How to manage comms when your charity’s patron dies

2026 is feeling a bit like 2016 with a run of sad news about high profile people, some expected, some not. Is your charity prepared to respond to the death of a high-profile person you work with? Using my strategic comms and in-memory fundraising experience, here are best practice steps and examples for your external comms.

This post helps you think about how you would respond to bad news about a high-profile patron, founder, trustee or supporter. These people are ambassadors for your charity. It also includes notes about how to respond to a high-profile diagnosis or death related to your charity’s cause.

A good response can help to raise the profile of your organisation, reaching new people. It shows respect and love to the person who has given their time and energy to your cause. A fitting tribute can help to support a community who are feeling a loss, giving them a shared experience or new insight into someone they admired.

All too often, responses (not included here) are lackluster and not joined up. They miss the moment or don’t take full advantage of a special window. If you have done the thinking and some general preparation, you can be ready to respond in an impactful way if the time comes.

Plan ahead

Start by thinking about the different circumstances you might face and different ways you might respond. Not all ambassadors are equal – some will be more prominent or are more closely connected to your organisation and need a bigger response. Others might have stepped away but it might be right for you to celebrate their historical connection. Others may have been patrons in name only or included for political reasons, or ended in difficult circumstances. What you say about them needs to be carefully considered.

If you already have a comms plan – either generically or specific for certain individuals, has anything changed? Review it on a regular basis based on the individuals and any changes around your strategic comms and channel use. Also, the way society responds to news of deaths is constantly evolving, so it is good to check that your planning is still appropriate.

Having to make decisions in a rush is hard. Deciding to do nothing because it is easier, might not be right either. Planning ahead should help to make this a smooth process.

1. Responding to a death

Your plan might include different ways of responding to the news of a death. You might consider one or several of these actions:

• issue a simple statement offering your condolences and noting their involvement with your charity
• issue a release describing the work they did for you and what difference they made
• release a full obituary about their life including their work with you, adding detail and colour
• share personal tributes and / or create a space where people can share their memories
• use the news to promote your organisation and how the person inspired your work.

For example, Compassion in World Farming issued a statement describing Penelope Keith’s legacy of kindness to farmed animals. And Refuge4Pets shared one about their inspirational patron Dame Jenni Murray. Acorn’s Hospice in Birmingham talked about Ozzy Osbourne’s legacy of raising vital funds and awareness.

Your messaging might generate interest from the press, especially if the connection was sizeable or surprising. It might also drive a new audience to your charity so use it as an opportunity to build connections by being clear about what you do. Here’s an example from Friends of TS Queen Mary (on Facebook) sharing the news about the death of their patron Sam Neill. The story was covered in various Scottish media outlets.

Your release might also be used as source material for obituaries so make sure it is easy to find. For example, this page about Royal Academician David Hockney was part of a suite of pages on the RA’s website following his death.

You might decide to say nothing depending on the situation and other comms you have planned. Keep an eye on your search traffic in case there is a spike in people finding their patron or ambassador page (if you have one) and make sure this information is up-to-date. If you notice a spike, it might mean you should say something.

Note – when will you update your patron list to remove their name? Or will you have a previous patrons list and write about their involvement in the past tense with dates?

2. Responding to other bad news

If the news is an announcement about a high-profile person who has been affected by your cause, such as a medical diagnosis or emergency situation, you might want to respond, especially if this is shocking or unusual. You might:

• re-share the news story
• issue a statement of your own
• share your evergreen content about symptoms or treatment.

For example, Blood Cancer UK responded to the news about Lauren Lavern’s diagnosis of smouldering myeloma on their website.

What about if there are a cluster of public announcements of deaths caused by the condition you represent? For example, there appear to have been a few deaths from prostate cancer recently. What will the impact of this repeated news be on your community? What messages could you share to reassure or connect with them during this time?

Action: Comms channels and messaging

In both cases, what channels will you use to share the news? The messaging might not be appropriate for all your audiences.

Is the messaging corporate or community – and in that case, who is it for? If it is corporate it is an ‘about us’ type update, interesting because it is a reflection of the organisation. If it is community it is because of the work they did, how visible they were in their actions, how respected / loved / successful they were. Or because the news is a trigger for people in your community affected by the same issue.

Some things to think about in creating your message and comms package.

• Who will write your statements and what sources will you use? Who needs to have input and sign off? Do you need permission from the family?
• Do you need quotes from your CEO or others to add weight to your message?
• Should you share the same wording and image across all your social media channels? Or does it need to change or only used on certain channels?
• Should you clear your homepage? And if so, how long will you leave the story up for?
• Do you need to pause any other activity? Check any scheduled activity and consider whether it is appropriate to continue.
• Is it appropriate to send out an emergency newsletter? Or will you add it to a scheduled one?
• Should you amend your donation page or send a comms pack to your community fundraisers?
• What about internal comms – are there different messages to share internally especially if the person was very present and well loved or the news is a shock?

How might the message change over the coarse of a day or week?

For example Newcastle United shared a statement about the death of Kevin Keegan across their social channels and added the story to their homepage. Within 2 hours, their Instagram post sharing the news had 44k likes and 900+ comments. They issued another statement an hour later with instructions about where to leave flowers and tributes as a result of an overwhelming response.

Action: Tone of voice

Do you have templates or general pre-written statements where you can refine your tone? What is your housestyle for talking about someone dying (eg X person has died vs X person has passed away or X person had cancer vs X person lost their battle)? What about your response – are you saddened / shocked / devastated / sorry? Agreeing these away from the stress and emotion of sharing the news, is time well spent.

If you don’t have a housestyle best practice might be to avoid euphemisms and mirror the language shared in the official announcement from the family / management. Are there other cultural or generational issues you should consider?

The cause of death should be reflected in the tone of your comms, especially if it is unexpected. For example, here’s how Soccer Aid for UNICEF shared the news of Liam Payne’s death.

Your tribute might instead come from someone else in your community which means it will have a different tone. This can add more warmth and personality. For example, this personal tribute from Chris Tarrant who worked with Judith Chalmers at Lord’s Taveners.

Action: Timely responses

When a high-profile person dies, there is often a great out-pouring of feeling for them. This window of a shared expression of grief doesn’t last very long so you have to move quickly.

It is standard practice for media outlets to have pre-written obituaries (advancers) so they can get something out as soon as the news is public. This isn’t necessarily what you need to do but it is a good idea to manage your assets.

• Do you have a recent or good quality photo of them you have the rights to use?
• Is your information about their connection with you up-to-date? Does it cover all the highlights?
• What other assets do you have – quotes, videos etc – is it appropriate to share these?

For example, Battersea added videos to their press release following the death of their ambassador Anthony Head in June.

There might also be a window for follow-up comms, such as announcing a fundraising total, piece of art or an event in their name. This post from Cancer Research shares news about a research project funded in memory of Sarah Harding. If you received lots of messages, you may want to issue a new story with these tributes. For example, this from the Martin Parr Foundation.

Action: Is it right to fundraise?

People can want to do something positive to mark someone’s passing. This might be laying flowers, signing a book of condolence or making a donation. Helping people to do this, helps to drive the action.

If the person was someone who actively fundraised for you as part of their connection with your charity, it might feel like the right thing to do to raise money in their memory. If they lived their lives with the values of your charity, you might feel that you owe it to them to use the opportunity. Or you might feel that another charity has a bigger right to fundraise in their memory and don’t want to get in the way of that.

Situation 1: You might decide that actively fundraising is right. This might be because you had a conversation with them while they were alive. Or they expressed their wishes about what they want you to do in this situation. Or the family have named you as an in-memory partner.

In which case, you’ll want to make this prominent using all your methods to celebrate and promote donations. This might include setting up a tribute page on a third party provider or by reproducing your donation page with photos and quotes.

Promote your donation platform with confidence. Here’s a great example from CoppaFeel when their founder Kris died in 2024. Their warm and positive statement has several links to donate as well as an inspiring quote in a big yellow box.

Situation 2: Donations happen without your involvement. For example, an environmental campaign in New Zealand which actor Sam Neill was involved with has seen a spike in donations in his memory. Keep an eye on your donation page and see if you can correlate a change in traffic. You might need to issue a statement and be more involved than you had planned.

Situation 3: You decide not to fundraise. Despite this it might be worth making subtle changes to make it easy for people who want to take this action, just in case.

• Even if you don’t want to create a bespoke in-memory donation page on your site or actively promote this, could you add the option to the motivation drop-down if you have one (eg I want to donate in memory of X) so you can track activity?
• If you have published a news story or statement on your website, link to the donation page. You don’t necessarily need to openly ask unless it feels right, but the option is there. Don’t just rely on the donate button in the header.
• If they have previously raised money for you, you might include this in your tributes to show their commitment to you.

If funeral arrangements include a public request for donations to your charity, make this prominent on your website and in your comms. For example this BBC news story mentions that Bonnie Tyler’s family have asked for donations to the charities she was patron of.

As part of your housekeeping it is also worth checking to see if there are other fundraising efforts out there you should know about. Maybe fraudulent activity on your behalf or general mis-direction. For example, here AI is signposting to the tribute page of another Kevin Keegan who died in 2025. Finding bad messaging might drive you to create content which directs people to the right place instead.

Conclusions

This all might feel like a lot of work. But being part of a moment which celebrates someone’s contribution is important. It helps build connections.

Working out your strategy so that you can respond quickly and appropriately is worth the effort. This is crisis comms with a focus.

• Plan ahead so you have done all your thinking.
• Keep your assets up-to-date.
• Respond quickly.
• Fundraise with confidence if that is what you have chosen to do.

Monitor the situation and adapt your activity as needed. Read the room and know when it is right to move on to something else.

More case studies and examples

Looking for more examples of in-memory comms?

• How Battersea and other charities responded when Paul O’Grady died in 2023.
• Look back at the in-memory fundraising when Queen Elizabeth died in 2022.

Next steps….

Have you done this planning in your organisation?

If this is a tricky area for your charity, I can help you find a way through. I can work with you to think strategically about your response. Get in touch to book a bespoke workshop or explore other options.

If you have found this post useful, please share it on LinkedIn or with your networks.

While you’re here

Useful links for thinking about the admin around death and dying whether you are high-profile or not.

• Sue Ryder’s Your Death Deserves Better guide to get the nation thinking about their own wishes
• Planning Ahead – useful information from Marie Curie.
• Death Happens – plan for it from Money Saving Expert – really useful!

Practical actions for the AI search era – how to drive traffic to your website

Tips and examples to help drive traffic to your website despite the growth of AI search.

Helen Olszowska and I have been researching the impact of AI searches on web traffic and information giving. We are sharing some of our findings at the Charity Comms Digital Engagement conference this week. Half of our session looks at GEO and the steps you can take to shape your information to help the AI bots to prioritise it. The second half looks at other things you can do drive your own traffic.

There is a lot to say about this so here is a post, packed with tips and examples showing some of the different ways you can inspire people to visit your website, without relying on search.

Why this matters

The good news is that your website traffic is already driven by activity other than search. This might be from the on and offline promotion you do, the links from third parties, plus the brand awareness and goodwill connected to your work. But as AI searches grow, this might change and you’ll need to work harder to replace the loss caused by the 0-click searches.

Even if your site is featured in the AI summary, your brand recognition and connection with your community is now at arm’s length. Inspiring people to visit your website is important to maintain this.

A lot of the writing around the issue is about AI-optimising your content. Here instead, are ideas from the other side. Some of it you will be doing already such as good content management and promotion. But it’s also about finding ways to create an enhanced information experience which the AI cannot replicate through its results.

TL:DR, here are the top takeaways:

• review and boost your offline promotions
• make sure your website is integrated in your other comms
• create topical and relevant content
• find ways to enhance your information giving
• be creative and add value with enhanced content.

Offline promotion

First, back to basics. Look at how to make it easy for people to find your website if they are connecting with you offline.

Make sure your website address is prominent across printed information you produce. This might be leaflets, flyers, bookmarks or posters displayed in your community or healthcare settings. The backs of toilet doors are good places to connect. Or maybe on the billboard outside your office or community centre.

If you produce printed factsheets or information guides, signpost to your online communities or enhanced information on your website. Make it easy for people to access this and explain the added value it gives, such as that it is regularly updated, contains real stories and other ways of finding support etc.

Can you include a URL on physical things you produce like running shirts, water bottles, tote bags or promotional items such as pens, stickers or badges. Every mention helps it to stick in people’s minds.

Include a link on printed business cards if you still use them and / or use email signatures to highlight specific pages on your site.

Can you ask your ambassadors or champions to promote areas of the website?

Integrated comms

Do you always include links to your website in your email newsletter? This is a great way to drive traffic from an engaged audience.

It is a good time to be building up audiences on channels you manage, so encouraging new sign ups, making this easy and managing a good stewardship experience is time well spent.

What about on social media? Some channels penalise links (see this recent research by Dan Slee looking at Facebook which found that the old work-round of putting a link in the comments no longer works) so test what is working for you. The way LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram especially de-prioritise links, even in the comment, seem to be changing all the time. You could experiment with creative ways around this such as by including it on a graphic and in the alt text. It might not be clickable so keep it simple. Other channels such as Bluesky or YouTube might work better for links. Click-throughs might be low there but by adding a link for more information or enhanced content, you are planting a seed that may flower later.

If you are creating content which will appear on other channels or third party sites, make sure there are links back to your website.

Topical comms

Are you a reliable source for responses to topical issues related to your cause? This might be information giving or explainers about issues in the news.

In the recent (ongoing) hot weather lots of charities shared hot weather comms across their social channels, with specific tips for their audiences about staying safe. This was timely and needed. This topical content shows that the organisations are in tune with the issues facing their communities and are on hand with expert support to help. This content may have reached new audiences as well as existing ones. With limited space in a social media post, and for accessibility and brand, it is always a good idea to include a link to a page on your website with more information. If you are using a platform which penalises links, include it on the graphic and the alt text or mention there is enhanced information on your website in the text.

Creating topical content is also good for AI summaries. If your information fills a specific gap on a topic lots of people are searching for, this should satisfy the bots.

Make your topical content prominent on your website. Design your homepage in a way which is flexible so you can add in information and stories. See this example from Dogs Trust where they have a spot for ‘popular topics’ which they can use to showcase buried but popular content as well as topical issues.

Plan ahead so you can predict seasonal or newsworthy issues, and create and maintain this content ahead of need. Here are some examples: Mind’s back to school advice, preparing for Christmas as a foster carer (The Fostering Network), changes to disability benefits (Scope), travelling abroad with a food allergy (Allergy UK).

Your suite of topical content might also include blog posts or expert reactions or news stories. Here are some examples from the recent under 16s social media announcement.

Another example of topical comms is being a source for up-to-date stats related to your cause. Again this helps to boost your status as a trusted source and a go-to for journalists or decision-makers, especially if they are looking for detail. Make sure you are using this data consistently across your website – when the number changes, change all references to it, where it appears in information pages including fundraising ones. It is worth doing a search for your own cause stats, what are the different searches finding? Are you a source? Is the data accurate? Does moving this data somewhere more prominent on your site change anything? This factual content can be useful to use as a test or pilot in reviewing your AI search prominence.

A final example of topical content to boost your clicks could be by creating a regular round-up of news or stories related to your topic. This might be your own news or your cause in the news. How can you create added-value from what is already out there? You can tell a bigger story this way and again it can boost your relevance and trustworthiness as a source. This is good social media and newsletter fodder too as it can give another boost to the topical pages you have created.

Enhanced information giving

AI searches are getting better at giving what seems like accurate and relevant information. More people are using these as source without checking or digging deeper. The threat of dis and mis-information is growing. So your own information giving must be strong.

Your information giving has to be well presented, relevant, accurate and relatable as standard. It may have also gone through medical, lived-experience or panel approval. It is already time consuming and expensive to maintain. This is all worth it if it is being seen as is driving a connection to your brand and building a community of people using your services and supporting you. But it if it only being seen through the AI search window, you are losing this.

As experts in your cause or subject area, it is a good time to think strategically about your information giving presentation and its part in your wider comms.

The first thing to look at might be how good your own search is on your website. Does it work in a way which replicates the search function we now expect as standard? Is it finding your premium content? Is the search presented in an easy to understand way with a summary or highlighted text related to the search query? You might need to improve layout or function to make it better. For example, can you pin certain search terms to your best pages so they appear top?

You might also look at ways of expanding your expert information giving, for example across your other channels. Some charities use their other comms channels only for fundraising or as a noticeboard for what’s on. Can you expand your messaging to share your information expertise here too, linking to your website? This might be regular shares of a guide to symptoms or services or tips. Or it might be other content you already have like the recipe for the best selling cake sold in your cafe.

On your website, you might review / test the navigation and check that it is logical, clear and uses good labelling so it is easy to use. Keep your website tidy. Don’t let it become messy as it grows. Review the structure and messaging so it feels coherent and supports its key aims.

Is the information doing everything it can to be useful? Simple things like adding a print or download button to information which is needed away from a screen can add value (eg this page about appointment questions from Breast Cancer Now). Also signposting to your helpline or forums where connections with real people can be made. Additional helpful things might also include downloads such as easy read versions or template documents (eg sample letters for managing debt from Citizens Advice).

You might look at adding new functionality to give information in different ways. For example, through a chatbot or by adding features which allows for personalisation. Does your information or advice giving need to change for someone’s age, location or circumstances? Adapting your information like this will be expensive and hard to do well so this option is not right for every charity.

You might have discrete pockets of information which are best delivered in a different way such as through a guided process. For example, Coram have an online tool to help care leavers work out their status and rights. It is a complicated topic, presented in a guided way, suitable for a specific audience. Presenting it this way draws users to the website.

PDSA have a similar tool helping with decisions about choosing a pet.

Enhanced content

If you have the budget there might be bigger things you can add to your website to draw people in. Here are some examples of enhanced website content.

• RNID has a 3-minute online hearing test which has been taken over 750k times.
• Friends of the Earth have an interactive map which uses data to identify future extreme heat hotspots.
• Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Inventory is a map of notable trees.
• Lots of charities have benefits checkers / calculators, like this example from Independent Age.
• Wellbeing of Woman have a symptom tracker to help identify problems which should be checked by a doctor.
• Kidney Care UK have a 5-minute kidney health check.
• CoppaFeel have an interactive guide to breast examination which starts with setting the terminology you’d like to use.

Does your cause lend itself to an online checker or some kind of diagnostic as above? The disclaimers around this are important as well as the T&Cs around how you are using the data you are collecting.

Less jazzy enhanced content features might include quizzes – serious ones and others just for fun. Quizzes as a format are not just for children. Here are some examples.

• Center for Countering Digital Hate have a Spot the Fake quiz (I got 8/10).
• The V&A have a cat personality test using their archive (I am a domestic shorthair).
• This is content for kids but works for adults too – practice your leaf identification with WWF.
• Surrey Wildlife Trust has a whole collection of quizzes from fungi to butterflies.

Finally, enhanced content might also include live features hosted on your website such as Q&A sessions or guest pages with known experts or influencers. Take a look at BHF’s Heart Matters series.

Really sell your enhanced content. To draw traffic, run always-on promotion across your channels, platforms and SEO. And include links within it to your other content to encourage onwards exploration.

Next steps

• Be your own mystery shopper. Search for your topic and relevant questions with various AI tools. Are you included in the summary?
• Review your website traffic data. What has changed? Is it universal across your site or concentrated on a few key pages?
• Identify quick wins and bigger pieces of content work you can do to boost traffic. Look at your greatest assets and USPs and think about what you could do to enhance the information giving or the interactive experience.

This post is specifically about boosting traffic to your website. But is also about recognising that information giving and engagement can happen away from AI searches in many ways. The information and user experience you are giving across all your channels and touchpoints, really matter.

Rethinking your comms strategy in light of shifts in web traffic and social media reach is vital to maintain your connection. It is rapidly shifting ground. But as creative content people and information givers we need to use our skills to maintain human control over the information and expertise people access. This is important work.

Other examples

Have you worked on or seen other good examples? Please share in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

Further reading about AI searches

Platypus Digital have been doing detailed analysis into how the top 15 UK charities perform in AI searches using open data and their own rating system. They have a report with the findings and insights, coming out next week. Register your interest here to get it direct to your inbox. There’s lots of juicy details in it and practical actions.

They also have a useful guide to optimising for AI search.

If you are a content creator and have been experimenting with the impact of AI, Lauren Pope wants to hear from you. Take her short survey to share your views in her AI in charity content: a sector study.

See my previous post about AI searches – the fight for accurate information.

Can I help you?

I am booking in projects for September. Do you need help to fix a digital blockage or think about your content / information

I do research and audits. I manage the content in website projects by refreshing and editing content, building in UX and content design. I deliver writing for the web training to help up-skill your colleagues. I work on legacy fundraising. I help charities edit their stories or think strategically about information giving. I help develop boilerplate copy, messaging and tone of voice guidelines.

Please get in touch if you’d like to chat about how we could work together.

Good news round-up – summer issue

Campaigning, policy and fundraising good news from across the sector.

Welcome to the summer edition of the good news round-up of policy wins, fundraising and awards in the last three months (April-June). If you missed the spring edition, it is here.

If you know of stories I should add, please let me know.

Policy, campaigning and influencing

Today (29 June) the Government have repealed the 200 year old Vagrancy Act which criminalised rough sleeping and begging. Crisis and others have been campaigning on this for many years. Crisis shared a LinkedIn post – ‘We fought together and won’ and have updated their campaign page with celebration images. Here’s The Observer’s story about the repeal and an explainer – what happens next post from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

• New Government funding to support relationships for children in care and care leavers. Press releases from Family Rights Group and Become.
• Coalition of 20 leading UK mental health charities launch the Head On Campaign.
• Mind reported that 8,500 additional mental health workers have been recruited three years ahead of schedule.
• New data shows the HPV vaccine is saving lives from cervical cancer – Cancer Research UK.
• Free digital literacy programme for schools, created by young people, for young people, launched by FlippGen.
• The Mayor of London announced that air pollution deaths are down by around 40%. Here’s his video visiting a school in Aldgate looking at air quality monitoring data.
• A new law will help protect forests from illegal deforestation – WWF.

I love a round-up as a way of curating and sharing stories. Here are some examples of posts on Bluesky and LinkedIn. Rewilding Britain share monthly updates on #RewildingWins. Become share round-ups of good news stories including policy wins and other changes affecting young people in care. Shelter shared good news stories you might have missed.

Funding, partnerships and people

• Money Ready and IG Group announce landmark financial education multi-year partnership.
• Project Seagrass awarded strategic partnership grant by King Charles III Charitable Fund.
• The Big Give’s Small Charity Week event raises £2.5m
• War Child’s Spring Clean auction raises £36k.
• Hospice UK celebrates 30 years of National Garden Scheme support.
• A thread of happy birthday messages to Sir David Attenborough to mark his centenary. The Donkey Sanctuary is my favourite.

Impact and awards

• Winners of this year’s Smiley Charity Film Awards.
• Winners of the Legacy Giving Awards 2026.

Do something positive

• Take part in The National Conversation. Have your say on the country you want to see.
• Contribute a letter to Reasons to Stay.
• Use the Million Acts of Hope‘s, online hope dispenser for action ideas.

Tips for impactful good news comms

We all need good news. It’s easy for it to get lost in the noise so when you have a policy, campaign, fundraising or awards win, you need to share it in a way which is going to cut through.

That means sharing with your different audience groups in creative, appropriate and engaging ways. If supporters have been part of the journey with you or the win affects them personally, they will be even more keen to know and understand the detail. If it makes it to the news, fresh people will find you looking for the headlines and stories and more.

A few tips:

• Pass on the news as quickly as possible once you have crafted your statement.
• Think about your tone of voice – are you relieved / angry / excited / proud? What might your audience be feeling?
• Own the win (if it is yours to own). Celebrate and thank others involved.
• Use unique imagery to announce the news and use this consistently across your channels. Graphics work well.
• Link social media posts to a news story on your website to drive traffic and make it easy to dig deeper.
• Respond to comments to show you value involvement and a shared purpose.
• Include the date on the news story so future readers can understand when this happened.
• Promote the story on your homepage if it is a really big deal.
• On your policy win announcement, include links to show the campaign history and what is still to do.
• Include a call to action where relevant – build on the connection and hope people will feel by reading about a success.

I have been seeing lots of announcements on LinkedIn using the carousel feature. Here’s a note from the RNIB team about making sure your carousels are accessible to all.

Resources and inspiration for campaigners

• Changemakers’ Toolkit – Sheila McKechnie Foundation
• Change.org victories (England)
• Hear My Voice – a guide for first-time local campaigners

Can I help you?

I am booking in projects for September. Do you need help to fix a digital blockage or think about your content / information?.

I do research and audits. I do the content in website projects – large and small – refreshing and editing content, building in UX and content design. I deliver writing for the web training to help up-skill your colleagues. I work on legacy fundraising. I help charities edit their stories or think about information giving. I help develop boilerplate copy and tone of voice guidelines.

Do get in touch if you’d like to chat about how we could work together.

Hot weather comms 2026

How charities, local government and others are communicating about June’s extreme heat event.

Back in 2022, during a Red Weather Warning for hot weather I wrote a post looking at hot weather comms. It looked at how charities and local government were sharing information about staying safe and how broadcasters were illustrating their messages. Amongst all the infographics, I found imagery of beaches and people enjoying the sun which was a discordant illustration of the experience of having to function in 40 degree temperatures.

Now, four years on and as we are facing our second extreme heat period in two months, what do comms look like? Are they more serious?

Red Extreme Heat Warning – news and images

The Met Office shared this on LinkedIn and across their channels, about the red warning, using an intense image of the sun (“Red Extreme Heat Warning issued with June temperature records forecast to break”).

In contrast, The Times, shared the announcement using a happy family in the sea despite describing the event in serious terms (eg “An “exceptional spell of hot and humid weather” is expected in this region which could cause “serious illness or danger to life” the weather forecaster warned”).

A Google search for news stories related to “red extreme heat warning” found images of people out in the sun including a packed beach image used by The Independent. None really illustrate danger or extreme conditions.

In contrast, an image search for ‘extreme hot weather’ found a lot bright orange pictures with quite a different feel from the blue skies seen above. No ice creams or beaches here.

A search on iStock for ‘extreme hot weather UK’ found a better mix of stronger images too including dry grass and cracked ground, people at work with fans etc.

So, serious images are available but ‘fun in the sun’ images are still being used in the media.

Warnings and updates

The country is not set up for hot weather. Schools are closing, events being postponed and people are being warned not to travel. Let’s look at some of these warning comms.

This is from Network Rail on Bluesky. Note the danger colour palette and clarity of the information (Wed – only travel if absolutely necessary to, from or within red warning zones).

#Heatwave this week: Tues – check before you travel.Wed – only travel if absolutely necessary to, from or within red warning zones.Thurs – only travel if absolutely necessary to, from or within red warning zones.Fri – check before you travel.➡️ https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

— Network Rail (@networkrail.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T16:55:54.846711721Z

Many councils have information on their websites about hot weather. For example, the Greater London Authority has issued advice about coping with hot weather in London, Haringey Council have this advice on their website and Merthyr Tydfil Council shared tips on Facebook.

Interestingly, it was hard to find much on LinkedIn about working through hot days – either in the office or at home. This from the Health and Safety Executive was quite broad.

Here are some general safety tips from St John Ambulance Cymru. The conditions are extreme and it is important that people know that, and how to look after themselves and others.

With amber and red extreme heat warnings covering large areas of Wales and England for the next few days, here are 5 top tips for staying safe, such as keeping hydrated and avoiding the sun when its at its strongest.Please keep safe and check-in on those who may need extra help

— (@sjacymru.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T14:32:01.230477922Z

Impact of heat on specific issues

How are your community likely to be affected by the hot weather conditions? Do you have expertise or specialist advice you could share to help them? This is strong topical and evergreen content to invest in.

There can be a lot to say. For example, British Red Cross have a whole section on coping with extreme heat. While Sickle Cell Society share specific advice for people with the condition and Tommy’s offer advice for coping with pregnancy in hot weather. Lymphoma Action crowdsourced tips from their community. This advice from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service about reducing the risk of wildfires is also very thorough.

If you have information on your website, is it easy to find now? Can you surface or promote the information when it is most needed? Are your gateway pages flexible enough so you can adapt them? For example, Age UK have changed their homepage (we’ll let them have this ice cream image as it is very on-brand!) and have a prominent link to a useful page – how to keep cool in hot weather.

A quick look at 20 big health / animal charities found mention of the hot weather on their homepages in only three cases (Age UK, RNLI and Macmillan)..

Is your content found in an external search or referenced in AI? If you search for the health condition or issue your charity is expert in + hot weather, what is found? Anything at all? Your content? You might need to do some editing or promotion to help it be found.

What does your engagement strategy say about how you respond in extreme conditions? How can you get important information to your community when they need it? Maybe information goes out as a special newsletter edition? Or a WhatsApp message? And/or is shared on social media?

Typically these posts might get low engagement but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are not being seen or people don’t appreciate them. It’s always a good idea to link posts like this to a web page so you can measure impact.

Here are some Bluesky examples from Kidney Care UK, ME Association and Asthma + Lung UK each sharing useful and specialist advice for their communities.

Did you know hot weather increases the risk of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI). As temperatures rise, so does the risk, particularly when temperatures exceed 25°C. Research shows that the risk of AKI is 62% higher at 32°C than at 17°C.Please share so more people understand the risk

— Kidney Care UK (@kidneycareuk.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T16:46:19.426779128Z

Dr Charles Shepherd, MEA Hon Medical Advisor, has compiled a list of tips on coping in the hot weather with ME/CFS. You can read them over in our Medical Matters database here: https://meassociation.org.uk/medical-matters/items/how-to-cope-with-a-heatwave-if-you-have-me-cfs/#MECFS #Heatwave

— ME Association (@meassociation.org.uk) 2026-06-22T14:06:32.974704005Z

With extreme heat weather warnings in parts of the UK this week, it’s important to store your medicines safely.Most medicines should be stored somewhere:- Dry- Cool (under 25°C)- Out of direct sunlight- Away from windowsills.

— Asthma + Lung UK (@asthmaandlung.org.uk) 2026-06-22T13:35:11.165Z

And Instagram examples from NHS, Single Homeless Project and The Wildlife Trusts, all shared this week. Note that the NHS’s palette changed once the warning was issued. A red-heat health alert post on the NHS Facebook page generated 1.5m organic views.

View this post on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

Conclusions

It’s good to see so many organisations creating content related to their specialisms about how to stay safe in hot weather. But it is disappointing to see how hidden it is on websites.

In comparison with weather warning in 2022, the comms feel more serious. The tone, messaging and images used are stronger. The colour palette is switching from blue to orange.

There appears to be a switch in language too. Informally we might have used the word ‘heatwave’ to describe a welcome short burst of warmer weather. This friendly term matches the beaches and sunshine images – a break from the grey skies and rain – a chance to put your shorts on. However, the conditions this week are officially extreme and unprecedented and a risk to life. A run of near 40C will affect such large areas for people in the red and amber zones for a number of days. The language for this is ‘hot weather’, ‘extreme heat’, matched with ‘heat warnings’ and alerts.

Useful links

• Top tip: Climate Visuals is a free picture library of climate related images.
• Do you live in an extreme heat hotspot? Map, data and advice from Friends of the Earth.
• What is a heatwave? Definitions from the Met Office including a note about the max temperature ever recorded in the UK (in 2022).
• UK red heat weather warning: experts comment – University of Reading
• Hotter Than Hell – Rare Earth on BBC Radio 4. How can Britain- and the world- prepare itself for extreme heat?

Update

Here’s how newspapers reported the record breaking temperatures on Wednesday 24 June. The iPaper, Financial Times used blue pictures of fountains and a swimming pool, The Daily Mirror showed a beach, The Metro dramatic lightning over London and The Guardian showed people walking with an umbrella.

In contrast on Thursday, front pages were mostly focusing on other stories. The Mirror and The Times ran front page stories again showing fountains and swimming pools. The Guardian’s whole front page showed a map of Europe in red / orange colours asking Is this the new normal? The front page of their website doesn’t have the same profile, perhaps overtaken by earthquake news.

Can I help you?

I have capacity to work on new projects. I can help you fix a digital blockage or think about your content.

I do research and audits. I do the content in website projects – large and small – refreshing and editing content, building in UX and content design. I deliver writing for the web training to help up-skill your colleagues. I work on legacy fundraising. I help charities edit their stories or think about information giving. I help develop boilerplate copy and tone of voice guidelines.

Do get in touch if you’d like to chat about how we could work together.

Responses to the under 16 social media ban announcement

A round-up of press releases and posts about the social media ban.

Here’s a very quick round-up of responses from charities and researchers into today’s announcement about social media use by under 16s. It is expected that the ban will come into force next year.

BBC: Under-16s to be banned from TikTok, YouTube and other social media

Billed as Australia +, the Government’s statement said the ban would cover “user-to-user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction and which allow users to post material, alongside algorithms. The ban will therefore include platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. We do not intend for messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal to be included”.

“These restrictions – which together with the ban go further than any other country – will apply to a wider range of online services, including on gaming sites.

Restrictions on these functionalities will also be on by default for under 16- and 17-year-olds to prevent a cliff-edge at 16. The government will also be looking in more detail at overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for under-18-year-olds and will set out more detail in July.”

Charity responses

• Good Law Project: Social media: Don’t ban children, fix the platforms.
• Centre for Mental Health: Instituting a ban on under-16s from some social media platforms is not an effective or sufficient response to a serious public health issue.
• Ada Lovelace Institute: How these intentions are implemented is important. Thorny questions remain about age controls, privacy and enforcement.
• Every Child Online: Online safety education must remain a priority alongside any new regulations.
• Center for Countering Digital Hate: A social media ban is coming to the UK for under 16s. Will it protect kids online? 
• Children’s Law Centre: Social media ban risks increasing, not reducing, online harm.
• Girlguiding: Girls are telling us that they are already taking significant steps to protect themselves online, but the burden of safety cannot continue to fall on young people and families alone.
• Barnado’s: This is not a silver bullet, and must be seen as one of a package of measures.
• Coram: We welcome today’s government announcement of plans to restrict social media access for under 16s as an important step towards improving children’s safety and wellbeing online.
• Amnesty International: Social media ban for under 16s ‘right diagnosis, wrong prescription’.
• NSPCC (on Facebook): We welcome today’s news and the clear commitment from the Government to go further than just a social media ban – it is a watershed moment for child protection.
• Mind (on LinkedIn): This alone doesn’t solve the complete problem and won’t fix the mental health crisis young people are facing.
• Youth Talk (on Instagram): Banning something does not necessarily address the underlying issues, which is why education, resilience, healthy habits, stronger safeguards and greater accountability must all form part of the solution.
• Shout UK: Protecting young people online requires a commitment to education and tackling the tech giants, not just banning young people from social media.

Responses before the announcement:

• NSPCC (Jan 2026): A social media ban would punish teenagers for tech platform’s failures.
• Molly Rose Foundation (April 2026): More than 60% of Australian children still using social media despite ban for under-16s, research shows.
• Children in Scotland (May 2026): we do not believe a blanket ban on social media for under-16s will sufficiently address the causes of online harm or improve young people’s safety online on its own. [Article includes research they did with young people.]
• FlippGen (8 June 2026): FlippGen welcomes device-level protections for children, but warns against a ban on social media.
• Plan International (8 June 2026): Social media ban would sideline action on the addictive algorithms that drive misogyny.

Influencing policy:

• NSPCC: Three demands at platform level rather than a ban.
• Sign FlippGen’s open letter to the Prime Minister – new – a call for young people, organisations, and supporters to sign it.

Opinion pieces:

• Paddy Crump from FlippGen (on LinkedIn): Young people deserve better than the social media announcement today.
• David Barker, CEO of Youth Talk: Will a ban really solve the problem?

Responses from researchers

• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: It is important that we do not view social media restrictions as a simple solution to a complex problem.
• University of Cambridge: ….the question will be about the effectiveness of its implementation.

Announcements aimed at young people

Young Minds shared this post with their followers on Instagram – The Government have announced they will be banning social media for under-16s. It includes lots of thoughtful comments.

View this post on Instagram

Implications of the ban on your comms

The ban has big implications for charities communicating directly with young people. Charity Comms said in a LinkedIn post:

“How will charities engage and support the next generation of campaigners and community leaders in key social issues? How will charities continue to reach young people with their vital support, advice, and forums? Meanwhile, social media professionals must adapt in real-time as audience behaviour shifts quickly.” 

What does this shift in direction look like for your charity?

This Civil Society article spoke to three charities who have started to think about this.

Charity Comms asked What now for your comms?

More detail about the ban will be released in the run up to its launch. It’s worth keeping an eye on this especially when channels and platforms are named. Start to make your own plans. Here are some things you can do now.

• Audit your touch points – how reliant are you on social media to connect with young people? What other methods do you use? How well do these work and how might they need to scale or adapt?
• Identify alternative ways to connect and start building these up. This might be a newsletter or noticeboard page on your website.
• Listen to young people in your community to find out what they want. Reflect their feelings in your comms. Build connection and trust.

Charity use of X and Bluesky – May 2026

An update on the sector’s use of X and Bluesky. Is anyone making real-time comms work?

A discussion on LinkedIn and a museum Bluesky “quit” made me dust off my list to see if anything has changed across charity X and Bluesky since my last look in January.

What has changed in the real-time comms channel space? Are we moving away from an era when these tools are a significant part of our comms work? Or do they still have value?

Fishbourne Roman Palace

A cryptic message at 8.40 am on Bluesky from a strong museum account today generated a strong backlash from followers. Many of Fishbourne’s 12.6k followers replied to its “this is our last post” message with questions – what?? why? By 6pm there were over 250 replies and 70 quote shares including from people with big accounts.

😭Sad news😭The authorities have finally caught up with us so this will be our last post on BlueSky. It's been a blast and we love you all. Especially our BFF @merchantshallyork.org 🥰🥰Keep up with the posting, everyone. Together you can conquer the scourge of work-based productivity…

— Fishbourne Roman Palace (@romanpalace.bsky.social) 2026-05-06T07:44:23.715Z

If you don’t know Fishbourne, it is “the largest Roman home in Britain”. It is based just outside Chichester. The account has been a source of fun and education. They share gems from their collection and banter with other museums / heritage sites. It’s nice. It’s what social media (used to be) for.

Some of the comments were from people who said they had been primed to visit the museum in person because of the account. Others said it had made them interested in the Romans for the first time since school. Surely the aim for any museum account?

Hope you had a great weekend.Help yourself to this Easter bunny being chased by an aardvark. #MosaicMonday

— Fishbourne Roman Palace (@romanpalace.bsky.social) 2026-04-06T08:09:22.985Z

As a result of the announcement, they have gained at least 300 new followers (13k currently). Some super active followers say they have emailed the museum to register their feelings about the news.

Fishbourne is part of Sussex Past which manages seven historical sites. There are accounts across all the social media channels for Sussex Past, none very large or active. Their own Bluesky account has 450 followers. Fishbourne on Bluesky appears to be the only one specific to one of the sites.

Whatever the reason for the decision and the subsequent reprieve (a we’re staying message at 9pm), it has been an interesting moment on a channel which feels like it is in decline. The response to the announcement shows there are loads of active users who care about their experience of using the channel.

It also raises questions about the purpose of an account and working out its value. What’s the point of being on social media these days if it doesn’t drive fundraising or action? What is good engagement?

With everyone talking about museum engagement today we just wanted to add this:We get just under 25,000 visitors to the Hall annually. We have 13,700 friends here. This is massive for us. So to you all following – thank you! 😍

— Merchant Adventurers’ Hall (@merchantshallyork.org) 2026-05-06T14:44:53.682Z

Use of Bluesky

During the various phases of the transition from Twitter to X and then bursts of quitting, it was thought that Bluesky might be the base we could all move to. For some communities and accounts, it is an active and engaged place. For others, it didn’t work. There are lots of dormant accounts.

I still use my personal account but engagement is virtually nil. The colleagues and peers who signed up at the start aren’t active so it doesn’t really work for me, sadly. Everyone seems to have adopted LinkedIn instead.

I also have an account for my podcast. I post a couple of times a day. We’re slowly growing and there is a gentle community around it so it works well. We share photos and talk about quiet places. Its a good antidote to other noise.

What about use across the charity space more generally? What is happening with corporate accounts on Bluesky and X?

Major charities

Here’s an update on our top ten most popular UK charities as listed by YouGov in 2024 list.

An asterix (*) in the middle column shows where there has been a change in activity on X since I last looked at this in January. In most cases this is a reduction other than the BHF who had moved to replies only but have started to post again. Perhaps the most high profile and significant change is Macmillan who switched to replies only, in March.

Most of the X accounts have lost around 2k followers. Some have gained followers on Bluesky in the same time although posting here is generally irregular.

Charity	No of followers on X (Jan25 / May25 / Jan26 / May26)	Date of last post (on 6 May 26)	On Bluesky? (Jan / May / Jan / May)
Macmillan	643k / 636k / 615k / 613k	Replies only since Mar 26*	No
St John Ambulance	56k / 56k / 54k / 54k	Replies only since Nov 25	Account but not active
British Heart Foundation	310k / 306k / 297k / 296k	Very occasional tweets *	1.7k / 3.9k / 4.7k / 4.9k No posts for 2 months
Samaritans	177k / 175k / 174k / 173k	Very occasional tweets *	Account but not active
Cancer Research UK	332k / 328k / 322k / 320k	Replies only since Dec 25	6.1k / 8.5k / 9.3k / 9.5k Irregular posting
Alzheimer’s Research UK	90k / 89k / 88k / 88k	Yesterday	XX / 220 / 416 / 449 Active
RNLI	205k / 200k / 197k / 196k	Replies only since Aug 25	No
British Red Cross	243k / 239k / 231k / 230k	7 days ago	No
Prostate Cancer	68k / 68k / 67k / 67k	3 days ago	Account but not active
Marie Curie	127k / 125k / 123k / 122k	Today	141 / 747 / 948 / 1k Active

Biggest charities on Bluesky

Here’s an updated look at our original list of 20 charities with big followings on Bluesky. This now ranges from RSPB’s 78k (which has grown by 10k since January) to Save the Children’s 4k. I am using this list for continuity of data but the top 20 should now include Cancer Research UK and BHF.

Since I last looked at this in January 2026, most have lost followers on X and gained them on Bluesky.

In January 9/20 had quit or changed their approach. Now in May it is 10/20.

With a few exceptions, engagement is low across the board.

• Full Fact – 201k on X / 52k on Bluesky – mirror publishing, similar levels of low engagement
• RSPB – 404k on X / 78k – publicly quit X in January 2026. Good engagement on BS.
• Good Law Project – 294k / 51.2k – mirror publishing, similar levels of high engagement
• Hope Not Hate – 116k / 40.5k – mostly mirror, similar levels of good engagement
• Amnesty UK – 268k / 29.8k – mirror publishing (but slightly more on X?), similar low results
• National Trust – 25.9k followers on BS. Quiet quit X in January 2025. Good engagement on BS.
• JRF – 162k / 20.9k – mostly mirror publishing, similar levels of low engagement
• GreenpeaceUK – 16.4k. Quiet quit X in January 2025. Infrequent posting on BS
• The King’s Fund – 154k / 11k. Quiet quit X in January 2026. Low engagement on BS.
• Humanists UK – 103k / 15.8k – Quiet quit X in January 2026.
• Wellcome Trust – 206k / 12.8k – mostly mirror publishing
• BTO – 11.3k. Quiet quit X in January 2025
• The Health Foundation – 8.2k. Quit X in January 2025
• Little Green Space – 75.3k / 7.5k – mirror publishing but doing better on X
• Big Issue – 64.1k / 8.2k – mirror publishing, low engagement on both
• Trussell UK – 75.4k / 6.4k – dual publishing, X is primary channel
• WWF UK – 230k / 7k – Replies only since January on X
• BookTrust – 118k / 5.5k – Quiet quit X in January
• Oxfam – 246k / 4.7k – publicly quit X in February 2026
• Save the Children UK – 187k / 4k – dual publishing, X is primary channel.

Remember that the charities with the large audiences on Bluesky are not just the ones that signed up during the early gold rush time (November 2024) but accounts which are actively and regularly sharing meaningful content which helps to educate or entertain. Being a major charity does not guarantee big numbers of followers. For example, Barnardo’s, Sue Ryder, Shelter, Teenage Cancer Trust, Refuge and The DEC are all on Bluesky but have on or under 1000 followers.

Review of 110 national charities

Using my list of 110 charities here’s a comparison with previous findings to see how this has changed.

	January 2026	May 2026
Actively using X to post	50 (45%)	45 (41%)
Stopped posting to X	60	65
Stopped posting but continuing to reply to mentions	13	11
Stopped with an announcement (quit)	16 (including 4 whose accounts have been deleted)	28 (including 6 whose accounts have been deleted)
Stopped without an announcement (quiet quit – no posts for 1 month +)	31	26

It shows another small shift across the sample, away from X. Some accounts stopped and then started again. Others moved from replies only to a full quit such as NSPCC and Guide Dogs.

Conclusions

So, there has been a further shift in charities moving away from using X.

For most, engagement is low across both channels.

Accounts which are doing well as those which bring joy, fun and distraction. See Battersea, Action for Happiness and Blue Cross on X. And RSPB and National Trust on Bluesky – and Fishbourne.

Social media is now permanently in a period of transition. It can be hard to keep up with what’s happening. Making a decision to leave a channel is not simple and might not be final. Finding time to analyse engagement and impact, to help focus your social media strategy is always worth it. Think about the content you might share which connects with your audience to help build a community which values you enough to fight for you to stay.

Can I help you?

I have capacity from June onwards to work on new projects. I can help you fix a digital blockage or think about your content.

I do research and audits. I do the content in website projects – large and small – refreshing and editing content, building in UX and content design. I deliver writing for the web training to help up-skill your colleagues. I work on legacy fundraising. I help charities edit their stories or think about information giving. I help develop boilerplate copy and tone of voice guidelines.

Do get in touch if you’d like to chat about how we could work together.

Finding space for learning and support

Why taking time to connect and share learning is good. A call to action for the impact of connection.

70 people came together in person to attend the Charity MeetUp event hosted at Oliver Wyman on Baker Street. The event lead by Dawn Newton (since 2015) is billed as a skills sharing and facilitated networking event. Dawn instructed us to leave with three new connections we absolutely will follow up with as well as lots of other food for thought.

Sarah P Corbett gave a keynote talk about the Craftivist Collective which has been running since 2009. She talked about its successes and learnings. Other sessions followed. The main learning from the event for me was about connection and learning, and how we find space for these.

Gentle protest

Sarah shared the journey of the Craftivist Collective. She shared examples of non-confrontational projects, using craft to deliver messaging to drive social change. She inspires changemakers to use their skills and powers in a strategic and purposeful way.

She talked about the drama triangle and her reframed type of protest as the empowerment dynamic.

She described how being together, creating something gives important time and space. It connects with the senses. It helps reach new people. It helps with critical thinking and connection.

Friction maxxing / in-person connections

Sarah also talked about friction maxxing, a wellness trend which rejects digital convenience to regain focus, autonomy, and cognitive engagement.

Could we say that attending an in-person event is friction maxxing? It would be so easy to stay at home to get ahead of the inbox. But coming together adds so much. At the event I saw old colleagues from jobs 10+ years ago, clocked up first IRL meets with online connections and met new people. It takes more effort but is always worth it.

There seem to be fewer opportunities to come together in person as events are more commonly online. Back in the day I got so much from events such as the regular #nfpTweetUp and the annual Small Charity Week speed advice sessions run by the FSI. Both brought hundreds of people together to share learning and ideas, for free. I learnt how different charities worked and found out about other people’s jobs and specialisms. I learnt things I didn’t know I didn’t know from the conversations and connections. As Dawn said at the MeetUp, “the people in the room is where the goodness is, not just the speakers”.

There are events around – in person and online. Finding out about them and making time for them can be hard. Joining groups and schemes can be a way to have regular connection points outside of your dayjob in your diary.

My sources of support and learning

It can be a lonely business being a freelancer so I’m keen to find ways to connect – on and offline.

As well as being part of informal groups, meeting in person, I get a lot from the online Charity Freelancer Chat Zoom calls which brings together a wonderful mix of freelancers with different specialisms working across the sector. I am also part of the CAST Centre for the Acceleration of Social Technology coffee connections scheme which matches people working in digital to have a call about ideas and challenges. The Charity Comms mentor programme is brilliant too.

Yesterday I ran a Charity Comms Comms Practice Studio session about messaging. Not a webinar or conference, this was a different type of training with peer support at the centre. It had a different feel because of this design and delegates said how much they enjoyed it. Charity Comms have another in their events listing on a different topic.

Your sources

How do you connect and share learning with other people?

Maybe you have a mentor or buddy you connect with? Are you part of a scheme or go to regular meetups? Do you do things in person? Maybe finding time for online connections is enough friction?

What other routes to connection are there? Online and in-person? What are you part of? What is missing? What do you need?

Share here so we can build a directory of connection.

—

Thank you to Dawn Newton for a brilliant session. Follow Charity MeetUp for details of the next event.

Can I help you?

I have capacity from June onwards to work on new projects. I can help you fix a digital blockage or think about your content.

I do research and audits. I do the content in website projects – large and small – refreshing and editing content, building in UX and content design. I deliver writing for the web training to help up-skill your colleagues. I work on legacy fundraising. I help charities edit their stories or think about information giving. I help develop boilerplate copy and tone of voice guidelines.

Do get in touch if you’d like to chat about how we could work together.

Good news round-up – spring issue

Some good news to balance all the gloom.

It’s exhausting at the moment with all the horrors and the worries and future and the everything.

But all the gloom is not all the everything. There’s lots of good work going on. And some big wins from charities.

If you are a supporter of these charities you might have seen their announcements via email or other channels. If not, it is harder to see their good news in passing. LinkedIn is probably the best place for this right now but it is a needle in a haystack in between all the ads and videos. The trade press might share an individual win but instead seem to be focused on the closures and financial troubles.

Individually the wins are great news. Together, even better. So I’ve dusted off my round-up powers to find and share some wins this year. If you know of others from January 2026 onwards, please add them in the comments.

Policy, campaigning and influencing

• The Government has agreed to change the law to protect relationships between children in care and their siblings – policy win for Become (March).
• The UK has reinstated the right to work for asylum seeker doctors, nurses and other highly skilled professionals based on advocacy work led by REACHE (March)
• Govt confirms Badger cull WILL end – Protect The Wild blog (March)
• A dedicated voice for play in Westminster – Association of Indoor Play (March)
• Legislation to remove the two-child limit from the social security system is starting to make its way through Parliament – commended by 65 organisations (February).
• UK Government commit to £10 million travel Fund in National Cancer Plan for England  – campaign win for Young Lives vs Cancer (February)
• A landmark victory for our oceans: the Global Ocean Treaty comes to life – Greenpeace (January)

Funding and partnerships

• Movember invests £3 million in new government partnership to scale community-led men’s health support (March).
• VAT relief for product donations: a significant win! – In Kind Direct.
• Dunelm and Age UK smash £2 million fundraising milestone – one year early (March).
• Sam Fender tour raises £50,000 for Youth Music (March).

Impact and awards

• 10 GSK IMPACT Awards winners 2026 – UK Fundraising (March) – the GSK Impact Awards celebrate charities that make a real difference to health and wellbeing throughout the UK, the awards recognise and support small to medium sized charities. Here are statements by Age UK Norfolk, Colostomy UK and The Green House on their wins.
• Finalists announced in the Smiley Charity Film Awards – public voting closes on 23 April. Winners will be announced on 29th. Here are announcements and requests for votes from SeeScape, Community Integrated Care, Prison Radio Association and Prior’s Court.

Win comms

We all need good news. It’s easy for it to get lost in the gloom though. So when you have a policy or campaign or fundraising or awards win, you need to share it in a way which is going to cut through.

That means sharing with your different audience groups in creative, appropriate and engaging ways. If supporters have been part of the journey with you or the win affects them personally, they will be even more keen to know and understand the detail. If it makes it to the news, fresh people will find you looking for the headlines and stories and more.

A few tips:

• Pass on the news as quickly as possible once you have crafted your statement.
• Think about your tone of voice – are you relieved / angry / excited / proud? What might your audience be feeling?
• Own the win (if it is yours to own). Celebrate and thank others involved.
• Use unique imagery to announce the news and use this consistently across your channels. Graphics work well.
• Link social media posts to a news story on your website to drive traffic and make it easy to dig deeper.
• Respond to comments to show you value involvement and a shared purpose.
• Include the date on the news story so future people can understand when this happened.
• Promote it on your homepage if it is a really big deal.
• On your policy win announcement, include links to show the campaign history and what is still to do.
• Include a call to action where relevant – build on the connection and hope people will feel by reading about a success.

Here are a few other examples of eyecatching win comms.

• New rights for renters start on 1 May 2026. It was a big campaign win for Shelter (and others) last year after many years of campaigning. Shelter made a video celebrating and explaining the win.
• A big win for small charity Our Time Charity who secured a Government commitment to support children whose parents are detained under the Mental Health Act, shared in a LinkedIn post by another organisation.
• A call to action from Gingerbread, celebrating six recent wins, stating future goals and asking for support.
• Surfers Against Sewage issued an update summary on their campaigning work, with lots of actions, in response to the screening of Channel 4 drama Dirty Business.
• A year in review – campaign highlights in a timeline from Four Paws.

If you are a campaigning organisation, gathering wins together helps to build connection and motivation. For example, Greenpeace’s homepage has a block for latest wins.

Resources and inspiration for campaigners

• Changemakers’ Toolkit – Sheila McKechnie Foundation
• Big Issue’s 100 Changemakers of 2026
• Change.org victories (England)
• Hear My Voice – a guide for first-time local campaigners

Can I help you?

I have capacity after Easter to work on new projects. I can help you fix a digital blockage or think about your content.

I do research and audits. I do the content in website projects – large and small – refreshing and editing content, building in UX and content design. I deliver writing for the web training to help up-skill your colleagues. I work on legacy fundraising. I help charities edit their stories or think about information giving. I help develop boilerplate copy and tone of voice guidelines.

Do get in touch if you’d like to chat about how we could work together.

Got a digital comms blockage? I can help

Got a comms blockage which is holding your charity back? Big or small, I can help.

Across the sector teams and budgets are changing. How we do comms is changing too. There’s lots of pressure to do more with less and yet everything still needs to be done. AI can help with some tasks but others need a person. It can be overwhelming and blockages can cause stress and inefficiency.

Here are some common blockages I see and how to get round them.

Small website projects

A few projects I’ve worked on recently focussed on particular sections of a website rather than the whole thing. A team identified a failing area and rather than wait for a new website project or for capacity within the web team, they brought me in to help them refresh the problem area.

For example, I helped a fundraising team rework their web pages for community and events fundraising. The section had evolved over time with no real structure or strategy. The user journey was messy and it wasn’t inspiring or integrated with the cause. We discussed purpose and aims and developed a more streamlined layout. We made new pages, deleted old ones, updated copy, found new photos, reviewed search and integration. It was a collaborative process involving the team and wider brand and fundraising colleagues who all needed to be involved. It was a transformation we were all proud of! We incorporated nudges and images to strengthen connections to inspire supporters. We bought the energy and passion to the pages to reflect the actions.

The moral is: if there is a section of your website which isn’t working well, don’t wait for a full website revamp to work on it. There might be significant changes you can make within the limits of your existing design.

Can I help you with this? Get in touch!

Bigger website projects

Full website rebuilds are expensive and take lots of time and energy. As teams shrink and workloads increase, there is not always the skills or capacity in-house to manage all aspects of a complex project like this. But this shouldn’t be a barrier to taking one on. If you need a new website, it has to be done. A project like this can be stressful with so many people to consult and decisions to make. It can eclipse the day-to-day work you still have to do.

Much of my work in recent years has been as a bridge between a charity and agency through a website rebuild. It can be valuable to have someone to translate and facilitate between the two. Usually I come in to work on the content, helping with the re-write, re-structure and site build. It is useful to have someone external to come in and take on this body of work and be able to see the whole thing. Often I am asked to help steer decisions about design, structure, content accessibility and UX.

The moral is: budget for freelance help to make the project run smoothly.

Can I help you with this? Get in touch!

Digital comms reviews

The comms landscape is changing fast. Social media has moved away from the time when we were all on the same five channels. The algorithms are prioritising different content meaning its increasingly hard to cut through. AI summaries and chatbots are changing how people find and trust information. It can be hard to keep up. And difficult to know what’s still working for your charity.

I’ve done extensive analysis into the sector’s move away from X. Many charities are still on X, others have quiet quit, others have left. There was a wave of leaving in January and a steady trickle since (such as Cats Protection last week). It can be hard to know what is right and for many charities it is not a straight forward decision. It’s easy to carry on business as usual, putting off a decision. But it can drag down your comms mojo.

Same with other factors which are barriers. Maybe your photo library needs new images or a spring clean? Maybe your purpose has changed and you need new clarity around messaging or your ask. Or you’ve identified content gaps to serve helpline questions or AI searches? Or have a channel which isn’t aligned with your output and is letting you down? These things can all be hanging over you as a barrier to doing better or doing more.

The moral is: find someone to help you smash the barriers so your comms can fly. This might mean an audit or review to help you think about impact and priorities, or a discrete project to fix the problem, or an hour’s consultancy to talk through a tricky issue or blockage.

Can I help you with this? Get in touch!

Can I help you?

I have capacity after Easter to work on new projects.

I can help you work on that thing that has been worrying you or stopping you from doing something else.

I do research and audits. I do the content in website projects – large and small – refreshing and editing content, building in UX and content design. I deliver writing for the web training to help up-skill your colleagues. I work on legacy fundraising. I help charities edit their stories or think about information giving. I help develop boilerplate copy and tone of voice guidelines.

Do get in touch if you’d like to chat about how we could work together.

Lessons from ‘Letters to Loved Ones’

How a project transcribing letters brought history to life.

For the past three months I have been working on a very different project from my usual portfolio of digital comms. I have been transcribing letters and documents sent during WWII.

As part of VE and VJ Day 80 celebrations in 2025, people were invited to send in letters written by family members during the war as part of a project in a partnership between Imperial War Museums and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Over 450 letters were digitised and sent to the Letters to Loved Ones project.

I worked on the second phase of the project, creating transcripts of the documents to make them accessible and searchable. This new version of Letters to Loved Ones was launched in February.

Some of the entries were a single postcard, some were long letters, others official documents, and some whole archives telling the full story of someone’s experience during the war years. Many people also shared photos of their loved ones and a backstory about who the person was. These explanations of what they did with their life after the war (or how the family coped without them), and how the letter had been passed down the generations, added so much to the letter.

It is an extraordinary collection and its been one of the most moving projects I have worked on. At times I had to work hard to decipher beautiful but complicated, faded handwriting. The letters and documents shared a mix of banal and historic observations and insights. Some described the same incidents but from their own perspective. Some were written in the middle of action or looking back at it, sharing the intensity of the moment.

The variety of locations and experiences were vast but connected by a common purpose. I thought there would be doubt and hate within the letters but there was only frustration with the need for it to be over and a confidence that it was the right thing to do. It gave me an insight into WWII which I hadn’t had before.

Here are some of the highlights I found. Hopefully it will inspire you to go and explore the collection. And think about your own family archive and how it is shared.

Official documents and the postal system

Alongside personal letters, families had shared telegrams (like this one below), prisoner of war postcards, documents from regiments, letters from Buckingham Palance and other official documents. It was fascinating to see the language used and gain an insight into the mechanics of war.

For example, I found out that the British Red Cross were central to sharing information and supplies for PoWs (see this entry about a family member who was a Japanese PoW). Reginal War Offices sent notifications to next of kin when soldiers were reported missing or killed in action, using a standard postcard template. Sometimes these notices took a long time to reach home – several entries shared the agony of waiting for news.

Amongst the 450 entries I was surprised to find two Missing in Action cards sent to two different families in the same regiment following the fall of Singapore, one day apart.

All correspondence had to go through the censor but this eased at the end of the war allowing people to share more detail, a few letters were carried by hand, also avoiding the censor. These were especially fascinating to read. In contrast, this letter was returned by the censor as it included sensitive information. It shows the official stamps.

There must have been so much post! Lots of the letters included complaints about not enough letters being sent, others moaned about having to use all their down time to keep up with the correspondence, others apologised about being really behind in the replies. One couple numbered each letter they sent to each other (in the hundreds) so they could be read in sequence and missing ones identified – very organised! Another letter was received as one man had too many people to write to and so suggested that his friend wrote to her instead – they were later married!

Troops received letters but also parcels of items requested from home, lots of mentions of tobacco, pipes, cigarettes and books. Everyone was sending photos. It made me wonder who was taking and processing them all. Also, how did the postal system work when everyone in the services was moving around so much? (This blog post by the Postal Museum shows how the GPO dealt with Christmas post and includes photos of mobile post offices.) Many letters apologised for only sending an AirGraph as they hadn’t the money for a different format – how did the system work? Its amazing that the post system existed at all especially within occupied countries and to and from PoWs.

VE Day

Many of the letters described in detail what happened on VE Day – waiting for the announcement, the celebrations, the thoughts of loved ones far away or lost. You can explore them all using the VE Day tag. There were lots of letters from people describing VE Day in London and other parts of the UK. There were letters from men in Europe describing celebrations there or their work as usual and also from troops in other parts of the world whose war was still carrying on for a few more months until VJ Day.

A common theme in the UK letters were the thunderstorms that day, also the flags, bonfires and fireworks. There were a few different accounts from people in London of hearing Churchill speak from the balcony of the Ministry of Health and struggling to get home afterwards. It sounded chaotic and exciting. Some writers talked of going to the cinema or to see shows rather than dancing in the street. Everyone lived the day in their way.

One mother wrote to her daughters with a detailed account of the day in Devon and asked them to keep the letter as an important historical document for the future: “Make no mistake – this is the most important day of your life and of the world”. Others went into a lot of detail like this account of celebrations in Cardiff.

Lots of the letters were joyful and celebrating a longed-for day. Others were more thoughtful, like this one from Betty who was more aware of the scars. She said: “It is going to be such a difficult job straightening those people out and satisfying everyone – will be a constant cause of trouble for the next twenty years from what I can see.”

There were also menus and programmes of celebrations for the end of the war. One typed document listed all the places one battalion had been between D-Day and VE Day alongside a menu for a celebration event.

Common themes

Here are some stand-out letters on common themes.

Love, family and friendship:

• an actual proposal
• an angry father trying to break up an inappropriate relationship
• letters to a widow from a commanding officer.

Life at sea:

• a tense 8-page letter describing an incident north of Iceland
• life on a troop ship
• the loss of the SS Ceramic.

Significant (and not so significant) events:

• a letter written on a boat heading to the D-Day landings
• instructions sent home from school about possible evacuations
• an uncle tells his young nephew why he won a medal
• the blitz in Coventry in 1940 and the blitz in Exeter in 1942
• the relief effort at Belson Concentration Camp in April 1945
• a long letter about a suprisingly uneventful service in India.

There were many more letters from men than women in the collection. This blog post from The Postal Museum explains that letters from home weren’t kept in the same way. Here’s a few letters from women:

• a letter from a mother to the family hosting her child as an evacuee
• letters from an evacuee host describing the antics of the children and how to look after their clothes
• a long letter describes her work tasks and celebrations on VE Day
• a collection of letters to Freda including these from her sister who was training to be a nurse with the RAF.

And some from children:

• “I am trying very hard at my lessons”
• letters from evacuee Frank, repeatedly asking for his bike to be sent
• VE Day = no school!

Language and presentation

There were patterns in how people communicated. Many of the letters started and ended in the same way – it must have been taught at school. It was surprising that often with so little space to write on a single sheet, so many lines were taken up with these formalities of asking after health at the start and then announcing an intention to close the letter, at the end. Though in some letters there wasn’t much more to say – maybe a line about the weather. Some letters were just for checking in.

Common words we don’t really use today were also present such as cheerio. Letters were sometimes formal, sometimes chatty but never offensive or insulting. I don’t think there was any swearing. This might be due to self censoring or formal censoring.

The handwriting was often hard to decipher but got easier as I got used to it and could use other words to work out the words which weren’t clear. I checked the spellings of places and films and people (using Google) so that users of the site would find letters related to these keywords.

One letter described a terrible night in the blitz in London in 1941. The writer talked about going up to town to inspect the damage around Blackfriars and somewhere else I couldn’t read. She described a crater at a five-road junction, big enough to fit three buses. Through the power of search, I worked out she was talking about Bank as I found a photo of the crater. How amazing to be able to instantly see a photo of it over 80 years later.

Photo of the crater at Bank in 1941 Image: IWM (HU 640)

Paper archives

The additional research I did about places, battles, ships, events in the war, overseas graveyards, just shows how much detail there is shared across the internet. I went down rabbit holes I didn’t even think about before. I found photos and videos and firsthand accounts.

Many of the entries to the Letters to Loved Ones described the research the family had done. A number of entries talked about finding the letters when the previous generation died and it sparking a need to find out more, especially when the loved one hadn’t ever talked about the war. Some entries talked about doing something with the letters, writing books or making artwork with it, or donating it to local museums. Others talked about how they had digitised it in order to share copies with the rest of the family.

One man talked about finding a stack of letters in a house he’d bought and how he’d been unable to trace the family to give them back. Another shared just a handful of letters from a stack of 780 between her parents. These physical things are important. They are proof / evidence. They connect us. Seeing the handwriting, all the official stamps, the paper, the creases from where it had been read over and over. What happens to these things? And what does it mean in a digital age when we don’t have the same physical things to pass down.

Have you got an archive in your family? Who holds it? How is it shared through the generations?

The very last entry I worked on was from two young people sharing letters sent by their great-grandfather while he was a PoW. It was the only one I saw which was submitted by children. As a family they had been to visit the site where he’d been a prisoner 80 years earlier.

A deeper insight

A few entries were really long, with various document and letters from different stages of the war. Some included lots of detail from the family, sharing the context.

This entry about James Chapman really stood out. It describes his school days and experience once he had joined up. His thoughtful letters to his mother in green ink share his experience of his war in Herefordshire and then news that he is to go overseas. He was on an American Troop ship when the news came through about Pearl Harbour, it was heading to India and then Singapore where he became a Prisoner of War. The second half of the entry shares letters between James’ mother and the wife of the battalion’s commander who was also a PoW. They were both desperate for information. In these letters we can feel the pain and support between them. The final letters confirm James’ death which had happened in 1943 in Burma, and details of the Commonwealth War Graves site where he is buried, as well as a letter of condolence from Buckingham Palace.

The 37 page document was beautifully put together and it was heartbreaking to read James’ letters knowing what was to come.

Relevance for today

So much of the sentiment around the letters felt relevant for today. When I studied WWII at school it felt like ancient history. But reading the letters has made it feel very present. Being in the middle of all these lives, bought it to life. The boring, endless days. The cold, hunger, longing. The joy and adventure. The children born and lost. The hope for the future.

Here are two letters I particularly want to share.

The first was written by a man to his infant son in 1945 who he’d not met yet. It explains why he had to go away. He wanted him to know why the war happened and told him about the warning signs to look out for. Just as relevant today.

And this moving letter was written by a man to his children, to be read in the event of his death. His widow approached a newspaper so it could be preserved and shared with others. A copy was framed in the family house as a permanent reminder.

Explore the collection

So, please do go and explore the collection of Letters to Loved Ones.

Use the search to find letters from people in your town or with your surname or using words related to your own family experience. (Note, it would be great to see the collection expanded with more diverse voices.) Use the tags to explore letters on themes like blitz, PoW, VJ Day, Home Front or Demob.

Then look in the back of the wardrobe to find your own family archive. Read the letters if you are able to. Think about how to share and preserve them.

Other useful archives to explore

• The Imperial War Museum’s searchable collection and curated stories.
• The Postal Museum catalogue and blog.
• The D-Day Story collection.
• There are many regiment museums like the Staffordshire Regiment Museum.
• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a searchable database.

Thank you to Steph Gray at Pentri for involving me in this project. To IWM and DCMS for hosting it. And to all the people who shared their documents and stories in the collection, for others to be able to read and understand the shared experience of 80 years ago.

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