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...

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’...

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...

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 t...

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 t...

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 leader...

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 bene...

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...

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...

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 origi...

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 organ...

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 fol...

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...

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...

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 or...

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...