Third Sector

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Julie Bentley, chief executive of Samaritans, to find out how the charity has rebuilt its volunteer base after it shrank by 30 per cent during the Covid-19 pandemic. Julie describes how Samaritans’ more flexible volunteering packages aim to attract volunteers from all corners of society. She provides her views on the campaigning climate for charities, and the need f...

Lucinda and Rory are joined by Wajid Akhter, founder of Charity Week, a student and volunteer-led campaign of Islamic Relief, and Harry Twohig, communities officer at the Brilliant Club, to discuss how charities can tap into students’ inclination to support societal causes. Wajid outlines the aims of Charity Week, which he established in 2000, and describes how its partner charity, Islamic Relief,...

From the team at Third Sector comes  The Diff  – a new podcast that spotlights the work of small charities and not-for-profits. In the final episode of its pilot series, The Diff visits the Synergy Theatre Project to hear about its work with prisoners and ex-prisoners. Guests explain how working with prisoners, ex-prisoners, young offenders and young people at risk of offending reve...

From the team at Third Sector comes The Diff – a new podcast that spotlights the work of small charities and not-for-profits. In the second episode of our pilot mini-series, airing 13-17 November, host Rhianna Dhillon learns how the first-aid charity StreetDoctors empowers young people to become part of the solution to knife crime. Volunteer and medical student Suleiman Shurafa gives a quick-...

From the team at Third Sector comes The Diff – a new podcast that spotlights the work of small charities and not-for-profits. In the first episode of our pilot mini-series, airing 13-17 November, we ask: what causes a knife crime epidemic – and what would it take to end one? Patrick Green, chief executive of the  Ben Kinsella Trust , and Nathaniel Peat, founder of the  Safety B...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Katy Saunders, director at Social Finance, and Mark Jarman-Howe, chief executive of St Helena Hospice, to discuss how charities can make effective use of social investment mechanisms. Katy explains how the social investment market works and describes its growth over the past decade, presenting opportunities to charities to be both investors and recipients of social f...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Rebecca Gray, chief executive of Maudsley Charity, a grant-maker for mental health projects. Rebecca describes how the recruitment of a new board in 2018 helped the charity to change its approach to funding across thematic, strategic programme areas with input from stakeholders to help influence the charity’s direction of travel. She explains how the charity balance...

Lucinda takes a look behind the scenes at Barnardo’s as she shadows a day in the life of Becky Rice, the charity’s senior policy adviser for mental health and wellbeing. Becky outlines the different aspects of her job: from conducting research to responding to government announcements and speaking to children, young people, practitioners and parents to ensure their perspectives and priorities are...

Lucinda and Rory are joined by Sophie Tebbetts, head of programmes at the food poverty charity FoodCycle, to learn about the different techniques used to attract and retain the charity’s 15,000 volunteers. Sophie explains how FoodCycle’s roots in universities have informed its volunteer strategy and enabled it to maintain a healthy roster of volunteers, most of whom fall within the 25 to 45 age ra...

Lucinda and Emily introduce The Diff: a new podcast from Third Sector, currently in its pilot stage, which champions the work of small charities, grassroots organisations and social enterprises working on the front line. The episode features snippets of conversations between The Diff’s host, Rhianna Dhillon, and five guests. These consist of Meg Doherty, founder of the social enterprise Fat Macy’s...

Lucinda and Rory are joined by the talent director Paul Cullen to discuss how charities can form fruitful partnerships with celebrities.  Paul provides his take on the move by numerous charities to distance themselves from Russell Brand in the wake of the multiple sexual abuse allegations made against the comedian. The talent director suggests different ways in which charities can gain v...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Duncan Shrubsole, director of policy, communications and research at the Lloyds Bank Foundation, and Elizabeth Jiménez-Yáñez, policy and communications manager at the Latin American Women's Rights Service (Lawrs), to talk about charities’ influencing work.  Duncan highlights the importance of enabling grassroots organisations to influence policy by amplifying th...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by James Cusack, chief executive of Autistica, to debunk some common misconceptions about neurodivergence and neurodiversity. James, who is autistic, describes his own professional journey and his conviction that workplaces are enriched by colleagues who think in different ways. He suggests basic workplace adjustments to accommodate neurodiversity to the benefit of all...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by the fundraising consultant Lynda Harwood-Compton to discuss successful partnerships between charities and corporate entities. Lynda, who was the head of philanthropy and partnerships at the Brain Tumour Charity until August, describes a general shift in mentality by corporates to be more strategic in identifying charities with a shared purpose and values, as well as...

Lucinda and Rory are joined by the charity coach Steve Allman to discuss how voluntary sector leaders can be better supported in their increasingly demanding roles. Steve describes some of the common issues clients bring to him and highlights the critical role of boards in cultivating a positive organisational culture which promotes professional development at all levels.  He explains the dis...

Lucinda and Rory are joined by Judith Moran, director of Quaker Social Action, and Jehangir Malik, policy and engagement director at Mercy Mission UK, to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing faith-based charities.  Judith stresses the importance of Quaker values as a guiding principle to Quaker Social Action, forming a precious part of her organisation’s identity, but acknowledges...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Carol Botten, chief executive of the north east voluntary sector network Vonne, and Jack Chellman, chief project officer at the Global Returns Project, to understand how voluntary organisations can measure the impact of their climate work. Carol acknowledges the difficulties of measuring any form of impact and stresses the importance of establishing what it is you w...

Lucinda travels to London Zoo to meet the Zoological Society of London’s head of procurement, Sara Muller. Sara gives the low-down on the ins and outs of her role and describes her motivations for working in procurement, including a special interest in promoting sustainability in the sector. She provides tips for anyone interested in joining the procurement profession and outlines the key qua...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Leann Cross, director of the childcare support charity Home-Start Greenwich, to explore how inflationary pressures are impacting low-earning charity employees. Leann discusses multi-year term public funding cycles, which are designed to improve long-term organisational sustainability but have negatively affected Home-Start’s ability to respond to rising costs. ...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Natasha Ratter, environmental sector lead at the Environmental Funders Network, and Rachel Heydecker, senior policy and engagement officer at the Association of Charitable Foundations. Rachel explains how the ACF’s Funder Commitment on Climate Change is encouraging funders working across a wide range of cause areas to integrate climate considerations into their work...

Lucinda and Emily are joined by Graeme Marsh, head of the McCarthy Stone Foundation, to explore the evolving relationship between voluntary organisations and their corporate partners. Graeme explains the growth in corporate foundations over the past three years as companies move away from traditional philanthropic giving and seek a greater level of input to support ESG (environmental, social, gove...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Janet Thorne, chief executive of Reach Volunteering, to hear how the charity has stepped up its efforts to fight climate change. Janet describes the steps taken to incorporate environmental considerations into Reach’s mission and why a “greening” of the charity’s operations wasn’t considered worthwhile. She flags the challenge of limited funding and highlights the im...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Jabeer Butt, chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, to learn about how the climate crisis is disproportionately affecting already disadvantaged groups in the UK. The discussion opens with  a clip from a previous episode  with the Wildlife Trusts' chief executive Craig Bennett, describing the interlinked nature of the climate and nature crises and...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Nick Daniel, marketing director at Dogs Trust, and Denholm Scotford, sector head for technology, media, telecoms and entertainment at the market research agency Harris Interactive. Den breaks down the different aspects of a successful brand measured in Third Sector’s recently released Charity Brand Index , from public awareness and familiarity with individual ch...

Lucinda and Andy are joined by Cathy Pharoah, visiting professor of charity funding at Bayes Business School.  Cathy provides tips on the right way for voluntary organisations to approach potential major donors, stressing the importance of building networks and emphasising shared local links. She also suggests ways in which charities can offer something in return and points out that forward-l...