Round-up of resources to help charities to take climate change action

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As charities, we exist to make a positive difference. Our work can be challenging and relentless as we strive to achieve our specific missions. It can be hard to find time to step back and look at the bigger picture.

The changing climate is the biggest threat facing us all. Many of our beneficiaries will be impacted more than others (see NPC’s Everyone’s Environment Programme). We can’t ignore this or achieve our missions without addressing it. We can’t ignore our own impacts either. We may feel powerless but there are big things we can change within our own organisations.

Within the sector there are sources of help available. Infrastructure organisations have launched campaigns and toolkits to share best practice and inspire change. Here’s a round-up of some of them which help charities look at their own activities, governance and future work with a climate change focus.

street art. a rainbow with the text which says - all that we've got is this pale blue dot. By Angry Dan

Funding and finance

NCVO’s new campaign – Fuelling Positive Change – asks charities to look at their investments, pensions and other financial items and divest them from fossil fuels. UK charities collectively hold £118bn of investment assets. It is not known what proportion of these rest with fossil fuels but it is likely to be a sizeable proportion. Money Movers say that making your pension green is one of the most impactful things you can do to protect the planet.

NCVO are asking charities to pledge and talk about it publicly. “Together we can support our sector to take charity money out of fossil fuels.” Here’s how to divest from fossil fuels.

See also:

Fundraisers have to consider the ethics of where funds come from. The source of your corporate sponsorship or major donor gifts can cause reputational damage. Does your charity have a policy on this?

What about your funders? Do they have policies or statements? See the Funder Commitment on Climate Change and their recent year 3 report.

In 2020, CIOF produced a toolkit for fundraisers – Environmental Change – on lots of different aspects of fundraising. It says: “Doing nothing is no longer an option”.

Strategy

What does your five-year strategy say about climate change? Here are some examples of charities which have the climate at the front of their strategies:

NCVO’s Road Ahead report from 2022 outlines environmental drivers which could help shape your strategy.

Everyday operations

From heating your building to replacing IT equipment, every choice you make has an impact on the environment. It can be hard to know where to start.

VONNE’s Going Green Together website and programme recognises this and shares useful insights on everything from food to travel, energy to waste.

Charities in Scotland might like to look at Growing Climate Confidence which has been adapted from VONNE’s resources. It also includes notes about developing policy.

Locality has a climate action section on their MyCommunity hub to help community groups take action. People are invited to join the climate specialist group to learn and swap ideas.

Saying what you are doing or have done is an important step in reassuring supporters and normalising action. See these examples from National Trust, Reach Volunteering, Charity Comms and World Vision International.

ACEVO invite sector leaders to sign up to the Climate and environmental leadership principles.

Your comms

More here from Charity Comms following their #CommsCreateChange webinar.

Getting started

Some of these actions need more investment than others. Some will need board-level commitment, others need a process change. Some will be straight-forward, some may not be appropriate for your organisation.

Who makes these decisions? Some charities have recruited internal champions or built task groups.

All need time and resources to research, implement and communicate about changes.

What do you think?

What is happening in your organisation? Have you been working on this for years or are still to get started?

Can you recommend other good resources or have examples to share? There must be loads. Please do add yours as comments.

Can I help?

Can I help you? Do get in touch.

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Artwork by Angry Dan. Photograph by me.

High profile in-memory fundraising

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This week (end March 2023), the sad and shocking news about Paul O’Grady was shared. My timeline has been full of love for him as well as funny stories and clips of his work. He was an ambassador and supporter of many charities including Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. Here’s how these charities responded to the news.

This post is intended as a prompt to help charities think about how they would respond if there was bad news about one of their ambassadors or high-profile supporters.

Battersea

Paul’s support of Battersea was very high profile thanks to the TV series ‘For the Love of Dogs’ which ran for many series. He himself adopted many rescue dogs from them.

Very quickly, Battersea tweeted a statement with a lovely photo and set this as their pinned tweet. They sent two other tweets throughout the day about Paul and responded to some comments. They paused all other comms. They shared the same messages on Facebook and their other channels.

By lunchtime, they had cleared their homepage and filled it with a statement.

Screenshot of Battersea's homepage leading with a tribute to 'its devoted ambassador Paul O'Grady'


This connected to a full page with a longer statement which linked to a donate platform. So far (at the time of publishing this post, the day after the news was released) this has generated £64k in donations, with most people giving £10 or £20.

screenshot of Battersea's tribute page, with full statement and link to donate in memory.


When news like this breaks, people want to do something positive. Battersea have made it really easy for this to happen. The tribute fund includes a space to add a comment.

Other responses

Other charities he was an ambassador for shared tributes in their news sections but many didn’t feature the story on their homepages or include links to donate:

Some just released a short statement on social media:

How would your charity respond?

It’s a good idea to talk about this, to plan ahead so you don’t have to make decisions or risk doing nothing because it is easier.

When a high-profile person dies, there is often a great out-pouring of feeling for them. It doesn’t always last very long so you have to move quickly. People generally want to do something positive and will want to read that other people are feeling like them. The Battersea response above is textbook.

Various factors may influence your response including how prominent and positive the relationship was. You may have a relationship with their family which has to be taken into consideration. You may feel another charity has a bigger right to fundraise in their memory. Or your ambassador may have expressed wishes about what they want you to do in this situation.

For some charities, a statement may feel enough. For others when the ambassador or supporter has lived their lives with the values of the charity, you owe it to them to use the opportunity.

See also

Look back at the in-memory fundraising when the Queen died.

What do you think?

Have you done this planning in your organisation?

Update

In almost a week, £211k was donated to the Battersea fund. They continued sharing memories of Paul including this story which got 10k likes.

This BBC news story talks about Battersea being overwhelmed by the response. The replies to this tweet are an interesting insight into public opinion. There’s lots of support, a few negative comments about staff pay at large charities, suggestions from a few that people should support their local dogs home and one person saying it was a bit forward of Battersea to set this up.

Sky News and ITV News both tweeted the same story but with fewer comments, all positive.

Final update

Nearly four weeks later (26 April), the fund stands at almost £295k.

Paul O'Grady's tribute fund on the Battersea website - current total is £294711.91

Your legacy shop window

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As legacy professionals you will be juggling lots of different digital ‘products’ (paid ads, social media, digital events, newsletters, virtual spaces, DRTV, digital stewardship etc). The pages on your charity’s website should be central to all of this activity. They are the place you direct people to. Your digital shop window. But often they are the poor relation, left unchecked and unloved.

Legacy giving is booming. The market is becoming crowded. Charities need to do much more to stand out. Every interaction is important. Every journey, image, piece of information needs to work hard for you to build that connection.

Here’s a quick guide to help you review your legacy web pages.

shop window with lots of neon lights in bright colours. bit flashy!

1.How easy is it to find your ‘gifts in wills’ landing page?

  • How many clicks from the homepage gets to your landing page?
  • Does a search within the website find the landing page first?
  • Does a Google search find it first too?

Generally, ‘gifts in wills’ sections more prominent on charity websites than ever before. An expanded site navigation (now widely used across charity websites) has helped to surface content previously very buried amongst ‘other ways to give’. So for many charities, GiW can be found in one click.

A prominent and permanent listing of GiW at this level shows the value an organisation and its supporters places on this type of giving. It helps to normalise the activity and drive more traffic to it.

2. What do you call your section?

Charities widely use ‘gifts in wills’ rather than ‘legacy’ as a menu title. This has become sector standard. In some cases, the active voice is present so the title of the page or the menu listing is ‘give a gift in your will’ or ‘leave a gift in your will’.

Make your title simple, clear, easy to skim read but with a call to action.

3. Do you have a proposition?

  • Does your page start with impact to set the tone?
  • A short sentence or call to action helps to frame the ask.
  • Is the proposition integrated into other content?

A proposition sets the tone with a strong, persuasive statement which connect with supporters. It uses powerful, unambiguous words which build an emotional connection and credibility. Get it right and it can be really powerful.

4. What’s the emotional hook?

  • What motivates your supporters? How are you including this on the landing page?
  • What emotions does your content provoke – anger / hope / sadness?
  • Can supporters see themselves in your work?
  • Can they see the work?

Your stories and the ask both help to build empathy and belief that your organisation can be trusted in this most significant and emotional of ways, to use your gift. Everything on the page needs to contribute to this.

Don’t waste space on boring images of an official document as a placeholder, show your work in action. Reflect your supporters back to themselves – no more stock images of grey-haired people.

Reward your supporters with a good digital experience of rich content and positive images to build that connection.

5. Do you show impact?

  • Do you use your landing page to talk about previous successes?
  • Or to talk about ambitions or values?

Impact and values cannot be stated enough. They help to build trust. People need reminding about the work you have done and how your ambitions and values match their own. This builds trust and reassurance that they are leaving their money to you and you are going to do good things with it in their name.

6. Do you answer all their questions?

  • Is information easy to find?
  • Is it well signposted to?
  • Are there barriers in place?
  • Are niche questions covered?
  • Is information accessible to everyone?

Many visitors to your pages will be coming to get information. They need it to do a task – whether that is to find the wording they need or your charity number, or a free will scheme or your contact details. They just want the information so they can complete the task and move on. Hiding information in a brochure they have to fill in a form to get, can be annoying.

Review your processes. Why do you need to capture that data? What questions are your helpline being asked? Are these covered online? Could a legacy promise help to reassure potential donors?

Get support

This post is a summary of my presentation at Fundraising Everywhere’s Legacy Fundraising Conference on 16 February. Book now to see the full thing with examples.

I offer bespoke reviews, benchmarking and content support services for charities on legacy fundraising and other areas of digital comms. Do get in touch via Twitter or find me on LinkedIn if you think I can help.

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The future of charity Twitter

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Should charities still be using Twitter? What happens if it crashes? Or follower numbers drop? Or our accounts get spammed with negative / hateful comments? Will safety or accessibility standards drop?

Graphic from a museum of different communication methods. Includes fibre optics, the world wide web, and a question mark about what's next.


14 years since the first #NFPTweetUp connected charity people working in ‘new media’ to share, learn and support each other, we gathered on Zoom to talk about the future of Twitter and the media landscape more broadly.

Twitter has been a force for good and bad. For years, Twitter has helped us to share, amplify, connect and listen. Although engagement may have been dropping for a long time, it remains a key part of the comms toolkit for many. With the instability of the current situation and endless headline stories and predictions about what Musk’s takeover means for the future of the platform, is this the end of Twitter as we know it?

Here are some themes, questions we might ask ourselves and conclusions from the discussion.

Still a go-to place but how people use it is changing

Even as we wonder if we are in the death-throes of Twitter, or at least the version of it we knew and loved, we recognise its power as a platform and that is difficult to let go of.

From the #AttackOnNature response to Joe Lycett trending for days with his #BendersForBeckham campaign, it is the place for news and connection with others. It is also the place where we have built followings. We have communities. We have given information, listened to others, joined in with big events, built trust, inspired donations. Twitter is a key channel for lobbying, campaigning and mobilisation. Many of our charity campaigns would be in trouble without it. The idea we might lose that network and influence which has had so much time and energy invested into it is hard. For those we support, the idea of it may be hard too.

The discussion was kicked off by Amy Sample Ward, who is the CEO of NTEN – a nonprofit creating a world where missions and movements are more successful through the skillful and equitable use of technology. Amy is the co-author of The Tech That Comes Next, which explores technology’s role in our work to create an equitable world. 

Amy pointed out that none of us should be surprised about the changes with Twitter, and that the risks many people are now focusing on have always been present, saying: “This is rented land. We enter at our own risk. We don’t own this data or these spaces.” Amy asked us to think about web3.0: “What does it look like? What platforms do we want?”

Twitter seems to be changing to become “less social and more media”. We discussed how our organisations’ comms strategies need to keep up with this shift. It may not be that we stop using Twitter entirely, but what we use it for might be different; it might be more informational, and the more ‘social’ aspects might need to move elsewhere.

Instability of the platform

The Musk takeover storm has been such a dramatic whirlwind. A flow of tweets and blog posts cross our feeds, warning about the potential instability of the platform. The departure of safety, moderation and accessibility teams appear to be a worrying sign of the standards we can expect. It’s been a very noisy month and yet each Monday comes round and most of us are still here.

The decision to go may well be made for us if the predicted instability does crash the platform. This may not be black-out crash but a low loss of functionality and reliability. If this happens, at what point do we make the call and stop investing our resources, or leave?

Ethics and safety

As well as asking whether we can still be on Twitter, people are asking whether we should still be on Twitter? Questions of ethics and safety should concern us all. As a charity, we might be asking:

  • Is Twitter a safe place for our audiences?
  • Are they still here with us?
  • How has their use of Twitter changed?
  • How are our messages appearing in people’s feeds?
  • Are Twitter’s values aligned with those of organisations’?

Founder of Good Community, Serena Snoad shared her views saying: “Twitter is a great place to learn and share. It brings people together. But when platforms don’t have robust systems for moderation and reporting inappropriate behaviour, we should be worried. You need rules and policy and moderation. There are charities out there who are worried, many will have been relying on Twitter’s standards to protect them.” Serena’s advice is to produce your own moderation policy.

Serena also talked about the impact for people on the frontline. For charities which get constant challenges and abuse, or other ones which use Twitter as a customer service portal, the impact on the staff dealing with this can be huge. She likened it to being a first responder. It should be recognised that staff are managing emotional labour and are at high-risk of burn-out. “The endless wave of need coming our way means we have to make difficult decisions. Staff need to know that the organisation recognises this and stands by you.” Does your organisation do this?

Alternatives to Twitter?

There was lots of discussion about alternative platforms but no clear view about whether there is a replacement for Twitter. Many people – if not organisations – have joined Mastodon to try it out. But the consensus so far seemed to be it might not replace Twitter’s dynamism, reach and borderless opportunities to engage, connect and influence.

The fundamental point remains that we need to be where the people we need to connect with, and influence, are. For now, that might mean we should stay on Twitter to make positive change happen.

Serena Snoad made the point that it is our communities that are important, not the technology. Yes, the algorithm or functionality might change, but the essence of our communities can and will remain. We all agreed that in an ideal world, this should not rely on Twitter, or any platform we don’t own or control. We need to adapt for the future. Closed, moderated communities will continue to be important in the mix.

Whilst there are undoubtedly risks from using any digital channels – even those we own – we have to balance the need to do our work. For many, Twitter has been the place to amplify the truth, challenge misinformation, represent all voices, stand up for what we believe in and monitor what is happening outside our bubbles.

We all work in the space we do, because we are not happy to stand by. We want to make positive change. So we may have to double-down to continue getting our messages out to the widest possible audiences, and not just within bubbles, to change minds, behaviours, policies and achieve our goals.

Conclusions

Amy celebrated online communities and all the good they can do, leaving us with the rallying cry of, “Down with Twitter! Long live the internet!”

There seemed to be broad agreement from everyone who came along, that the platforms and channels we use need to match our strategic goals. Each channel has its strengths and weaknesses. We musn’t under-estimate the important role that email and our websites can play. We have a higher level of control and ownership here, that our supporters and stakeholders can trust. 

Of course, our email lists or online forums or WhatsApp groups will not give the same functionality as our public-facing channels on Twitter, LinkedIn or TikTok. They have their own purpose and drive different outcomes. We must review our comms mix and differentiate between channels – considering time invested, impact, opportunities and risks. Having clarity about what we use each channel for is key.

Social media is evolving. It may become less about the social and more about the media. For many of us, this might mean a change of approach.

And finally, while we might not agree with the ethics of the platform, many of us have an audience and community on Twitter. That is important. Twitter also helps us to reach out beyond our bubbles which may come with a cost. If the changes to Twitter mean the flack we get is harder to deal with, organisations need to change moderation practices and have to increase their own duty of care on staff.

So, whether Twitter crashes or continues, it is an important time to think about what you use it for. Many of us still want to be here.

What are you doing?

It’s time to do something. 81% of the people at the event had taken some action to mitigate for the change although only 7% had stopped tweeting. 67% planned to discuss future steps within their organisation.

Twitter will likely change substantially, both in terms of the platform itself and how people use it. Just worrying about it or ignoring it (as 51% were when I ran this poll in mid-November) is not going to help especially if Twitter has been a big part of your comms output for you or your organisation.

Poll on Twitter - are you doing anything today to prepare for RIP Twitter? 93 votes.l 14% connecting with contacts, 26% archiving content, 10% setting up elsewhere, 51% worrying / ignoring.

What might you lose if it suddenly crashes? In the short-term, you may take some steps to reduce the damage. For example, you may want to look at archiving your content (see this from Digital Charity Lab), telling supporters about other ways they can connect with you and upping your use of those channels. You may even set up on a new channel (see this by Helen Olszowska for Charity Digital).

Longer-term, how does Twitter fit within your comms strategy? Is your community behaviour policy fit for purpose? Do staff feel supported and are your systems fit for purpose? What does your daily / weekly plan or strategy look like with a Twitter hole in it? Can you adapt or replace that function elsewhere? (Here’s a useful post from Dan Slee about reviewing your channels.)

With thanks

Co-written with Rachel Beer who led and co-organised the evening with me.

With thanks to Amy Sample-Ward and Serena Snoad who spoke. And to Teri Doubtfire for live tweeting. To Rebs Curtis-Moss who shared notes from the event.

And to everyone who came along and shared their views.

What do you think?

Have you changed how you use Twitter? Have you started to plan ahead?

Highlights from charity Twitter

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Poster in the corridor at Twitter HQ in London in 2017. Says - In case of fire, exit building BEFORE tweeting about it.

I don’t know about you, but watching the very speedy ‘developments’ at Twitter over the past few weeks has been very unsettling. My timeline is full of doom about the end of Twitter. News about layoffs (including the accessibility team), verification rule changes, platform instability and high-profile departures has been relentless. It’s only been two and a half weeks.

I have been a heavy Twitter user since 2008. It has been instrumental to my freelance career as a way of keeping an eye on trends in the sector as well as making connections. It has also been a place for information, friendships and silliness.

And so, I watch and wait (along with everyone else – 85% of a recent Charity Comms poll), hoping that the disruption settles and the platform carries on. We’ll see…..

Twitter – what next?

There are some useful articles looking at what’s happened already and what might come.

A force for good

We have long since moved on from peak Twitter. Day-to-day engagement is not what it used to be. Blame the algorithm or drop in daily users. But it is still the go-to place for breaking news, high-volume comms and for conversation. It is used by journalists and decision-makers. It is still a key part of any channel strategy.

Think about the recent #AttackOnNature response. RSPB’s comms activity was huge on Twitter. The speed and scale of the comms was best suited to the channel and helped to gain lots of momentum for the campaign. This noise got it noticed by the press, hundreds of other organisations who got involved, and thousands of people who took action. Was this the last big hurrah for charity Twitter?

RSPB tweet - make no mistake, we are anrgy. This Government today launched an attack on nature. We don't use the words that follow lightly. We are entering uncharted territory. Please read this thread. 1/13

It made me think back to how Twitter has been embraced and experimented with by the charity sector. About the impact it has helped us all make. Here then, is almost a round-up of round-ups, with some highlights.

Fundraising

I'll donate the first new five ound note I get to a charity. Will you? #FiverGiver. poll yes - 34.5%
Our owls need your towels! We are in desperate need of your unwanted towels for our hospital. Towels are vital when we see wild birds of prey coming in freezing cold and soaking wet, often after being found on the ground. Please donate. > very sweet image of an owl wrapped in a towel

Making good things happen

Sharing knowledge and insights

Twitter gave us access to people’s activities and thoughts as never before. This wasn’t always a good thing but here are some of the ways it was used for good.

Raising awareness

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 31.8% lower than men's. > chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS FT
  • Gender Pay Gap Bot made a big impact in March when they used data to challenge performative comms for International Women’s Day. It continues to tweet.
  • #MentalPatient was a huge response to a supermarket selling a Halloween costume in 2013.
  • Leonard Cheshire used a tube strike to raise awareness about the accessibility of the tube network in 2014.
  • #DuvetKnowItsChristmas with Shelter (2018)
  • GiveBlood called out racism in their mentions (2017).
  • RNLI responded to negative press (2019).
  • Where was the outrage to the fires in the Amazon asked WWF in 2019. The tweet got 225k likes.
  • Thousands of charities used Twitter to raise awareness about the signs of health conditions and domestic violence. How many lives saved? This from Diabetes UK was shared today, generating 1k+ likes and shares.

Innovation

Clever. BHF and Twitter have automated this instant response to a like on BHF's new campaign. A first!
screenshot to WWF tweet. 2We're using #EndangeredEmoji to save real animals from extinction. Please retweet to sign up and help"

Fun

Tweet from MERL. One sad looking shorn sheep. The other is the classic MERL image of a HUGE magnificent sheep - the original Absolute Unit - as styled by MERL.

Cross-sector activity

Connection and support

Twitter has been a support channel, helping people connect with each other, discuss issues and form friendships and careers.

  • #FollowFriday and #CharityTuesday were busy hashtags back in the day, helping people make new connections.
  • #CharityHour has been hosting discussions and connecting people since 2014. They set a weekly theme and pose five questions.
  • #CharityJobs has helped people find new roles.
  • #FundraisingChat / #FRTweets started on Twitter in 2014 as a Friday discussion about all things fundraising. It then moved to Facebook a year later when the group got big.
  • #nfpTweetUp was a regular in-person event in London which connected charity people working in digital media. It started in 2008 when we were all getting started with digital comms and social media. I don’t think I would have become a freelancer without this wonderful network.

Twitter gave us a chance to connect with our peers. Charities connected with theirs too, often talking and supporting each other’s messages.

Your highlights

What do you think about the potential loss of Twitter? Are you sticking around personally or planning to stop your charity using it? Is it time to move on?

Has Twitter been a force for good for you? What’s your highlight? What else good happened on here?

Update

Is it safe to stay here? Come along (for one-night only) to the #NFPTweetUp to discuss what the situation means for your charity and your own use.

Join us on Zoom. Thursday 24 Nov, 7 – 8.30pm. FREE! Book now.

#AttackOnNature: Harnessing the power of digital to #DefendNature

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This tree, called locally, The Happy Man tree, was under threat from a local development. It was nominated for Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year 2020 - which it won. But it was still cut down in order to make space for a road linking the development site. Banner says - Notice this tree.

When the major conservation charities show their anger and mobilise their memberships of millions, there’s something big to fight. In the week of the mini budget, it was announced that laws protecting wildlife and green places would be amended or scrapped and planning regulations would be eased in investment zones to accelerate growth. At a time when nature is under threat and the climate is on a knife-edge, these decisions were seen as an attack on nature by conservation groups and they swung into action as never before.

The challenge was to mobilise the usually small-c conservative memberships, to explain the complexities of what was being proposed, to fight for change. Could they speak with one voice? Could they get the Government to hear the anger and consider a rethink? Would it unite or alienate the charity’s memberships?

In the three weeks since this started, Twitter has been the focus of messaging and campaigning. Here are some examples of how different organisations responded, the comms and calls to action they shared, and what the impact has been so far.

RSPB

On Thursday 22 September, RSPB tweeted to say that they were “deeply concerned that the Government is about to start a full-on attack on the laws that protect nature”. Strong words from a usually friendly account. By the next day, following the mini budget, things had escalated.

“Make no mistake, we are angry.” These stark words following the mini budget, sent at 6.40pm on Friday 23rd set the tone for the campaign. This 13-tweet thread explained the situation and its urgency (“If ever nature has needed you, it’s now.”). It has been liked 70k+ times and shared 40k+ times. People and other organisations replied to the thread in support. I saw people saying that they had joined or renewed their membership. The emoji, strong words and black and white image with the quote made people notice this tweet. It became the poster tweet for the campaign. (Note that the same content shared on Facebook on the Monday got much less engagement.)

Some of the other big conservation charities also tweeted concern. Here’s a thread of those initial responses from Woodland Trust, The Wildlife Trusts and the National Trust.

Over the weekend, RSPB responded to the outcry and shared a watch this space thread on Sunday and used the #AttackOnNature hashtag for the first time.

On Monday, the action started. A 14-tweet thread with a black and white image of a robin with a red X across it, described ‘the plan’. It included an e-action, a specially worded email to send to MPs in England.

Over the past few days, the Government has launched an #AttackOnNature. We've been overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from YOU. Now, what next - here's the plan. Thread 1/14

The Guardian observed the activity and reported on the story – ‘We are angry’: green groups condemn Truss plans to scrap regulations and Green charities urge millions of members to oppose Tories’ ‘attack on nature’. They also reported on the backlash – Tory MPs dismiss critical RSPB campaign as ‘marketing strategy.

RSPB maintained high activity to keep up the momentum. They changed their homepage from an autumn story about migrating birds, to the campaign. On Twitter and their other channels, they shared updates and explained the detail of the proposals all with an approachable tone of voice (“thanks for sticking with us“). This 18-tweet thread contains just text. A thread from their Conservation Science team added more technical detail. Information was shared about meetings with ministers. And a more detailed explainer about investment zones was shared. They appear to have stopped all other messaging except for the campaign. There are no nice bird pictures to distract from the job in hand. They’ve been adding information, answering questions, sharing updates, keeping people involved. Understandably engagement has dropped from that initial huge spike for the mega tweet but threads are still getting thousands of likes.

To date, over 109,000 people have used the e-action site. In the past three days 10k people have used it. They are likely to be a mix of members and non-members so presumably there is still huge scope for this to have more impact. RSPB’s membership is 1.2 million people.

A quick look around individual RSPB accounts from specific reserves and areas found RTs of the corporate messages but otherwise business as usual with opening times and sightings. A missed opportunity to regionalise support?

RSPB have helpfully shared a timeline of the campaign to date (Attack on Nature – the story so far) and say that there is more to come. The RSPB are ‘not ruling out’ direct action to defend nature from government policy and they have talked about the rage of Middle England.

While RSPB seemed to lead the response, other big organisations quickly followed.

The Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trusts have driven a similar campaign of action and information. They used the #AttackOnNature hashtag and added #DefendNature. Their 5-step action was to tweet and email your MP and local councillor (“This impacts where you live and they need to speak up too”). 1400+ people have pledged to do these actions.

We wanted to say a huge thank you to all our supporters and fellow environment charities for speaking up against the recent #AttackOnNature by UK Gov. If you want to take further action to #DependNature, we've created this step-by-step guide.

The Wildlife Trusts have been sharing campaign messages alongside their usual positive comms. They wrote a comprehensive blog post (Defra fails to assuage fears over deregulation and farming reforms) and shared direct to camera pieces from well-known conservation experts.

Some local Wildlife Trusts have been mobilising their supporters. There have been meetings like this one in Hampshire attended by Chris Packham and members of other local groups. Surrey Wildlife Trust shared their own calls to action. Sussex Wildlife Trust shared a video from their reserve. One of Essex Wildlife Trusts’ ecologists spoke on a video. The CEO of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust spoke to the BBC. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s CEO spoke to the Yorkshire Post (Government must rethink dangerous environmental plans). Kent Wildlife Trust shared a video saying “Please be angry”.

In week three, The Wildlife Trusts, added postcards to send to MPs.

United we stand

Many environment and conservation charities took to Twitter to add their voices.

Campaign letters:

Statements:

Other actions:

Coalitions of support:

In this spirit of joined-up activity, where are the voices of the ethnic groups, the disability forums, the travelling communities? I’ve seen tweets where people are saying this is their fight too but they don’t feel included. Action may look different for them from the lobbying and letters in newspapers. They may be taking action in their own way which we can’t see. Or they may not see themselves as campaigning organisations or only campaign on their specific area or don’t use Twitter or digital comms for campaigning. This campaign is happening in the open so being part of it means speaking out.

The People’s Plan for Nature

Once a supporter has sent an email to their MP and councillor, what do they do next? People feel angry and powerless. How can that be harnessed and turned into action and a collective voice? WWF, National Trust and RSPB have come together to drive action through the People’s Plan for Nature. It’s unclear whether this was planned anyway or was pulled together as a result of the #AttackOnNature.

The call to action is: Join the UK’s biggest conversation about the future of nature and make your voice heard. It asks three questions with a deadline of 30 October.

The nature crisis affects us all and it's never been more important to share your views on the future of UK's nature. We're joining WWF and RSPB to power the People's Plan for Nature. Have your say here.

National Trust shared this video promoting the campaign.

See also: #LettersToTomorrow, a climate change project. This message from Aneeshwar says everything.

Thoughts and questions

This is a campaign like no other we have seen from the conservation / environment sector. The response by so many organisations has been quick and strong. The sense of urgency is shared and from the outside there seems to be solidarity and collective action.

The proposals from the Government have provoked reaction from people and organisations not used to challenging things on this scale. The cost of living crisis, war in Ukraine, death of the Queen and countless other stresses mean that we are all operating in an intense time. Protections, standards and legislation are no longer set in stone. Charities are increasingly having to develop campaigning skills to fight for what they think is right without straying into party politics (and therefore keeping on the right side of the Charity Commission).

That this campaign is being done on such a large scale is both impressive and necessary against such harsh proposals. Will we see more of this type of collective action in other areas too?

The #AttackOnNature campaign is not owned by any one charity. Yet the messaging is pretty consistent and the actions are too. Where will this go next? What might have more impact than emails, media coverage and social media activity, which are the standard tools for charities like these?

Substantial retreats in Government policy, especially during at times of multiple crisis, means achieving cut-through for any campaign is going to be tough. How will charities deal with campaign fatigue over the medium to long-term?

Social media, primarily Twitter has been where this campaign has been visible so far. But with such headwinds, are the charities doing enough to reach the considerable number of members who are not on social media or email?

Digital comms learnings

The impact of the initial response from RSPB was so significant because they showed anger. This was a shift from their usual tone of voice so it made people take notice that something big was happening. They made their position clear within the first six words of their tweet. Tone of voice matters.

This was a useful lesson in crisis comms / campaigning. Many organisations responded quickly. Some worked over the weekend so that the action was ready to go on the Monday. Anger and action are time specific, they don’t wait. Supporters need to see that you care as much as they do. They want something to do. This campaigning used a digital comms, responsive approach.

Much of the sector came together through this. This was collective, joined-up campaigning on one issue. As we have seen above, high profile organisations quickly stated their public support for each other and endorsed a shared message adding their own expertise and comms with their members. Historically joined-up campaigning has been rare as they protect their memberships and fundaising, so this felt like a significant moment. There were however noteable gaps with some large organisations and many small ones still not doing or saying anything publicly. At what cost?

Keeping up the pressure and momentum of a campaign is hard. Having new things to say – new asks, updates about progress, explainers, guest voices of supporters, small actions – helps. It all has to be purposeful. A consistent tone of voice, use of hashtag and imagery is important too so people can spot updates. Sharing milestones is important too (like this tweet from RSPB on reaching the massive milestone of 100k letters). And saying thank you.

It's official. 100,000 of you have written to your mP to let them know that you care about protecting nature and the future of our wildlife. A HUGE thank you for your amazing support so far. Let's keep up the momentum.


** Update: learnings from #AttackOnNature campaign
I wrote a summary of the panel discussion at the Charity Comms Digital Conference which I hosted featuring RSPB, Bumblebee Conservation Trust and the Community Planning Alliance. **

Your views

What do you think? Have you noticed other responses to this campaign? Have you seen anything on this scale before? Do you work in a conservation charity and have a different view? I’d love to hear from you.

We’ll be discussing this issue in a panel discussion on the first day of the Charity Comms Digital conference in November. Please join us.

Updates

Direct action

Direct action not ruled out by conservation groups over environment policies – BBC report (12 October) on the CEOs of RSPB, Wildlife Trusts and National Trust coming together with their combined membership of 8 million. “We choose our battles very carefully – and we don’t do it very often.” RSPB tweeted that they are still considering their next moves.

Do marches work – listen to this programme on Radio 4. New policing powers also mean that marches and protests are under scrutinity as never before. Can the leaders be more creative? Maybe take inspiration from #TheQueue and make a protective wall around nature? Something like the The Baltic Way. People could do it in their own communities rather than having to travel. They could join forces by holding hands, making a wall round their local green space or nature reserve. Charities with their own nature reserves could host too.

Local action

Other reads

In-memory fundraising for the Queen

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Here are the charities who have built donation sites for people wishing to donate to them in memory of the Queen. All had the Queen as their patron.

Great Ormond Street Hospital charity

Screenshot from GOSH's donation page. Uses black and white image of the Queen when she was younger, visiting the hospital.

British Red Cross

Screenshot of Red Cross' donation page. Text says - a lifetime of unwavering commitment and service. Shows a black and white photograph of two people in the Red Cross office, looking at papers, smiling with the Queen.

Royal Voluntary Service have set up a Much Loved page.

screenshot of text of the Royal Voluntary Service website. Says - Her Majesty had a long history with our charity, and we recognise that some people may wish to commemorate the Queen by making a donation in her memory. Your donation will help us to support more people in crisis in hospitals and communities throughout Britain. On our tribute page you can also share a memory, or just light a candle.

See also:

Other activity:

  • JustGiving made a page listing 20 charities the Queen was patron of and linking to their websites.
  • Worcester County Council shared instructions for local flower tributes and donations. It directs donations to the Queen’s Commemoration Fund, managed by Worcestershire Community Foundation. This was the only example of a council directing donations as an alternative to flowers that I found.
  • The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust has had a flurry of in-memory donations on JustGiving.
  • Food not flowers – a JustGiving site raising money for the Trussell Trust.

Comment

This is not fundraising or being opportunistic. It’s about making it easy for people who wish to give money as a mark of respect.

I have seen hundreds of messages on social media from people complaining about the volume of flowers (and all the plastic) but not knowing what to do instead. Some people have shared the list of the charities the Queen was patron of but it’s not user-friendly for donors looking for a cause to support.

I am also seeing people talking about how leaving flowers is meaningful for them. Thousands of people will join The Queue this week. People need different ways to connect and feel part of this significant event.

Others of course will want no part of it.

Getting the balance right is hard. Big events have been cancelled like the Hackney Carnival and Macmillan’s Mighty Hike while others like the Great North Run continued. We’ve seen organisations like Center Parcs and British Cycling dealing with a backlash this week. Pausing comms and fundraising during this time may, for many, feel like a safer, more respectful option.

But, in-memory giving is now firmly part of our culture. Asking for a donation instead of flowers at a funeral is common. As are tribute funds where people can come together to share memories, photos and make a donation to a chosen cause. When someone sets their affairs in order, they may specify which charity they wish a tribute fund to be linked to.

It is perhaps surprising that more charities the Queen was patron of, haven’t built this in to their statements following the Queen’s death. For example, look at Age UK, Dogs Trust, Leonard Cheshire, RSPCA, RNIB and Diabetes UK. I looked at the websites of 50 or so of the charities she was patron of. All had changed their homepages. Some changed to black livery, most included photos, statements and stories from their archive. Only GOSH, British Red Cross and Royal Voluntary Service had donation pages. Maybe people are donating to the others anyway?

It’s a shame that the instructions about mourning (published the day after the Queen’s death was announced), priorised flowers over tributes, therefore setting this as the norm. If donations had been given a more prominent promotion (as they were with Prince Philip), it would have made it easier for charities to present this option.

On day four, a request was made to at least stop the volume of toy Paddingtons and marmalade sandwiches.

The three examples above, make it easy for people to donate. It is a suggestion (here’s GOSH’s “We recognise that some people may wish to commemorate the Queen by making a donation in her memory.“) rather than an ask. I haven’t found any examples on social media where charities are asking for in-memory donations or promoting this. It’s all being done quietly, sensitively and respectfully.

Update

Tens of thousands of pounds raised in memory of Queen Elizabeth II – Civil Society

Liz Truss’ to-do list

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artwork in the Tate - Neon sign says 'Everything is going to be alright'. Reflections of the London skyline on a window.

On Monday Liz Truss was confirmed as the new Prime Minister. Charities quickly responded to the news. Civil Society shared statements from NCVO, NPC, CFG, DSC, Bond and Christian Aid. Charities took to their social media channels.

Here’s a selection of some of the different ways charities shared direct asks on Twitter. Most got really good engagement with supporters as they reacted quickly with strong messages as if they were talking to her directly.

Although some mentioned @TrussLiz (no one accidentally tweeted @LizTruss who is brilliantly having her own John Lewis moment and went from 800 followers to 19k in a few days) and others used #LizTruss, realistically, these messages are aimed at supporters rather than the new PM and her team.

To-do lists

This tweet from Together with Refugees shows a post-it with three tasks: Get keys to No10, set up new email and create fair, kind, effective system for refugees.

Age UK shared a to-do list gif.

Save the Children UK taped their to-do list to the door of Number 10 in their film.

A call to action for supporters

Young Lives vs Cancer ran a poll to agree priorities.

While Crisis asked supporters to choose one of four tweets aimed at the PM.

Stronger words

Shelter called for urgent action.

Greenpeace UK listed four actions but highlighted the new PM’s climate record with a screenshot video of sewage in the sea.

Rethink wrote a thread of their priorities, linking to a statement.

Ismail from Mencap addresses the PM in this video.

And Refuge asks her some questions.

What do you think?

The mix of tone of voice and different approaches in these reactive messages is really interesting. Do they work?

There were many charities who didn’t share a message for the PM this week. Did they miss a trick?

There were others who shared more descriptive messages announcing the news and sharing hopes for the future, like this from RSPB and this congratulatory one from Macmillan. Quite a different tone, more conservative than the direct ones above. See more examples in this Charity Comms thread.

What’s your view?

  • Waste of time or effective comms?
  • Did your organisation join in on Twitter or other social channel or email? Or decide to do nothing?
  • Have you seen any other great examples?
  • Is there room on your social media strategy for reactive comms?

Messages to Ministers

As the Ministers in the Cabinet are announced, charities have been communicating with them too.

Young Minds are calling on their supporters to sign a ‘congrats on your new job’ card for Theresa Coffey and shared a to-do list.

Diabetes UK are sending a card to her too.

And finally ice cream giants (ie not a charity) Ben and Jerry’s have sent Suella Braverman a to-do list. 23k likes and counting….

RIP KnowHow NonProfit

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The website KnowHow NonProfit which I helped to build, finally disappeared this week. It launched in 2008 and merged into NCVO in 2012. NCVO launched a new website this week, finally putting KnowHow to rest. A 14-year footprint is pretty good going for a website. It made me reflect on what it was like to build something new and how our knowledge sharing as a sector has changed over the years.

About KnowHow

KnowHow was an innovative project by Cass CCE (now Bayes Business School CCE), led by Professor Ian Bruce and funded by the Lottery for three years. It launched in 2008 at a time when digital was coming into its own. Across the sector there was lots of useful information online but it was hard to know where to start or what was up-to-date. There were lot of umbrella organisation writing about the same topics. It was quite overwhelming, especially as the sophistication of search engines and our own searching skills were still developing.

KnowHow aimed to bring it all together, not replicate it. It collated, signposted and filled the gaps so people running small charities could be confident they could find information to help them. A hub for the sector.

I was part of a team of four, working with the agency Text Matters to build and launch the site. Coming up with a taxonomy for the site to reflect the things charities did, was one of the most challenging tasks of my career. It took months. Nothing else existed which we could base this on. I had a huge spreadsheet and endless print-outs to manage the categories and spent hours tweaking the naming of sections so they were clear and descriptive.

screenshot from KnowHow NonProfit. This section is called The Basics and was a kind of charity sector 101 - including pages called 'How organisations are funded' and 'Working for a nonprofit'. Other sections were called You and your team, Your organisation, Funding and income, Campaigns and awareness, Leadership.

I managed the content. We researched what was already out there and the gaps that needed filling. Experts from CCE and across the sector were commissioned to write new information and I edited it all together. It had a friendly and accessible tone of voice. We had a persona of a helpful, knowledgeable friend you could always turn to. We were writing for Joan in Preston, running a small organisation with no HR team or fundraising strategy.

We had four months to build a basic site and another four I think to get it all done. It was a stressful but exciting time and I learnt a lot about running a charity from CCE colleagues, especially governance and strategy which helped me a lot later as a consultant.

We also had a storytelling section to help illustrate common issues faced by small charities in a fun way. A working group of charity experts, led by Adah Kay imagined a small town, Millcaster, which had lots of charities based there. It was a soap opera, like The Archers but with charities rather than farming. A storytelling expert who wrote for The Bill also helped us build a system so we could remember who was married or related to who and where they all worked. A brilliant illustrator bought each episode to life with paper cut-outs she made and photographed, much like 1970s Paddington Bear. It was a lovely, creative thing to work on. Here’s an episode of Millcaster Tales I wrote about Mark, returning to work after an accident.

screenshot from the banner of Millcaster Tales. Shows group of people holding a banner saying Millcaster. Illustration.

Promotion and development

We toured the country on the charity conference circuit telling people about KnowHow. We mixed digital marketing (SEO, newsletters, very early days of Twitter) with in-person promotion to help people find KnowHow. We had merch including tote bags (think we were really early to do these too) and USB sticks. I still have some somewhere.

It was an exciting time to be working in digital as new ways of information sharing were growing. As the team grew, we added a forum, wiki how-to platform and later a portfolio of online courses as a StudyZone. All really innovative at the time. All needed lots of effort to encourage people to use them, the team worked very hard to make them work. I think I had three or four log-ins at one point to try and get discussions going!

Every time we saw the traffic growing, we celebrated. It’s a very different experience to build and launch something new. The websites I had worked on before were only 10 years old themselves but a new channel for established organisations with communities around them. KnowHow was totally new. Building traffic and waiting for the search engines to rate KnowHow was a long game.

KnowHow 2.0

In 2012, the site merged into NCVO and became its information site. Over 10 years, the site evolved but was still called KnowHow and with a knowhow URL.

It takes so much work to maintain a substantial information site like this. Keeping up with legislation, sector trends and best practice is time consuming. It’s costly and it is hard to make an income from it. Other sites which launched around the same time as KnowHow, folded once their funding ran out. We were really lucky to move into NCVO where there was a plan to keep it fresh.

When I left in 2012, traffic was growing fast and we had lots of positive feedback about how it helped people run their organisations. Since I wrote about its demise on LinkedIn this week, I’ve had lots of people contact me to say how useful KnowHow had been to them. As a web content manager, it is like gold to get actual feedback from people, especially so long after working on the project, so this was wonderful!

KnowHow was my first baby before I had real ones. I was very proud of what we all did to build it and how it grew over the years. So many brilliant people worked on it. In 2008 we would never have thought it would last for 14 years.

Knowledge sharing in the sector

The new NCVO website has a help and guidance section which still has echoes of KnowHow in it. But uses headings reflecting what charities need to know now. We didn’t talk about impact or digital so prominently in 2008.

screenshot from NCVO's new site. Headings include setting up, running a charity, governance, involving volunteering, funding and income, strategy and impact, safeguarding, digital and technology, closing down.

Online courses are now a pretty standard way of learning, thanks to Zoom and the pandemic. Many sector sites share templates, checklists, codes of best practice, self-assessment toolkits and draft policies and job descriptions. There are countless blogs from people sharing what they have learnt, to help others.

As a sector we have always been generous with our learning to help others, like our fictional Joan, do the best they can for their cause.

What I do now

Since I left KnowHow, I have become a consultant. I use my knowledge of information sharing, digital content and how charities work to help organisations with different projects – from comms strategies to recruitment and digital reviews.

I also started Radio Lento from scratch with my partner, reliving the experience of building an audience from nothing. Last month we reached 200,000 downloads. A big celebration milestone.

Do get in touch if I can help your organisation. I have space for new projects from September onwards.

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I was able to illustrate this post with screenshots from the site thanks to the amazing Wayback Machine.

Hot weather comms

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The Met Office has issued a rare Red Weather Warning for extreme heat as temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees in parts of the UK on Monday and Tuesday. Matt Taylor on Twitter explained why this is not normal and that it can impact on health, travel and power. This is dangerous weather. Our country and communities are not set up for this kind of heat.

In the run up to the hot days, I’ve seen lots of charities sharing useful advice about staying safe in a heatwave. Advice for older people, families, pet owners as well as how to watch out for people sleeping rough. See some examples in this thread.

Most use infographics to illustrate the advice to make it easy to understand (and add alt text so the information is available to all) like this example from British Red Cross.

Others use images showing positive action, like this example from Hackney Council.

But I have also seen lots sharing messages along the lines of ‘it’s going to be hot, enjoy the sun, but be safe’ using positive, happy images of sunny days and friendly emojis.

An extreme change in temperature like this may not be something to be celebrated or normalised.

Léane de Laigue, communications lead at Climate Outreach, speaking at the Charity Comms climate conference in May talked about the importance of framing comms around this issue with images. She talked about how the standard image of a stranded polar bear makes us feel distant from the climate crisis. It is something happening to an animal we’ll never see. She also showed examples of heatwaves which showed people jumping into water to cool down. A heatwave doesn’t mean ‘fun times in the heat’.

Images of people on beaches indicate that hot weather at home is to be enjoyed like going on holiday somewhere hot. It doesn’t show difficulties sleeping, working, moving around or health conditions that people might suffer with during a hot spell. It also doesn’t show us what a future of continued high temperatures looks like either.

If you are searching for inspiration for your own comms around a heatwave or the climate, take a look at the free picture library, Climate Visuals.

We have entered a period of climate crisis which our comms needs to reflect. This weather is not normal.

Your views

Have you seen any good or bad examples? I’ve been collecting some examples in this Twitter thread. Charity Comms made a thread of coping with the heat tweets too.

Have a look through some of the hashtags. What tone is being set by different types of accounts or across different platforms? As well as #Scorchio and #FunInTheSun, take a look at #Heatwave #UKHeatwave #BeWeatherAware #BeatTheHeat.

Newspaper front pages set the tone too. Here are some headlines from across the world over the weekend.

Has your organisation done any thinking about the climate crisis and how you talk about it in your comms or fundraising?

Update

News this week has been dominated by the extreme weather. Social media and newspapers have been full of images. The before and afters are quite different. For example, the Daily Mirror chose this image of sunbathers for their front cover on the day of record breaking temperatures. And then this of burning houses the next day. Will this week have been a climate crisis wake up call?