Third Sector

Third Sector’s Andy Ricketts and Dami Adewale are joined by Jason Parker, chair of the Stroke Association.

Jason talks about streamlining the work done by the board he leads and some of the practices he has implemented to keep energy high.

He discusses how he prioritises what trustees focus on and how to avoid slipping into micromanagement of the executive.

And Jason gives advice on how chairs can ensure they maintain healthy relationships with their chief executives.

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Third Sector editor Emily Burt and senior reporter Emily Harle are joined by Kiran Kaur, the co-founder and chief executive of the social enterprise GirlDreamer.

Kiran talks about GirlDreamer’s Dream Fund as it shifts towards a primarily Gen-Z demographic and digital-first ways of demonstrating impact.

They discuss the changing professional and personal priorities of Gen Z, and the charity sector’s readiness gap when it comes to valuing the unique skills they can bring both as employees and the next generation of founders and chief executives.

And Kiran flags the benefits of the intergenerational workforce learning from each other when it comes to designing new ways of working.

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Emily Burt is joined by Natalie Pinon, interim chief executive of NPT UK.

Natalie describes the increasing willingness among high net worth individuals to talk about charitable giving, and the growing desire to experience the positive impact their wealth can make in their lifetime, rather than as a legacy gift.

Emily and Natalie discuss Charities Aid Foundation research that found the majority of wealth advisers wait for clients to raise the topic of charitable giving rather than initiating the conversation, and how to close the confidence gap.

Natalie points to the broad range of structures that facilitate major giving, including the advantages of setting up a Donor Advised Fund over a new charitable trust or foundation.

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Editor Emily Burt is joined by Ed Ikin, chief executive of the Ernest Cook Trust, an educational charity and funder that cares for 9,000 hectares of land across six UK counties and delivers outdoor learning to 4,000 young people every year.

They discuss how the history of the trust is shaping its approach to grantmaking, as the organisation begins the process of adopting a place-focused approach to its partnerships.

Ed outlines a “proof of concept” for making the organisation’s unique mix of assets fulfil a clear role in its founding goal of providing education. And he emphasises the value of open, respectful communication with charity partners as the trust works through the exploratory stages of shifting its model.

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Host Emily Burt is joined by Third Sector colleagues Andy Ricketts and Emily Harle to talk about three significant sector stories from the past month.

Two months after the new Prime Minister’s cabinet was announced, Andy explores the career of the newly appointed charities minister and the team discuss the possible outcomes of the finalised DCMS briefs.

Emily reflects on the funding intervention that saved Reach Volunteering from closure, weeks after the charity announced it would begin winding down.

And the team discuss the escalating far-right rhetoric that has seen RNLI staff and volunteers targeted by “those who would hide behind a balaclava or a keyboard”.

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Editor Emily Burt is joined by Asma Shah, chief executive of You Make It, a charity that exists to empower and advance the professional and personal development of young Black and brown women living in East London.

Asma discusses founding You Make It at a time when the importance of lived experience was not recognised by funders, and how operating in survival mode has shaped her approach to leadership.

She talks about the ways that funding ‘buzzwords’ can fail to recognise the impact small organisations deliver, and why charities should not shy away from taking an entrepreneurial approach to income generation.

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Third Sector editor Emily Burt and deputy editor Andy Ricketts hear from Adam Baker, director of communications and supporter engagement at Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance.

Adam talks about the charity’s recent “thankathons”, an annual event where staff and volunteers come together to spend the day saying thank you to people who have donated to the air ambulance.

He discusses the benefits of running such an event and highlights some of the lessons the charity has learned from the days so far.

He also digs into some of the practicalities of the day and gives his advice for other charities considering running their own thankathon.

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Emily Burt and Andy Ricketts hear from the fundraising specialist Caroline Richardson and Paul Courtney, director of fundraising at Children’s Hospice South West.

Caroline and Paul discuss how ROI is used in fundraising, and the importance of treating the measurement as one data point in a wider context.

And Caroline explains why a decrease in fundraising ROI is not necessarily a bad thing, after her research found a year-on-year decline.

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Senior reporter Emily Harle is joined by Katie Docherty, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.

She talks about the significant developments in fundraising over the past five years, the evolution of CIoF’s flagship conference and the need for chief executives and sector leaders to recognise fundraising as a serious profession if they want to grow organisational income.

And four years on from her pledge to make the fundraising profession a safer place, Docherty reflects on the need for charities to empower fundraisers to raise the alarm if they feel unsafe, and develop codes of conduct that hold donors accountable for their behaviour.

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Third Sector editor Emily Burt and senior multimedia reporter Lucinda Rouse are joined by Jules Lynch, founder and chief executive of the Global Girl project.

Jules discusses how leading with Black feminist principles empowers her charity to take a collaborative and trust-based approach to developing service offerings, sharing funding and resources.

She discusses how the colonial origins of charitable models prevent those with power in the sector from working in meaningful partnership with communities, and why letting go of that power is an uncomfortable but essential step toward driving change in the sector.

And Jules argues that, while conversations around decentralising power are beginning to enter the mainstream, change is rarely linear.

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Matt Hyde, chief executive of the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, talks to Third Sector deputy editor Andy Ricketts about volunteering, working with government and the grantmaker's new strategy.

Matt discusses the foundation's ambition to ensure everyone in England and Wales is living 'in a good place' and how it hopes to increase overall giving levels to voluntary sector organisations.

He talks about working with government and, as a member of the Civil Society Council, what his hopes are for the sector under Andy Burnham's new government.

The co-founder of The Big Help Out also sets out what he thinks the charity sector can learn from the volunteering initiative, which this year joined forces with The Big Lunch.

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Third Sector editor Emily Burt and senior multimedia reporter Lucinda Rouse are joined by Tanya Curry, chief executive of the MND Association.

Tanya recalls how the MND Association was thrust into the limelight thanks to the Ice Bucket Challenge social media phenomenon in the summer of 2014.

She describes the effects of the raised profile and £7m cash injection on the charity in the years that followed, and how its systems and processes needed to catch up.

She stresses the need to pause and make a plan in the face of pressure to mobilise when everything is considered urgent.

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Host Emily Burt is joined by Third Sector colleagues Andy Ricketts and Emily Harle to talk about three significant sector stories from the past month.

Andy recounts an “embarrassing misstep” for the Charity Commission, after the regulator was found to have committed a contempt of parliament in seeking to prevent a set of critical reports from being laid before the house. Emily Harle hears from one of the whistleblowers at the heart of the row.

The team discuss Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first days in post, including the decision to move the Office for the Impact Economy from the Cabinet Office to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

And Emily reports on the CAF Bank outage that has left thousands of charities unable to pay staff, suppliers and bills.

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Editor Emily Burt and deputy editor Andy Ricketts are joined by Dr Colette Fletcher, executive director of the Operational Research Society, and Rebecca Goldring, performance and partnership area manager at Porchlight.

Colette discusses the history of operational research and its current function as one of the world’s “best-kept secrets”: underpinning everything from traffic systems to Chris Whitty’s slide decks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

And Rebecca shares how Porchlight has worked in partnership with volunteers at the ORS to transform a disorganised pot of data into a clear and confident narrative for stakeholders.

Click here to learn more about the Operational Research Society, or to express your interest in a partnership.

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Editor Emily Burt and senior reporter Emily Harle are joined by Maddy Desforges, chief executive of the local infrastructure membership body Navca.

They discuss the challenges around funding infrastructure organisations, working with local government and the risks that can come with a broad operational remit.

Maddy also shares the opportunities for local charities and infrastructure organisations that may come as an increasing push for devolution seeks to place neighbourhoods and communities at the heart of policymaking.

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Editor Emily Burt and reporter Dami Adewale are joined by Danielle Bridge, chief executive of Black Minds Matter UK.

They discuss BMMUK’s ‘back-to-front’ journey, from a crowdfunded project that received £1.5m in its first six months of existence to a charity that must become sustainable in a world where supporting Black lives is no longer at the top of the political and public agenda.

You can listen to the episode below, or wherever you get your podcasts:

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Lucinda Rouse is joined by Emily Burt, Dami Adewale and Andy Ricketts to talk about three significant sector stories from the past month.

Emily considers the likely consequences for the Civil Society Covenant of Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation as Prime Minister and Labour Party leader, and the impact of ever-shorter political cycles on the voluntary sector’s work to address long-term challenges. Andy provides an assessment of the current state of charity retail, after the British Heart Foundation became the latest major charity to announce a raft of store closures.

Dami gives an update on the investigations into the sale of the training and awards arm of City & Guilds of London Institute, including the payment of £5m in unsanctioned bonuses.

And Lucinda signs off after nearly four years as host of the Third Sector Podcast.

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Lucinda Rouse hears from some of the speakers at Third Sector’s annual conference, which was held at the Royal Society of Medicine’s 1 Wimpole Street in London on 23 and 24 June.

They are: Simon Blake, chief executive of Stonewall; Fadi Itani, chief executive of the Muslim Charities Forum; Kate Lee, chief executive of the NCVO; Emma Pears, chief executive of SELFA Children’s Charity; Dame Julia Unwin, chair of the Charity Commission for England and Wales; governance consultant Penny Wilson; Athar Abidi, head of social at Cancer Research UK; Taahra Ghazi, co-chief executive of ActionAid UK; and Alex Evans, founder of Barely Civil Society.

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Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Max Newton (he/him), director of fundraising, marketing and communications at Cerebra, and the digital communications and fundraising specialist Rebs Curtis-Moss (they/them).

Rebs outlines the common causes of friction between a charity’s communications and fundraising functions, from perceptions of brand being prioritised over fundraising needs to unrealistic social media engagement goals set by fundraisers.

Max stresses the importance of building relationships and developing a good understanding of each team’s respective functions, as well as an acknowledgement that terminology can hold alternative meanings on different sides of the fence.

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Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by the communications and community engagement specialist Jayne Cravens to discuss the opportunities for charities on the social media platform Reddit.

Jayne describes the different ways charities can make use of the site, from promoting events to recruiting volunteers.

She also explains how organisations can repurpose existing material published elsewhere to gain visibility and improve SEO.

Read Jayne’s Nonprofit & NGO guide to using Reddit

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