Charity Impact

“We must work as trustees to always act in the strategic because we are not close enough to the work to know what to do at an operational level and the moment we think we do is the moment we are failing.”   Sufina Ahmad MBE on philanthropy, grantmaking, charity leadership & governance, and developing strategy in complex and changing environments.   In this episode, I speak to Sufina Ahmad about he...

“Its not right, it could be better and could be different.”   Chris Sherwood, RSPCA CEO on innovation, service improvement, governance, strategy and professional development (#8)   In this episode, some of the areas we discuss are: Chris’ experience working in the charity sector, living with epilepsy, having a working class background and experiencing homophobia Innovation and service improvement...

“The power is in your pocket (your phone) to change the world.” In this episode, we discuss Paul’s story from being put into ‘care’ by the council as a teen which was actually just a B&B, to benefitting from youth work and then becoming a youth worker and going on to create Trylife, which has made a difference to so many disadvantaged young people. We discuss the co-production process, working wit...

“It is better to do great work that nobody knows about, authentically, that makes a real difference to the community you are working with, than to say all the right things but to let down that person that comes through your door.”   Ed Archer on co-production; shifting power; and diversity and inclusion issues in the charity sector. (#6)   In this episode, our main focus is on co-production and sh...

“I find time and again that it's the quiet leaders that have the skills and capacities that we need; they've got the ability to sense make, to relate, to vision, to invent. They're often the people who are doing the hard work and the necessary background work through which we can form these building blocks that we need to dismantle the oppression or the injustices that we currently find ourselves...

“If there was one thing I could change about the sector it would be the diversity of trustee boards”   Paul Nott – how to recruit and retain the best staff for your charity. (#4)   Paul Nott is a consultant helping charities to improve staff recruitment and retention. For the last year almost, Paul has been offering consultancy to organisations to improve their internal systems to both attract new...

“What helps or hinders us is us, it’s how we are, managing stress and conflict, how resilient we are. Coaching has been really helpful in shining a light on those things.”   Amanda Batten, CEO of Contact - the charity for families with disabled children – strategist; campaigner; Agatha Christie fan; collaborator; and occasionally ‘a bit of a martyr’. (#3)   Amanda Batten is Chief Executive of Cont...

“Unless you can show and evidence that you are a truly inclusive organisation, you do not have the right to ask someone to bring their ‘whole self’ to work.”   Dee Brecker is currently Deputy Director of High Value Fundraising at Guys and St Thomas’ Charity. Dee has previously held senior roles in philanthropy, fundraising and communications at a range of interesting organisations including the LS...

“If I went back to being a large charity CEO I would do it differently following my experience at Helpforce.”   In this episode, we discuss a range of topics including growing the impact of volunteering health and care; joining the sector; different CEO roles; prioritising relationships over tasks; turning £3m into £15m through social enterprise; campaigning; managing the impact of service failure...

This is a brief introduction to the Charity impact podcast. The text version is below. Hello, welcome to the Charity Impact Podcast where our purpose is to learn more about how effective charities and individuals achieve social change or social impact. My name is Alex Blake, I’m a strategic consultant working exclusively with charities and non-profits, and each episode I ask a guest working in thi...