Third Sector

Andy Ricketts and Dami Adewale are joined by John Fitzgerald, digital evolution project manager at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. John describes some of the easy-to-use AI tools that can improve efficiency in working life and shares examples of charities that are already employing them effectively. He warns of data privacy issues associated with using free services and the risk...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by Emily Cotter, marketing, PR and communications officer at Leeds Mind, and Col Grist, co-founder and creative director of the digital agency Few and Far. Emily provides insight into Leeds Mind’s experience of livestream fundraising as it prepares to host the fourth edition of its Get Together Through Gaming online event in March. Col explains why he consid...

Lucinda Rouse is joined by Third Sector colleagues Emily Harle, Dami Adewale and Andy Ricketts to reflect on three significant sector stories from the past month. Dami recounts the circumstances surrounding a regulatory inquiry into the sale of City and Guilds’ commercial arm to a Greek-owned certification company. Andy provides his take on the findings of Third Sector’s recent Charity Pay Study ,...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Chloe Hadjimatheou, narrative editor at the Observer, who conducted an award-winning exposé of the main characters in the bestselling memoir The Salt Path. Chloe details the steps she took to interrogate some of the assertions made in the book after receiving a tip-off, including the circumstances of an apparent terminal diagnosis. She suggests ways in w...

Emily Harle and Emily Burt discuss snippets from a recent interview with Hannah Bond and Taahra Ghazi, the new co-chief executives of ActionAid UK. Hannah speaks of the value of a co-chief executive model in supporting feminist leadership and ensuring the best possible decisions are made for an organisation. Taahra acknowledges the loneliness encountered by many single chief executives and describ...

Emily Burt and Emily Harle  are joined by Zia Salik, interim director of Islamic Relief UK, to talk about the rising levels of Islamophobia and racism targeting the charity. Zia describes the measures being taken to support staff in the face of growing online and face-to-face hostility, and the need to plan for an increased risk of attacks during the month of Ramadan. He stresses the need for...

Emily Harle and Dami Adewale are joined by Madeleine Jennings, head of policy and communications at the Local Trust. Madeleine describes how her team has worked to translate lessons learned from the Local Trust’s ‘Big Local’ programme into actionable government policy.  She stresses the importance of forming relationships with civil servants as well as big-name elected representatives, and ex...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by Kate Lee, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, to discuss some of the issues facing the voluntary sector in 2026. These include ensuring financial sustainability and the role of civil society in a world of uncertainty in the face of some big existential questions. Kate also shares her reasons to be optimistic, including the...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle discuss snippets from a recent interview Emily conducted with Matt Stringer, chief executive of the Royal National Institute of Blind People. Matt provides insight into the RNIB’s transformation programme, which concluded in April, and shares his lessons learned from a significant restructure. He reflects on the differences between charity leadership and his previous...

Lucinda Rouse is joined by Emily Burt, Emily Harle and Andy Ricketts to dissect the leading stories from the voluntary sector in 2025. Lucinda delivers a speedy round-up of the year’s charity news before the four discuss their selected top stories.  These include the launch of the Civil Society Covenant and leadership and governance challenges at Oxfam GB and World Vision UK . They share thei...

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Clara Govier, managing director of the People’s Postcode Lottery. Clara outlines the process for disbursing funds to charities and explains what the People’s Postcode Lottery looks for in prospective charity partners.  She gives her thoughts on how funders could work together more effectively and puts forward the case for lifting the sales cap on...

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale  are joined by Jane Ide, chief executive of the charity leaders body Acevo, to reflect on some of the issues facing sector leaders. Jane provides an update on work relating to the Civil Society Covenant, which was published in July, saying more momentum is expected from the government in the first quarter of 2026. She warns that charity leaders should be lowerin...

Lucinda Rouse, Emily Harle and Emily Burt reflect on two significant sector issues from the past month. Emily Harle shares findings from a recent roundtable meeting of leaders from refugee and migration charities, whose staff have experienced a surge in targeted hostility in recent months. And after the government launched its new Office for the Impact Economy, Lucinda asks what the phrase actuall...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by Vic Harper, chief executive of the food redistribution charity The Bread and Butter Thing. Vic describes how the charity has taken a holistic approach to the way it supports communities by working alongside other charities and local authorities at its food distribution hubs.  She outlines the process of identifying suitable community partners and exp...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Leicia Feare, associate director of communications and campaigns at the youth empowerment charity Mission 44. Leicia talks about the charity’s first campaign, Nothing Happens in Isolation , which aims to promote inclusion in schools. She describes how Mission 44 convened partners to formulate a list of recommendations that the charity’s founder, the moto...

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Ruth Hollis, chief executive of the Olympic legacy charity Spirit of 2012. Ruth reflects on the responsibility of being a funder approaching close-out as Spirit of 2012 prepares to wind up in early 2026. She acknowledges the difficulties for charities seeking to ensure the sustainability of their programmes in the absence of long-term funding and sugge...

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts share their thoughts on the announcement this week that Dame Julia Unwin has been named the preferred candidate to be the new chair of the Charity Commission. Andy explains the role of the chair, suggests how Unwin might be different to her predecessors and provides a summary of reactions from sector leaders to the prospect of her appointment. An excellent choi...

Lucinda Rouse, Emily Harle, Emily Burt and Dami Adewale reflect on some of the top sector stories from the past month. Emily Burt gives her thoughts on the state of the sector in 2025 following her recent return from maternity leave. Lucinda shares snippets from an interview with Peter Sparkes, chief executive of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, in which they discuss a new five-year plan t...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle discuss snippets from a recent interview Emily conducted with Andy Fletcher, chief executive of Muscular Dystrophy UK. As Andy enters his second year in post, they reflect on his ambitions to almost double the charity’s income by 2035, raise awareness for the organisation among people living with muscle-wasting and weakening conditions and cultivate a sharper strategi...

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts  are joined by Laura Kerby, chief executive of Prostate Cancer UK.  Laura outlines the due diligence conducted by the charity to try to alleviate concerns about its partnership with the gambling company Paddy Power, which has allowed it to deliver live-saving interventions to men at risk of prostate cancer. She describes the complexities of engaging with p...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by the civil society consultant Alex Evans to talk about the role of freelancers in the charity workforce. They discuss the findings of a  survey by the freelancer platform Blume, from the pros of flexibility and autonomy reported by self-employed workers, to feelings of uncertainty and the fact that more than a fifth of respondents began freelancing as...

Lucinda Rouse, Andy Ricketts, Emily Harle and Dami Adewale reflect on some recent voluntary sector news. Emily shares snippets from an interview with Breast Cancer Now’s chief executive Claire Rowney, in which she articulates her vision to shift the organisation from a medium to a large charity mindset, accompanied by a £40m annual revenue uplift. Dami asks what the move by several charities to di...

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Helen McShane, director of research, innovation and systems change at Young Lives vs Cancer. Helen explains how Young Lives vs Cancer came to launch an innovation lab, with the aim of using its assets as a trusted charity brand to support the development of early stage business ventures that align with its mission of supporting children and young people...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Paul Winyard, head of policy at the Fundraising Regulator.  Paul provides insight into the new Code of Fundraising Practice, which will take effect from 1 November. He explains how a more prescriptive set of rules has been replaced by a principles-based approach to regulation. He describes how the Fundraising Regulator is working to overcome the rep...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle  are joined by Manny Amadi, chief executive of C&E Advisory, to talk about the firm’s Corporate-Non-Profit Partnerships Barometer 2025 . Manny provides context to the finding that corporate partnerships remain a resilient and effective mechanism for driving societal change, in spite of concerns that businesses are reneging on their environmental, social and gover...