Third Sector

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Graeme Marsh, head of the McCarthy Stone Foundation, to explore the evolving relationship between voluntary organisations and their corporate partners.Graeme explains the growth in corporate foundations over the past three years as companies move away from traditional philanthropic giving and seek a greater level of input to support ESG (environmental, social, governance) considerations.He provides tips on how smaller voluntary organisations can compete with major charity brands by offering local infrastructure and expertise.He also suggests ways in which charities can reposition their offering through commercial products or services and explains why he doesn’t have a problem with company employees painting a wall.Later in the episode, Richard Garside from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies shares his concerns about the news of the forthcoming closure of the Lankelly Chase Foundation. Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better than

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Janet Thorne, chief executive of Reach Volunteering, to hear how the charity has stepped up its efforts to fight climate change.Janet describes the steps taken to incorporate environmental considerations into Reach’s mission and why a “greening” of the charity’s operations wasn’t considered worthwhile.She flags the challenge of limited funding and highlights the importance of collaboration, providing pointers to sources of support such as Vonne’s Going Green Together initiative and Heritage Declares. Charity Changed My Life features the story of Hazel Carter, whose husband Alan received end-of-life care at the Marie Curie Hospice in Solihull.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Jabeer Butt, chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, to learn about how the climate crisis is disproportionately affecting already disadvantaged groups in the UK.The discussion opens with a clip from a previous episode with the Wildlife Trusts' chief executive Craig Bennett, describing the interlinked nature of the climate and nature crises and economic and social issues.Jabeer explains how some interventions to tackle environmental issues risk harming minority ethnic groups, citing the economic impact of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone on minicab drivers.He draws on NPC’s Everyone’s Environment programme, which examines how minority ethnic groups, younger and older populations and people living with a disability are impacted by the climate crisis.He suggests ways in which voluntary sector leaders can address the issue and calls for greater representation of minority groups in climate-related leadership and activism.Later in the episode, Lucinda and

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Nick Daniel, marketing director at Dogs Trust, and Denholm Scotford, sector head for technology, media, telecoms and entertainment at the market research agency Harris Interactive.Den breaks down the different aspects of a successful brand measured in Third Sector’s recently released Charity Brand Index, from public awareness and familiarity with individual charities to perceptions of their distinctiveness and relevance.Nick explains how Dogs Trust has strengthened its brand in recent years, placing a heavy emphasis on positive messaging and cultivating a sense of uniqueness through its switch from blue to yellow to drive up public awareness for the charity.Later in the episode, Lucinda and Andy discuss the finding in Enthuse’s latest Donor Pulse report that a sizeable proportion of donors are motivated to give in reaction to charities being criticised in the media.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so,

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Cathy Pharoah, visiting professor of charity funding at Bayes Business School. Cathy provides tips on the right way for voluntary organisations to approach potential major donors, stressing the importance of building networks and emphasising shared local links.She also suggests ways in which charities can offer something in return and points out that forward-looking activities tend to be most enticing to potential supporters.Later in the episode, the consultant and podcast host Alex Blake makes an appearance to promote the Charity Impact Podcast.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, cli

Lucinda and Andy hear from the head of the children’s charity on leadership, government engagement and sticking to a purpose.They discuss the differences between his leadership roles in the Civil Service and voluntary sector and explore some of the challenges he is tackling now at the NSPCC, including falling volunteer numbers.Peter also explains his use of social media as a charity boss and his reticence to back causes that are not directly connected to preventing cruelty to children.Later in the episode, Justine Hendry, director at Ultimate Content, provides her top charity podcast picks, from Life After Prison by the Prison Radio Association to Diabetes UK’s Diabetes Discussions and Centrepoint’s Point Made. Listen to our previous episode, Podcasting for Charities, for more tips on starting a podcast for your organisation.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a

Lucinda and Alina are joined by Sarah Vibert, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, and Vic Hancock Fell, organiser of Small Charities Week.They discuss the challenges facing small charities in the face of the cost-of-living crisis, combined with the closure of the small charity infrastructure bodies the Small Charities Coalition and the Foundation for Social Improvement. Sarah lays out the NCVO’s plan to fill the gap, acknowledging an inevitable deviation away from the “by small, for small” approach but highlights the work of new, complementary small charity-led support structures such as the Small Charities Advisory Panel.Vic lists the existing peer-to-peer support networks available to small charity leaders and describes how Small Charities Week will aim to formulate concrete calls to action to stimulate long-term change for the sector.Charity Changed My Life features the story of Sandy Nash, a long-time volunteer for the Sobell House Hospice Charity who describes the pr

Acting editor Andy Ricketts is joined by reporters Lucinda Rouse, Russ Hargrave and Alina Martin and, for the first time, a live audience for a special podcast recording from the Third Sector Fundraising Summit on 7 June. From Gift Aid to charity shops and more recent digital inventions, they each make a case for their chosen fundraising innovation and explain why they believe it should be considered the greatest. Will one of these be crowned the winner or will an audience member swoop in with a better idea?Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda and Alina are joined by Courtney Scott, head of policy and research at the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, and James Goodman, director of partnerships at the Local Trust.Courtney and James make the case for why all third sector leaders need to be active participants in debates on food availability and affordability, regardless of their specific organisational focus.James describes how food insecurity and food poverty are indicative of wider insecurity and poverty issues that community organisations are seeking to alleviate. Food, he argues, is a good place to start to strengthen communities and enable them to become better partners to third sector organisations.Courtney stresses the importance of charities’ lived experience to help influence food policy, and draws on a new FFCC report on how funders and communities can work together on longer term food security solutions.Charity Changed My Life features the story of Phoebe, who attributes getting back on her feet following the breakdown of h

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, to talk about the need for voluntary sector leaders to contribute to debates on issues beyond the bounds of their specific cause areas.Craig explains how the Charity Reform Group is working to shine a spotlight on the wider contribution charities can make to society and give their leaders the confidence to engage in public policy conversations.He also gives his views on direct action movements for environmental causes such as Extinction Rebellion.Lucinda visits the Chelsea Flower Show to speak to some of the charities and designers behind the gardens funded by Project Giving Back, namely the Royal Entomological Society, the Teapot Trust, Fauna and Flora International and Horatio’s Garden, which was awarded best in show.The Third Sector Fundraising Summit is taking place from 6 to 7 June and will feature a live recording of the Third Sector Podcast. Click here for registration details.Do you have stories of people whose lives

Lucinda and Russ are joined by Neil Heslop, chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, to discuss how voluntary organisations can maximise their Gift Aid earnings.Neil describes the need to digitise a process that was first introduced in the 1990s, to make it quicker and easier for donors to boost their charitable gifts by 25 per cent and raise a potential £2bn per year. He calls on voluntary organisations to put time and effort into understanding the process, and to participate in an ongoing government consultation on the future of the scheme.Also in the episode, Russ and Lucinda discuss Third Sector’s reporting on the departure of Care4Calais’ boss. They consider the role of business publications in covering a story that has also attracted the attention of the mainstream media.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse

Lucinda and Alina are joined by the diversity, equity and inclusion specialist Natalia-Nana Lester-Bush and Rick Dodds, creative partner at the advertising agency Don’t Panic London. They talk about the need for nuance in the depiction of service users in advertising campaigns by voluntary organisations working in the UK and overseas.They discuss examples of effective and impactful campaigns such as Tearfund’s recent appeal video shot in Burundi, which contradicts and ridicules a more traditional narrative of development support to poor communities abroad, employing comedy to create a more interesting and authentic story.Rick and Natalia-Nana provide guidance on how charities can avoid “context flattening” in their storytelling, such as by ensuring a diversity of perspectives in the creative process, whilst conveying meaningful messages to audiences that inspire action.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All

Lucinda, Alina and Russ mark the Coronation by examining the royal patronage system and possible changes during the reign of King Charles III, with his vision of a slimmed down monarchy. They discuss the various roles of a royal patron, from generating publicity and exposure to removing stigma associated with sensitive charitable causes, and providing public endorsement of recipient charities’ achievements.Alina cites data collected by the voluntary sector consultancy nfpResearch on the popularity of various royal patrons and their influence on donor patterns, as well as a 2020 study by Giving Evidence on the impact of royal patronages on their partner charities.Lucinda provides information on the application process for charities seeking a royal patronage, which contains a heavy emphasis on aligning charitable cause areas with royals’ personal interests. And Russ explores the impact on charities when their royal patrons experience a decline in popularity.Do you have stories of people whose lives have be

Lucinda and Russ are joined by Sarah Denselow, principal for effective philanthropy at the think tank New Philanthropy Capital, and Yvonne Field, chief executive of the Ubele Initiative, to learn about the need to adapt grant-making processes to better serve minority-led voluntary organisations.Yvonne explains why there is a need to overhaul the system to address the disadvantage of small, black and racially minoritised communities. She outlines how funding opportunities such as Propel and the Phoenix Way are seeking to shift the power dynamic in grant-making and stimulate long-term change.Sarah provides a preview of an upcoming NPC guide on how DEI considerations can be embedded within grant-making cycles. She emphasises the need to change perceptions of risk, away from the risk of money wasted to the risk of impact missed if the right charities fail to receive funding.Also in the episode, Russ gives some background to his report on the merits of charities sponsoring football clubs, following the recent coll

Lucinda takes a look behind the scenes of Comic Relief’s grant-making team with Poonam D’Cruze, head of the charity’s poverty and injustice programme.Poonam explains the various functions of her team and provides tips for organisations seeking grants from Comic Relief to strengthen their applications.She describes her motivations for entering the funding space after years of working for small charities, driven by a desire to influence the funding landscape and create an ecosystem more responsive to the needs of the communities it supports.She outlines Comic Relief’s use of experts by experience to inform the grant-making process, and the charity’s commitment to interrogate what is asked of funding applicants, in order to shift some of the onus and burden of applying to the grant-maker.Later in the episode, news editor Steven Downes sheds light on the funding crisis facing hospices.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear th

Lucinda and Russ are joined by Jonathan Chevallier, chief executive of Charity Digital, and Angus Gregory, chief executive of Biomni, to talk about how the arrival of low-cost natural language AI tools has opened up opportunities for the voluntary sector.Jonathan outlines how ChatGPT could enable charities to deliver services more quickly and cheaply, from improving fundraising campaigns to content generation and information dissemination. He cites examples of charities which are already using AI solutions, including the Brain Tumour Charity, Unicef and Age UK.Angus explains how Biomni’s CharityBot uses language models to access information and carry out repetitive tasks, freeing up human resources for more complex work. He describes how conversational interactions enabled by AI tools help to increase accessibility of charities’ services, enabling them to identify users’ needs through their early engagement with online resources and refine their offering accordingly.Also in the episode, Russ gives his assessm

Lucinda and Russ are joined by Sarah Hughes, chief executive of Mind, to discuss her plans for the charity, her views on the need to reform the voluntary sector and the state of mental health in charities.Sarah calls for bravery among third sector leaders in confronting notions of the role and place of charities in society. She identifies the heightened emotional relationship between charity staff and the causes they are fighting for, raising the risk of mental distress, and suggests ways of supporting mental health in the sector. She also discusses some of the challenges facing Mind, including the need to further the charity’s commitment to tackling racism.Also in the episode, Russ and Lucinda talk about the difficulties facing social care charities, following a warning by Leonard Cheshire about the severe financial challenges jeopardising its future.And Lucinda decamps to Third Sector’s C-Suite Summit to speak to some of the speakers and attendees at the event examining the future of the voluntary sect

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Catherine Johnstone, chief executive of the Royal Voluntary Service, and Matt Hyde, chief executive of The Scouts, to talk about the Big Help Out initiative, which aims to generate excitement about the possibilities of volunteering.Matt highlights the need for innovation in charities’ volunteer recruitment efforts, such as using digital channels to attract volunteers from untapped social groups and communities.Catherine suggests ways in which the sector can maintain the momentum generated by the pandemic for micro community-based volunteering. She stresses that volunteering opportunities need to be mutually beneficial to volunteers, the organisations they serve and their service users.Charity Changed My Life features the story of Meera Wiggett, whose family took comfort in the support provided by Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity when her daughter Maia was seriously ill as a newborn baby.Do you have stories of people like Meera and Maia whose lives have been transf

Lucinda and Alina are joined by Kirsty Marrins, the digital communications specialist and a trustee of CharityComms, to talk about the minefield that social media interactions can pose to voluntary organisations.The discussion follows a consultation by the Charity Commission on new social media guidance, which was prompted by a growing number of complaints about charities’ social media activity.Kirsty summarises the objections from within the sector to the new draft guidance, including the impracticalities of trustees monitoring staff members’ personal social media accounts. She provides pointers for voluntary organisations seeking to refresh their social media policies and stresses the need to consider the mental health and wellbeing of the team members responsible for organisational accounts.Later in the episode, The New Humanitarian’s Isabelle Roughol makes an appearance to plug the publication’s flagship podcast, Rethinking Humanitarianism.To find out more about the Third Sector C-Suite Summit,

Lucinda and Russ are joined by Priya Singh, chair of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, who led the NCVO's internal reform after a review in 2020 identified structural racism, homophobia, sexism and classism.Priya describes the role played by the NCVO’s trustee board in guiding the organisation through the process, knowing when to lean in and when to step back. She offers advice for other voluntary organisations embarking on a similar culture change, stressing the need to be open, listen and prepare for “comfortable conflict”.In Charity Changed My Life, we hear from Ben Peters about the invaluable practical and emotional support he has received from the Teenage Cancer Trust since his cancer diagnosis.To find out more about the Third Sector C-Suite Summit, please click here.Do you have stories of people like Ben whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucind