Charity Digital Podcast: Recent Episodes
Charity Digital Podcast
Looking to stay ahead of the digital curve? Kickstart your digital journey? Or just see how other charities are making the most of technology?
The Charity Digital podcast looks to inspire, educate and connect charity pro's to the latest trends in the (sometimes) scary world of 'digital'. With guests from all walks of the sector, we'll be discussing poignant topics, pain points and success stories driven by you the audience.
Have a question or discussion topic for our pod? reach out to us at podcasts@charitydigital.org.uk.
Don't forget to subscribe through your usual podcast provider to be the first to know when our next pod drops!
Welcome to the new podcast from Charity Digital: The Charity Digital Agenda.
Every month we’ll be interviewing charity professionals and digital experts to find out what technology they value and what they have learned in their digital work.
In this episode, Laura (Charity Digital’s Content Manager) is joined by Emma Bracegirdle, Founder of ethical filmmakers The Saltways.
Emma talks to us about authentic storytelling, the importance of AI transparency, and what makes a good digital partner - and much more.
Resources:
- Charity Digital - Topics - AI image guidelines for charities
- Charity Digital - Webinar: A guide to creating ethical AI-generated imagery
- Meta pulls new AI image feature after days of backlash - BBC News
- Two days in Birmingham: connection, reflection — and the great chocolate debate! | by CAST
Contact us at content@charitydigital.org.uk 😊
The charity sector is already prone to burnout, as a sector stretched for time and resources. Artificial intelligence (AI) promises productivity gains, and time-saving opportunities, but how is that actually affecting the way we work?
In this trends report, we look at the concept of AI burnout, exploring how it is shifting our workplace mentality and processes, and what charities can do to support their workers in the age of AI.
Join Charity Digital's Lisa Chomette (Head of Strategic Growth), Josie Sparling (Senior Content Writer and Editor), and Laura Stanley (Content Manager) as they discuss the latest digital trends shaping the charity sector.
Resources:
- Charity Digital Conscious AI Hub
- AI is exhausting workers so much, researchers have dubbed the condition ‘AI brain fry’ | CNN Business
- Why AI is burning women out - Fast Company
- Increased AI expectations without guidance leads to employee burnout | CIO
- AI is boosting productivity and burnout - teams must build hope - Psychology Today
- ‘We’re up against forces that have all the money in the world’: Erin Brockovich on her battle against AI datacentres | Energy | The Guardian
Contact us at content@charitydigital.org.uk 😊
Welcome to the new podcast from Charity Digital: The Charity Digital Agenda.
Every month we’ll be interviewing charity professionals and digital experts to find out what technology they value and what they have learned in their digital work.
In this episode, Laura (Charity Digital’s Content Manager) is joined by Alice Kershaw, Head of Digital Transformation at The Wildlife Trusts.
Alice talks to us about tech optimism, how generative AI is affecting our perception of nature, and the biggest digital lessons she has learned (always plan more time!).
Resources:
- The Wildlife Trusts
- You're Not Imagining It: Google Search Results Are Getting Worse, Study Finds
- Concerns around AI psychosis
- Charity Digital’s Conscious AI Hub
Contact us at content@charitydigital.org.uk 😊
What constitutes good cyber security in 2026?
The cyber security landscape is always evolving, particularly in the wake of artificial intelligence. With almost three in ten charities experiencing a cyber breach or attack between 2025 and 2026, it is important that the sector keeps pace with the threat and knows what robust cyber security looks like in a challenging environment.
In this podcast, we are joined by Mike Horton, Head of Business Development at Qlic IT, to discuss how the cyber threat landscape has changed for charities and what practical steps organisations can take to prepare for these changes.
Resources:Qlic for Not-for-Profits
Changes to Cyber Essentials – Charity Digital
Conscious AI Hub – Charity Digital
The world of digital fundraising has grown considerably since 2020, with three in five donations now being made online. It has become so normalised, in fact, that you might expect us to be able to drive donations online by rote.
But the world of digital technology changes all the time and donor behaviour evolves – fundraising strategies must evolve with them in order to provide seamless supporter experiences.
In this podcast, we explore some of the upcoming fundraising trends that we believe will shape 2026, from revitalising the sector’s storytelling to improving the way we use data.
Resources:
- .ORG Learning Center
- PIR - Four ways nonprofits can keep their community engaged
- Digital fundraising trends article
- Artificial Intelligence: Responsible use for charities
- 2025 Digital Fundraising Summit
- Mind the Engagement Gap report
- Charity Digital Skills report Mind – Workplace wellbeing resources
Storytelling is a very important part of charity work – it boosts their ability to fundraise, helps them to reach and motivate more supporters, and as we’ll see in this podcast, gain more recognition for their hard work in serving their communities.
This episode gives nonprofits and mission-driven leaders practical tips on how to create award-winning submissions. We are joined by Megan Waters, Director of Community Engagement at Public Interest Registry, the organisation behind the .org domain name and the .ORG Impact Awards.
Megan shares insights from reviewing thousands of .ORG Impact Awards applications — with a focus on storytelling, clarity, alignment to criteria, and demonstrating real impact.
- Find out more about the .ORG Impact Awards and how to enter here.
- Read 2024's .ORG of the Year, Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation's story.
Charities of all sizes can reap the benefits of awards and grants. Massive budgets and huge teams are not necessary to get recognised – charities just need a compelling story and the right strategy in order to stand out.
This episode is the first of a three-part podcast series with Public Interest Registry that pulls back the curtain on how to successfully apply for awards, amplify your recognition, and turn visibility into meaningful funding, attention, and donor support.
In this podcast, we’re joined by Tony Connor, Senior Director, Product Marketing at Public Interest Registry and Darren Dannelly, President & CEO of The Center for Courageous Kids, who will walk us through what makes an application shine. Our guests will talk candidly about crafting a standout submission, how to showcase impact with clarity, and what judges actually look for.
Whether you're a first-time applicant or refining for a second shot, this is your inside edge.
Find out more about the .ORG Impact Awards: https://pir.org/for-orgs/org-impact-awards/
We know that digital technology can be transformative in helping charities achieve their goals, whether it’s reaching new supporters or delivering more services. But there remain challenges around how inclusive digital technology is, with millions of people in the UK unable to get online.
This is a particular issue for the charity sector, whose purpose is reaching as many people as possible, from supporters to beneficiaries. Indeed, our report, Digital inclusion in the UK charity sector, revealed that 82% of charities are concerned about digital inclusion, with more than half finding it difficult to reach service users due to problems with digital technology.
In 2024, we launched a digital inclusion campaign to help address these problems. In this podcast, we explore what we’ve learned about digital inclusion as part of our campaign, sharing insights from our report and from working closely with charities engaged in tackling the issue.
Join us as we discover more about charity attitudes towards digital inclusion and what they can do to prioritise it in the future.
Useful resources:* Dr Emma Stone: AI shifts the goalposts of digital inclusion * Digital Inclusion Hub
Charities are mission-led organisations, with service delivery at their core. They help to uphold society with vastly ranging activities such as personal care, advice, research, advocacy, care for animals, environmental protection, community and cultural activities, religious events, and so much more.
But too often, the conditions that charities work within can get in the way. Recent years have financially squeezed charities, putting pressure on the services they deliver, and harming the communities who use them.
Working to achieve their ideals with limited time can also leave charities tied to traditional ways of operating, lacking the opportunity to overhaul their approach to be more effective, efficient, and empowering to those who use services.
In this podcast, we explore how charities are making the best of the current service delivery landscape, improving services with digital, and engaging with service users in new ways.
Have your say! Take our Reimagining Services survey: https://charitydigital.org.uk/topics/reimagining-services-take-our-survey-11931
Understanding artificial intelligence (AI) in 2025 feels like a mammoth task, with new tools emerging out of seemingly nowhere at a time where we’re trying to get to grips with the existing ones.
For charities, the process of getting to know AI is yet harder. With a low threshold for risk, and vital services needing to be funded and delivered, charities have limited time and resource to dedicate to AI, despite its future potential to make charity operations more efficient and give us that time back.
This podcast aims to help. In this episode, we are joined by Adam Graham, Managing Director of Qlic IT, to discuss the opportunities and use cases of AI in the charity sector. We explore how AI can be used in the charity sector, how to create an effective AI policy, and share practical advice for your next steps on the AI journey.
Resources:Qlic IT for charitiesCharity Digital AI Hub
When websites and other elements of the digital world are poorly designed, people with disabilities experience significant barriers, causing frustration and getting in the way of independent daily life.
According to the Charity Digital Skills Report 2023, 58% of charities say their products and services are accessible to some extent, while 53% feel they are monitoring accessibility and diversity of users effectively. As a sector, we can do better.
In this podcast, recorded at Charity Digital's Digital Inclusion Summit in June 2024, we are joined by a panel of experts to share advice and learnings to help the charity sector improve its digital accessibility. You can find the video recording and additional resources here.
Host: Tara Lee, Account Manager, Charity Digital
Panel: * Avneet Jagpal, Accessibility Specialist, ReciteMe * Kwesi Afful, Executive Director of Digital and Marketing, Scope * Joe Chidzik, Principal Accessibility Consultant, AbilityNet
Social media can feel dizzying. Platforms are fast-moving, ever-evolving, and always demanding, with new rules, new trends, new styles, and so on. It can be tough to keep up. And charities can post without considering their users, their audience, even their own communities. That means posts can exclude the very people you want to serve.
This podcast, hosted by Prue Watson, Senior Social Media Manager at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) will delve into some practical tips for social media accessibility, including how to add and write image descriptions, how to use emojis and hashtags, and how to make your video content accessible.
The session was recorded at our Digital Inclusion Summit in June 2024. You can find the the video recording and additional resources here.
Charities are tempting targets for cyber attacks, as custodians of sensitive data and funds needed to deliver critical services. But with concepts like multifactor authentication, access controls, and patch management to contend with, looking after your cyber security can seem like a daunting prospect, particularly when coupled with limited resources and technical knowledge.
However, cyber security needn’t be intimidating. Many of the scariest sounding concepts can be relatively simple. With the right training and technology to help, charities can empower everyone in their organisation to look after their cyber security, from the newest volunteer to the most senior board member.
In this podcast, recorded at Charity Digital's Digital Inclusion Summit in June 2024, Rick Wilhelm, Chief Technology Officer at PIR.org (the organisation that powers the .Org domain name), we explore how charities can create a fear-free means culture around cyber security, with response plans, education, and tips on how to spot potential cyber threats.
You can find the slides and video recording here, as well as more sessions from the Digital Inclusion Summit 2024.
Good Things Foundation is the UK’s leading digital inclusion charity, powering the National Digital Inclusion Network, National Databank, and National Device Bank. In this podcast, recorded at Charity Digital's Digital Inclusion Summit in June 2024, Good Things' Group CEO Helen Milner OBE gives an overview of Digital Nation 2024 - why digital inclusion matters, what is already happening to fix the digital divide, and what more needs to be done - including by the next UK Government - for a digitally inclusive nation.
You can find the video recording and slides here.
Misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories can be a problem for charities by negatively impacting upon service users, employees, and volunteers. Here, charities’ responsibility is two-fold: avoiding spreading misinformation themselves and quelling false information about their cause.
Ensuring trustworthy online information is an aspect of digital inclusion, supporting people to make the most of the digital resources available. Media literacy skills are a key element of this, empowering digital users to safeguard personal and societal health and wellbeing. It’s also up to organisations to do their bit in countering the spread.
In this podcast, we explore how false information spreads, its impacts, how charities can avoid spreading it, and approaches to address misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories about your charitable cause.
Useful resources:* First Draft - The psychology of misinformation: Why we’re vulnerable * The New York Times - How social media amplifies misinformation more than information * Charity Digital - Digital Inclusion Hub
The last few years have been challenging for charities. A global pandemic hastened the speed of digital transformation for the entire sector, widespread inflation led to growing costs and more precarious fundraising, and charities have had to balance rising service demand with an uncertain economy.
But many of these challenges have predated the pandemic – what’s changed is the way we rise to them. Evolving technology has allowed charities to innovate more than ever before, with advances in everything from web accessibility to digital fundraising.
In this podcast, we’re joined by Tony Connor, Senior Director of Product Marketing at PIR.org, the organisation that looks after the .org domain name, to discuss how technology is developing to meet charity’s challenges, both old and new.
Resources:* .ORG Learning Center - .ORG Learning Center - .ORG Learning Center * Charity Digital - Charity Digital - Home * Top tech trends for 2024 - Charity Digital - Topics - Tech trends for 2024
Climate change is a recurring news topic, perhaps the most pressing issue of our age, and it’s essential that charities take action. It’s time for charities to build environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies into day-to-day work. Our panel of experts discuss ESG and consider how charities can build it into strategies so they can implement meaningful changes.
The session, taken from a recording from our 2023 Conference, features Jen Lowthrop from Feel Good Do Good, Charity Digital Senior Content Writer Laura Stanley, Charlotte Washe from In Kind Direct, Jessica Wrigley from Sage, and Amy Moore from Marie Curie.
In this podcast, taken from a recording from our 2023 Conference, we aim to demystify artificial intelligence (AI), explain some of the best ways that charities can use it, illustrate some of the core benefits for charities, and suggest some of the ways you should practice caution.
The session, delivered by Phil Dearson, Digital Director at WPNC, explores practical applications for charities, including decision-making, content generations, analytics, summarisation, prioritisation, and broadly expanding your knowledge of potential donors.
As custodians of huge amounts of sensitive data and funds that are needed to deliver essential services, charities are under a great deal of pressure to ensure their charity is properly protected against a cyber breach. And proper protection includes that which we’re most familiar with: passwords.
In this episode, we speak to Rick Wilhelm, PIR’s Chief Technology Officer, to explore the significance of strong, unique passwords, the role of password managers, and tips for creating and managing passwords effectively.
- .ORG Learning Center - .ORG Learning Center
- Charity Digital - Cyber Security
- Charity Digital – How to make your passwords stronger
- Charity Digital - Why your password probably isn't good enough
- NCSC.GOV.UK – Password Guidance – Simplifying your approach
- Charity Digital – How your organisation can build trust
With the combination of sensitive data records, funds, and limited cyber security resources to protect them, charities can look like prime targets for cyber criminals. The 2024 Cyber Breaches survey from the UK Government revealing that around a third of charities identified cyber breaches or attacks in the last 12 months.
For today’s podcast, sponsored by PIR.org, the organisation that looks after the .org domain name globally, we are joined by Vinita Srivastava (Executive Leader - Product Development, Strategy, & Operations, PIR.org) to discuss the importance of maintaining a secure online presence, exploring the potential risks of neglecting security measures and sharing tips to keep you and your mission-driven organization safe online.
RESOURCES: * .ORG Learning Center - .ORG Learning Center * Charity Digital - Cyber Security * https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2024/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2024 * Secure Your Website, Save the Internet * Small Charity Guide (NCSC)
As the world moves from in-person to remote, how can charities build lasting relationships with supporters? The picture might seem a bit bleak. Data regulation has impacted outreach opportunities. The pandemic and advances in technology have resulted in changes in supporter behaviour. Trends show a decline in the number of people supporting charitable causes.
But the loss of old opportunities presents new ones – charities have an opportunity to rethink how they engage with supporters. Digital enables charities to build stronger, more meaningful, and more engaged relationships with supporters than ever before.
In this session, recorded from our 2023 Conference, Alan Perestrello from Trillium and Declan Hunt from ClearCourse show us how to grasp digital opportunities, the possible strategic routes you could take, and some practical tips to immediately start making changes within your charity.
The world has gone digital, and tin many ways, that’s great: processes are quicker and easier than ever before, information is transmitted seamlessly across the globe, and new opportunities have been unlocked far and wide. But what about those who can’t experience these numerous benefits?
People of any age and socio-economic background can be excluded from using devices and the internet, meaning that everyday tasks such as accessing information, staying in touch with friends and family, and being able to work – are threatened.
It’s a hidden problem that can combine with other difficulties in a person’s life to create a Catch-22 that’s difficult to recover from. And the problem is widespread: one in seven people are deprived across two or more dimensions of digital, according to the Digital Poverty Alliance’s most recent report.
In the digital age, all organisations, and indeed individuals, must play a role in creating an inclusive online environment. So, what is the role of charities, and how can they get started?
Resources:* Information about Good Things Foundation's free-to-join National Digital Inclusion Network * Information about the scale of the digital divide in the UK
During the cost-of-living crisis, many supporters have had to review how much they can continue to support their chosen charities, often causing a drop in income. With the number of lottery players in the UK still growing, Your Hospice Lottery and Make a Smile Lottery explain how offering supporters something in return (such as a chance to win money), can help retain and grow income during times when all charities are feeling the financial strain of rising costs.
The session, a recording from our 2023 Conference, is delivered by Gemma Zweck and Jill Moore from St. Helena Hospice Limited, and Tony Bloomfield from the British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association. The session will cover, among many other things, how charities can overcome 2023’s financial strains by starting a new reliable income stream, how to throw a lottery from the point of view of a charity, the general benefits of collaboration, and so much more.
We might have to whisper...but 2024 looks…promising. Giving trends suggest an uplift. The economic outlook is encouraging, with lower inflation, wage growth, and more spending power. There is a strange feeling in the charity sector, one that we have not felt for years: optimism.
That optimism will shift fundraising. We still expect flexible giving to deal with the cost-of-living. We still expect ‘inverse giving’ to dominate and we expect charities to move away from big social media platforms. AI will have a hefty impact on forms of fundraising and Gaming for Good will still rise.
But, on top of that, we expect an embrace of the long-term. Charities, with new economic freedom, might invest generative AI, might finance new socials, might put on more extravagant events, might focus on corporate partnerships, might shift to legacy giving. Or, indeed, they might not.
The future is unwritten, but we will discuss that future with people who write about it. So join the Charity Digital Content Team for our final podcast of 2023, in which we discuss fundraising in 2024.
It’s been a year of perpetual crises: the hangover of the health crisis, the emergence of geo-political crises, national and international economic crises, and an environmental crisis. Charities had to navigate various issues, overcome myriad threats, and practice resilience in the face of all challenges.
But, in the face of such challenges, we’ve also seen so many positives. Charities have shifted towards flexible giving, found innovative solutions to service user demands, embraced new and exciting tech such as ChatGPT, trialled new platforms such as Threads, and broadly embraced the digital.
We want to discuss the ups and downs of 2023. The Charity Digital Content Team, Laura Stanley, Josie Sparling, and Ioan Marc Jones dives into key developments, explore reactions to crises, and talk about tech. So join us to review 2023 in the UK charity sector.
Our 2023 Climate Action campaign may be coming to an end in December, but that doesn’t mean we should stop acting on climate change. Indeed, climate change won’t stop acting on us.
Our survey ‘Climate change in the UK charity sector’ found that more than four in five charities are concerned about the impacts of climate change but the majority rate the sector at a six out of ten in how well they are enacting sustainability in their organisations.
Clearly there is still work to be done. Our report showed that the sector lacked clear communication on sustainability among their peers, and while many charities praise the work of environmental organisations, they were unsure about what they could do to tackle climate change themselves. The responsibility for tackling climate change in the sector of course does not rest only with environmental charities, but they perhaps understand the challenges more than most.
Having discussed this challenge with guests from across the sector in our last podcast, today we speak to guests from environmental charities to get their say: what role does digital technology play in climate action and sustainability, what is the current state of affairs, and where do we have left to go?
This year, Charity Digital has been focused on climate action, aiming to raise awareness about climate change, show charities how digital and tech can help them to minimise their carbon footprint, and empower charities to take meaningful action to protect our planet. But we, along with many other charities, are still trying to improve our environmental impact.
Our survey found that although 88% of charities are concerned about climate change, only 48% are taking serious action to address it. So, we want to know: how can we bridge that gap?
In this episode, we sit down with Sila Ugurlu from the British Youth Council and Alison Gowman from City Bridge Foundation to learn more about the state of climate action in the sector right now and what we can all do to help secure our planet’s future.
More than four in five charities see digital as more of a priority as a result of the pandemic, according to the 2022 Charity Digital Skills Report. Demand for digital services has increased, with 72% of charities actively working towards progressing with digital through tools, skills, infrastructure, and more.
But what, exactly, does progress look like? The charity sector has grown significantly in confidence when it comes to basic digital skills, but the digital world changes rapidly and technology grows increasingly sophisticated. How can charities keep pace without fear and with limited resources?
In this podcast, we explore how charties can embark on new digital projects with intention. Join our host Lisa Chomette (Head of Partnerships, Charity Digital) and guests as they discuss the importance prioritisation, how charities can measure of performance, and, crucially, how they can avoid overwhelm.
Web accessibility is increasingly a priority for the charity sector in efforts to reach more people and improve the lives of the people they serve.
Around 1.3 billion people around the world experience significant disability, according to the World Health Organisation, representing one in six of the world’s population, many of whom are our beneficiaries, donors, volunteers, employees, leaders, and supporters. Web accessibility is essential to enable everyone to participate in your mission.
In this podcast, sponsored by PIR.org, the non-profit organisation that maintains the .org domain, Charity Digital’s content team share what they’ve learned about web accessibility, its impact on the charity sector, and why charities must embrace it now and in the future.
Guests:
Ioan Marc Jones, Head of Content, Charity Digital
Laura Stanley, Content Writer, Charity Digital
Josie Sparling, Content Assistant, Charity Digital
Resources:.ORG Learning Center - .ORG Learning CenterA digital world accessible to all. | AbilityNet
A beginner’s guide to digital accessibility - Scope for business
Charity Digital - Topics - An overview of the W3C Accessibility Standards
Charity Digital - Topics - Where to start with web accessibility
Accessibility Bookmarklets (accessibility-bookmarklets.org)
UK laws that cover web accessibility - Scope for business
Understanding accessibility requirements for public sector bodies - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Accessibility Checker - ADA & WCAG Compliance (Free Scan)
Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List (w3.org)
Top 5 Accessibility Plugins & Widgets Reviews | Top 5 Accessibility
Content people are a nervous bunch. We write in darkness, surrounded by books, shrouded in mystery. Many of us picked our roles precisely because we did not have to speak, or because we could speak through writing. But, on occasion, writers and editors have good ideas. And, on even rarer occasions, we might want to share those ideas, with other people, in the actual real world.
The Charity Digital Content Team wanted to improve our delivery on podcasts, reduce our nerves and eliminate stage fright, find a way to minimise the ‘Umms’ and the ‘Likes’, and stop having so many breakdowns. So we decided to read, write, and train ourselves, gaining outside help and help from free sources across the internet, hoping to improve our overall public speaking.
In our latest podcast, we discuss some of the great public speaking tips and tricks we have found. We cover how you can boost your confidence, improve delivery, develop your vocal landscape, embrace word power, make the most of your pauses, and so much more. So join a slightly less nervous Charity Digital Content Team as they aim to show off their new public speaking skills.
More than four in five charities are concerned about the impacts of climate change, according to Charity Digital’s recent survey, Climate Change in the UK Charity Sector. Yet only 52% of charities say environmental sustainability features in their strategy.
But what do these findings actually say about the charity sector? Charities may well be concerned about climate change, but are they taking meaningful action to address it? If not, what is preventing them from doing so?
In this podcast, we explore answers to these questions and more, uncovering what charities think about environmental sustainability as it stands and what steps they can take next to go green.
Join Ioan Marc Jones (Content Editor), Josie Sparling (Content Assistant), and Laura Stanley (Content Writer) as they discuss the full findings of the report, available to download now on the Charity Digital website.
2023 has proved another challenging year for the charity sector. The Cost-of-Living crisis has provoked a Cost-of-Giving crisis, meaning many charities have been faced with less funds to deal with increased demand. But, as ever, we’ve seen charities prove their resilience with a host of novel fundraising solutions and creative forms of service delivery.
In 2024, charities will go even further. They may flex their muscles with flexible giving, invert expectations with inverse giving, prove anti-social on social media, embrace the art of artificial intelligence, start playing around with Gaming for Good, and so much more. The future of fundraising is a fascinating landscape, with plenty of room for experimentation.
Our three Charity Digital guests, Laura Stanley, Lisa Chomette, and Ioan Marc Jones, discuss the above fundraising trends and so many more, explore some of the core challenges and obstacles charities face, look at digital tools that can help with fundraising, and so much more.
How you speak to your audience matters. From building trust, to being clear, showing respect and sensitivity, and differentiating your charity from others, it’s important that you get it right. Using the right tone of voice is about being intentional with your words in order to build the best relationships possible with service users, supporters, and other stakeholders.
However, communications can often take a back seat in the charity sector, with crisis after crisis exacerbating more immediate pressures around service delivery and fundraising. In this episode, Charity Digital’s Content Team give a quick guide to cultivating an appropriate tone of voice, including the immediate actionable steps you can take to make sure that your message is both understood by your audience and taken to heart.
Content is ever evolving, and it is now evolving at rapid speed. The content of today looks drastically different to the content of five years ago. And content in five years will look drastically different to the content of today. We want to discuss how it might look, the main changes that may take place, the core trends that are set to define the future of content, and so much more.
Our guests discuss the unstoppable growth of video content and livestreaming, the mirroring effect of content creation and social media, the upsurge of nano influencers, the debate around quantity and quality, the dependency on user-generated content, the personalisation of content, and so much more. And, of course, all of that will be underpinned by the rise of generative artificial intelligence.
So join our host, Lisa Chomette, as she questions the Charity Digital Content Team on some of the most important content trends that are set to define the next five years.
Three years after the beginning of a global pandemic, and now months into a cost-of-living crisis that shows little signs of slowing, the 2020s have been a tumultuous time for the charity sector. As we leap from crisis to crisis, charities face a rise in demand for their services, concerns over their ability to fundraise, and rising costs themselves in order to keep the lights on.
For those working in the charity sector, meeting these challenges over a long period of time can lead to burnout. Recent research revealed that one in four charities are worried about staff burnout, amid problems with employee recruitment and retention. This, in turn, has an impact on services, as half of those organisations with vacancies have been forced to pause them.
In this podcast, Charity Digital’s Josie Sparling (Content Assistant, she/her) is joined by colleagues Alice Roche (Chief Operating Officer, she/her), Chiara Simmons-Wood (Event Marketing Executive, she/her), and Laura Stanley (Content Writer, she/her), as they discuss how stress is affecting the charity sector and what charities can do to prevent it in the future.
ResourcesHow to help your staff avoid burnout
A guide to mental health awareness
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has already long impacted our lives, but recent developments in the technology have created a frenzy around its possibilities and risks. While some are excited about saving time and money with new AI technologies, others are sceptical and would much rather proceed with caution.
The most common ways AI is used in 2023 are to respond to people via text or email, answer financial questions, plan a travel itinerary, craft an email, prepare for a job interview, write a social media post, and summarise complex or lengthy copy. We want to know how charity professionals think these, and other, uses will impact upon the crucial work of charities.
In this episode, Charity Digital Content Writer Laura Stanley speaks to CEO Jonathan Chevallier, Transformation Manager Kiki Tetley, and Content Editor Ioan Marc Jones to learn more about the different perspectives of AI in the charity sector, how it’s already impacting the ways we are working, and how it could impact charity work in the future.
Resources
CDDO – Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data
Gov.UK – National AI Strategy
The White House – Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights
NIST – AI Risk Management Framework
Update on He Jiankui, the scientist who used AI to edit genes: The Guardian – Scientist who edited babies’ genes says he acted ‘too quickly’
There are lots of theories about life working in the charity sector. We’ve heard that it provides huge job satisfaction, that it is bureaucratic and frustrating, that it pays badly or well, that the benefits are few or many. Surveys suggest a sense of fulfilment, but also point to an unhealthy work culture, high expectations to go above and beyond, and a poor work-life balance.
So we thought we’d clear the air. We use our knowledge from working with people across the sector, our experience from working in a charity, information collected from surveys and reports, and additional research to explore what it’s really like to work in the charity sector.
The podcast covers, among other things, reasons people are attracted to working in the sector, the drawbacks of non-profits, problems we’ve encountered in our research, how charities can improve working life, and so much more. So join our host, Chiara Simmons-Wood, and our Content Team, Josie Sparling, Laura Stanley, and Ioan Marc Jones, to discuss working life in the charity sector and why it might just be the best place for you.
Content bots are a form of generative AI that create content in seconds. ChatGPT, Jasper, and various other platforms generate content at overwhelming speed, averaging around 20-30 seconds to respond, offering complete articles, lists of facts, and even poems.
The content bot can provide huge benefits to charities. But they also pose substantial risks, not just in terms of your organisation, but in terms of wider social problems they create. So charities need to practice caution when using content bots, always remembering the various ethical concerns.
This podcast will look at content bots, exploring the benefits and drawbacks, but mostly diving into the social, political, and ethical concerns. Our host, Lisa Chomette, is joined by the Charity Digital Content Team who have spent too much of the last month writing about and arguing about content bots.
We discuss how charities can use campaigns to tackle climate change, consider the role of digital technology, and reflect on what we have learnt from our own Climate Action Campaign
Tech has always played a paradoxical role in the history of climate change: as both problem and solution. Tech is one of the main drivers of greenhouse gas emissions and pushes us further into the climate crisis. Tech also helps us to limit our emissions and deal with the various impacts of the climate crisis.
The choice rests on humans and our collective choices. We need to ensure that, now and in the future, we use the right tech in the right way, reject catch-all and one-stop solutions, and consider how tech can inform meaningful climate action.
In our latest podcast, we touch on solutionism, behavioural change, the importance of green tech, and so much more. Join our host, Lisa Chomette, and our content writers, Josie Sparling, Laura Stanley, and Ioan Marc Jones, to discuss whether technology can save the planet.
This podcast is sponsored by the Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit organisation that powers the .ORG domain.
Looking after your cyber security is a constant process. Cyber threats grow more sophisticated, new tools to tackle them arrive on the scene, and charities must stay up-to-date in order to stay secure.
In 2022, 30% of charities were able to identify a cyber attack that happened over the last year, with almost two in five of these attacks impacting their services and 19% resulting in a negative outcome.
In this podcast, our guests will explore the most common cyber threats that charities are experiencing in 2023 and the best practice they can put in place to prevent or mitigate them. Join our host Lisa Rowland, Charity Digital’s Events Manager, to discuss the latest developments in cyber security with Rick Wilhelm, Chief Technology Officer at PIR.org, Sophie, Economy and Society Resilience Officer at the National Cyber Security Centre, and Laura Stanley, Content Writer at Charity Digital.
Reports of the death of written content have been greatly exaggerated. Blogs were the second most created form of content in 2022, according to research from HubSpot, while reports from Statista found that How To articles were the most popular content formats.
Whether it’s a blog, website home page, or a press release, writing is essential for communicating with your audiences, for establishing your charity as an informational authority in its field, and for helping your organisation reach as many as people as possible online.
In this podcast, Charity Digital’s content team sit down with our host Lisa Chomette (Head of Partnerships) to discuss the fundamentals of great online writing, what they’ve learned about writing in the charity sector, and some hard and fast rules that can help charities communicate using the written word.
As a team, we are thinking a lot about climate action and how charities can get involved. Our 2023 Climate Action campaign aims to impart those findings to our audience. In this podcast, we think beyond why it’s important to talk about climate change to discussing how we and other charities can talk about climate change. We ask: how can charities talk about this complex issue in ways that are both accurate and make sense to their audience?
Join host Lisa Chomette with guests Ioan Marc Jones (Content Editor) and Laura Stanley (Content Writer) to learn how to stay informed about the climate, how to understand your audience, and some of the most useful, interesting, and surprising facts we’ve found in our research.
Charity professionals are all too aware of the cost-of-living crisis. It has posed a dual threat to non-profit organisations: funds decrease as service demand increases. The crisis is the defining issue of 2023, so much so we’ve put it front and centre of our #BeMoreDigital Conference. This year, charities will need to work out how to tackle the challenges arising from the crisis.
So in this podcast, we’re going to discuss and provide advice on just that. We will consider, among many other things, the importance of financial sustainability, meeting excessive energy bills, combating cyber threats, treating staff and volunteers fairly, ensuring extra provisions for service users, and so much more.
Our host Lisa Chomette is joined by two Charity Digital regulars, Laura Stanley and Ioan Marc Jones, to discuss the cost-of-living crisis, the cost-of-giving crisis, the challenges that will arise, and how your charity can face the crisis head on.
User personas are an essential tool for charities. They are fictional representations or archetypes created to help you target and optimise various aspects of charity operations. Personas allow your charity to segment users, practice precise targeting for marketing campaigns, streamline volunteer management, improve donor recruitment and retention, and even boost efficiency around service delivery. Simply put, personas can drastically enhance so many elements of your charity’s work.
Our podcast aims to deep dive into user personas. We hope to cover, among many other things, definitions of user personas, the many benefits that they bring, how charities can develop personas, how they can use such personas, and the challenges they may face on the journey. Our host, Ioan Marc Jones, will be joined by Angela Richmond of RedFox Research and Jen Lowthrop of Feel Good Do Good to discuss the details around user personas and offer top tips to making them work for you.
In 2020 alone, gaming platform Twitch raised $83M for charitable causes. While it might have started as a niche avenue, with only a few charities playing around on YouTube and Twitch, Gaming for Good has now become an enormous fundraising opportunity, one that also allows charities to reach a new – and generous – demographic.
This podcast will help charities navigate this fresh and exciting fundraising world. Each member of our panel possesses a distinct experience within the world of Gaming for Good, ranging from campaigners to streamers themselves. The panel will explore the basics of using the platform for fundraising, how to get started, the best ways to approach streamers, and how to create a safe and accessible environment for all participants. And, of course, each of our wonderful panelists will talk about their own unique and varied experiences with Gaming for Good.
It is not a legal requirement for UK charities to report on their environmental impact. Though sustainability is becoming an increasing concern to donors, beneficiaries, and investors, it can be difficult for charities to discuss their green credentials publicly and harder yet for them to know where to start building them.
In this podcast, Charity Digital’s host Laura Stanley (Content Writer) sits down with three charities from across the UK charity sector who have established their environmental policy already and have embraced environmental sustainability internally within their organisation.
Join Katherine McAlpine, Director at The Brunel Museum; Amy Moore, Sustainability Manager at Marie Curie; and Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, CEO of Keep Britain Tidy as they discuss what charities can do internally to embed environmental sustainability.
Resources * Charity Digital’s Climate Action Hub
* Marie Curie’s Environmental Policy
* The Brunel Museum’s Sustainability Policy
* Keep Britain Tidy’s manifesto
There are now tech platforms to support almost every aspect of your charity’s work and operations. Each year, shiny new software and glittering platforms pop up, all promising to make your fundraising better, your services faster, and your marketing more targeted.
But with so much choice, how do you convince senior stakeholders that one thing is more valuable to your mission than another? It’s all about communicating the return on investment (ROI).
We explore the different meanings of ROI including monetary investment, increased productivity, growth in service users and donors, process improvements, and targeting audiences. This podcast will leave you with confidence and an action plan to evaluate and articulate the ROI in new technology initiatives.
Language: it may be easy to take it for granted but where would we be without it? You would not be reading this sentence, and I would not be writing it. Most importantly, you would not have the opportunity to hear the insights of our wonderful experts today – and then where would we be?
In the work of charities, language can be a tool for many things, from building connections to tackling injustice. In this podcast, we explore how to use your words online, including tone, voice, inclusivity, accessibility, and impact. We use our varied experience to explore some of the key considerations for charities to communicate more intentionally and effectively online.
Join host Lisa Chomette with guests Ioan Marc Jones (Content Editor), Laura Stanley (Content Writer), and Grace Monnery (Communications Executive) for a gripping discussion of all things language.
Our latest podcast includes a discussion with people who have first-hand experience of using digital to achieve less with more. Justine Currell, Executive Director at Unseen, explains how smarter tech has allowed the charity to vastly maximise their services and save lives through swift action.
Over the past three years the sector has been required to adapt to changes like never before. Overnight charities plummeted into a virtual world of fundraising, ‘pivoting’ and ‘hybrid’ became part of everyday conversations, and service delivery depended on digital solutions. Now that we are well and truly out of the pandemic, fundraising is returning to a new normal.
In this podcast, our speakers from Mind explore how their community fundraising team responded digitally to the pandemic, specifically putting a lens on DIY fundraising and products. They share experiences of Mind’s first innovation sprint, as well as the rise of the Facebook challenges. The speakers also look to the future and the new landscape of fundraising, discuss lessons from the past two years, and look at how fundraising may change in the future.
COVID-19 drastically altered the landscape of fundraising. It undermined long-standing traditions, old assumptions, and ingrained expectations, and paved the way towards a brighter, more dynamic, and more digital future. Charities found stability in 2022, or at least some version of stability, but were immediately struck by new political, economic, and cultural challenges.
In this podcast, Charity Digital's very own Nick Wyatt (Growth Marketing Executive) is joined by colleagues Ioan Marc Jones (Content Editor) and Laura Stanley (Content Writer) to reflect on the challenges, the difficulties, and the opportunities that will arrive in 2023.
The episode touches upon the latest fundraising ideas, trends, tech, platforms, changes, including the various way you can mitigate the cost-of-giving crisis. We also explore staff and volunteer retention, issues around legitimacy on social media platforms, the importance of donor journeys, and much more.
Cancer awareness messages usually encourage people to check themselves, look out for various symptoms, or potentially go for a test. But for prostate cancer, there’s no clear call to action, so it can be tricky.
Prostate Cancer UK developed the 30-second Risk Checker to solve that problem and make effective public health campaigns possible. It led to the largest-ever charity partnership with NHS England – a campaign to find the 14,000 men whose cancer had gone undiagnosed due to the pandemic.
In this episode, Sadie Crabtree, Head of Marketing and Platforms at Prostate Cancer UK, explores the development of the Risk Checker and shows other charities how to use behavioural science to increase their impact, how to make the most of usability testing and analytics, how digital insights can vastly improve understanding of user needs, and much more.
The world can sometimes feel a little gloomy. But it’s always worth remembering that thousands of people dedicate time, money, and resources to charities every single day. Even now, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, in the midst of multiple economic challenges, donations remain strong, with fundraising campaigns continuing amid the various pressures.
We want to celebrate fundraising efforts throughout the year. We want to look back at 2022 and discuss our favourite campaigns, our favourite charities, and our favourite events. We want to discuss the different ways that charities have raised money, the appeals that have had an impact, the new techniques that have made a difference.
In our first Christmas podcast, members of the Charity Digital team discuss the various challenges, trends, and campaigns that caught our eye throughout 2022.
Our latest podcast explores the different aspects of developing and implementing a digital strategy. Each of the guests brings a different perspective to the practice of creating a digital strategy, as leaders, as consultants and advisors, and as professionals in the charity sector.
Areas explored in the podcast include the most important elements to consider in developing and implementing a digital strategy, how to overcome the barriers to implementing your digital strategy, and the differences between implementing digital strategy in smaller charities and implementing in larger charities.
The Charity Digital podcast started more than three years ago with old headphones, not much sense of direction, and perhaps a little too much ambition. But now, as we speed past our 100th episode, we are growing and growing, with professional equipment, backing tracks and editing software, external thought leaders and internal experts, and still too much ambition.
Our podcast was born in February 2019. In our first month, we received less than 100 listens. By November 2022, on the other hand, we have reached 37k listens from people across the world, tuning in to hear us discuss climate change, the state of fundraising, online giving, and so much more.
So we want to dedicate an episode to growing a podcast. We want listeners to learn from our many mistakes, to embrace our few successes. We have accumulated a dream team of guests: three people who have appeared on perhaps too many podcasts, three people who have built a rapport over months of recorded arguing, three people who will share all their limited wisdom. So join Laura Stanley, Nick Wyatt, and Ioan Marc Jones to get all your tips on how to grow a podcast.
Social media is an essential tool for charities, in terms of raising awareness, increasing reach, meeting demands of service users, and much more. But it’s become increasingly important as a fundraising tool, helping charities to share their impact and find droves of new donors.
But charities need to use the tool in the right way. Our latest episode makes it easy. We show you how much you can achieve by dedicating just 25 minutes per day to fundraising on social media. Jen Lowthrop, Digital Consultant and Agile Coach at Feel Good Do Good, shares top tips on how you can help build social media fundraising through a number of small and simple tasks.
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in weather patterns and average temperatures, largely caused by human action. The impacts of rising temperatures have already been felt across the world and, if we do not take action, the consequences of further increases could be catastrophic.
Charities should remain at the forefront of climate action. They should lead by example, showing others in our communities how to engage in climate action, how to champion sustainability, and how to protect the planet. But, at the moment, many charities (including ourselves) are not doing enough to address climate change, put sustainability at the heart of their strategy, and take meaningful action.
In this podcast, our 100th episode, Charity Digital employees explore the relationship between climate change and the charity sector. They discuss, among other things, how to define climate change, how charities can get involved in the fight, the immediate internal actions that charities can take, and so much more.
As a small charity you can often make change happen quicker than bigger organisations. This podcast talks you through how Agile working can help you act quicker and think big.
Our hosts Jen Lowthrop (Digital Consultant and Agile Coach, Feel Good Do Good) and Kathryn Dingle (Digital Product Manager, NPC) look at different software and processes that can help you act like a big charity without the expense and time! They also look at the benefits of quick user research and testing.
This podcast was recorded at Charity Digital's #BeMoreDigital conference in June. For more insight like this, you can sign up for our upcoming Digital Fundraising Day here.
Nearly a third of charities have reported a decline in income over the last 12 months, according to research from Blackbaud. But while funds are required to help charities continue delivering their services as demand continues to rise, organisations also must balance this with looking after their donors too, particularly as money worries grow.
In this podcast, Charity Digital’s host, Laura Stanley, is joined by Emily Martin (Senior Fundraising Manager, Mass Participation, GOSH Charity), James Grant (Head of Individual Giving and Legacies, SSAFA), and Phillip Hunt (Senior Manager, Demand Marketing, Blackbaud) to discuss the current state of fundraising in the UK and what this means for the sector.
Listen to find out the fundraising trends that matter and how charities are adapting to them moving forwards.
You can read Blackbaud's full report here: 2022 Status of UK Fundraising Report | Blackbaud
When it comes to fundraising, data is your biggest asset. It’s the key to unlocking what, when, and how your supporters want to donate. But with great data comes even greater responsibility. Excellent management should be the number one concern for any charity, especially in the age of online giving.
It is now more important than ever for charities to focus on data management, especially when it comes to their digital fundraising strategies.
In this podcast, Enthuse and RedFox Research discuss how charities can best harness their donor data for growth and to build trust in their cause. They’ll share tools and techniques you can adopt to better harness the data your charity already collects. The session will cover key topics such as how to communicate with different demographics, the art of donor retention, and the role of third-party fundraising platforms.
Trust is bread and butter to charities. Without it, they struggle to build meaningful relationships with donors and beneficiaries, raise funds, and deliver much-needed services to the communities they serve.
Good use of technology only reinforces a charity’s commitment to act in its audiences’ best interests. It can make charities more efficient, easier to reach, and crucially, keep their data and systems secure. From marketing and IT teams to frontline staff, technology can make a difference in how they are able to work for and interact with those that need them.
Our host Nick Wyatt (Growth Marketing Executive at Charity Digital) is joined by Rick Wilhelm (Chief Technology Officer at PIR.org), Alice Roche (Head of Operations, Charity Digital), and Chris Hall (Head of Marketing, Charity Digital). Join them as they discuss how digital technology can foster trust between a charity and its audiences.
As leaders, charity CEOs have been at the forefront of every digital change, but they're not necessarily digital experts. Just like others, digital might have been relatively new until the pandemic hit. Digital change is about involving everyone. It’s about using the strength of your teams, asking for help, and achieving lasting impact. Now, charity CEOs face a new age of digital for which they must prepare.
In this episode, charity CEOs take centre stage. Each has their own story with digital, but all have managed to make it the heart of their organisation. Our guests will discuss, among other things, what they think the next chapter of digital has in store for charities and where the world of digital is headed. They'll also reflect on the future of the digital landscape from a CEO's perspective.
Ten years ago, the Giving Tuesday movement began to encourage people to give back to a good cause after taking advantage of the money-saving deals of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Since then, Giving Tuesday has grown exponentially, with £14,000 being raised per minute for participating charities in 2020.
Giving Tuesday provides charities the chance to expand their supporter base and generate momentum for their cause. It facilitates partnerships with corporate organisations whereby they can donate time and money and offers charities tools and resources for maximising their fundraising efforts.
In this podcast, sponsored by Salesforce.org, Nick Wyatt (Growth Marketing Executive, Charity Digital) is joined by colleagues Lisa Chomette (Business Development Manager), Ioan Marc Jones (Content Writer), and Lisa Rowland (Event Manager) to discuss how charities can make the most of Giving Tuesday and build on the fundraising it brings for the future.
Giving Tuesday is an opportunity charities cannot afford to miss in 2022, particularly amid the UK’s current financial uncertainty. You can find out more tips and tricks for Giving Tuesday here.
One in five people in the UK are living with a disability, according to disability charity Scope. Yet, despite this number, organisations still fail to cater to people with disabilities online. Confusing layouts, small fonts, and poor colour contrasts all contribute to inaccessible online experiences.
For charities, making sure their content and design is inclusive and accessible is more important than most. With such a wide range of audiences, with varying needs, improving accessibility ensures they can include as many people as possible in their cause.
This is a matter that has been a focal point for Ambitious about Autism and is part of a three-year digital transformation project. Our host Ashley Fontaine, Marketing Programme Manager at Charity Digital, is joined by David Spector (Head of Strategy, Trillium) and Marie Ashton (Head of Marketing and Communications, Ambitious about Autism) to discuss ways that charities can remove barriers for their audience online and make their content more inclusive for their audiences.
The cost-of-living crisis has swept the UK. Everyday essentials like energy and food is rising much faster than average incomes. The cost-of-living will have a huge impact on charity employees, volunteers, service users, potential donors, and day-to-day operations of the charity themselves.
It is vastly important that charities learn about the crisis, understand some of the potential issues that may arise, arm themselves with knowledge, and protect themselves against the risks. In this podcast, we discuss the cost-of-living crisis and give heaps of advice to help charities weather the storm.
Our host Lisa Rowland (Events Manager) is joined by Nick Wyatt (Charity Digital Growth Marketing Executive), Laura Stanley (Content Writer), and Lisa Chomette (Business Development Manager) to discuss the crisis, consider the response from the sector, and explore advice that can support charities.
Emails, emails, emails - they're all we've got to go on. They are, perhaps, the most well-known form of online communication, used for business, replacing meetings that don’t need to be meetings, and, importantly, marketing.
Emails are a great way of getting your charity’s message out there to different audiences and at low-cost. They are a way of directly communicating with your key audiences, from trustees to donors, beneficiaries to volunteers, and, when done right, can deepen the connection between your charity and the community it serves.
But with an estimated 300 billion emails sent and received every day, how can charities make theirs stand out? Our host Ashley Fontaine, Charity Digital’s Marketing Programme Manager, is joined by colleagues James Corcoran (E-Commerce Manager), Grace Monnery (Communications Executive), and Nick Wyatt (Growth Marketing Executive) to discuss the ins and outs of email marketing – from how to structure your email to getting people to read it.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an organisation in possession of a website must be in want of a blog. Everybody seems to blog. It is possible that too many people blog. And the abundance of blogs, from organisations of all shapes and sizes, means that your blog gets lost amid the noise.
But worry not, bloggers. We are here to help. Today’s podcast is an overload of information on how to create a successful blog. The expert panelists discuss picking the right content, choosing the right medium, using effective imagery, exploiting marketing and SEO, creating a content strategy, adopting a style guide, writing clear and concise prose, perfecting your proofreading, and so much more.
Our host Nick Wyatt (Charity Digital Growth Marketing Executive) is joined by Charity Digital’s Ashley Fontaine (Marketing Programme Manager), Laura Stanley (Content Writer), and Ioan Marc Jones (Content Editor) to discuss the basics of blogging and how charities can create a successful blog.
Our ‘How did you get there...’ podcasts delve into the lives of inspirational people working in the charity and tech sectors. We are going to talk to CIOs and MPs, life-long volunteers and tech innovators, to learn about their experience and to learn from their experience.
We want to celebrate the people who inspire, energise, and educate us. In our second podcast, our host, Sacha Dhabalia, talks to Kirsty Marrins, winner of the CharityComms Inspiring Communicator Award and the Social CEOs Awards Best Trustee on Social Media. Kirsty is a proud trustee of CharityComms, a former trustee of the Small Charities Coalition, and an influential voice in the UK charity sector.
Customer service is essential in the charity sector. Excellent customer service boosts loyalty for donors and volunteers, helps users access services, increases organisational reputation, improves data analytics, and much more. But so many charities see customer service as an afterthought.
Today’s podcast aims to show you otherwise. We highlight the importance of excellent customer service and show you exactly what that looks like. We examine the main barriers and opportunities facing customer service teams, along with some digital hacks, tips, and tricks.
Today’s Charity Digital host, Nick Wyatt, is joined by his colleagues Alice Roche (Head of Customer Service), Lisa Rowland (Events Manager), and Joel Hogan (Cloud Account Manager), all of whom will use their vast experience to tell charities how they can delivery excellent customer service.
There are myriad ways to grow a charity. Charities may need to build an effective strategy, develop a clear and concise mission statement, define your budget, raise more funds, optimise marketing, engage local communities, work with other charities, revise strategy, and so much more.
There are so many choices, so many routes to success. The need to grow can feel a little daunting, perhaps even scary, particularly in such a crowded field. Charities need to forge their own paths to success, which means picking the best options that support growth in the right way.
In the latest podcast, our host, Lisa Chomette (Business Development Manager), is joined by her three esteemed colleagues Laura Stanley (Content Writer), Nick Wyatt (Growth Marketing Executive), and Ioan Marc Jones (Content Editor) to discuss all the different roads to success.
Marketing is a broad and all-encompassing term. It refers to any act an organisation takes to build up an audience, drawing them to the services that you offer. It is simply the act of self-promotion, raising aware, building loyalty, and demonstrating the value of your services.
Every charity uses marketing, regardless of shape and size. It is an essential part of charity. But there are so many channels, so many competing charities, so many choices, that marketing for charities can often seem complex and daunting. Our latest podcast attempts to simplify marketing for charities.
Our host, Nick Wyatt (Growth Marketing Executive), is joined by his esteemed colleagues Ioan Marc Jones (Content Editor) and Laura Stanley (Content Writer) to discuss all things marketing, covering websites, blogs, social media platforms, email marketing, and so much more.
Charities, by definition, are in the business of doing good, for their service users, for the communities they serve, and for society as a whole. It sometimes feels shocking, then, that people might want to commit fraud in a sector that exists for the benefit of others.
Charity Commission research estimates that fraud costs the sector more than £2 million each year. Fraud can include insider fraud – submitting false expenses for example – or external attacks, such as fraudsters falsely fundraising in your name. There are myriad risks to charities from fraud and, fortunately, myriad ways to protect against it.
In this podcast, Charity Digital’s Elizabeth Carter talks to Richard Wilhelm, Chief Technology Officer at Public Interest Registry and Iain Crosbie, Network Quality Lead at Mind UK. Join them as they discuss everything charities need to know about fraud, from the various risks they face to the step they can take to prevent it.
This episode is sponsored by PIR, the non-profit organisation that powers the .Org domain name. You can find out more information on how to be more digital on the .Org Learning Center.
The ways that charities deliver their services have changed remarkably over recent years. While the pandemic may have accelerated trends towards digital service delivery, the Charity Digital Skills report 2021 revealed that nearly three quarters of charities plan to continue delivering in this way.
But the digital world changes quickly. What might have worked in 2020 might not work now. And with demand for services higher than ever, time is of the essence for charities to get how they deliver them right, so they can help as many people as possible.
In this podcast, Charity Digital’s Elizabeth Carter is joined by colleagues Lisa Chomette (Business Development Manager), Laura Stanley (Content Lead), as they discuss the fundamentals of good service delivery and outline ways that digital technology can help.
You can find more information on digital service delivery, as well as tips on fundraising, cyber security, and much more, on the Charity Digital website.
This episode is produced as part of the Heritage Digital project. Heritage Digital provides heritage organisations with standalone learning resources that answer the sectors most pressing digital questions about digital content.Heritage organisations are in the business of telling stories. And there is perhaps no better way to get your story out there than with a podcast.
Podcasts are designed to be listened to at your own leisure, they provide ample space for an in-depth discussion online, and they can help you build a personal connection with your audience.
Starting your own podcast might seem like a daunting prospect, but in this episode, we want to show you how easy it can be. Join Heritage Digital and three esteemed guests from the heritage sector as we discuss what you’ll need to get going on your podcast journey, including the ideas and the tech, and the questions you’ll need to ask yourself along the way.
For this conversation, we’re joined by Amy Sykes, Development and Digital Engagement Officer at Bodmin Keep; Daniel Watkins, State Rooms and Guides Manager at Alnwick Castle; and Michael Netter, Professional Services Officer at the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. You can find links to their own podcasts below. * Bodmin Keep War Stories * The Alnwick Castle Podcast * IHBC@COP26 * The Digital Heritage Hub
What will working life look like in ten years’ time? Will robots perform volunteer services, while we wear virtual headsets? Will the future consist of entirely virtual platforms, held together by self-managed teams under flat organizational structures? Will we work four-day weeks, six-hour days, with unlimited holidays? Or, perhaps more likely, will things look quite similar, with some small adjustments.
The world of work has shifted monumentally in the past few years. We’ve moved from in-office working, to entirely virtual, to hybrid. Charities have played with internal structures, offered new forms of compensation, allowed flexibility, banished bureaucracy and bottlenecking, and generally changed the way they approach work.
In our podcast, we discuss all the above and so much more. Charity Digital’s Business Development Executive Lisa Chomette is joined by Content Editor Ioan Marc Jones, and Content Lead Laura Stanley, as they discuss the working models of the future.
Our brand new podcast series, ‘How did you get there...’, delves into the lives of inspirational people working in the charity and tech sectors.
We are going to talk to CIOs and MPs, lifelong volunteers and tech innovators, to learn about their experience and to learn from their experience.
We want to celebrate the people who inspire, energise, and educate us.
In our first podcast of the series, our host, Sacha Dhabalia, talks to Danny Attias, former Chief Digital and Information Officer (CIO) at Anthony Nolan and ranked the number one CIO in the UK by CIO 100 for 2020 and 2021.
Danny’s story is one of passion and innovation, incorporating his quest for digital transformation, his various forays into podcasts and mentorship, and what’s coming up in the future.
Get ready for a brand new Charity Digital podcast series - coming soon!
‘How did you get there...’ will delve into the lives of inspirational people working in the charity and tech sectors, helping us to learn more about their career and experience in their field.
In our first podcast of the series - launching on 4 May 2022 - our host, Sacha Dhabalia, talks to Danny Attias, former Chief Digital and Information Officer at Anthony Nolan and ranked the number one CIO in the UK by CIO 100 for 2020 and 2021.
Make sure you’re subscribed to the Charity Digital Podcast wherever you listen from so you don’t miss it!
High-tech is rapidly shifting the world of fundraising. Blockchain is increasing transparency, cryptocurrencies are expanding income streams, NFTs are offering new fundraising avenues, VR is digitally demonstrating impact, AI is automating the act of appealing to donors, and so on.
It’s an interesting time. It’s exciting. But it’s also a little overwhelming. So we thought we’d gather together some Charity Digital podcast regulars, force them to brush up on the latest high-tech fundraising trends, and ask them to demystify the art of using high-tech for fundraising.
Host Elizabeth Carter (E-Comms Manager) is joined by Chris Hall (Head of Marketing), Laura Stanley (Content Lead), and Ioan Marc Jones (Content Editor) to discuss how charities can use high-tech to raise funds, how charities are already raising funds, and what that means for the future of fundraising.
Creating content is becoming more and more important for charities. A nice blog post isn’t quite enough. You need to think about house style, formatting, imagery, tone of voice, consistency, titles, subtitles, hyperlinks, SEO, and so much more. One article requires a lot of attention.
And that’s just articles. You may also need to consider videos, podcasts, webinars, interviews, case studies, infographics, and more. But worry not. In this episode of the Charity Digital podcast, our experienced guests offer best practice advice and some digital hacks that will help you create attractive, edifying, and entertaining content without breaking the bank.
Our host Sacha Dhabalia is joined by Chris Hall (Head of Marketing), Laura Stanley (Digital Content Lead), and Ioan Marc Jones (Content Editor) to discuss all things content, with tips raising from writing high-ranking articles, filming videos on smart phones, creating podcasts on Zoom, and much more.
The role of the Charity Board is evolving. Having guided charities through the all the tumult of the last two years, 2022 is all about stability. Boards need to take on the lessons of the past two years and use them to build towards the future.
Have boards fully embraced digital, for example? Are they doing enough to address diversity? And what are the big trends that trustees and board members need to be aware of for the coming year?
In this podcast, our panel will answer all these questions, and more, as they discuss the future of the Board. Our host Chris Hall, Head of Marketing at Charity Digital is joined by Claire Tavernier, Chair of Trustee Board at Charity Digital; Thomas Pickford, Fundraising Trustee at the Latin American Foundation for the Future; and Josh Palmer, Head of Content at Board Management at OnBoard.
This podcast is being released as part of our content take-over week, to access more visit: Digital Transformation Week.
The positive impact of digital transformation on charities is unmistakable. Throughout the sector, you can find so many examples of best practices, learnings and success stories. But we rarely address the challenges that get charities to this point. Whilst a positive mindset is always important, we can’t forget that digital progress is built off the challenges we’ve had to overcome... so we need to talk about what these are!
Whilst digital changes are amazing, they aren’t always easy. They require bravery. The transformation journey to get your charity to a point of digital success is just as important as the success itself. As a sector, we need to foster working in the open...so others can learn from the challenges of peers and like-minded organisations. By sharing stories of our own digital transformation challenges, we can help make those of other charities smoother.
That’s why we’ve bought together a selection of charity speakers, each willing to share the challenges they face on their ongoing digital transformation journeys. Chris Hall, Head of Marketing at Charity Digital, is joined by Sorcha Dallas, Custodian at the Alasdair Gray Archive; Janine Woodward-Grant, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Carers’ Centre Bath and North East Somerset; and Dave Grant, Head of Products Charities at Torchbox. In the episode, we discuss each speaker’s experience, what they would do differently looking back, the role of charity leaders in transformation, the risks involved, and so much more. We also talk about why the sector is so reticent to discuss the fears and challenges involved in digital transformation, as well as the necessity of a digital culture shift.
This podcast is being released as part of our content take-over week, to access more visit: Digital Transformation Week.
In 2020, 51% of charities said they didn’t have a digital strategy in place. But this is changing. Just one year later, there was a 10% increase in charities saying that they did now have a digital strategy. It’s clear the sector is improving rapidly when it comes to digital strategy, but the journey is ongoing.
Charities have been pushed from every angle to be digital over the past two years. It’s been hard to find the time to plan ahead and create robust strategies when organisations have had to be so reactive. As the effects of the pandemic begin to settle, charities are at a digital crossroads. Where do they go and how do they create strategies for the future? Some charities are still starting out for the first time with planning a digital strategy, while others are on the road already. No matter where you are, it’s time to take a holistic view and understand where the sector is at, so we can progress together.
Charity Digital’s CEO, Jonathan Chevallier, is joined by two digital strategy experts: Zoe Amar, a digital pioneer in the sector and founder of Zoe Amar Digital, and Lara Burns, Chief Digital Officer at The Scouts. In the podcast, they discuss all things digital strategy. They provide advice and guidance on developing a strong digital strategy to support your organisation at every stage of its digital transformation. We chat about the basics: what it is and why you need one, as well as delving into some more complex areas, such as the development process and possible barriers you might face. The episode also looks at their learnings over the past two years, and how these can be applied to your digital strategy roadmap
Social media marketing sounds like it should be easy. But it rarely ends up being that way. For charities, it can often feel like it isn’t worth investing your time and money, but with more than half the world’s population using social media daily, it’s almost impossible to ignore.
We recently ran a webinar with Nick Wyatt, Charity Digital Growth Marketing Executive, that aimed to help charities start their social media marketing journey, examine how social media can improve fundraising, service delivery, and so much more. With such a high turnout and rating, we decided to share with our podcast listeners the audio version!
To watch the full recording, just head over to our site.
2021 proved another tumultuous year for digital fundraising, with new lockdowns and restrictions, new rules and regulations, new obstacles and challenges. But, as the year came to an end, normality seemed within touching distance and a sense of stability emerged.
In 2022, charities can finally develop their long-term digital fundraising goals. They can master hybrid events, conquer the world of Gaming for Good, perhaps embrace virtual reality and artificial intelligence, maybe even delve into the complex worlds of blockchain and NFTs.
Ioan Marc Jones is joined by Emily Casson (Digital Marketing and Fundraising Manager at The Salvation Army), Samantha Doe (Head of Digital & Engagement at Sands), and Matt Collins (Managing Director at Platypus Digital) to discuss the challenges and obstacles, and the hopes and ambitions set to define digital fundraising in 2022.
Tech has become increasingly important over the past few years. Tech helps charities to streamline processes, automate services, and improve day-to-day operations. Tech is essential, but it can be costly, especially high tech. But, if they research, if they find unique deals and options on the market, charities can access high tech and a low cost.
Today’s podcast discusses the main problems confronting charities purchasing tech. We discuss the obstacles and we help charities overcome them. The conversation includes tips on the best places to find cheap tech, how to save money on software, how to find decent second-hand hardware, and so much more.
Host Ioan Marc Jones, Content Editor at Charity Digital, is joined by Joel Hogan (Cloud Account Manager), Stewart Barber (Client Account Specialist), and Lisa Chomette (Business Development Manager) to explore the best low-cost tech options available to charities.
Cyber attacks happen – and charities are not immune. Around a quarter of charities in the UK were affected by a cyber attack in 2020, including half of large charities. Yet nobody seems to be talking about them.
Part of the reason these attacks succeed is a lack of awareness in their methods and how to defend against them. Cyber security experts Symantec estimate that there are 135 million phishing attacks attempted every day alone, relying on relevance (usually something being talked about on the news), emotion (fear or urgency), and authority (messages from your bank or employer).
We can only learn from our mistakes if we know what they are – this means talking openly, as a sector, we talk about them. In this podcast, Charity Digital’s Laura Stanley is joined by Gerry Crow, Director of Operations and Support at The Mary Stevens Hospice; Clare Mills, Director of Communications and External Affairs at the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action; and Chris Hall, Head of Marketing at Charity Digital, to discuss why charities are reticent when it comes to cyber security and how we can remove the stigma in the future.
Successful fundraisers tend to rely on two core elements: laughter and tears. If you make people cackle, if you make them chuckle, then they’ll reach to their wallets. If you make people cry, if you draw sympathy, if you conjure an emotive reaction, people will almost certainly give you money.
In today’s podcast, we are talking about fundraising ideas. We will discuss, among many other things, what makes a good virtual fundraiser and what makes a good physical fundraiser. We will talk about the importance of hybrid and also throw out some of our favorite fundraising ideas.
Charity Digital Content Editor, Ioan Marc Jones, is joined by three esteemed colleague, Laura Stanley (Content Lead), Lisa Chomette (Business Development Manager), and Stewart Barber (Client Account Specialist) to discuss their thoughts on fundraising ideas.
The pandemic may not be the only source of change in the charity sector but it certainly has accelerated the pace. Virtually overnight, charities moved their work home, adapted how they delivered their services, and started fundraising online. It’s a lot but we embraced it – and with 2022 on the horizon, we need to get ready to embrace even more.
In this podcast, we’re joined by Sarah Cousins, Head of Organisational Change at the British Heart Foundation, Greg Edwards, Head of Development at Open Door Charity, and Simon Givens from the Soil Association as they talk us through how they handled change in the charity sector, from organisational restructuring to adopting new tech.
Alan Perestrello, co-founder of Trillium will also join the conversation to add his insight on how charities can best manage their transformation projects and how they can successfully prioritise “people over platform”.
‘Tis the most obvious time of the year. And we are going to do the most obvious podcast, based on the one Charles Dickens book that isn’t 900 pages. We are going to make egg-nog, drink in the office, and use our expertise to tell you about the past, present, and future of fundraising.
The past will cover the joys and authenticity of in-person fundraising, the immediacy and the emotive connection, but the mistakes of ignoring the digital. The present will future on the effects of COVID-19, the mistakes charities are making, and the way to overcome those problems. The future will show the mistakes charities might make and what they could do to ensure perpetual happiness.
Charity Digital Content Lead and host, Laura Stanley, is joined by three esteemed colleagues, Ioan Marc Jones (Content Editor who did not die), Lisa Chomette (Business Development Manager), and Sacha Dhabalia (Marketing Intern) to discuss their thoughts on fundraising.
To paraphrase the Spice Girls, cyber security never ends. With new threats surfacing every day – one every 19 seconds, according to some calculations – charities in particular are facing an uphill battle when it comes to protecting themselves against them.
But we know that we’re trying. The recent NCSC survey showed us that the overwhelming majority of charities understand the importance of cyber security, but lack time and resource to fully dedicate to it.
But this is just one of the many issues charities are facing when it comes to cyber security. In this podcast, we will hear from Jane Atkin, from Mayday Trust, Gerry Crow from Mary Stevens Hospice and Emma Boyd from Sheila McKechnie Foundation as they chat through their experiences of cyber security and how they match up with the findings of the NCSC survey.
In cyber space, no one can hear you scream. That’s a touch excessive, but we have your attention. Cyber attacks are often treated like scary stories, something we imagine will never happen to us, something that we know are true but sometimes treat as though they are phantoms.
For the last few years, Charity Digital have been talking openly and honestly about cyber security. We’ve been inviting others across the sector to talk about stories, too, attempting to undermine the stigma that seems to follow data breaches, ransomware and malware attacks, social engineering, cloud vulnerabilities, and so much more.
And as we approach Halloween, we are going to be as open as ever, discussing not only the horror stories we have heard, but the solutions that help charities avoid being part of that story. Charity Digital Content Lead and host, Laura Stanley, is joined by three esteemed colleagues, Chris Hall (Head of Marketing), Mimi Morrill (Events Manager), and Nick Wyatt (Growth Marketing Executive) to talk, to provide comfort, and to ultimately stop cyber security seeming so scary.
Charities have become an increasingly popular target for cyber criminals in recent years, due to the sensitive data they look after and the limited resources they have to protect themselves.
Although most organisations will have a cyber security strategy or team in place, the unfortunate reality is charities are particularly vulnerable to disruptive attacks such as phishing, malware, and denial-of-service (DOS) attacks.
In this bonus podcast, listen to a recording from Etienne Greeff, chief executive of Flow Communications, speaking at one of our recent webinars on cyber security. He explains in detail the most prevalent threats that charities are likely to face and what can be done to prevent a cyber attack in the future.
It has never been more important to stay in control of IT, and arguably, it has never been more difficult. Cyber threats are on the rise, remote working is becoming the norm, and everything we work on is kept in a cloud.
Yet these are just a few of the challenge facing charity IT services in 2021. Managing online events, keeping data safe, and employee retention and recruitment are all major IT concerns for the charity sector. Today’s podcast will look at these issues, and more, and show us how charity IT can move forwards in this brave new world.
Charity Digital’s Elizabeth Carter is joined by Mike Carruthers, former Head of IT at Fusion Leisure, a registered charity that operates more than 80 leisure centres across UK, and Philip Anthony, founder and managing director of CoopSys, an organisation that provides vital IT support to the non-profit sector.
Hybrid working has been hyped by employers and employees, with many charities adopting the working model post-COVID-19. But, as we return to the office for a few days a week, many of us are noticing some small and not so small issues. Lack of equipment, the complexities of social distancing, the sound of several Zoom calls in the background, half-virtual meetings, scheduling issues, and so on.
We know such problems from experience. We at Charity Digital are adapting to the challenge of hybrid and we want to share our experience with listeners. Today’s podcast will discuss, among other things, what the perfect hybrid model would look like, the major pitfalls facing charity professionals, how charities can support individual needs and requirements, and so much more.
Charity Digital Content Editor and host, Ioan Marc Jones, is joined by three esteemed colleagues, Raabia Fazil (Customer Service Manager), Stewart Barber (Client Account Specialist), and Laura Stanley (Content Lead).
Virgin Money has announced the closure of Virgin Money Giving (VGM). The announcement follows a strategic review of the fundraising platform following the end of its partnership with the London Marathon. The closure is massive news for the UK charity sector, as it raises important questions about the viability of donation platforms, the viability of older models, and the future of fundraising.
Today’s podcast explores the future of fundraising considering VGM’s closure. The podcast will discuss, among other things, how big players are challenging the peer-to-peer model, the viability of third-party fundraising platforms, and the need for charities to futureproof against potential risks.
Our host, Raabia Fazil (Customer Service Manager at Charity Digital) is joined by Meredith Niles (Former Executive Director of Fundraising and Engagement at Marie Curie UK), Matt Smith (Senior Consultant at Think Consulting Solutions), and Heather Stanley (Fundraising and Marketing Manager at Wycombe Homeless Connection) to discuss the future of online fundraising platforms.
Choosing the right CRM can be difficult. Most charities undertake a major software review less than every five years, making it a daunting project requiring a lot of big decision-making.
With so many options available, all wrapped up in hefty jargon and acronyms galore, charities often struggle to pick the CRM that best suits them. But worry not. We are here to help.
In this podcast, Charity Digital's host Lisa Chomette is joined by Colin Grove, Head of Data at London's Air Ambulance, and Asher Simpson, Principal Account Executive at Blackbaud Europe, as they discuss the benefits of CRM systems for charities, the key considerations when it comes to implementing them, and the cultural impact of getting it right.
Charity Digital has been hosting a podcast for more than two years. We’ve learned a lot of important information in that time. We’ve mostly learnt what not to do.
For today’s podcast, Nick Wyatt is joined by Lynsey Sweales, CEO at SocialB, Bex Rae Evans, host of the Tech for Good Live podcast, and Samuel Davies, producer and chair of the Charity Chat podcast. We come together to reflect on our shortcomings and discuss how we might do things differently a second time around. The conversation will cover the mistakes to avoid, the things you won’t want to avoid, and some post-production nuggets of wisdom that’ll help your podcast stand out in a crowded field. We hope you enjoy the recording!
Over the past year, charities in the UK and across the world have understandably focussed on immediate solutions, finding short-term fixes to short-term problems. But the emphasis on the short-term means that charities have often overlooked, neglected, or simply ignored elements of charity work that promote sustainability. That is particularly true when it comes to financial management - and that's a problem.
Today’s podcast aims to help. Host Ioan Marc Jones is joined by Braam du Plooy, Finance Controller at Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Joan Benson, Director of Non-profit Industry Marketing at Sage Intacct, to explore the state of financial management in the UK charity sector.
The podcast covers the contributing factors to low financial literacy, how charities can improve financial literacy, how improvements can benefit the charity sector, and so much more.
The charity sector is experiencing burnout. Many of us are feeling fed-up with the persistence of COVID-19. We are frustrated by the permanence of transition, the promise of the so-called new normal that never arrives. We are struggling to find enthusiasm amid the ever-growing list of compliance and logistic demands, all stemming from constant change. Simply put, the UK charity sector is feeling a little tired. Today’s podcast addresses burnout that is felt across the country – and particularly in the charity sector. It will explore how charities can counter burnout by supporting staff and volunteers, ensure a healthy work-life balance, tackle post-lockdown anxiety, and much more. To discuss burnout in the charity sector, our Charity Digital host Sacha Dhabalia is joined by esteemed colleagues Stewart Barber (Client Account Specialist), Lisa Chomette (Business Development Manager), and Mimi Morrill (Events Manager).
Back in May 2021, we hosted #BeMoreDigital Marketing Day. Throughout the event, we hosted five fantastic sessions covering some of the most important digital marketing topics for charities. Now, we’re releasing some of these as podcasts for you to listen to any time!
With a small team of just three paid staff, 15 Square were struggling to find the time and resources to market the great work they do. They had lots of content and resources available for people, but all tucked away on their website, hard to find. They needed to continue supporting their vulnerable service users, whilst reaching and acquiring new ones. In 2020, they decided to hire a digital marketer to make their organisation more discoverable, create new, informative content, drive more website traffic and increase their overall engagement.
Within just ten months they were seeing a return on investment. Their social media following increased by 337%, their website traffic was up by 407%, and their member sign ups more than doubled.
In this session, Louise joins us to tell you all about why their small charity chose to invest in the talent and expertise of a digital marketer and the impact they’ve seen from this.
In March 2020, we held our annual #BeMoreDigital Conference virtually.
Now, we're bringing you some of the best sessions as podcast episodes for you to enjoy!
The Data Protection Act of 2018, commonly known as GDPR, has now been in place for nearly three years.
Most organisations will have seen their working environment has changed drastically since GDPR was first enforced. But charities are still dealing with large amounts of sensitive data on a daily basis. Now that you find yourself in a new operating environment, it's a great time to revisit your data security approach. In this episode from the conference, The National Cyber Security Centre will present their GDPR Security Outcomes, written jointly with the ICO. They’ll help you to understand whether you are still taking appropriate measures to secure your data.
Charities Against Hate (CAH) recently released 16 recommendations for social media companies to tackle online abuse. The recommendations arrive as the government aims to introduce the Online Safety Bill. The Bill will establish more regulation for social media platforms, but CAH are concerned the Bill may not do enough to protect the most vulnerable.
Today’s podcast will take a look at what charities can do to tackle online hate. We will discuss, among other things, short-term actions charities can take and long-term goals they can develop, how charities can support staff and volunteers, and what social media companies should be doing to tackle online abuse.
Our host Nick Wyatt is joined by Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, Alex Hodges, Head of Corporate Comms and Public Affairs at Help for Heroes, and Aisling Green, Digital Marketing Strategist at Parkinson’s UK.
Although life is returning (somewhat) to normal, our working practices are still a grey area. Some charities continue to work from home full-time. Others are embracing the office once again. Many are adopting a combination of the two.
This week, we discuss findings from Blackbaud's ‘Future of Work’ report and what these mean for the charity office landscape. Among other things, our speakers chat about our changing expectations of the office and how these will impact charity leadership, diversity and technology.
Alison Lowe, Chief Executive at Touchstone, and Phil Hunt, Campaign Marketing Manager at Blackbaud Europe, join Nick Wyatt, Growth Marketing Executive at Charity Digital, for today's episode.
Click here to download the Future of Work report for free!
This podcast is sponsored by Salesforce.org - the dedicated social impact team of Salesforce that delivers technology to nonprofits, educational institutions, and philanthropic organisations so they can connect with others and do more good.
In today’s podcast episode, we discuss findings from the Salesforce.org Global Online Fundraising Scorecard Report. The report analyses the online giving experience of over 600 organisations. It's fascinating findings reveal the state of online giving right now. This includes the successes and pitfalls of charities across the globe.
We discuss, among other things, what these findings mean for charities in practice. We chat about persona building, user design and emailing. We also consider the importance of a frictionless giving experience and what charities can do to keep donors coming back.
Charity Digital’s host, Raabia Fazil (Customer Service Manager), is joined by Andréa Goezinne (Product Marketing Manager at Salesforce.org), and Brady Josephson (Managing Director, Next After Institute).
Click here to download and read the free report!
Most of us have had an argument over which is better: Zoom or Teams. It’s an argument that has probably taken place over Zoom or Teams. And it’s an important topic, as we spend an increasing amount of our time on those two platforms, whether for quick catch-ups, team stand-ups, or to host webinars. We want to bring that argument to our audience.
We want to settle the debate. The guests on today’s podcast have been carefully selected because they have a dog in this fight. They are Team Zoom or Team Teams.
Our host Raabia Fazil (Customer Service Manager) is joined by Chris Hall (Marketing Manager), Stewart Barber (Client Account Specialist), and Elizabeth Carter (E-Comms Manager).
Social distancing restrictions have led to huge changes in the way charities operate. Fundraising efforts have become increasingly digital, physical events shifted to the virtual, and service delivery has moved almost entirely online. Social media was important before the pandemic, but now it’s absolutely essential.
In today’s podcast, we discuss the future of social media. We examine the major platforms that charities are using and the platforms charities should be using. We discuss the best ways to reach your audience, the importance of scheduling and planning, tone and authenticity, and much more.
And, finally, we look at future social media trends to help charities stay ahead of the curve. We encourage charities to practice boldness and creativity, innovation and experimentation, in order to support fundraising efforts and showcase the brilliant work they are doing.
Today’s podcast features all Charity Digital employees. E-Comms Manager and host Elizabeth Carter speaks to Sacha Dhabalia (Marketing Intern), Chris Hall (Marketing Manager), and Nick Wyatt (Growth Marketing Executive) about the future of charity social media.
The Access Group have enabled thousands of not-for-profit organisations run more efficiently and raise more money. Whether you’re attracting supporters or members, fundraising, managing visitors, controlling finances, or dealing with staff, their integrated not-for-profit software makes it easy to do more.
The process of digital transformation is a frequent topic of sector discussion. But there is sometimes a misunderstanding as to what this means and how it can be applied. When we discuss a digital future, sometimes people can overlook the human element. But a digital-first approach must also be a user-centred approach. In this podcast, we discuss the importance of developing user-centred solutions, rather than splurging on exciting new tech that may not be useful to your audience. In this episode, we are joined by Shaf Mansour, Product Manager at The Access Group, Jill Haines, Marketing and Communications Manager and Anna Pangbourne, Chief Exec at the Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust.
We've been through three lockdowns and a year of social distancing. We've experienced the loss of physical support systems, the absence of defined structures and routines, and the seemingly endless repetition of negative news. It can feel daunting. It can feel isolating. It can feel scary.
In today’s podcast, we want to talk about digital and self-care. We talk about some of the ways that we at Charity Digital are managing. We discuss the platforms that help us get through the day and the apps that help us at the end of the day. We talk about the ways in which we step away from digital altogether.
Content Editor and host Ioan Marc Jones is joined by colleagues Chris Hall (Marketing Manager), Sacha Dhabalia (Marketing Intern), and Elizabeth Carter (E-Comms Manager).
2020 was an exceptionally challenging year for charities in the UK, but it proved that the sector is versatile and resilient, ready to meet the demands of the moment. 2021 will be another challenging year, even with the easing of social distancing restrictions.
The Charity Digital podcast discusses, among other things, how to connect with supporters on a personal level, how to make the most of the tools that charities have at their disposal, and how to review and improve existing campaigns.
Customer Service Manager and host, Raabia Fazil, is joined by Emily Casson (Digital Marketing Manager at Cats Protection), Samantha Doe (Digital Engagement Lead at Action for Children), and Matt Collins (Managing Director at Platypus Digital).
This podcast is sponsored by the National Cyber Security Centre, who provide specialised cyber security guidance for charities.
Charities have historically provided an attractive target for cyber criminals. There is a perception that charities will not take the rigorous actions to protect themselves that a corporate organisation would. The attitudes of charity leaders have played into this perception. Our data suggests that interest among charities in cyber security has actually dropped during the pandemic. But the risk to charities in this time has only increased. Many charity leaders have not considered themselves at risk, or have prioritised putting resources into other areas at the expense of cyber security. This podcast explores the reasons behind this. Why aren’t charity leaders prioritising cyber security? We will look into a few possible explanations and discuss them, before moving onto why charities should be more concerned. In this podcast, Business Development Manager and host Lisa Chomette is joined by Cub Llewelyn-Davies (Charity Sector Lead from the National Cyber Security Centre), Michala Liavaag (charity sector expert and former Head of Information, Governance and Security at Marie Curie), and Claire Parris (Strategic Communications Manager from the Communications & Policy Directorate at the Charity Commission).
The social distancing restrictions that came with COVID-19 forced a period of digital acceleration on the charity sector. Zoom replaced meeting rooms, Miro replaced office brainstorming sessions, and Teams and Slack replaced coffee break chats.
In this week’s podcast, we look at some of the essentials of working from home. We discuss, among other things, how to plan your days, how to keep yourself and your teams motivated, and how to protect remote computers from cybersecurity threats.
Content Editor and host Ioan Marc Jones is joined by colleagues Lisa Chomette (Business Development Manager), Chris Hall (Marketing Manager), Stewart Barber (Client Account Specialist), and Sacha Dhabalia (Marketing Intern).
On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. After four years of uncertainty, four years of unanswered questions, the UK finally reached a trade agreement on 30 December 2020. The next day, on 31 December 2020, the UK officially left the EU.
In the Charity Digital podcast, we explore the impact of Brexit on the UK charity sector. We discuss, among other things, the charity elements in the UK/EU trade agreement, the creation of the Civil Society Forum, changes to immigration policy, data protection and data transfer, the EU VAT regime, environmental and land management issues, and much, much more.
Panel speakers: Geoff Nuttall (Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the NICVA), Naziar Hashemi (Partner and National Head of Non-Profits at Crowe UK), Caron Bradshaw (Chief Executive of the Charity Finance Group), and Richard Sagar (Policy Manager of the Charity Finance Group).
What a year 2020 has been. Charities have been through ups and downs, faced challenges they never thought they would and gone digital like never before. As we prepare to wrap up this crazy year, we’ve bought back some of our previous podcast guests (and friends of Charity Digital) to discuss the year 2020 has been and what charities might expect for 2021. The conversation covers everything from cybersecurity to remote working, to sector predictions. By popular demand, for our final episode of 2020, we also bring back Charity Digital or Charity Dodgy. In this podcast episode, Charity Digital’s Marketing Manager, Chris Hall, is joined by Aika Peto (Head of Marketing at Trillium), Michala Liavaag (Charity Cyber Security Leader) and Dean Gillespie (Digital and Data Manager at All We Can).
When Mary Stevens Hospice fell victim to a cyber-attack in April 2019, they couldn’t believe that online criminals would target their small organisation.
Many charities don’t think they could be the victim of an attack, but in this podcast episode, we’re joined by an organisation who has experienced the damage firsthand. Mary Stevens Hospice are sharing their cyberattack story to help other organisations learn from their mistakes and take cybersecurity seriously. They want other charities to know how easy it is to fall prey to cybercriminals and just how detrimental this can be. But also, they want charities to know that they’re not alone and that there is lots of help and understanding out there.
Now, over a year later, Mary Steven’s Hospice has tightened their cybersecurity measures and is doing everything they can to protect their staff, donors and service users from cybercriminals.
In today’s episode, we’re joined by Gerry Crow, Director of Operations & Support at the hospice, who talks openly and honestly about their experience as victims of a serious cyber-attack. Learn what happened, what they did and what they’re now doing to ensure they’re as protected as they can be. Gerry is also joined by Cub Llewelyn Davies (Charity Sector Lead at the National Cyber Security Centre) who offers his expert opinion on the incident, as well as some advice for charities who may face the same thing.
No charity will ever be 100% secure, as cybercriminals are continuously evolving their methods. But, charities can learn from the mistakes of others and continue growing and thriving together.
This podcast is sponsored by Salesforce.org - the dedicated social impact team of Salesforce that delivers technology to nonprofits, educational institutions, and philanthropic organisations so they can connect with others and do more good. Catch up with the Salesforce.org Gaming for Good podcast series here!
We’re back with a second Gaming for Good episode. This time, we focus on how gaming can be used to design services that put your users at the heart.
In this podcast episode, we hear how Women’s Win has embraced gaming as a key element of their service delivery. Hear how they used online gaming to strengthen their mission, better understand the needs of their service users and support them in a creative and innovative way.
Charity Digital Marketing Manager, Chris Hall, is joined by Shay Thompson (Founder at Level Up Link Up) and Nicole Matuska (Senior U.S. Program Manager at Women Win) to discuss how gaming can be incorporated into charity service design.
We’re living in a golden era of content. Charities are engaging with their audiences, donors and services users through digital content and channels like never before. But the demand for new content is continuing to grow.
But how can you win at content with limited time and resources?
Today’s podcast episode is another release from our conference back in March. Charity Digital’s Marketing Manager Chris Hall is joined by three content experts. They chat about how you can create effective content, reach new audiences, build content into your digital strategy and much more!
Panel speakers: Rebecca Rae-Evans (Founder of Replay and Tech for Good Live), Donna White (Senior Head of Digital Marketing at The Prince's Trust) and Simon Banks (Video Strategist, Author and Speaker).
This week, we bring you another session from our March conference. For this podcast instalment, we have an amazing case study showcasing how DataKind UK and The Welcome Centre worked together to implement AI tech to visitor data to work smarter and deliver more impact for their beneficiaries.
AI can often seem like a scary, far-away concept for charities, when in fact it offers huge potential when it comes to service delivery, data and much more. The Welcome Centre’s innovative partnership with DataKind UK resulted in a programme that allowed them to help their service users at their most critical point.
In this podcast, hear Welcome Centre Trustee Dr Andrew Tomlinson explain how innovative analytics and machine learning has helped them get a clear picture on their user’s needs and given them the confidence to go forward on their own.
For this week’s podcast episode, we’re bringing you another release from our #BeMoreDigital conference back in March of this year. This session is particularly relevant now. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, charities everywhere have had to quickly up their digital strategy, with some organisations starting from scratch completely. Digital is becoming such an important part of charity operations that it begs the question - "Should all strategy be digital or is digital part of a strategy?" This episode brings together digital pioneers in the charity sector to discuss how strategy can make digital transformation a reality, the role of culture and leadership in implementing successful change and the steps to take towards a #BeMoreDigital strategy. Charity Digital CEO, Jonatha Chevallier, is joined in the conference release by Caroline Rennie (Product Lead at Comic Relief), Lara Burns (Chief Digital Officer at The Scouts) and Pauline Roche (Producer, Broker & Journalist & Trustee of the Small Charities Coalition).
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, charities everywhere have had to adapt to new ways of working. For most charities, this meant a full, or at least part, conversion to remote working. Now more than six months on, many organisations are still adopting ‘work from home’ as the norm. But the main question now is how are charities setting up remote or hybrid IT for the Long haul? What processes, tools and steps are they sticking with and what is being phased out, or twisted away from? It’s clear that the topic of remote or hybrid working is an ever-evolving one. But the key question we explore in this podcast episode is, what does this mean for our IT systems? Charity Digital CEO, Jonathan Chevallier, is joined by Sarah Broad (COO at NPC) and Philip Anthony (Co-Founder at Coopsys) to discuss what the new office looks like. The conversation centres around our tech learnings over the past few months, what charities have to do to keep secure, how they can best support their staff through changes, and much more.
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This podcast is supported by CoopSys, the IT enablers for Charities. For more info see coopsys.net.
Oops! Uploaded the wrong podcast, listen to Cub from the NCSC now!
For a long time, cyber security has been seen as a purely technical issue, which in turn limited senior leaders ability to understand the risk and ensure it was being mitigated. We have taken this session from our #BeMoreDigital conference back in March where the NCSC will explore how to prioritise the limited resources charities have at their disposal, focus on the biggest risks and reshape attitudes towards cyber security in your organisation. Even though this session was recorded in a pre-COVID world cybersecurity needs to be applied now more than ever. Cub provides some top tips to keep the digital safety of your charity front-of-mind when considering digital tech.
Resources can be found online - https://charitydigital.org.uk/podcasts/embedding-cybersecurity-in-strategic-decision-making
This podcast is sponsored by Salesforce.org - the dedicated social impact team of Salesforce that delivers technology to nonprofits, educational institutions, and philanthropic organisations so they can connect with others and do more good.
The world of gaming sometimes gets a bad reputation. However, time and time again gaming is proving itself otherwise and has become a highly lucrative fundraising market for charities.
In this podcast episode, we discuss what gaming for good actually means and how charities can tap into this relatively new fundraising market. We also chat about the creative ways organisations have been using gaming as a tool for social good, as well as offering key tips for charities on how to get started with using the world of gaming for fundraising. Our guests also explain why charities of all shapes and sizes should be harnessing the power of gaming to raise money, start conversations and spread their message.
For this episode, Charity Digital’s Marketing Manager, Chris Hall, is joined by Shay Thompson (Founder of Level Up Link Up and Video Game Host for McLaren and Bafta) and Will Coleman (Creative Lead at Salesforce.org).
In the age of digitalisation and the internet, organisations need to be doing more to stand out above the noise to achieve influence and brand originality. When starting out with digital, it's easy to lose focus on your brand in the noise of transformation. So what does it take to embed the brand into digital?
This panel discussion brings Collette Philip-Keen (Managing Director and Founder at Brand By Me), Zohra Vermani (Brand Marketing Lead at Parkinson's UK) and Kellie Stewart (Head of Communications and Marketing at The Sick Children’s Trust) together to argue why digital is integral to both your brand and org-wide digital strategy, providing tips and tricks for how you can make your brand stand out digitally with authenticity and inclusivity, personalisation, partnerships, and entertainment.
This session was brought to our audience live at our #BeMoreDigital conference, this podcast includes the session from the day and live Q&A to the experts.
If our digital teams are not diverse, how can we as charities expect our diverse range of service users to benefit from all the great things digital can bring? Digital, like anything, can only thrive and achieve real impact in an organisation if it’s being implemented, designed and run by a diverse range of people and perspectives.
Jason Caplin and Meera Naik from Barnardo’s join us to share their successes, failures and learnings when it comes to being digitally diverse. They discuss how their transformative and diverse approach to #BeMoreDigital can help other charities navigate a more diverse digital transformation. They cover not only how organisations can be more digitally diverse, but why it is so important for charities to be representative of the people they’re trying to help with digital.
Every day, charities are providing their vital services to beneficiaries. Providing this excellent service delivery is just one of the many things that charities have in common- so why not share each other's processes?
In a collaborative effort, CAST have worked to create just that- service recipes. Service recipes are a free online resource that collects practical examples to help charities learn from one another’s digital services. They aim to reduce the duplication of time, money, and effort within charities- but how well do they really work?
In this podcast episode, we’re joined by Eve Critchley (Digital Innovation Lead at Hestia) who’s charity adopted a service recipe and Fareeha Usman (Founder of Being Woman) who’s charity provided one. Chris Thorpe (Head of Technology at CAST) also joins the conversation to discuss the service recipe initiative, the process, and how this has been working for charities in real-time.
Digital transformation is really about people, not technology. Your employees, members and donors need to be on the journey with you.
Typically, people can be resistant to change and learning new systems. It is essential that your digital transformation is able to create a digital culture within your organisation, that both internal and external stakeholders can buy into. Communication is key if you want to secure engagement from everyone, from your members and donors to your Board of Trustees.
In this podcast episode, Co-Founders and Directors at Trillium, Gavin Pollock and Alan Perestrello, talk about how you can create the right digital mindset and successfully engage your various stakeholders.
If you create an inclusive culture and use inclusive tech it can drive social change. How did the move to online working and service provision effect inclusivity in your organisation? Over the past few months, we have seen businesses embrace working practices and new digital tools they previously deemed as ‘not possible’ or ‘not yet’. Alternatively, did the move to home working and service provision exclude anyone? This week’s podcast episode brings you a panel discussion from the Microsoft Radical Accessibility event. The panel discusses working in COVID-19 and how we can take lessons from this to inform a more inclusive re-emergence from the pandemic. Panel host Krissie Barrick (Head of Digital Influencing at Scope) is joined by Vimla Appadoo (Co-Founder and Chief Culture Officer at Honey Badger), Kamran Mallick (Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK) and Elisabeth Ward (Content Designer at Scope).
In a digital advertising world dominated with cat videos, how do you break through the attention wall and get your charity’s message heard through the noise? In this week’s podcast episode, WWF UK’s Senior Online Acquisition Manager, Joe Trigg, will share successes and failures of navigating a saturated ad market and the strategies they use to piggyback trends.
Joe uses examples such as Black Friday, Christmas, and Emergency Cash Appeals, to show how WWF UK has managed to drive strong ROI at scale in an ever-changing digital landscape. He explains how allowing real-world events to filter through into your charity’s paid social, paid search, and display strategies can be an amazing force for impact, growth and donations.
Alongside service delivery, how charities raise funds has been one of the biggest changes to happen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But what exactly does the lockdown fundraising environment look like?
Blackbaud Europe and the Institute of Fundraising conduct a Status of UK Fundraising report every year, and the 2020 Benchmark Report has captured how the sector has truly been affected by coronavirus. The data was collected in May and June 2020 via an online survey of 66 questions and just shy of 2,000 people from organisations of all types, shapes and sizes completed the survey.
The report came out yesterday, Monday 20th July and we caught up with two curators of the masterpiece Sally Falvey, Head of Corporate Marketing, EMEA at Blackbaud and Daniel Fluskey Head of Policy and Internal Affairs at the Institute of Fundraising to chat through the findings and how to take them forward as a sector.
Download the report here.
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This podcast is sponsored by charity technology partner Blackbaud Europe. Their fundraising CRM software supports over 1,500 charities in the UK, while JustGiving from Blackbaud powers the digital fundraising of over 26,000 good causes that have raised £4 billion since 2001. To get your copy of The Status of UK Fundraising 2020 Benchmark Report, visit: hub.blackbaud.co.uk/soukf
‘Data’ is often a daunting word for many charities. However, if used correctly and embraced, data can be one of the most effective tools for growth, engagement and efficiency a charity can have.
Charities deal with data on a day to day basis, yet not all charities know what to do with this data or how to use it to its fullest potential. This #BeMoreDigital conversation shows charities that implementing a data-driven culture and kick-starting your charity’s journey to data maturity is easier and more manageable than you may think.
In this podcast episode, Executive Director at DataKind UK, Giselle Cory, breaks down what charities can really do with data to make it work for them. She breaks down what data science actually is and how this applies to charities and their everyday operations and service delivery and provides immediate, actionable next steps for charities when it comes to data.
As charities, impact is our aim. Achieving real impact and making a difference is what we strive for on a daily basis. However, reporting this impact is equally as important as achieving it.
This week we continue our #BeMoreDigital conversations from our March conference with a powerful and important session on just this. Kate Rees, Impact Manager at the NSPCC, delivers an insightful and engaging discussion on measuring and reporting social impact.
Kate shares an effective five-step process aiming to help charities leverage the data they collect into engaging stories, powerful reporting tools and ambitious goal-setting.
In this episode, we’re bringing you another release from our March conference. Following the success of our recent #BeMoreDigital Leadership Day and the amazing sessions we had, this panel discussion seems particularly relevant to inspire charities to use everything they’ve learnt and put #BeMoreDigital into action.
Charities have the tools, knowledge and resources on all things digital, but knowing where to start can be challenging. Transitioning your charity into anything new is never without its difficulties, but sometimes the biggest issue is knowing where to begin.
In this panel, our three fantastic speakers from Home Start, Shout and The Children's Society each share their varied experiences with implementing digital. They discuss the digital projects that changed their organisations, what was required to drive digital innovation, how they were able to grow and how they’re looking towards a better and brighter digital future.
More charities than ever before are embracing digital in their day-to-day working lives. However, while this is a great thing, our increased use of digital is giving way to more cybercrime and charities are still at risk. With so many charities now relying on digital, we must be extra vigilant when it comes to cyberthreats and ensuring we are protecting the sensitive information that charities deal with on a regular basis. As many organisations say goodbye to the office (at least for now), this episode discusses how charities can look to protect themselves in this remote environment and the steps they should be taking to ensure they are resilient. There are still threats lurking out there, and charities must be aware.
Chris Hall, Charity Digital’s Marketing Manager, is joined by Cub Llewely Davis (Charity Sector Lead from the National Centre Cyber Security) and Jan Rock (CEO and Case Manager at Matrix Neurological).
This episode continues our releases from our #BeMoreDigital conference back in March. With everything happening in the world currently and the ever-important Black Lives Matter movement, we’re revisiting a pertinent panel discussion centering around inclusion, diversity and equality in the charity sector.
The charity sector needs to be doing more to be inclusive and diverse across all areas. We must hold ourselves accountable and start implementing real changes now so that we can achieve permanent difference. Movements such as #CharitySoWhite have been incredible eye-openers for the sector, but there is still a long way to go before we can call ourselves inclusive.
Our panelists each offer a fresh perspective from the range of charities and experiences they represent. The conversation isn’t about why inclusion and diversity work, we already know they do. It is about how we as organisations and as individuals can ensure that change is made.
For this conversation our panel host, Debbie Forster (CEO at Tech Talent Charter), is joined by Ursula Dolton (CTO at the British Heart Foundation), Danny Attias (Chief Information Officer at Anthony Nolan), Tiffany Hall (CIO at Cancer Research UK) and Monica Shafaq (Chief Executive at The Kaleidoscope Plus Group) to discuss where the sector is currently at and the actions that need to be taken by charities everywhere to achieve all aspects of diversity.
This episode of The Charity Digital Podcast concludes our mini-series focusing on digital ethics in the charity sector. Following on from our previous two discussion, this final episode looks at how charities can be ethical when it comes to their digital services. Our speakers break down the relationship between digital ethics and service delivery, offering practical guidance for charities and key takeaways when it comes to digital safeguarding. Charity Digital CEO, Jonathan Chevallier, welcomes back Giselle Cory (Executive Director of DataKind UK), Chris Martin (CEO of The Mix) and James Mullarkey (Head of Digital Engagement at the Royal College of General Practitioners) for another informative and thought-provoking discussion.
This podcast is sponsored by Avast Business Antivirus, who provide a continual stream of data that helps quickly identify and destroy any cyber threat and predict future ones.
Back in early March of this year, we hosted our second annual conference- the #BeMoreDigital conference. This episode marks the first in an exciting new series, where we'll be releasing some of the content from the day for those of you who couldn't make it, or, for those of you who want to experience the fantastic conversations we were having all over again.
In this episode, Ellie Scouller, Brand Experience Specialist at charity: water, takes us through how digital storytelling can help to build more authentic connections with your donors and ultimately drive growth.
By challenging the traditional donor/charity relationship and using digital to adopt more innovative methods of storytelling, Ellie reveals how charities can drive more donations and create strong, genuine and lasting connections with donors and ensure their communications are meaningful.
Watch this space for more #BMD releases!
In a previous episode, we answered a selection of the COVID-19 questions charities have submitted to us so far, focusing more on the products and platforms available. In this episode we’re back with more for a second time around, this time looking at the more operational side of things for charities.
Once again, we’re joined by four members of the Charity Digital team who have come together virtually to offer their help. Questions cover inventive ways to continue activities online, cyber security, text donate and so much more.
It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by digital right now, but that’s why we’re here to help and show charities that they can thrive digitally during COVID-19 and beyond.
In this episode of our weekly podcast, we’re joined by Davinia Batley (Director of Fundraising and Engagement at Become) and Suzy Edington (Account Manager at JustGiving from Blackbaud), who consider their experiences of fundraising in isolation so far- what's been working well, the hurdles they’ve faced and the impact digital has had.
They also share the various fundraising trends, initiatives and digital options they’ve seen thriving in lock down and the many ways charities have been adapting their fundraising methods and communications.
This podcast is sponsored by charity technology partner Blackbaud Europe. Their fundraising CRM software supports over 1,500 charities in the UK, while JustGiving from Blackbaud powers the digital fundraising of over 26,000 good causes that have raised £4 billion since 2001. For support and resources to help your organisation respond to COVID-19, visit hub.blackbaud.co.uk.
As the dust begins to settle, charities may be wondering what the future holds. Now past the initial upheaval, there is time for reflection: what has happened so far, what does the future look like and what can be learnt from your charity’s response to COVID-19?
In this episode, our three guests come together to discuss their own learnings. They reflect on where we are right now and how they believe organisations can begin to work towards both an immediate and long-term future, including the challenges this may come with. Vicky Charles (Associate Director of Technology at CLIC Sargent), Simon Davey (Managing Director at Omega Alpha) and Barry Antwi (Technical Manager at Coopsys) all offer professional insight into how charities can make use of what they’ve learnt and take this forward into their long-term goals and strategies.
Transformation has been seismic for a huge number of organisations. Yet, despite the unprecedented and unfortunate circumstances surrounding these changes, the recent pandemic has been a catalyst for a positive change in many charities when it comes to digital. The question is now how to harness these changes and move forward.
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This podcast is supported by CoopSys, the IT enablers for Charities. For more info see coopsys.net.
As we are well aware by now, the charity sector is changing. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a complete upheaval for charities, demanding a ‘new normal’ everywhere.
With such a seismic shift in such a short space of time, charities have been left with questions about their new remote ways of operating and their increased reliance on digital. We've been asking charities to submit these questions to us and on this episode, four members of the Charity Digital team come together remotely to answer some of the questions submitted so far.
The conversation delves into everything from the most beneficial digital platforms for charities, to how digital can help you keep you workers, volunteers and donors engaged. We also talk you through the eligibility of our Charity Digital Exchange programme.
COVID-19 has impacted charities everywhere, but we must continue to ask questions, learn and iterate so that charities can use the tools available and thrive digitally.
As charities continue adapting to, what is for many, a new way of working we are forced to consider some elephants in the room. Although it might have been a painful transition for some, has Covid-19 ultimately been a good thing in terms of digital transformation for charities? Organisations everywhere have been forced to adapt quickly and efficiently to rapidly changing circumstances, navigating new digital territory that might have previously taken a long time to embrace.
In the fourth episode of our Covid-19 podcast series, we’re joined by two members of the Trillium team to discuss how the global pandemic has impacted digital transformation for charities. Alan Perestrello, Co-Founder and Director, and Aika Peto, Head of Marketing, talk us through the ongoing digital journey charities are dealing with. Budgeting, time, data and digital inclusion are some of the topics discussed as we delve into how things have changed and the digital impact we’ve seen so far, with key actions for charities going forward.
Whether you're just getting started on your digital journey, or consider yourself a fully-fledged digital leader, one thing is for sure- it's more important than ever to be more digital.
Want to share how your charity is becoming more digital as a result of Covid-19? Share it with us here.
As we forge on through the Coronavirus pandemic, many charities are having to adapt to maintain their services in a whole new environment, literally overnight. Face to face contact is no longer an option, causing multiple issues for many in the sector. But the ingenuity of the charity worker is prevailing.
Alongside the need to re-skill staff in digital, transform ways of working and bring fundraising online, we’re starting to see inspiring examples of charities who are pulling out all the stops to still be there for their service users in digital form.
In our latest podcast Rosie Milsom, Fundraising and Communications Manager at Caudwell LymeCo and Joyce Borgs, Digital Practice and Learning Associate at CAST and The Catalyst join us for a chat on how charities can quickly move their services online, how to overcome barriers and how you can help your service users to migrate with you. We also take a look at some of our favourite tools that charities can use to deliver digital services.
Want to share how your charity is becoming more digital as a result of COVID-19, share it with us here.
Inboxes and news feeds are dominated by information about COVID-19. Everyday users and donors are being inundated with letters from CEOs, service updates and special offers. It's imperative that charities are able to carry on the amazing work they do during uncertain times, so, how can you ensure that your message is being heard in a time of heightened content saturation?
Our very own Chris Hall shares his session from the recent Project Everyone conference where he shared the to-do and not-to-do's of crisis content creation, how to distribute it correctly and how to follow audience trends to remain accurate and relevant.
Have a question about your digital transition - ask us here.
Want to share your COVID-19 story with other charities - share here.
In the current environment of COVID-19, charities have been thrust headfirst into the world of digital fundraising. Fundraising during coronavirus is critically important to charity survival and while making the rapid change to digital is a necessity, how can you set yourself up to support the transition long term?
We answered some of those questions in a podcast we ran fro our Digital Fundraising Day last November, and thought now would be a perfect time to share this with the rest of our audience as we navigate the murky waters of digital working.
Original blurb below:
People often see the word digital and think they need to be running viral campaigns, deploying innovative tech platforms and using jargon words (like innovative) to drive their fundraising goals. But, in reality, it's the organisations who are getting the basics right that are setting themselves up for long-term success.
On this pod we're joined by 3 incredible guests from the charity sector as we strip back digital fundraising to its core and ask the question, well what does it really mean?
With new social distancing rules in place, we're now confined to working from our homes. This has some profound implications on how charities operate from a digital technology perspective.
Join Charity Digital CEO, Jonathan Chevalier, Phil Anthony, co-Founder of CoopSys and Kate White, Manager at Digital support charity Superhighways as they discuss how you can get your charity up to speed to support remote working through COVID-19, what tech can help you stay connected to colleagues, donors and networks and how we can operate in a secure, collaborative and productive manner.
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This podcast is supported by CoopSys, the IT enablers for Charities. For more info see coopsys.net.
In the past couple of years, accessibility has gone from being an afterthought at best, to an often spoken about subject at conferences and water coolers alike. Inclusive design is now close to joining buzzwords like blockchain, machine learning and big data. But it’s not without its merit. This year’s Lloyds bank charity digital index found that 51% of charities are not reaching vulnerable people, including those with disabilities due to not having accessibility procedures built into their website.
And it goes beyond goes well beyond design, we’ve talked in previous podcasts about the sector's lack of employment inclusion for people from BAME backgrounds. It’s a similar story for disabled workers, with the sector missing out on a vast amount of untapped talent from a highly skilled and motivated workforce.
In our latest pod, we're joined by Eve Joseph and Brett Johnson from Microsoft and Adi Latif from AbilityNet to talk about how technology can help charities be more prepared to support people with disabilities both inside and outside their organisations.
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This podcast is supported by The Microsoft UK Philanthropies team are aiming to help charities and young people across the UK develop digital skills and they'll be working with us over the next few months to produce a short series of podcasts and webinars. If you'd like to learn more about accessibility tech and how it can help your charity, head over to the charity digital website or sign up for the Accessibility skills webinar on 23rd April, where we'll dive into how your organisation can use tech to achieve its accessibility goals.
The Charity Digital Ethics Podcast returns for a second episode focusing on the important topic of digital ethics. When charities innovate, they create new ethical debates around how charities should use data, as well as around what role charities must play in safeguarding against unintended consequences and unethical future use of any new technologies.
This episode continues our previous discussion and delves deeper into the ethical debates around charity use of data analytics and data science. Jonathan Chevallier welcomes Giselle Cory (Executive Director of DataKind UK), Chris Martin (CEO of The Mix) and James Mullarkey (Head of Digital at The British Veterinary Association) for the second installment of an informative and thought-provoking discussion.
With great power comes great responsibility.
As technology progresses and charities become more digital, so do the risks that come with it. So, how are we as charities faring against arguably our biggest threat, cyber-security?
Our latest podcast discusses the good, the bad and the ugly of charities and cyber-security.
Alongside Cub Llewelyn-Davies, Charity Sector Lead from the National Cyber Security Centre and Michala Liavaag, Head of Information, Governance and Security at Marie Curie, Charity Digital Marketing Manager Chris Hall reviews how successful charities were at combatting cyber-security in 2019. The panel also discusses what new threats to expect in 2020 and what resources, new and old charities should be looking to for information.
We also celebrated our 10th episode with a brand new segment - Charity Digital or Charity Dodgy? Make sure to play along and let us know how you got on via twitter or email.
Have a question for the pod or want to get involved, reach out to us at podcasts@charitydigital.org.uk
This week's guests
Cub Llewelyn-Davies, Charity Sector Lead from the National Cyber Security Centre the government agency responsible for cyber security. They help protect the UK from cyber attacks, manage major cyber incidents, and provide advice to citizens and organisations on how to keep themselves secure online.
Michala Liavaag, Head of Information, Governance and Security at Marie Curie
Michala discovered the joys of information security 8 years ago and has since developed information governance and cybersecurity programmes in local government, the NHS and before landing the role of resident cyber-crime fighter at Marie Curie.
Following are the first podcast - Do you need a digital strategy? We're continuing the conversation with Vince Gatrick, Claire Tavernier, Owen Pringle and Rob Cade to drill into detailed yet simple steps that charities can take to start building a digital strategy. The panel discusses how and where to focus your efforts, tools, and tips to help make strategic digital decisions and what to look out for to avoid the pitfalls.
DISCLAIMER: This was one of our earlier podcast recordings so the sound quality isn't great. The content is worth it though! Thanks for understanding. If you have any questions please reach out to us at podcasts@charitydigital.org.uk ###
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About our guests:
Claire is a senior leader and board member with over twenty years’ experience building and growing successful content and digital businesses. Most recently, Claire was the Interim CEO of Girl Effect, a media and digital organisation founded by the Nike Foundation, which she joined as COO in 2017. Girl Effect, a nonprofit, builds digital platforms and content brands at scale to meaningfully impact girls’ lives in the most difficult places in the world. Vince is a highly driven, accomplished and articulate Senior IT Leader, with an in-depth understanding of the strategic and operational requirements of an IT function. Experience of running global projects, high availability systems and IT teams to deliver a service orientated platform. Proven ability to translate business requirements into practical, imaginative and highly effective IT solutions with experience of managing senior internal/external stakeholder relationships. Renowned as a forward-thinking strategist and creative problem solver with a consistent history of organisational success and the support to accelerate a variety of business objectives. Continually exhibit a pragmatic and entrepreneurial leadership style to improve poor performing and misaligned IT teams and revitalized and realigned them to become business partners improving employee engagement and investment in IT as a digital transformation agent Robert is Centrepoint’s Director of Strategy and Performance – meaning he's responsible for optimising the way we work to drive the best possible outcomes for homeless young people. Before joining Centrepoint, Robert worked for over a decade as a management consultant. In this role, he focused on operational transformation in the public sector. Owen is a senior communications and digital strategist with over 20 years of experience, and Co-Founder / Partner of Arc, a business transformation practice that puts people at the heart of digital change. Owen has also been recognised by the Financial Times as one of the 100 most influential Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) leaders in technology, throughout the UK and Europe.
It’s still early days for most in the charity sector, but the truth is artificial intelligence is now far from being just a buzzword.
Experts are saying that artificial intelligence will shape society more than any other technology in the next few decades, so why would the third sector be any exception? However, it’s not been without its bad press – with risks and concerns over data use, loss of jobs and general usability.
We’re seeing more and more charities using technology such as machine learning, chatbots and algorithmic decision making to do everything from serving information and telling stories online, to taking voice-based donations, driving innovative research and serving beneficiaries. The possibilities are incredibly wide-ranging.
This podcast challenges the negative aspects of AI, dives into exactly what charities are missing out on and shares how other charities are using AI to change the shape of their fundraising, operations and services.
Have any questions? Reach out to us at podcasts@charitydigital.org.uk
Episode SponsorThis podcast is supported by The Microsoft UK Philanthropies team are aiming to help charities and young people across the UK develop digital skills and they'll be working with us over the next few months to produce a short series of podcasts and webinars. If you'd like to learn more about AI tech and how it can help your charity, head over to the charity digital website or visit Microsoft's AI for good site.
Our guests:
Nick Wise is the CEO of Ocean Mind (a social enterprise that uses satellites and artificial intelligence to empowers fisheries authorities and seafood buyers to understand the compliance of fishing around the world, both near- and offshore. They provide confidential direct support, training and capacity building to governments and IGOs, as well as risk management and due diligence to the seafood industry.
Kate Rosenshine leads the Cloud Solution Architect team at Microsoft covering media, telco & professional services sectors, previously working on data & AI in financial services.
The Charity Digital Podcast returns for a series of three episodes focusing on the sometimes-neglected topic of digital ethics.
As an introduction to our discussion of digital ethics, this episode breaks down the broader subject into three areas: digital, data and technology.
Charities have adopted the principle of ‘do no harm’ into their field operations. How can this be applied to their digital output? And do charities have an ethical obligation to safeguard how any innovations stemming from their use of digital could be applied in the future?
Jonathan Chevallier welcomes Giselle Cory (Executive Director of DataKind UK), Chris Martin (CEO of The Mix) and James Mullarkey (Head of Digital at The British Veterinary Association) for the first installment of an informative and thought-provoking discussion.
We're joined in the studio by Vince Gatrick, Claire Tavernier, Owen Pringle and Rob Cade for a real discussion about the 52% of charities who don't have a digital strategy, and ask the question - do you need a digital strategy or should digital be part of your wider organisational strategy?
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About our guests:
Claire is a senior leader and board member with over twenty years’ experience building and growing successful content and digital businesses. Most recently, Claire was the Interim CEO of Girl Effect, a media and digital organisation founded by the Nike Foundation, which she joined as COO in 2017. Girl Effect, a nonprofit, builds digital platforms and content brands at scale to meaningfully impact girls’ lives in the most difficult places in the world. Vince is a highly driven, accomplished and articulate Senior IT Leader, with an in-depth understanding of the strategic and operational requirements of an IT function. Experience of running global projects, high availability systems and IT teams to deliver a service orientated platform. Proven ability to translate business requirements into practical, imaginative and highly effective IT solutions with experience of managing senior internal/external stakeholder relationships. Renowned as a forward-thinking strategist and creative problem solver with a consistent history of organisational success and the support to accelerate a variety of business objectives. Continually exhibit a pragmatic and entrepreneurial leadership style to improve poor performing and misaligned IT teams and revitalized and realigned them to become business partners improving employee engagement and investment in IT as a digital transformation agent Robert is Centrepoint’s Director of Strategy and Performance – meaning he's responsible for optimising the way we work to drive the best possible outcomes for homeless young people. Before joining Centrepoint, Robert worked for over a decade as a management consultant. In this role, he focused on operational transformation in the public sector. Owen is a senior communications and digital strategist with over 20 years of experience, and Co-Founder / Partner of Arc, a business transformation practice that puts people at the heart of digital change. I have also been recognised by the Financial Times as one of the 100 most influential Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) leaders in technology, throughout the UK and Europe.
Following on from part 1 of our inclusion podcast series, Rabia Fazil and Collette Philip Keen are back with guest host Susheila Juggapah to discuss examples of what happens when organisations aren't prepared for the challenges of inclusion. We also highlight the charities and individuals that are embracing the issue and providing a leading light for others in the sector.
From early beginnings, to digital maturity, to different moments along the digital fundraising life cycle, Emily, Katie and Matt join us again to chat about their experiences of getting their own and other digital fundraising initiatives off the ground. This pod challenges that most organisations are further along the journey than they think. Charities are already talking to their supporters and going digital is just another way to do that. Tune in to learn how other charities like yours kickstarted their online fundraising.
Charity Digital's own Jonathan Chevallier, Emily Mackenzie, and Chris Hall discuss the exclusive fundraising day e-book - The future of money making for charities in a digital age
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people are not only underrepresented in the charity sector, but many are reporting alarming instances of prejudice, whether unconscious or more deliberate, that are holding them back in their careers. Why? And what can we as a sector do to progress the debate constructively and work towards fixing the inclusion issue that clearly exists? Guest host Susheila Juggapah is joined by Collette Philip Keen and our very own Raabia Fazil for a real discussion about their experiences as women of colour in the charity sector.