Digital round-up – November 2019

Highlights this month: digital benchmarking and engagement research, Star Wars, social media for leaders, digital inclusion.

November is always a hectic month of awareness days and the build-up to Christmas. This year, add in the General Election, increasing responses to the climate crisis and lots of knowledge sharing at conferences. There was so much to keep up with while also trying to get some work done! Here are some highlights you might have missed.

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Charity content and campaigns

• Powerful words about homelessness in this campaign from the West London Mission. #NotWhoTheyAre posters were live at Marylebone Underground station as well as online.
• NACRO produced this six-part video thread sharing prison-leaver Liam’s experience of being released on a Friday.
• There was lots of good content for #WorldKindnessDay.
• A hopeful tweet from Rowans Hospice leads to amazing Star Wars response and news coverage Star Wars: Dying fan to get early screening, Bob Iger confirms – BBC News.
• Impressive graduation cake shared by London Ambulance Service on #NationalCakeDay with 1.4k likes.
• So many grim housing stories were shared as part of #VentYourRent. Generation Rent RTd some of them in a thread with useful links to legal advice relating to commons problems shared. And made a video with a call to action to help spread the word.
• Crisis made this explainer video as part of their #CoverTheCost campaign.
• Thread sharing the highlights from The Trussell Trust’s State of Hunger report.
• Tiny Tickers Donate a Doll appeal launches. On #GivingTuesday they smashed their 50 doll target. Donations covered 150 dolls.
• CLIC Sargent’s campaign about the cost of travel for cancer patients included this video from CEO Kate Lee explaining the need for a Young Cancer Patient Fund.
• 40k views for Cats Protection’s #LibbyLeftBehind animation.
• Online searches for buy a puppy increase by 44% before Christmas. Dogs Trust’s Christmas video features Corky and their trademarked ‘A dog is for life’ message. I also liked this rehoming story from Dogs Trust.
• There was lots of content for #TrusteesWeek. I liked this tweet from Breast Cancer Now with a quote from one of their trustees.
• See behind the scenes at the WWF Christmas advert.
• It is good to celebrate campaign successes and be passionate about driving more change. I like this video from Crohn’s and Colitis UK.
• Oxygen masks at bus stops to highlight the message of air pollution on our roads – great work from The Air Team.
• Young Minds Wellbeing Advent Calendar is designed for schools but great for everyone.
• Have you seen Marie Curie’s Talkabout website with blogs, podcasts, videos, a quiz and other resources to help you talk about death and dying.
• Nice animation sharing some of the 2019 impact highlights of Haven House Children’s Hospice.
• It can be hard to show impact as part of a charity anniversary. I liked Helping tiny hearts for 20 years – a timeline from Tiny Tickers. And this one celebrating 80 years of Citizens Advice.

Comms

• Dealing with negative coverage: How the RNLI came out fighting – Charity Comms. Case study showing the importance of out-of-hours responsiveness and team work.
• How to write an effective media strategy for your charity – Ben Matthews.
• Pizza Express gets it right, HMV gets it wrong. How are you managing social media risk? Paul Thomas.
• A step by step guide to writing a good Twitter thread – Tallie Proud unpicks a Twitter thread by the MERL. This is a great read!
• Social media for social movements: Lessons learned from #GoogleWalkout.
• TikTok for good – How can charities use TikTok to raise awareness and engage audiences? – Charity Digital News.
• The pinching hand emoji is a lot – Jane Solomon for emojipedia.
• Video stars: Six videos to give inspiration and ideas for your video content – local government examples curated by Dan Slee.
• “Comms should be seen as a strategic asset” – Chris Naylor explains how the role of comms in local government has changed. And I liked this video from the comms team at Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead shared for #OurDay. And this sweepers-eye view from Southampton Council.
• How to write digital content that people will want to read – David Ainsworth.
• Tips on celebrating success from Young Minds – top internal comms and team building tips from Shirin Zaid for Charity Comms.
• Winners of the Charity Comms 2019 Inspiring Communicators Awards. And campaigns that inspire them.
• Read about the winners of the Bupa Mind media awards 2019.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

Celebrating the Web Foundation’s 10th birthday with highlights from each year and ending with the launch of the Contract for the Web. There are five days left to watch Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s Dimbleby Lecture on iPlayer.

The sixth Charity Digital Index launched, benchmarking digital capability and essential digital skills. Here are some highlights from the launch event and a link to download the Charity Digital Index report.

Reason Digital surveyed over 2000 people and have produced The new rules of digital engagement: 2019 report with insights into how the UK population interacts with charities digitally. Essential reading.

Charity Comms’ annual Charity Digital Conference was huge. Catch up with my Moment of my live tweeting through the sessions I went to including this one by Bruce Daisley about workplace culture. You can now also access the conference slides and Laura Robertson’s blog post summary.

• Your charity won’t get better at digital without doing these three things – Joe Freeman for Charity Comms.
• How charity shops are going digital – Charity Digital News.
• Four surprising things we’ve learned about Facebook ads – useful insights from Forward Action.
• The new dot com bubble is here: it’s called online advertising – The Correspondent.
• Digital transformation and the social sector – Tris Lumley’s speech. “We have the tools to rebuild society for the better. Now we will see if we have the courage, creativity and compassion to put them to work.”
• Measuring Digital Readiness – new self-assessment tool for social care employers, from Digital Social Care.
• MQ launch a new digital platform to boost recruitment in mental health research – Participate.
• Apps to build empathy – Chris Tarrant uses the In Your Shoes app by Crohn’s and Colitis UK.
• Migrating content: strategies for success – top tips from Lizzie Bruce.
• The NHS Digital Service Manual publishes new guidance about PDFs.
• How to measure content – Rachel McConnell.
• Readability formulas: 7 reasons to avoid them and what to do instead – UX Matters.
• Technical thread about cookies and tracker blockers from Serge Egleman.

Digital inclusion:

• “There are 14 million disabled people in the UK, and a billion worldwide, who continue to be shut out of the digital world in 2019.” Making tech accessible to everyone makes it better, end of. – Krissie Barrick. (See also PurpleTuesday.)
• Digital Inclusion: Bridging Divides – conference briefing – Farah Elahi.
• Monthly accessibility tip 1: Accessibility tips for social media – Helpful Digital.
• Monthly accessibility tip 2: watch this 34 minute webinar on website accessibility for lots of tips by Matt Saunders.
• Scope’s digital team on how brands can improve their online accessibility – eConsultancy.
• 7 users share their struggles navigating the (sometimes inaccessible) digital world – People for Research.
• Creating online environments that work well for older users – Smashing Magazine.

Fundraising

• Fundraising problems are organisational problems: It’s big and it needs a new approach – Wayne Murray.
• The top new digital ways people are donating to charities – lots of useful links from Charity Digital News.
• Top insights on Instagram Donate from WWF UK – Nicola Gee for Give Panel.
• Barriers to Giving Report – research into major donor giving by Barclays.
• Has your organisation got a policy for major gifts? If not, this ethical fundraising policy template hosted by Culture Hive might be a good place to start.
• Richard Sved live tweeted through 12 hours of the Fundraising Everywhere digital conference! What a star! Read his write-up of the day – start with Fundraising Everywhere part 1.
• Have you listened to Lemn Sissay’s Social Enterprise on Radio4? The series has looked at homelessness and giving to foodbanks so far.
• 14 essential tips to optimise your legacy marketing impact – Fundraiser.
• 5 things small charities can do to promote legacy fundraising – Dr Claire Routley
• What is the real reason you haven’t made your fundraising target this year? Simon Scriver made this handy excuse generator.
• News Flush updates shared Toilet Twinning’s successes on #WorldToiletDay.
• A tweet from Piers Morgan drives a huge surge in donations to Stop Funding Hate.

People and organisations

• How successful have charities been over the last few decades? Interesting read about the impact of charities from nfpSynergy. See also, the responses to this thread from NCVO’s Chloe Stables asking for examples of big things charities have achieved.
• The Emergencies Partnership launched, bringing large and small charities together in crisis.
• The National Emergencies Trust launched too – like a national DEC. “Working with local charities and distribution partners to ensure that financial support is delivered to those that need it the most.” Here’s more about NET.
• ActionAid UK has ‘unapologetically’ adopted feminist principles, says CEO – Civil Society. Read more from ActionAid’s former Chair, Patti Whaley in this Association of Chairs guest blog post.
• Love this thread from new Cancer Research UK CEO Michelle Mitchell sharing highlights from her first year.
• Refresh your feed with Tereza Litsa’s Twitter list of inspiring women to follow.
• Lead like an anthropologist – and lead change well – Deborah Rowland for LSE.
• Productivity challenges an issue for 87% of charity decision makers – UK Fundraising.
• In which purpose demolishes culture while culture is distracted eating strategy – Catherine Howe.
• From last year but worth re-sharing – Five ways charity communicators can emotionally protect themselves by Trina Wallace for Charity Comms.
• Two new articles added to the Charity Comms Wellbeing Guide.
• How do you solve a problem like a patron? – Civil Society.
• #ShiftThePower: from hashtag to reality – Open Democracy.
• The Being the Story Spokesperson Network has had a busy three months. Here’s an update from sounddelivery. And a link to the Being the Story podcast if you haven’t heard it.
• Three things humanitarian aid workers can learn from Queer Eye – Aid Reimagined on Medium.

Social media for leaders:

• How charity leaders can win at digital – Zoe Amar for Civil Society.
• Here is the list of the winners of this year’s #SocialCEOs awards.
• Polly Neate: Dealing with trolls – the downside of social media – Civil Society.
• A reminder that social media is not for everyone. Is social media worth it? asks Hayley Gullen.
• Why trustees need to be loud and proud on social media – #SocialCEOs judge Simon Blake for Civil Society about the rise of #ProudTrustee.
• How the Outward Bound Trust is helping its trustees go digital – Charity Digital News.

Climate

• 17 ways to make your website more energy efficient – Wholegrain Digital.
• Check the carbon footprint of your website and others – it’s not as hard as you think to be a climate crisis influencer – James Mullarkey.
• A great example of graphic journalism used to show how each political party prioritised climate issues in their manifestos.
• Why we are working on sustainable finance – WWF.
• British Red Cross reveals ten-year strategy focused on three big causes – Civil Society. “Adamson also set out an expectation that the charity would be carbon neutral by 2025, “in order to be credible”. This means reducing travel, using few resources and using technology effectively.”

And finally….

• Gymnastics with your dog.
• Celebrating holidays by rail.
• Did you know that you can buy customised maps from Ordnance Survey, with your own image on the cover?
• I was in The Metro (twice) with Wrap Up London.
• Excellent thread of Twitter accounts to follow to cheer your timeline, curated by Dan Slee.

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 and ideas injection.

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Did you miss October’s round-up? Catch up with more good reads!