Third Sector

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Matt Corbishley, deputy chief executive of Ashgate Hospice, to discuss the charity’s use of new tech solutions in its operations and service delivery. Matt explains why Ashgate Hospice encourages staff to experiment with new forms of IT and artificial intelligence, and outlines the benefits of a digital apprenticeship programme to train existing team members. He prov...

When The Times newspaper’s chief reporter Sean O’Neill broke the story that senior Oxfam aid workers had committed sexual abuse while working in the disaster zone of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, it sent shockwaves around the charity sector and wider society. O’Neill reflects on his memories of uncovering the scandal, while experts including Chilande Kuloba-Warria and Martha Awojobi discuss how the v...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by the author and mental health consultant Dimple Dhabalia.  Dimple warns of the dangers facing organisations that focus on their charitable mission at the expense of staff wellbeing. She notes the sense of guilt often felt by humanitarian workers suffering the effects of workplace trauma. She provides pointers for how organisations can make staff wellbeing a corn...

In May 2018, three climate activists called time on lukewarm campaigning over the climate crisis. They wanted a different and radical approach. The plan: mass civil disobedience. The name: Extinction Rebellion.  And the first major act of the movement? Stage an occupation – of the Greenpeace offices in London.  Why is it that charities are so often perceived to be “the opposite of disrup...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Philippa Cornish, head of client experience at the Charities Aid Foundation.  They discuss the implications of CAF’s report into individual giving, which found a smaller pool of donors giving more led to a total uplift in 2023 in spite of the median monthly figure remaining stagnant at £20 since 2017.  Philippa provides suggestions for how charities ca...

Why donate to a charity if you can just help out a fellow human yourself – or buy a piece of premium fashion that promises to generate a similar result? In episode three of The End of Charity, Lucinda Rouse explores two very different alternatives to the charity model: mutual aid theory, and the rise of buzzy “for good” business. The activist and founder of Mutual Aid UK, Eshe Kiama Zuri, discusse...

Lucinda and Emily Burt are joined by Dhivya O’Connor, chief executive of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. Dhivya provides insight into her previous experiences as an interim chief executive, describing the pros and cons of holding a short-term leadership role, and stresses the importance of cultivating a healthy organisational culture from the outset. She talks about the foundation’s recent...

Meet Jimmy Donaldson, perhaps better known as MrBeast – the 25-year-old YouTuber who some say is on the verge of sparking a revolution in online philanthropy.  With more than 236 million YouTube subscribers and an estimated net worth of $500m, MrBeast has turned his focus from filling houses with Lego bricks to curing blind people and building wells.  Lucinda asks Darren Margolias,...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by the fundraising historian Marina Jones to track the development of the fundraising profession and perceptions of charity fundraisers through the ages. Marina, who is leading a history project for the think tank Rogare, traces the roots of fundraising back to the time of Moses. She draws parallels between contemporary fundraising methods and instances of their use cen...

Last year the UK food bank network the Trussell Trust distributed almost 3 million emergency food parcels, 1 million of which were for children, up from 50,000 a decade ago. How has the UK landed in such a severe hunger crisis – and can food banks ever be the solution? In episode one of The End of Charity, journalist Lucinda Rouse hears from the Trussell Trust’s chief executive, Emma Revie, about...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by the digital specialist Zoe Amar and Karen Marter, head of technology strategy at the British Heart Foundation. Zoe outlines key developments in the AI space over the past year and how charities are reacting to them, including the use of virtual assistants in working life. She stresses the need for a sector-level response to the increasing normalisation of AI usage.&...

In a world where need is spiralling out of control and new, radical forces are shaping the landscape for doing good, can charity be the answer to the world’s social and environmental problems? Lucinda Rouse presents The End of Charity, a new podcast series from the makers of Third Sector.   Guided by some of the leading voices of the philanthropy world, as well as radicals who believe the cur...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation, to reflect on the voluntary sector’s female-dominated workforce and the challenges facing women on their path to senior leadership positions. Charmaine stresses her conviction that charities need to be representative of the communities they exist to support. She describes heart disease as a diseas...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Anaish Yilma-Parmar, head of legacies at the British Red Cross, and Lucinda Frostick, director at Remember a Charity. Lucinda (Frostick) provides an overview of the legacy market, worth more than £4bn annually, and expectations for further growth in spite of current economic challenges and a probate backlog. Anaish describes how the British Red Cross takes a collabo...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Liz Tait, fundraising director at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, to discuss progress with the charity’s biggest and most ambitious fundraising appeal to date. Liz describes the planning process, including the use of campaign peaks to structure and maintain momentum during the multi-year appeal. She provides insight into Gosh Charity’s use of new fun...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Suzy Edington, fundraising consultant at JustGiving, and Ellie Putt, senior participant experience manager at the Alzheimer’s Society. Suzy outlines the changes in fundraising behaviour on the JustGiving platform since the Covid-19 pandemic, with greater volumes of smaller donations and rising levels of regular giving contributing to revenue growth in 2023. Ellie ex...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by the organisational psychologist and author Dr Susan Hetrick to discuss the drivers of and barriers to workplace toxicity. Susan identifies unreasonable performance pressures as a key trigger for organisational toxicity. She explains the terms 'normalisation of deviance' and 'cognitive dissonance', which are the key drivers of a toxic working environment. She stresses...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Hatty Evans, head of brand and marketing at Magic Breakfast, and Georgie Howlett, managing director of Stand Agency, to discuss the importance of language in appealing to donors and service users. Hatty explains how Magic Breakfast, which works to end morning hunger in schools, takes different approaches in its messaging to teachers, parents and donors, emphasising...

Lucinda and Andy dissect a recent speech delivered by the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to charity bosses, in which he pledged to reset the relationship between the government and the voluntary sector should his party win the next general election.  Senior news reporter Emily Harle joins Lucinda to explore some of the causes and solutions to burnout affecting charity social media teams. They...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Ashling Cashmore, head of impact and advisory at the Charities Aid Foundation, and Mandy Rollins, chief executive of Disability Solutions West Midlands. Ashling explains the six characteristics of a resilient charity, as described in a framework formulated by CAF to guide charities on a strengthening journey. These include effective leadership, financial and operati...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Tom MacInnes, chief analyst at Citizens Advice, to discuss how the charity is using its unique position to improve understanding of the cost-of-living crisis. Tom explains how his team used client enquiry data to identify rising energy and private rental costs as two of the most significant drivers. He highlights the growing trend of clients approaching Citizens Adv...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Jane Ide, chief executive of Acevo, and Sue Tibballs, chief executive of the Sheila McKechnie Foundation, to discuss some of the themes and challenges facing the voluntary sector in 2024. These include the upcoming general election and its implications for the sector; the growing trend of charity closures; and opportunities for collaboration, both within the volunta...

Lucinda, Andy and Emily discuss the leading stories and trends from the voluntary sector in 2023. Lucinda delivers an against-the-clock round-up of the year’s charity news before the three discuss their selected top stories. These include the closure announcements by Children England and Lankelly Chase - for very different reasons - and the success of the Big Help Out volunteering initiative. They...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Ian Joseph, managing director of Trustees Unlimited, to talk about what charities need to think about when creating an effective board.  Ian describes the key qualities of a good trustee, from having an emotional connection to a charity’s cause to humility, courage and conscientiousness. He provides pointers on how to find the right trustee, starting with a cha...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Miriam Turner, co-executive director of Friends of the Earth, and Victoria Benson, chief executive of the single-parent support charity Gingerbread, to discuss their respective organisations’ move to a four-day working week. Miriam explains how the change is helping to strengthen the environmental justice movement by enabling a more diverse staff body to further the...