Digital advent calendars – 2019

Here are some highlights from this year’s crop of digital advent calendars shared by charities, museums and other not-for-profits.

Fun and competitions

Ruby the Reindeer is visiting a familiar place behind each door of The Family Holiday Association’s website calendar. Your challenge is to name the places and rearrange the first letters of the answers into the title of a well-known song, in order to enter the competition.

Follow, like or share Deki’s advent tweets to be in with a chance of winning a mystery box of goodies! “Each box is filled with surprises and items that celebrate the vibrancy of the communities in Togo and what Deki means to our partners and staff.”

Stories

Bletchley Park are sharing photos of actual doors from their site and telling the stories from each of them. Check out their Instagram for stories from Hut 1 and the garage so far.

#iwill are posting stories which celebrate the difference young people are making across the UK. Check out the #iwill advent calendar.

Sharing learning

A wealth of information and learning from Fundraising Everywhere’s fab calendar shared in one handy thread. So far we have had Dana Kohava Segal on behaviour economics and Howard Lake on giant cheque pictures in press releases.

CIPR Not-for-Profit are also sharing learning through their calendar. They are promoting great resources and showcasing Christmas campaigns from the sector.

Fundraising

The National Literacy Trust are sharing details of a book recommendation each day. They asked top authors which book they would give as a gift to a child this Christmas. The tweet includes a text donation number to support their #GiftofReading campaign.

Cats Protection are sharing stories of cats in their care, with links to different ways you can sponsor a cat or support their work.

Others

• For the 12 days of Christmas, Dogs Trust are sharing 12 naughty and nice realities of owning a dog.
• See Christmas Differently through RNIB’s festive advent calendar.
• Hope Pastures have decorated stable doors and behind each is a pony with a story.
• The National Library of Scotland are running a advent calendar with an 80s theme. Rubiks Cubes, Tetris and Jackie magazine have featured so far. #AdventOf80s.
• Age UK Lincoln and South Lincolnshire are encouraging donations to their charity shop through their reverse advent calendar. Day 4’s challenge is to find something red.
• CRUK in Scotland are using a 12 Days of Christmas countdown to celebrate highlights from the year.
• Terence Higgins Trust are running a #12DaysofHIV to share some highlights from their year.
• People are sharing the stories of the charities behind each door of the Advent of Change paper calendar.
• Orkney Library are re-posting their best tweets of the year. Follow #OrkneyLibraryAdvent19 for some gems.

Seen any others? Let me know.

Join in

It’s not too late to join in. Last year many organisations ran 12 days of Christmas reveals in the dead-zone after Christmas. What a nice way to share positive stories from 2019 or calls to action for 2020.

See digital advent calendars – tips and examples.

Digital round-up – September 2019

Highlights this month: a lesson in crisis comms from RNLI, climate change comms, diversity in the sector, guide to wellbeing.

It’s overwhelming to try and keep up at the moment. Aside from UK and world news, this is a busy time of year for awareness days and campaign launches. Here’s a small snapshot of some of the best charity content and reads from this month and some from August too.

How to use this round-up: 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

Big campaigns

• Alzheimer’s Research UK launched a new video starring Samuel L Jackson as part of their #ShareTheOrange campaign. It’s all over social and has been viewed over a million times on Twitter. No mention of it on their homepage now World Alzheimer’s Month has finished though. The campaign has now been running for five years. ARUK also shared a behind the scenes film from the shoot.
• Clic Sargent shared this video about the cost of travel to treatment, as part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
• Peter Andre shared his experience of bullying at school as part of The Diana Award’s #Back2School campaign. More stories on the Back2School website.
• This one-minute film from Royal British Legion has powerful copywriting – They Still Go.
• The We Are Undefeatable campaign has been telling inspiring stories all month since it launched.
• Did you join in with Oxfam’s #SecondHandSeptember? They created some nice graphics and explainer content. Take the pledge.
• Guide Dogs shared this video of Ainsley Harriot to promote their My Guide Service.
• Dogs Trust shared this video (with very upsetting content) to mark 15 years of their Freedom Project, removing a barrier for families escaping from domestic abuse.

Creative content

• ‘Choose your own adventure’-type Twitter thread from Trussell Trust to raise awareness about Universal Credit and drive signups to their #5WeeksTooLong campaign.
• Twitter game from The Tower of London – can you escape The Tower?
• Time to Change shared a Moment of what people want you to know about suicide, for #WorldSuicidePreventionDay. They have also been sharing illustrations of what it is like to have mental health problems. This showing physical symptoms is very powerful.
• I like these short videos from Dogs Trust sharing fun games to play with your dog.
• Emergency services around the world got their kit out as part of the #TetrisChallenge. See examples from Tower RNLI, St John Ambulance and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
• 8.1k views for this London Fashion Week video from London Fire Brigade.

Reactive content

• A few charities live-tweeted along with the documentary about Jade Goody. This thread by Cancer Research UK did well.
• Word on the Curb did their own version of chicken box comms to tackle knife crime.
• Have you seen people changing their profile image to colourful stripes (eg Help Refugees)? Take a look at the #ShowYourStripes campaign.
• Some charities used #WorldPhotographyDay to share images from their work.
• Cakes rated by Macmillan.
• Reactive Error 404 messages from political parties (as discovered by Will Cardy).

Celebrity endorsement of the month: The Hoff visits RNLI Penarth.

Did your organisation do anything to join in with the #GlobalClimateStrike either by joining a strike or sharing messages of solidarity or making statement about your own organisation’s commitment to addressing climate change? On a day where there was a global focus on the issues, it was good to see some (mostly environmental charities) pulling out all the stops. It was disappointing to see so many others saying nothing. Here are some examples of charities who joined in with the #GlobalClimateStrike.

Comms

It can be stressful and relentless being on the comms frontline. Your work is key to building and protecting your organisation’s reputation and impact, while also battling internal pressures. This month, Charity Comms launched A wellbeing guide for comms professionals authored by Kirsty Marrins with contributions from others sharing case studies and tips. It aims to help build resilience and look after mental health. Do have a read if you haven’t seen it already.

This month, RNLI faced a backlash then a rush of support, following a story profiling their overseas work. Their messaging on Twitter was an example of patience and warmth. The volume of incoming comments was relentless through the week. They responded by writing personal messages to thousands of people. Their initial tweet has been liked 44.8k times.

I wrote a short thread through the first day as the situation developed including tweets of support from other charities. Dan Slee blogged with more examples and UK Fundraising showed some of the ways people challenged the press story.

What was striking about RNLI’s response was that they took ownership of the situation and proudly communicated their values and mission. For example they changed the image on their homepage (see above) and shared beautiful images from their overseas projects on social media. They also did lots to connect with new and established supporters (see this tweet from Shappi Khorsandi, a thank you email and a thank you video from Dave at Poole Lifeboat Centre).

Would you be ready to respond to a crisis comms situation?

Also this month:

• Here’s a lesson in how to communicate a rebrand! Great blog post by Vicky Browning of ACEVO. We want to change the world but how?
• Other rebrands this month from National Children’s Bureau and The Vitiligo Society.
• Beyond the font – How to use your brand refresh for fundraising; simple tips from the British Heart Foundation – CharityNikki.
• Is your charity’s brand future-proof? – nfpSynergy.
• “We are no longer in need of financial donations” – The Red Box Project starts winding down its operations.
• A message to your #5YearOldSelfie – insights from the successful campaign from Shirin Zaid of Young Minds. Here’s the #5YearOldSelfie launch tweet.
• Thread from Aimee Vance about the danger of seeing social media as a quick fix solution.
• Update from The Brain Tumour Charity about the success of their campaign to raise awareness in teenagers – Our Snapchat symptom campaign success continues.
• Afternoon Tea with Breast Cancer Care – campaign insights from Torchbox.
• Great thread of ideas from Richard Berks about sharing research insights internally. Could also be used as part of any buy-in process or internal roadshow.
• How charities can reach new audiences by live-tweeting TV shows – five different ways to join in, also by Richard Berks.
• Do you follow Joseph Freeman’s weekly updates?
• How to create a social media approval process for your charity – Lightful.
• Facebook tips for small and medium charities – webinar from CAF.
• Content is not king – is content marketing just filler asks Andrew O’Keeffe.
• Here’s what’s wrong with Content Marketing World (and what’s right for your content strategy) – wise words from Kristina Halvorson.
• Understanding 10 types of fake news – really useful post from Social Simulator.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

• Don’t Feed The Trolls – new report and advice.
• Listen to this Radio 4 programme about digital skills and the social divide created by the digital world. Dr Josie Barnard explores reasons why 22% of the population are being left behind. Digital Future: the new underclass.
• Lessons from the Charity Digital Code of Practice – Principle 4: Strategy – Zoe Amar for Charity Digital News.
• 7 cultures that digital needs to survive – Platypus Digital.
• 6 big questions charity digital leaders need to ask – Ross McCulloch for Charity Digital News.
• The Digital Practice work-stream’s first output: de-fragmenting digital maturity – The Catalyst.
• The best UK charities at digital service delivery – Charity Digital News.
• Five UK charities making the most of digital communications in 2019 – Charity Digital News.
• Monthly accessibility tip: Designing for accessibility – part 1 and designing for accessibility – part 2, useful tips about web design both from GOSS.
• How Virtual Reality is helping bridge the communication divide for people with autism – Charity Digital News.
• How charities can gather images ethically? – Rachel Erskine for Great Charity Speakers.
• Joe Freeman blogged: ‘I’m so bored of hearing about digital‘ on Charity Connect.
• Amazing work from suicide prevention organisations who have managed to influence so many digital platforms to automatically share content about prevention in response to keyword searches. This tweet from Ben Bowdler-Thomas shares some screenshots from Twitter, Facebook etc.

Fundraising

• Age UK partner with Cadbury in #DonateYourWords. 30p from every special Dairy Milk bar will be donated to Age UK.
• Paddington’s Postcards – subscription scheme from Unicef UK.
• 5 fundraising campaigns built on social media – Lightful.
• How reward and recognition schemes can motivate your fundraisers – JustGiving blog.
• Remember a Charity Week was 10 years old this year. Here are some examples of how charities joined in on social media. Legacy fundraising on social media.
• Time for action! Why we have to invest in sustainable legacy fundraising – 101 Fundraising. “Build inspiring legacy fundraising communication creating connection and trust. Do not get lost in technical or legal advice at the expense of inspiration.”
• How St Mungo’s used Pinterest to reach potential legators at the right time – Civil Society. Hayley Creasey shares their journey into online marketing for legacy fundraising.
• TOP 10 list of design mistakes I see in direct response over and over again – John Lepp for Agents of Good.
• The Blurt Foundation smashed their £35k crowdfunding target. Their long-read plea to help save Blurt was a great example in transparent and authentic comms. They did the same in a Twitter thread.
• Putting the story straight about Olive Cooke. Radio 4 programme Olive the Poppy Seller.
• Have you seen the IoF’s public perceptions of the fundraising profession report?
• New website and manifesto from #NonGraduatesWelcome.
• Donation boxes in museums – guide from Association of Independent Museums.
• The Tudor Trust mapped their grants against the UK areas of deprivation. [See the latest figures – English indices of deprivation 2019.]
• Get ready for #GivingTuesday (3 December) with these PDF toolkit guides.
• And don’t forget to say thank you on #YouMadeItHappen day next week – 11 October.

People and organisations

There has been lots shared this month about representation in the sector. Here’s a selection of useful reads and resources

• It’s time for us to recognise the barriers that BAME people face in the charity sector – Sushi Juggapah for Charity Digital News.
• HuffPost – charity workers share shocking incidents of racism.
• 70 per cent of CEOs at largest 100 charities are men – Civil Society
• #CharitySoWhite launched on Twitter.
• Practical steps towards a more diverse team – great post by Krislyn Tan for JustGiving.
• Inclusive recruitment toolkit – Snook.
• Salary and Organisational Culture Report – new report from Charity Comms based on 668 survey responses. Includes data about pay, diversity, career paths and attitudes towards comms staff. The report links to useful guides and includes a list of actions for staff, leaders and recruiters.

Also this month:

• Recruitment tips: from a candidate who’s been there – really useful insights for recruiters from Lara Burns.
• JRF’s new start for new starters — a user’s perspective – Hannah McCulloch. How does your induction process measure up?
• 5 excuses for not having young trustees – OSCR.
• Planning for tomorrow’s workforce – report from NCVO.
• Speaking up: How to manage introverts in your team – Matt Chittock for Charity Comms.
• Radio 4 programme about managing volunteers.
• NCVO launched the Trusted Charity Essentials Tool, a new online diagnostic toolkit for small charities to judge how well they are working and how to improve.
• Why our organisation is closing for an entire week – Simon Blake on MHFA England’s August shutdown.
• Did you see this year’s Independent’s Happy List 2019 which was released in August? And this response by Kirsty Marrins for The Independent – Here’s to all the small charities you’ve never heard of.

And finally….

Well done for getting to the end! Here’s some fun stuff.

• 2mins44sec video of Sandi Toksvig giving hugs on QI.
• Bored at your desk? Take a 10 second trip on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway.
• Or watch a Viennetta being made.
• Want a random page from 80s pop mag Smash Hits to pop up on your timeline?
• Joyful Soviet soldiers dancing to MC Hammer.
• Naughty goats have to wear pool noodles. Who knew?

Your recommendations and feedback

What did you read, watch or launch this month? Please share your recommendations in the comments.

Could you also tell me if these round-ups are useful. It takes quite a long time to put them together. How do you use the round-ups? Please share any feedback. Thanks!

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.

——

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

Digital round-up – November 2018

Highlights this month: #YouMadeItHappen, #GivingTuesday, Christmas campaigns, Charity Digital Code launched.

November is always a rich time for content with Giving Tuesday and Christmas appeals. This month it was also the first ever #YouMadeItHappen day. It was great to see so many large and small charities joining in by thanking their supporters and sharing detail of the impact they had made.

How to use this round-up: Pick and choose links to read, or open in new tabs for later. Or bookmark this post. Or, even better, subscribe and get future round-ups direct to your inbox.

Content

Christmas campaigns:

• Dogs Trust’s A Dog is for Life Not For Christmas video.
• Heart-warming video from Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
• RSPCA’s #KindnessAtChristmas video made in-house.
• Rethink partners with Virgin Trains in #ItsAWonderfulLine. Have you seen this in a station near you?
• Christmas isn’t cancelled in hospice Compton Care’s campaign. Get the tissues for this one.

Need more Christmas? See UK Fundraising’s collection of Christmas ads and my top 5 charity digital advent calendars.

Giving Tuesday:

• Reason Digital hosted an epic Twitter takeover representing nine different charities. People told their stories in a marathon effort.
• Nice thank you video from Marie Curie.
• Tiny Tickers’ appeal aimed to raise £750 to pay for one new pulse oximetry machine and ended up raising enough to pay for four. Tiny Tickers’ CEO Jon Arnold took over their Twitter account for an hour and later said that his fingers hurt at the end.
• There were a number of GT campaigns which focused on everyday acts of kindness. Lovely examples in this @ZurichVolSec Moment.
• More #GivingTuesday examples in this post from Lightful. And Blackbaud reports new #GivingTuesday record.

Also this month:

• Love Age UK’s #FridayFeeling tweets.
• This year the local government annual tweetathon, #OurDay generated 33k tweets and had a social reach of 26 million.
• There were some nice messages around for Black Friday as #BuyNothingDay, like this one from Herts Wildlife Trust.
• Access to Justice expert Philippa Budgen gathered examples of the crumbling court system as a follow-up to the coverage she secured in The Times.
• Dogs Trust marked the sudden death of their CEO with a thread about some of his achievements. It was also lovely to see so many other organisations responding to the news with their condolences.
• Another google search inspired piece of content from the Blurt Foundation. Can depression….?
• #SmallTalkSavesLives – new video from Samaritans.
• Can you lip read? asks Action on Hearing Loss. They also shared tips for navigating social situations when you have hearing loss.
• CRUK asks will you stand shoulder to shoulder with the NHS against cancer?
• The National Trust welcomed December with the sound of a robin.

Did you join in with #YouMadeItHappen day? The hashtag reached 5.4m people. Here are some highlights of YMIH 2018.

Twitter takeover of the month: Scope for International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Comms

• Kick-ass campaigning from Mind in this thread about Universal Credit and Esther McVey with 401k views and 5.5k likes. Here are the responses from The Trussell Trust and Gingerbread who were also mentioned.
• My charity is better for being open about failure writes Street League’s Matt Stevenson-Dodd.
• Breast Cancer Now and Breast Cancer Care shared merger news. Supporters received letters through the post on the same day the news was publicly announced.
• What’s wrong with young men? How awareness of charities changes for different demographics – new research about brand awareness from nfpSynergy.

Don’t forget to book your ticket for the Social Media Exchange in February.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

Following the consultation period, the Charity Digital Code has now officially launched. Do have a look if you haven’t already.

The Small Charities Coalition challenged Zoe Amar to explain it in three post-it notes. And in Charity Digital News she shares 7 things you can do in 30 minutes a day.

The Code advocates digital skills across staff and the board. This helpful infographic produced by Zoe Amar, Ellie Hale, Sally Dyson and Janet Thorne asks Do you need a digital trustee?

Also this month:

• Is your charity ready for digital transformation? 10 examples of non-profits doing it well from Electric Putty.
• Behind the National Trust’s historic digital roadmap – Charity Digital News checks in half way through their 10-year strategy.
• Unlocking success in digital transformations – McKinsey.
• This year’s Social CEOs winners. Hear more about them – How charity leaders are taking digital to the next level.
• The latest UK Business and Charity Digital Index from Lloyds Bank. Now in its fifth year.
• Monthly accessibility tip: check you instagram settings and add alt text. Instagram adds automatic image descriptions to assist visually impaired users – Social Media Today
• Is your charity ready for the fourth industrial revolution? asked Zurich for Charities.
• Ethics in service design. Adding value by adding values by Ben Terrett.
• Have you seen Nesta’s Share Town which explores a local government approach to user needs and service design?
• Good Design is Good Civics – transcript and podcast of the story of Boston Mayor’s Office’s app development.
• Write ups from Charity Comms’ Charity Digital conference from Kirsty Marrins and Eleanor Dean (plus these tweets from Joe Freeman). The slides and Wakelet are on the Charity Comms conference page.
• Charity Comms podcast: engagement wasn’t built in a day.
• Supporter journeys: The nut every charity wants to crack – NSPCC’s Digital Dunk.
• Top 5 tips to maximise your website traffic – DSC.
• 5 tips for getting the most out of your Google Ad Grant account – ACEVO.
• Social Media Analytics: how to measure success – Lightful.
• Check your data – But is it statistically significant?
• Seeing isn’t always believing: a deep dive into Deep Fake. Serious implications for trust in broadcasting.

Fundraising

JustTextGiving to close in March next year. Are you ready? (See also Figure for text donation plummets by £86m and donr announces text giving service.)

• Movember launches contactless fundraising badges – UK Fundraising.
• Big Issue partners with iZettle to bring contactless payments to vendors.
• Interesting insights into legacy fundraising in this Radio 4 programme – Inheritance: Give it up or pass it on?
• League table reveals top 20 charities for legacy considerers – UK Fundraising.
• Have you seen Jes Bailey’s crowdfunding platform decision flowchart?
• The Institute of Fundraising launched its Change Collective. Take the survey by 18 January to help benchmark diversity.

People and organisations

• Change to avert ‘catastrophic decline’ in individual giving, says WaterAid executive – Third Sector. Johnty Gray warns about the dangers of a risk-averse culture and old-fashioned corporate structures on innovation.
• How vInspired went from £50m to bust in less than ten years – Civil Society.
• New sector interactive data hub from SCVO.
• Slides from Charity Comms seminar on diversity and inclusion. Time to act: tackling diversity and inclusion in charity communications.
• Congratulations to the Charity Comms Inspiring Communicator Award winners.

And finally….

• Demolition of a huge chimney in Australia.
• The social psychology of female pedestrians.
• The UX of hotel rooms: 11 anti-patterns by Sharon O’Dea.
• Video of Danny Boyle’s Pages of the Sea.
• Twitter’s John Lewis ad.
• The Lord Flashheart mix from Blackadder. Genius!

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.

——

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

Digital round-up – June

June passed by in a blur of great weather, football fever and lots of great charity reads. Get an ice cream / cool drink and settle back to hook some juicy digital catches!

Warning – this is another bumper crop. 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. Enjoy!

Content

• Love this short animation from Dogs Trust sharing the headlines from their impact report.
• Fab World Cup content from RightsInfo – comparing human rights data for the teams playing each other. See here Morocco vs Iran.
• There was some powerful content shared for #RefugeeDay. Including this moving video from Children’s Society. And this list of 34,000 refugees who have died trying to get to Europe.
• Have you taken Time to Change’s mental health quiz?
• Public information film from Age UK about being scam aware.
• Engaging animation produced by CBBC’s Newsround with Centrepoint about homelessness in young people.
• Crisis launched their EverybodyIn campaign with a video and interactive comments map.

• Sometimes less is more. Like this 10-word Amnesty International UK tweet in response to Donald Trump. And this response to the announcement about leaving the Human Rights Council.
• This response to other US policies was very moving too. People shared images of their five year old selves imagining what it would have felt like to be separated from their families. Heartbreaking.
• The CoastGuard Team use minifigs to give important safety information. Here’s a 5s video which has had 57.3k views giving a warning about staying safe during Storm Hector.

• So much cuteness from charities to mark Bring Your Dog To Work Day!

Digital

• Find out why Kate Collins, CEO of Teenage Cancer Trust says that Twitter is an essential leadership tool. This is a great article to show to your non-digital CEO.
• And this video from Cambridge CVS on Why should your organisation embrace digital?
• Six small charities doing great thing with digital by Third Edge.
• How can employee advocacy boost brand marketing? eConsultancy. Does your charity encourage staff to be ambassadors on social media?
• The short guide for non-techies running digital projects in charities by John Dunford in Third Sector.
• User experience for small charities – video produced by CRUK with Small Charities Coalition for Small Charity Week.
• 23 quantitative and qualitative user research methods: a comprehensive guide – UserZoom.
• Future trends of the almighty email by Rebecca Brewer on JustGiving. Top tips and examples.
• Webcredible’s guide to designing for Voice and why it is important. And why the future of donations is Voice on UKFundraising. But hey Alexa, what are you doing to my kid’s brain?
• Is your charity ready for the age of automation? Beth Kanter for Lightful.
• Top tips from social media managers on Lightful.
• Have you ever used the Content Scoring Matrix Template from Edo?
• To take the next step on digital, we dropped the word ‘digital’ – how Citizens Advice is going ‘beyond digital’.
• Your monthly reminder about why you should NOT use ‘click here’ / ‘read more’ / ‘more info‘ in your links.
• Find a small charity in your area with Olly Benson’s Small Charity Roulette tool. Genius!

In case you missed it Brathay Trust: a lesson in crisis comms.

Teams and ways of working

• Be a better cross functional team member, with these 5 ways to build your confidence by James Gadsby Peet.
• How to build your digital skills – lots of tips from Louise of NSPCC in the Digital Dunk.
• 5 tips for remote working by Leanne Griffin for the CRUK tech blog. This is a brilliant read!
• 10 things I’ve learnt about being freelance in 4 and a half years – great tips shared for National Freelancers Day by Angelica Malin.
• Looking after social can be a tough job. So should you ask your social media manager if they are ok? by Thea Neal.
• Do you know about the comms2point0 comms job description model. Really useful if you are thinking about the skills you are looking for in a new member of staff.

Mind your language

Suicide has been in the news a lot recently. Here are some guides to writing about it responsibly.

• This quick read guide is based on guidelines produced by Samaritans and Mind.
• Samaritan’s guidelines for talking about suicide.
• This opinion piece in The Pool argued that the reporting following Kate Spade’s death was a masterclass in how not to report suicide.
• Samaritan’s guide to helping someone who is feeling suicidal.

Events

• Catch up with the slides from Charity Comms’ Psychology of Communications conference. See also this post from Kate Brennan-Rhodes ahead of the event – To change behaviour, you need to look beyond the obvious.
• YoYoPresents was an event about digital transformation. Here’s a thread shared by Kirsty Marrins covering the presentation given by Woodland Trust. And a Wakelet (Storify replacement) by Graham Manuel-Jones.
• 5 take aways from the PR Week Crisis Conference.

Fundraising

• Are charity subscription boxes the new trend in regular giving? Kirsty Marrins looks at products offered by Scope, Mind and the Blurt Foundation.
• 4 ways to use digital to retain donors – Matt Collins for JustGiving.
• Plan International UK pilots project to transform child sponsorship communications on UKFundraising.
• Did your charity run any World Cup fundraising? Here is a selection in my World Cup Moment. And others in a UKFundraising round-up.
• How JustGiving crowdfunding went from an idea to £100m in five years by Jonathan Waddinton.

More

• What can we learn about micro acts of aggression? This article on The Conversation is worth reading. Discrimination against fat people is so endemic, most of us don’t even realise it is happening.
• Long thread about the many ways those ads follow you round the internet.
• nfpSynergy report on focus groups quotes about annual reports and accounts. Top tip: include a summary page.

And finally….

• The search is over for the best / worst office stock photo! While you are looking for your stock pictures, keep an eye out for the ‘shocked girl’!
• Scary / amazing data visualisations – all the flights on one day.
• A beatboxing Starling courtesy of BBC’s SpringWatch.
• A skateboarding bird!
• I love this thread about being a good listener by @sacraparental.
• The question you have always wanted answering – what would my favourite horror films look like with Paddington in them?
• Love this film of clips about computers from the BBC archive.

 

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 digital copywriting, 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.

——

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

 

 

 

Digital round-up – May

In the month that we were all swamped in GDPR emails and RNLI and Dog’s Trust were responding to endless negative comments following misreported press stories, there were lots of great reads. Pull up a comfy chair and catch up with some great charity content and digital reads you might have missed from May 2018.

Warning – you may need longer than a tea break to catch up. 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. Enjoy!

Digital

Useful resources and reads if you are working on digital projects, thinking about future technologies or just getting on with your everyday digital tasks:

• Build the right thing in the right way – 10 design principles to help charities build better digital services by CAST.
• Super useful conversation menu produced by CAST. Use these prompt questions when starting digital projects.
• A guide to agile communication by Giles Turnball.
• Have you seen SCVO’s beta Digital Check-up tool?
• Key findings from the LBG Consumer Digital Index. And the full Consumer Digital Index report 2018.
• 8 free digital tools for small NGOs – useful list from Thomas Worley at BOND.
• CAF’s Future:Good project.
• The highs and lows of social media marketing in 2018 (eConsultancy).
• 6 steps to create a persona that drives your marketing (Social Media Today).

Inspiration from other organisations getting stuck into digital:

• Going digital is bloody difficult by Adam Koszary of MERL.
• Small charities smashing it with digital – Mandy Johnson blogs for JustGiving. Includes 5 top tips and examples.
• Research into the impact of health tracking following chemotherapy and about Anthony Nolan’s My Transplant Tracker app.

New websites / rebanding:

• New website from MS Society.
• New website from Alzheimer’s Society.
• About the rebrand and new website by Canal and River Trust. New Canal and River Trust website too.

Events:

• Becca Peter’s notes from the Charity Comms Engaging Digital conference.
• Doing more with less: tips for busy communicators. Slides from the CharityComms seminar.

Content / comms channels

• Why your content wants to be bad. Love this post by Jack Garfinkel of Scope about the impact of bad processes.
• How the British Red Cross revamped its website from 4000 pages to 400 (eConsultancy).
• How to position your brand as a knowledge centre through content (eConsultancy). Many charity websites are already ‘knowledge centres’ but is your knowledge the type and in the right format for your audience? Are you the go-to for your subject or are your peers or non-charity competitors doing it better?
• How to spot the passive voice in your writing using monkeys. Simples!
• Investing in a content strategy leads to better ROI with video. Video content benchmark report by Raw London on Charity Comms.
• How to write a video brief – tips from video agency Magneto Films.
• Best practice guide to Facebook by Kirsty Marrins for Lightful.
• What I learnt about impact in Oxford by Richard Sved.
• Your monthly reminder to caption your images on social.
• Talking about poverty in the UK – what works? JRF share a 10-step guide based on research by the FrameWorks Institute. See also this thread from a Universal Credit sufferer which got 4k likes and kick-started some #FoodBankChallenge action.
• Crisis also worked with FrameWorks to research attitudes to homelessness. Reframing homelessness in the UK (PDF).

ICYMI – I updated my 2013 post about trustee / staff pages on charity websites with new best practice and examples. How does your site match up?

Fundraising

• Charities have a problem with men according to a CAF report (UK Fundraising). Includes questions and a flatpack fundraising guide to address the issues. Handy!
• The landscape for grantmaking in 2043. Slide share of predictions by Rhodri Davies of CAF.
• Solo fundraising: how to make it work for your charity – Julia Pitman on CharityComms.

Working with people

• A letter to my extroverted boss, from an introvert by executive coach Emma Taggart.
• Measuring wellbeing – free tools for charity use (UK Fundraising).
• Tweets about stress for #MentalHealthAwarenessDay. (And did you see this film of Michael Rosen talking about how drawing helped him following the death of his son?)
• Why is flexible working not mainstream asks Kirsty Marrins.
• Similar questions about trust and good management from Kate Brennan-Rhodes in this thread.
• And this by Madeleine Cassidy on Charity Connect about the mental health of people in the charity sector – The elephant in the room.
• Stop. CollaboRaise and Listen by Lisa Clavering.
• If charities really want to be more diverse, then they need to change by Kirsty Weakley in Civil Society.
• Debunking Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (BPS).
• Results of the ProCopywriters Survey 2018.
• Some brilliantly inspiring people on this year’s Alternative Rich List.

Great content

• What’s the difference between a healthy brain and one with Alzheimer’s? Engaging video from ARUK.
• Marine Conservation Society use a shocking image to prompt petition signings about single use plastic.
• Have we forgotten how to make friends asks the Campaign to End Loneliness.
• Cheeky Question Time tweet from Shelter.
• Live scenes of hay fever at Asthma UK.
• Love the pantone colour matching tweets from National Library of Scotland.
• Refugee Action campaign.
• NCVO’s nifty animation showing highlights from the Almanac.
• There was lots of activity for #ChildrensHospiceWeek. Also for #DyingMatters week (though there was no Moment or news round-up to link to, to show you).
• Instead watch this cute video and song from Dog’s Trust.

Plus there was lots of nice content around for the Royal Wedding, such as this knitted couple from Age UK and this blue blood image from NHS Give Blood.

This Royal Wedding Moment contains lots of fundraising related fun from large and small charities. Great examples of how to join in with a feel-good event.

Strawberry Social even did a comprehensive thread of an A-Z of Royal Wedding tat which should have got more likes than it did.

See also

• Love this visualisation of the T&C’s of different apps.
• Nice buttons and dials from Present and Correct.
• Gammon People (not) by Pulp in a thread.
• Sick of hearing about the floss but not actually sure what it’s all about? This handy guide by TES for teachers so they can keep up with the kids, is for you!
• Scan paintings with a new app at the National Gallery.
• How to build a fly stimulator and annoy little girls.
• 279k likes for this cool interaction between biker and bus driver.

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 digital copywriting, 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 April’s round-up? Catch up with more good reads!

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Great #IWD2018 content

More than ever today, my timeline is wonderfully filled with messages celebrating brilliant women and highlighting women’s projects and causes.  It is International Women’s Day (#IWD2018) so here’s my pick of the top content around.

Fundraising for women’s charities

Bloody Good Period encouraged us to give a sister a leg-up by donating to their Amazon wishlist.

Richard Herring did his annual ‘Why isn’t there an International Men’s Day?’ response marathon to raise money for Refuge. At one stage during the day, new donations were being every added every ten seconds. The £50k target was hit around lunchtime, and £100,000 by the early evening. The final total is now almost £150k + Gift Aid!

There were lots of fundraising activities on the day. This reproduction of this suffragette poster from 1906 is being sold to support the campaign for a statue of Mary Woolstonecraft.

The Huffington Post ran an article about donating to women’s charities.

Celebrating brilliant women

There are thousands of tweets giving shout-outs to fabulous women. Imandeep Kaur’s thread, showcasing women in her life stood out. Using one tweet per person and a stonking photograph, she explains what the woman has achieved and why they are amazing.

Lots of charities celebrated their women founders and / or the stories of prominent women. For example, see Sue Ryder, The Woodland Trust, Leonard Cheshire, RSPCA, Maggie’s Centres, Battersea Dogs and Cats and British Red Cross.

And there were a number of posts introducing some of the women I admire working in the sector today. See CharityJob’s Sheroes, Kirsty Marrins’ post from last year and Lightful’s 6 phenomenal women leading the way.

Fighting for equality

City, University of London asked why there aren’t more expert women featured on the news with this nifty animation they shared on Twitter sharing research from Professor Lis Howell.

The NY Times admitted that its obituaries have been dominated by white men. They have responded with a series called Overlooked.

UNICEF produced this simple animation calling on a world where every woman and girl feels safe.

It’s worth watching the #FreedomForGirls video produced by Global Goals if you haven’t seen it already.

This interactive timeline of women’s rights and gender equality over the past 100 years from Southbank Centre has been released as part of their WOW festival.

Women’s projects

Great coverage for this Women in Sheds Age UK project in Loughborough.

Some charities you wouldn’t particularly expect to have an story for IWD, used the opportunity to share stories about their work. For example Dog’s Trust shared information about their Freedom Project.

And Crisis shared research about the impact of homelessness on women in a short video.

Inspiring messages

‘Be a role model for the sort of woman you want your children to be’. Wise words in this video from Age UK showing a discussion between Shirley Meredeen and Lynne Ruth Miller.

Grow old disgracefully – I love this from the Campaign to End Loneliness.

What did you spot?

This was just a small fraction of all the tweets, videos, campaigns shared for IWD18. What did you see or produce which particularly stood out? Do share your highlights in the comments.

See also:

• UK Fundraising’s #IWD18 round-up
• Lightful’s Twitter Moment packed with loads of examples
• Mandy Johnson made a Twitter Moment of Richard Herring’s International Men’s Day reply tweets.

Can I help you?

Get in touch if I can help you with digital copywriting, content planning, training or strategy. I work with charities of all shapes and sizes. Can I help give your comms or digital processes a healthcheck and ideas injection?

 

Digital round-up – Jan/Feb 18

In case you missed them, some of the best reads on crisis comms, digital strategy and charity content from last month.

Crisis comms

Charities have been in the headlines ever since the start of the year (Oxfam, President’s Club, Oxfam again, Jo Cox Foundation). There’s lots we can learn from these events in terms of how we need to respond to a crisis and rebuild trust.

• This from Jon Ware about involving the social team in crisis comms is excellent – Is your social media response helping during a crisis?
• And this about what it is like to be inside a major crisis by Outrageous Impact.
• Plus this – after Oxfam, charities are no longer untouchable by Vicky Browning of ACEVO – in which she tackles the public call for charities to be transparent while resenting money spent on admin.

Read, then review your crisis comms plan. Does it include the right people? Have you got clarity about the messages? Do they work across all channels? Have staff done media training? Are there enough people with social media skills to be able to respond to comments? (NB Oxfam put a call-out to staff for help and drafted in 40 colleagues to help with front-line messaging.)

It’s worth noting that it’s not just Oxfam who have been effected by this story. NCVO have been working tirelessly to share safeguarding best practice and represent the sector in media interviews.

Digital skills, design and strategy

• Dr Simon Davey says that charities can no longer be digitally defiant and argues that digital doesn’t have to be difficult.
• Read about the digital journey of Parkinson’s UK.
• The digital team at CRUK’s blog is a good read. Find out about their approach to user centric digital learning and development.
• Test. Test. Test. You are not the user. A useful reminder about the false consensus effect from NN group.
• Macmillan’s Senior Digital Editor, Rebecca Cryan, talks about accessibility audits.
• Seb Baird from Time to Change shared insights from this year’s #TimeToTalk day in which they shared over 40 pieces of unique content across different social channels.
• Benchmark your stats with the new (subscription needed) Charity Comms Digital Benchmark! Based on data from 46 charities.

Content

#WorldCancerDay is a big day for lots of health charities. Macmillan launched this lovely #LittleActsOfKindness video. I really liked the way they displayed the subtitles.

In addition to the usual fundraising and bad poems, there were some harder-hitting Valentine’s Day charity comms. None quite as cringy as the DWP’s festive message though thankfully.

Other charities joined in with #TimeToTalk day. This gentle video from the Mental Health Foundation makes us think about answers to ‘how are you?’

How can you use your archive to connect with topical stories? There were lots of charities marking the 100 years since (some) women got the vote. Age UK told the story of one of its founders Eleanor Rathbone.

I am a sucker for maps and data. These examples of (non-charity) content marketing campaigns using maps could give food for thought. How can you use your data to tell a bigger story?

This blind Twitter user’s plea which has now had 179k likes seems to have done so much more to raise awareness about image accessibility than any charity or Twitter themselves. Have you changed your settings? This guide to getting alt text right is a must-read if you are new to describing images.

Good to see Doncaster Council’s Chief Executive maintaining the gif standards in her comms.

And finally…

• Never swallow a bombardier beetle. Urgh!
• Take a moment to appreciate police dog Max’s hair.

What did I miss?

I spent January doing an interim comms manager role as well as going to BarCampNFP and SMEX18 so might have missed other good stuff. What did you read / watch / produce this month? Please do share.

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Did you miss November 2017’s round-up? Catch up with more good reads!

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