to Alex for joining me on All About Business. If you'd like to learn more about Alex or the Big Give, visit biggive.org I'm your host, James Reid, chairman and CEO of Reed, a family run recruitment and philanthropy company. If you'd like to support a cause that's close to your heart while also doubling the difference, check out our charity partners, Big Give. All links are in the show. Notes, notes. See you next time.