Third Sector

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. ...

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.&nb...

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 Un...

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 unrea...

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...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by Jo Grose, chief executive of the United Synagogue, to discuss how her charity’s operations have been affected by recent attacks on the UK Jewish community. Jo shares some of the operational adjustments made by the United Synagogue to protect staff, volunteers and service users, and describes the impact of a growing sense of insecurity on the charity’s lon...

Lucinda Rouse is joined by Andy Ricketts and Emily Harle to discuss their highlights from the final edition of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s Fundraising Convention, which took place in London on 4 and 5 June. Emily chooses a panel discussion that focussed on the need to break down siloes between different fundraising channels. She also shares lessons about brokering successful partnersh...

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale  are joined by Sarah Derbyshire, chief executive of the orchestral music charity Orchestras Live, to discuss the organisation’s path to data maturity. Sarah explains the importance of having data systems that are designed to show the stories behind the numbers, and how a data audit can help reduce the information collected by charities. She also provides insight...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle  discuss snippets from a recent interview Emily conducted with Simon Blake, chief executive of Stonewall. Simon explains how the LGBT rights charity has refined its clarity of purpose with a renewed focus on advocacy, stressing the importance of closed-door meetings over “noisy” tactics. He provides insight into how Stonewall is supporting the mental health and w...

Lucinda Rouse is joined by Third Sector colleagues Emily Harle, Dami Adewale and Andy Ricketts to talk about three significant sector stories from the past month. Emily describes recent cases of so-called “lawfare” affecting Scope and the 10,000 Interns Foundation , both of which have been threatened with legal action on potentially vexatious grounds. Dami provides insight into the resignation of...

Lucinda Rouse visits the RHS Chelsea Flower Show as grantmaker Project Giving Back marks its fifth and final year of supporting “gardens for good causes” at the event. She hears from PGB chief executive Hattie Ghaui about how its approach has encouraged participating charities to experiment and take risks in their public engagement and storytelling. She visits four of the PGB-funded gardens and sp...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Andy Glyde, strategy and insight lead at Bowel Cancer UK, and Phillipa Williams, strategy director at the behaviour change and communications agency Claremont. Andy describes the development process for Bowel Cancer UK’s recent campaign to encourage more people to report symptoms of bowel cancer to their GP.  He explains how the campaign sought to b...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by Joy Warmington, chief executive of the equality charity Brap. Joy highlights some of the limitations of standard equity, diversity and inclusion approaches and explains why adopting a flexible and responsive mindset is preferable to following an EDI toolkit.  She shares her optimism that racism will be eliminated in the future and provides tips for c...

Host Lucinda Rouse is joined by Third Sector colleagues Emily Burt, Andy Ricketts and Emily Harle to talk about three significant sector stories from the past month. Emily Harle shares her reflections from an event run by the Women in Charity Network , including the need for female leaders to make space for their more junior counterparts. Emily Burt provides context to Third Sector’s recent findin...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation. Charmaine outlines the BHF’s new commitments on equality, diversity and inclusion and explains why they are important in furthering the charity’s mission to fight heart disease. She talks about changes to the organisation’s recruitment process to encourage more diverse applications and...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle discuss snippets from a recent interview Emily conducted with Carol Homden, chief executive of the children’s charity Coram. Carol explains the rationale behind the Coram Group’s recent amalgamation with four charities while avoiding duplication and competing processes. She shares her views on the merits of chief executives holding senior board positions to gain an ap...

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Rebecca Fell, chief executive of the refugee support charity the International Care Network, and the fundraising specialist Atul Kumar. Atul puts forward the case for why project managers should play a part in funding bids. He shares his tips on how to write successful proposals for trusts and foundations funding, including the importance of a strong p...

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Saskia Lightburn-Ritchie, chief executive of the domestic abuse support charity MyCWA. Saskia recounts how a long-standing commitment to partnership and collaboration, which forms one of the charity’s three key missions, strengthened its ability to execute a £500,000 emergency appeal when it lost a significant council contract. She explains why it is so...

Lucinda Rouse is joined by Third Sector colleagues Emily Burt and Emily Harle to reflect on three significant sector stories from the past month. Emily Burt shares her perspective on concerns raised by small charity representatives following the news of a restructure at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. Lucinda considers the findings of the Charities Aid Foundation’s UK Giving Repo...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle discuss snippets from a recent interview Emily conducted with Matt Downie, chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis. Matt provides insight into Crisis’ plan to buy a thousand homes in the next decade and become a landlord for people experiencing homelessness. He shares his view that the voluntary sector is entering a ‘third wave’, which will require business...

**Content warning: This episode contains references to suicide and sexual abuse** Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by safeguarding specialist Joanna Nicolas and Sebastian Rocca, founder and chief executive of the LGBTQI refugee support organisation Micro Rainbow. Joanna identifies some of the most common safeguarding challenges facing voluntary organisations, which principally stem from t...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Stephen Roberts, chief executive of North Devon Hospice, to discuss the organisation’s response to some of the challenges facing the hospice sector. Stephen explains why the charity is aiming to reduce its dependence on legacies and how it encourages innovation in its fundraising work. He stresses the importance of factoring local need into ideas for new...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt  are joined by Emma Turner, chief executive of Mind in Croydon. Emma lays bare the operational realities of meeting soaring service demand in the face of cuts to local authority and integrated care system budgets, which form the bulk of Mind in Croydon’s income. She explains how the charity has formed partnerships with other local organisations at the instigation...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt  are joined by Richard Angell, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, and Rupert Whitaker, psychiatrist, immunologist and co-founder of the charity.  They discuss the legacy of fellow co-founder Martyn Butler, who died on 21 February, remembering the use of his home telephone number as the charity’s first support line in the early 1980s. Rupert shares...

Host Lucinda Rouse is joined by Third Sector colleagues Emily Burt, Emily Harle and Andy Ricketts to reflect on three significant sector stories from the past month. Emily Burt draws attention to recent cases of charities declining to voluntarily recognise workers’ unions. She questions the likely trajectory for union action in the sector in the face of increasingly challenging working conditions....