Highlights this month: AI, ethics, the Human search engine, and hope.
September is a busy month of awareness days and a good time to launch new brands or websites before the noise of seasonal fundraising. Pop the kettle on and catch up with some content and good reads you might have missed.
How to use: Pick and choose links to read, or open in new tabs for later. Or bookmark this post. Even better, subscribe and get future round-ups direct to your inbox.
Content
- Love this video of people with dementia using VR headsets by The Wayback.
- Video from Rights Info – do we have a human right to sex?
- Nice behind the scenes / call to action film about Oxfam’s shops.
- 17k likes for this picture of a Barnardo’s shop with the writing round the wrong way, yet only a handful for Barnardo’s Scotland’s response.
- Did you see Mind’s new Mental Health at Work website?
- #WorldAlzheimersDay Moment of tweets from large and small charities supporting people with dementia.
- Lovely copywriting from Toilet Twinning in this tweet.
- Great content from The Blurt Foundation – We’ve Answered 10 Popular Google Searches: Why Does Depression…?
- And from Gingerbread –14 things not to say to a single parent (and seven things you should.
- Time to Change made a Moment of What people want you to know about suicide for #WorldSuicidePreventionDay. Here the tweet where they asked for people’s views.
- Lots of charities joined in with #InternationalSpeakLikeAPrirateDay such as this cheeky tweet from CoppaFeel.
- There was some great content around for Remember a Charity’s Human search engine. For example, take a look at material from Dogs Trust, Scope, and Shelter.
There were new websites from Sue Ryder, and NPC this month. Plus new brands from National Autistic Society and RNIB who created a short video about the change..
Comms
- How content is your content? – nifty quiz from Contentious.
- A reminder about the difference between copywriting and content design by Sarah Richards.
- 4 charity campaigns with stories at their heart – Helena Hastings for Lightful ahead of Being the Story on 19 October. [Don’t miss Being the Story. There might still be a few spaces left. Buy your tickets today.]
- Truly ethical images must tell a complete story by Water Aid.
- 5 doodles that help to make sense of UK poverty – JRF blog.
- 5 secrets to Instagram success by Dawn at Morello Marketing.
- 7 tips for social media advertising success by NSPCC’s Digital Dunk.
- Facebook advertising for charities: A guide to designing your first ad by Lightful.
- Live tweeting at events: seven tips for avoiding the pitfalls – Sarah Myers for Charity Comms. I’d add an extra tip about using threads to tweet from particular sessions. This makes it so much easier to follow what is being said.
Digital
- Five things an NGO learned about Artificial Intelligence – excellent blog post from Friends of the Earth’s Innovation Team. See also Time to trade Ai power for responsibility on Digital Agenda.
- Screw tech ethics says Matt Howarth also for Digital Agenda.
- Great blog post from the outgoing #SocialCEOs overall winner, Matthew Hodson about using social media for social good.
- Designing our design principles – more useful stuff in the CRUK blog.
- NHS’s manual for designing and building digital services.
- A guide to procuring service design by Sarah Drummond.
- Digital = Potential Part 1: The power of an app to help people in crisis by Gillian Murray, CEO of Pilotlight.
- 6 key new trends for charities on digital – CharityDigitalNews coverage of the Salesforce report.
- Why our communications team is going Agile – Citizens Advice blog.
- Data doesn’t have to be scary: why insights should inform your digital projects by Dee Russell for Charity Comms. Includes Google Analytics video tutorials.
- ‘Our sector needs to respond with urgency. People are seeking support more and more expect a digital ‘way’ of solving their problem.’ Important post from Dan Sutch about bringing digital into service delivery.
Fundraising
- Ethical fundraising: 7 critical questions for the board and Chair by John Williams.
- Is compassion fatigue inevitable in an age of 24-hour news? Text from a Guardian podcast.
- This thread by Jon Arnold about fundraising applications was widely shared.
- PayPal / NSPCC video about their donation journey. Accompanying article from PayPal talks more about the redesign project.
- Brathay launched their 3.7 programme with the funds raised following Matt Campbell’s tragic death during the London Marathon in April this year.
In case you missed it, I wrote this about donor experience / in-memory fundraising.
People
Hope… and where to find it – read this moving post by Kate Carroll to help remind yourself why your comms / information / fundraising work, really matters.
- Simple ways to keep your digital team adaptable and creative – love this from Seb Baird of Time to Change for CharityComms.
- 5 ways charity leaders can make better decisions – Zoe Amar.
- The Post Office: How can a 375-year-old brand attract the best in digital talent? – eConsultancy.
- How to spread digital knowledge to other teams – Platypus Digital.
- The ageing population: what impact will a 100-year life have on charities – predictions from Joe Saxton.
And finally….
- Different messages on boy’s and girl’s t-shirts in Primark. FFS.
- How The Weather Channel Made That Insane Storm Surge Animation in Wired.
- Top charity shop idea of the month – Jeff Goldblum in every photo frame. This had 144k likes!
Your recommendations
What did you read, watch or launch this month? Please add your links in the comments.
Can I help you?
Get in touch if I can help you with content planning, training or strategy. I work with charities of all shapes and sizes. I can help give your comms or digital processes a healthcheck, skills review and ideas injection.
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Did you miss August’s round-up? Catch up with more good reads!
