Good gifts 2020

Times are tough. Lockdown 2, darker nights, grim Covid predictions and more uncertainty means we all need a boost. Last week (mid-October) I talked so someone who had already put up her Christmas tree. Mince pies have already been in the shops for a while. This year Christmas will be different but there are lots of ways it can still be special.

Now is a good time to find interesting, fun and ethical gifts for your loved ones. Here are some suggestions about how you can use your Christmas budget to support local businesses, social enterprises, museums and charities. They need your support more than ever.

Buy good gifts

• Oxfam’s online charity shop is an amazing source of unique items if you are looking for a gift. You can search by price to fit your budget.
• Many larger charities have online shops selling new gifts.
  – RSPB have a listing of stocking filler gifts (I love these Pigeon Post notelets).
  – Cancer Research UK have gifts for Secret Santa.
  – Samaritans have gifts for under £10.
  – NSPCC have gifts for kids and grown-up kids. (These bear baby socks are super cute!)
  – Woodland Trust have lots of eco-friendly and nature gifts. (See this Poos and Clues Swatch book.)
• Some have more limited ranges only selling cards and a few special items. Take a look at Shelter’s range of chocolate bars.
• Some charities have subscription packages which might make nice gifts. For example Art from Crisis. The Blurt Foundation have lots of different packages including a daily dollop of kindness at £5 per month.
• NEW! Hundreds of charity fairs across the country have had to cancel. The Charity Fairs Assocation lists lots of them, links to sites where you can shop online, and has a central directory of sellers too. See also Online Christmas Fair.
• There are lots of brilliant museum shops which would welcome your business. Try Turner Contemporary Margate and BALTIC Gateshead, Art UK and Museums Shops. Top finds include:
  – Benny’s Babbies poster print by Cold War Steve from BMAG for the Brummie in your life
  – an absolute unit tea towel from MERL (via Art UK)
  – a ‘Citizen not Subject’ mug from Bristol Museums
  – stylish facemasks (see Fitzwilliam’s greetings cards too of masterpieces wearing face coverings)
  – a child’s knitted knight hat from Historic Royal Palaces
  – snazzy (tartan) socks from National Museums Scotland.
• Memberships can be good gifts and can support environmental, arts and heritage organisations. Try the National Art Pass or become a friend of your local gallery or theatre. For example, The Tower Theatre in Hackney or the Wharf Theatre Devizes which has a youth member option. Join the Ramblers or become a member of the YHA. 
• Buying books? Don’t use A****n, use Bookshop.org, the new online store supporting local, independent bookshops.
• Radical Tea Towels have a great selection of tea towels, calenders, wash bags and masks. They give donations to related causes. Didn’t know you needed a Women’s March oven mit?
• Is there a directory of local businesses in your area or a social media account which is helping to promote them (like @shopSE19 in Crystal Palace, London)? Shop and follow them where you can.
• Find something unique via Etsy the online marketplace for thousands of artists and craftspeople.
• Not a charity but this was one of the best presents I bought last year – custom OS maps. Select the area you want (finally a way to stop the curse of the important bit being on the edge or fold), add your own cover image and text. Tis a thing of beauty.
• The Ethical Superstore has thousands of Fairtrade, organic and eco-friendly gifts to suit all budgets.
• The Fairtrade Foundation has useful lists too – such as where to buy fairtrade flowers.
• NEW! Buy Me Once lists durable products. Look here for your forever umbrella.
• Check out Social Enterprise UK’s Buy Social Directory and their 2020 gift guide.

Sign up to sites like Easy Fundraising and The Giving Machine to generate donations to your favourite charities while you shop online. If you are running a Secret Santa, use the Giving Machine’s Secret Santa generator to make it easy.

Buy a gift for someone else

Support a seasonal gift charity campaign (more to come as they launch).

• Donate £10 to support Book Trust’s annual campaign. “Christmas won’t be magical for every child.”
• Be Secret Santa for a child in need via Stipey Stork, a Surrey based babybank.
• Help a child deprived of an education with a school bag and its contents for £20 via charity School in a Bag. You can track the bag to see exactly where it’s gone.  
• NEW! Choose Love. Buy gifts for refugees from £5. Includes emergency blankets, hot food parcels and language and skills support. Here’s the Choose Love this Christmas social campaign.  
• Help Little Village find the perfect gift for 1000 children in London this year. Buy a gift voucher from £5.
• Does your local charity have a wishlist? Support them by buying items they need. For example, the Crisis Skylight in Newcastle has biscuits, face masks and gloves on their Amazon wishlist.
• This year there are 17 Xmas Dinner projects around the country, supporting care leavers. Each is fundraising and many have wishlists for gifts. Find one near you.
• Oxfam Unwrapped – gifts from £5. 
• NEW! Adopt a word from the Ministry of Stories to support the next generation of storytellers. Flummery and moonglade are still available….

Spread Christmas cheer

Why not pool your funds and do something bigger as a team or family?

• Reserve someone a place at Crisis at Christmas for £28.22.
• Buy a safety kit or actual bike for a refugee via The Bike Project.
• Support NSPCC’s services by buying one of their Big Little Gifts (£25-£60). You could also support them through their Letter from Santa for £5.
• Twin your loo via Toilet Twinning for £60. Or twin your bin from £45.
• Is there a local toy collection or food bank you could contribute to?

There are also countless fundraising appeals, virtual Christmas jumper days and Reverse Advent Calendar campaigns which you could get involved with.

What are you doing?

Are you planning a Zoom Secret Santa or a lockdown Christmas kitchen party? How are you planning to boost morale and spread some festive cheer this year? I’d love to know. Please share in the comments.

See also…

• Buying an advent calendar – get an Advent of Change one which supports 48 causes.
• NEW! Is your company or community’s Christmas party cancelled? See Xmas Party Heroes for an alternative way to spend the budget. Pledge your saved costs to a charity of your choice. 
• NEW! 5 ways you can still make this Christmas special – Oxfam.
• Have a greener Christmas. Take a look at Oxfam’s Green Christmas to-do list (from 2019) for lots of tips.
• NEW! Shop local – Shop Birmingham. Great gift guide sharing loads of links to Birmingham’s independent traders by BabAboutTown.

Charity digital advent calendars – tips and examples if you are running a digital calendar for your charity or community.

Disclaimer: all links included in this post are examples and intended for guidance only. Inclusion does not constitute an endorsement. Please do your own research before making purchases.

Digital round-up – September 2020

Highlights this month: charity content showing the impact of the pandemic, comms fatigue, anti-racism within the sector.

Now that the kids are back at school and I have a bit more time, I thought I’d reinstate a round-up. Here are some of the highlights I spotted last month. With so much going on at the moment, it is impossible to keep up with everything. I hope this helps fill some of the gaps. Until next month…. (fingers crossed).

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

• NSPCC showed how their support for children continued throughout the pandemic.
• Interesting research from the Natural History Museum and partners on impacts the coronavirus pandemic had on nature.
• The Ramblers (The grass isn’t greener for everyone) and Friends of the Earth (Access to green space in England. Are you missing out?) both released reports about access to green space.
• PDSA give gold award to Magawa the rat.
• #ProtectAGeneration film and campaign from Save The Children.
• What it’s like to call a mental health helpline – Young Minds.
• Our impact is your impact say British Red Cross.
• Vision Foundation shared stories of the experience of blind Londoners during lockdown. This is Mary’s story.
• Doncaster Council tried to raise spirits with this thread about accepting the passing of time.
• There was a rumour that Art Attack’s Neil Buchannon was Banksy. Sussex Wildlife Trust shared some of his photos.
• This video of Whirligig beetles, also shared by Sussex Wildlife Trust, is mesmerising!
• Twitter thread from Trussell Trust sharing new data about the scale of food bank use.
• Crisis’ autumn appeal was co-created with their members.
• Also love this video celebrating the reopening of Crisis’ London Skylight cafe.
• There was lots of great content shared for #HeritageOpenDay. I liked this video made by 10 year-old Mollie giving a tour of a Martello Tower in Felixstowe.

Charities have sadly been announcing cost-cutting and redundancies. Here are a few examples of messages direct from CEOs sharing the news with their supporters and users. This is difficult content to write. Sharing the news like this rather than as a press release or news story is much more personal and powerful.

• We won’t stop, can’t stop, being there for young people with cancer – Kate Collins of Teenage Cancer Trust.
• A truly difficult decision… Lynda Thomas of Macmillan.
• Reducing the size of Blood Cancer UK – Gemma Peters.

See also: Martin Houghton-Brown: ‘St John Ambulance saw its income dry up, and we went to the NHS and offered to help’ – Civil Society.

Comms

• Changed trends: As we’ve moved out of lockdown in 2020 how we’re using the media has changed again – Dan Slee shared data from OfCom.
• It’s time to sort out our Social Dilemma – Tereza Litsa.
• Pandemic sparks rise in digital activism – UK Fundraising.
• COVID COMMS #29: People are getting bored of repeated messages… so how do we now communicate them? Dan Slee looks at the data from public sector comms.
• How to find the right language – understanding the language your audience uses will help bring them closer to your charity says Dr Richard Berks.
• Good writing for the web – video session with Rosie McIntosh of Third Sector Lab | The Curve. Includes top tip (as shared on Twitter by Amy Westendarp) for writing in the active rather than passive voice: if you can put “by zombies” onto the end of your sentence it’s the passive.
• Tips and resources for creating film remotely for less – Jake Smith for Charity Comms.
• How to actually use YouTube as a social media channel – useful tips from Tallie Proud.
• Which gifs are beyond their sell-by date? Good question asked by Wayne Murray.
• Three simple changes that will refresh your charity’s Instagram channel – Joanna Storer of Sightsavers for Charity Comms.
• Supporting charities to influence – links and toolkits from Lloyds Bank Foundation.
• Give yourself permission to be creative | Ethan Hawke.

Planning ahead for your Christmas content? It may be a good year to be creative and share some joy. Take a look at this from the archive for some ideas – Nonprofit digital advent calendars – tips and examples.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

• Fix the Digital Divide – campaign from Good Things Foundation.
• Charities in need: the state of website performance in the third sector – YouTube launch of BIMA’s report. Fill in this form to get the report.
• How charities can use digital to build back better during COVID-19 – Dan Sutch and Zoe Amar.
• Reporting inaccessible websites toolkit from RNIB following EU legislation which came into force requiring all public sector websites to be accessible.
• Have you got an accessibility statement on your website? This 42 minute video from Content Design London explains common fails.
• A guide to using subtitles, captions and transcripts for accessibility – The Big Hack.
• See also #DontRemoveYoutubeCCs: Community captions ‘benefit everyone’ – BBC news story.
• Free guide to running digital events for heritage organisations by Heritage Open Days.

Fundraising

• Art from Crisis – new subscription package sharing members’ artwork.
• How Covid-19 changed the way we give to charities – Reason Digital.
• COVID or climate emergency: what really impacted your fundraising in 2020 and how to plan for success – Open.
• “How much will you raise?” The importance of benchmarking and return on investment data – Richard Sved
• Mystery shopping finds ‘basic mistakes’ in legacy communications at top charities – Civil Society and full Legacy Inspire report available from Legacy Foresight.
• Thread of how Esmee Fairbairn responded to the pandemic.

People and organisations

I was very sad to hear the news that John Popham had died. He was a real trail blazer for digital in the sector and beyond. It was lovely to see such a huge response to the news with so many people sharing stories of how John had inspired them. #BeMoreJohn

• #ShowTheSalary launched this month. Here’s their story so far.
• Pay and Equalities Survey 2020: the key findings – ACEVO.
• Has covid stopped charities working on their responses to the climate emergency or has it been a catalyst for change? My post on #GlobalClimateStrike 2020.
• Anticipating and managing risk tips from a three year-old – Beth Crackles.
• Seven ways Shelter is dismantling racism.
• Learning to be bold and brave – our diversity journey. Charity People.
• Why BAME ain’t the same – Campaign.
• #PolicySoWhite – Kristiana Wrixon for Charity So White.
• How to be an anti-racist brand – on-demand session from Charity Comms.
• The Kruger Report: the start of a serious conversation about charities and volunteering – NCVO.
• Volunteering: a family affair? Our research findings – NCVO.
• Top tips on keeping mentoring relationships going virtually – Charity Comms.
• Pressure of work takes its toll on social media managers’ health – PR Moment.
• Joe Jenkins of The Children’s Society shared a LinkedIn post explaining what the organisation was doing to recognise the stress that colleagues have been working though. There were lots of interesting comments from others sharing what their organisations were also doing.
• We’re all exhausted. It’s six months into a crisis. Useful thread explaining why by Dr Aisha Ahmad. And this one about being kind to yourself and colleagues as we move into darker, colder months WFH by Olivia Butterworth.

<Feel the cold? Get a heatpad. Heat yourself, not your room / home. It’s cheaper and greener and warmer. Sorry if you have heard this a hundred times! Have been banging on about this for ages.>

And finally….

• “Who do you think would win out of a lion, a hippopotamus and a rhino??” Sir David Attenborough answers questions from children. Love this!
• Stunning footage of a cycling race.
• Mosaic cat portraits on pavements in Brussels.
• Dean Burnett shared stories of his cat Pickle.
• There were lots of alternative versions of the back to the office Dettol adverts.
• Stag beetle vs giant robot stag beetle.
• Quintin Lake walked round Great Britain over five years. His final leg included the notorious and dangerous Broomway. He was lucky to do it on such a stunning day.

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.

——

Digital round-up – April 2020

Highlights this month: covid content, covid comms, covid language battles, covid fundraising, covid-driven digital services, covid burnout.

Well, March was intense. April was the same, but different. Now we are in May, it feels like a good time to review and reflect on the month just gone. This round-up, like most of the comms this month, is 98% coronavirus. Here are some gems you might have missed. Stay safe everyone.

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 and digital fundraising

At the start of the pandemic in March, comms was focussed around hand washing and protecting vulnerable groups. As we moved into April, fundraising appeals, digital fundraising and lockdown coping strategy content emerged. It has been really inspiring to see so many creative campaigns turned round so quickly and made from home.

• “During the lockdown, mothers in the UK are providing at least 50% more childcare as well as spending around 10% to 30% more time than fathers home schooling their children” – Observer article. The Fawcett Society’s #MakeWomenVisible campaign says that the crisis is having a devastating impact on women and girls and is making nine demands.
• Charity So White report on the impact of covid19 on BAME communities. It establishes five key principles to guide the charity sector’s response.
• The NHS is reporting a big drop in cancer referrals. CEOs of big cancer charities recorded a shared message – #HelpUsHelpYou and some charities shared their symptoms comms (see Pancreatic Cancer UK and Bowel Cancer UK).
• Kindness will keep us together – moving advert from British Red Cross.
• Citizens Advice shared insights into how their advisors are giving #AdviceAtHome.
• Virtual fundraising ideas from Mind.
• There are lots of quizzes. See these from Mayhew, Compton Care, Marie Curie and Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Quizzy – Sooty hosts a quiz for RNIB.
• Age UK are asking supporters to overdress.
• Some great reactive comms from Royal Academy and Wellcome Collection in response to Trump’s thoughts about bleach.
• Doncaster Council are great at using Twitter threads. Here they tell the parable of Back to the Future to teach us lessons about staying safe through a pandemic.
• April Fools from National Trust – how they are helping squirrels to find their nuts.
• Do hashtags and petitions actually work? Nice explainer from Greenpeace UK.
• #NoHookUps during a pandemic say Terence Higgins Trust (“That means w**king has never been more important. So go on – do it for yourself to help protect others). Take the Pleasure Pledge and get your kicks elsewhere.
• Sometimes we just need a hug – WWF.
• Choose your own adventure style thread from RNIB raising awareness of how hard it is for blind and partially sighted people to shop and observe social distancing.
• Domestic abuse isn’t always physical – Refuge
• Worried about your mortgage explainer from Shelter.
• FAQs thread about foodbanks – The Trussell Trust. See also stats on foodbank use in the first two weeks of the pandemic.
• Life under lockdown in a Syrian refugee camp – Oxfam.
• The National Emergency Trust has been showcasing some of the charities it has supported, like Made in Hackney.
• Not a charity, but Hassan Akkad who spoke at Being the Story, is sharing beautiful photos on Twitter of colleagues at the hospital where he is working as a cleaner. This is Sandra.

Most charities have built covid information hubs on their websites, very quickly writing lots of new content to meet the needs of their audience. These hubs are generally prominently linked from homepages and in some cases appear as a new item on top-level navigation. Here’s a selection:

• Full Fact
• NSPCC
• Rethink
• Scope

Comms

• Why we shouldn’t use war metaphors to talk about healthcare – Ruth Hannan for RSA. See also The horror of coronavirus is all too real. Don’t turn it into an imaginary war – Marina Hyde and The case against waging ‘war’ on the coronavirus – Yasmeen Serhan.
• Talking about coronavirus and poverty: a guide to framing your messages – JRF.
• Framing homelessness during coronavirus (PDF) – Crisis.
• More covid framing resources from Frameworks Institute.
• Why the #ClapForMeNow video is unhelpful – a thread by Dr Ameen Kamlana.
• What putting a human face on ‘Stay home, stay safe, protect the NHS’ actually looks like – Dan Slee.
• Engagement strategies for charities: top takeaways from the Charity Comms conference. Are you suffering (or causing) infobesity – digital clutter and information overload. See also: Hearing from the sector: audience engagement during and beyond the pandemic by Sarah Fitzgerald.
• Impact of COVID-19 on charity communications – Media Trust and Charity Comms survey results from 219 responses.
• Helping senior colleagues to get started on social media – timely advice from Alasdair Dick.
• What to do with completed research project webpages – advice for research charities from Richard Berks.
• Carers UK won film of the year at the Charity Film Awards. The CFA awards ceremony was streamed online and brilliantly presented by the CFA team.
• Has your charity made its own Zoom background? This UK Fundraising article explains how. Charities – how to make a Zoom background for your supporters. Missing the tube? Check out these backgrounds from TfL. And these from Fundraising Everywhere. And these gems from BBC empty TV show sets.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

• One in three charities has cancelled services due to lack of digital skills or tech – Zoe Amar shares initial results of the Charity Digital Skills Survey. The survey is open until 15 May.
• The top ten digital challenges facing the charity sector – Catalyst.
• How charities are making their services digital in light of Covid19 – Kirsty Marrins for Lightful. Includes lots of examples including NSPCC, The Ramblers and The Bike Project.
• 5 ways coronavirus will change the charity sector – Zoe Amar for Charity Digital.
• How should service design react to COVID-19? NHS Digital.
• Ten content design tips any charity can use to make online services work better – Joe Roberson.
• Fast-track content design for coronavirus – Stephanie Coulshed of Scope.
• Versus Arthritis launches UK’s first condition-specific coronavirus chatbot – Civil Society.
• Citizens Online launched a digital exclusion GP surgery map.
• Citizens Advice have been releasing data from their website showing key topics of concern and how this is changing during the crisis. Might be useful to look at if you are creating your own content or signposting information.
• Interactive Covid-19 data for charities and funders – NPC.
• Top tips about digital advertising during this time from Matt Collins.
• 12 tips on social media advertising for charities during COVID-19 – Matt Howarth.
• The Young Trustees Movement launch their new digital hub in style.
• Monthly accessibility tip: A 10-step guide to make your social media content more accessible – National Lottery Community Fund – Scotland.

It has been really worrying to see the rise of so much inaccessible information during this time from official sources, businesses and some charities. The accessibility of official information provided by No10, DHSC, PHE and even the NHS has been especially poor at a time when it matters most. This was covered on Channel 4 News.

It has been particularly noticeable that so many organic and promoted tweets used images or gifs of text to share statements and complicated information. These generally appear with no alt text or link to an html version of the information, or text version in a thread. The information is therefore inaccessible to anyone who can’t view images. There have also been lots of videos without subtitles and without voice overs.

Clearly this has been a pressured time to release information as quickly as possible. But accessibility matters.

• RNIB asked Number 10 for leadership on accessible coronavirus information.
• @covidaccessinfo was set up to challenge bad practice.
• Press briefings are also broadcast without sign language interpreters. Now lack of sign language interpreters leads to legal case against government – BBC.

Fundraising

• £7m was raised during the #TwoPointSixChallenge (London Marathon) weekend. People did so many exhausting and creative challenges. Here’s a round-up from UK Fundraising – 26 examples of 2.6 Challenge fundraising events. (My 7yo wrote a Roald Dahl quiz – download and donate £2 to play – thanks!)
• £70m raised during the week of the #BigNightIn.
• Captain Tom raised over £32m for NHS Charities. Just Giving shared a list of fundraisers inspired by him. (See also #WalkWithTom – raising money for ‘the NHS’)
• Inspiring virtual charity fundraiser ideas – Charity Comms.
• What charities can learn from the lockdown laps coronacoaster – Richard Sved shares lessons for fundraisers.
• How has the virus affected the nation’s mood? – useful insights from gov.uk. How might this affect your fundraising?
• 5 ways the coronavirus is changing the legacy market and what this means for charities – Rob Cope for IoF.
• You are not alone – how The Samaritans adapted their fundraising and set up a dedicated support service for NHS workers within 10 days. Interview with Sonya Trivedy.
• Webinar on digital fundraising for small charities – Matt Howarth for Lloyds Bank Foundation.
• Richard Sved is a master of conference live-tweeting. This month he has covered Alice Ferris’ Writing a fundraising strategy session and #IWITOT.
• Brevio – new website matching charities with grants.
• There still a chance to book for the Fundraising Everywhere Virtual Conference – 11-15 May.

People and organisations

We’ve all had to rapidly adjust to this new way of working. It has been tough. Not least because of the technological learning curve and the loss of face-to-face contact, but also because we are all dealing with big additional mental loads as we come to terms with the situation we are living and working in. The home schooling, the loneliness, the worries about food and health and the future and our loved ones. There’s lots to deal with.

There was a flood of ‘top tips for working at home’ type-articles at the start. And now, there are more about recognising that wall-to-wall Zoom calls and WFH (especially when your home isn’t set up for this) is very draining. If you are finding it hard, or your team’s motivation is draining, this is normal. Here are some articles which it might be worth sharing internally. You are doing great. It’s ok to have off-days. Working life is likely to be like this for a while.

• 3 tips to avoid WFH burnout – Harvard Business Review.
• New and changing patterns for digital working – Ben Holliday discusses the move from working remotely during a pandemic to digital working.
• The reason Zoom calls drain your energy – BBC.
• Leading your team and communicating through a crisis – Matthew Sherrington for IoF.
• Charity Comms’ wellbeing guide for comms professionals.
• Sound familiar? Fundraising right now from the fundraising frontline – Agents for Good

The current situation has lots of implications for long-term outputs. Organisational strategies have been parked and business as usual pivoted. It’s a challenging time for senior leaders and trustees.

• What should charity trustees be thinking about? NPC
• YHA – what does it mean to be a charity in the decisions that we make? Anita Kerwin-Nye. “From repurposing our hostels to support the most vulnerable in communities, to creating scrubs in YHA green from recycled bed linen”, here’s how the YHA responded.
• How Hospice UK have responded including by running weekly Zoom calls of 300 colleagues across the country. CEO Tracey Bleakley explains in this short video post.
• Virtual Relay: Live panel debate on how charities are adapting to the impact of COVID-19 – Raw.
• The CEO decathlon I didn’t foresee – Menai Owen-Jones for ACEVO.
• The value of extreme crisis planning. How Tesco’s ‘doomsday exercise’ helped it cope with the coronavirus – The Guardian.

Sector

• Lords leap to charities’ aid – DSC report on the House of Lords debate on charities (30 April).
• 9 out of 10 BAME micro and small organisations is set to close if the crisis continues beyond 3 months following the lockdown – report from The Ubele Initiative.
• Medical research charities are facing a significant loss in funding. AMRC have a detailed information hub about the impact. See also Cancer Research UK cuts research funding by £44m, which could set it back ‘for years’ – Civil Society.
• The #NeverMoreNeeded campaign followed on from #EveryDayCounts.
• The Chancellor finally announced some support for the sector. Here are some of the responses – thread by David Ainsworth, NCVO statement. It was disappointing to read the number of ‘what about CEO salaries’ statements under Sky News’ Beth Rigby announcement.
• Karl Wilding of NCVO gave evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on 31 March.

And finally….

I am missing train trips and walks in open countryside. I have been sharing some virtual walks and adventures including Cornwall, a sleeper train to Spain (and back) plus the lavender fields of Kent.

If you want to transport yourself to other places at a deeper level, take a look at Radio Lento podcasts. Get some headphones and listen to 30-minute soundscapes of woods, rivers and birds. Perfect for meditation, some quiet before sleep or just switching off during the day. Subscribe via your podcast provider or get updates via @RadioLento.

• Lots to explore in the BBC’s Museum from home page.
• 1.9m views for this 3year-old sheep handler.
• How to recreate old family photos – this made me cry.
• ‘Useful’ makeup tutorial.
• Boy reads Owl Babies to baby owls.

Your recommendations

What did you read, watch or launch? Please share 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 the last round-up? Catch up with more good reads from a time before lockdown.

Digital round-up – December 2019

Highlights this month: as well as all the Christmas campaigns, end of year round-ups, December was busy with Giving Tuesday, the election results and more.

If you were caught up in festive planning or trying to get everything done before a break, here are some of the charity highlights from December. Hope you had a good break if you got one.

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

• Families belong together – British Red Cross.
• Everyone has a part to play in helping refugees. UN Refugee Agency video – #EveryoneCounts.
• Shelter lent video camera to children living in temporary accommodation. William, 10, Bibi, 10 and Lewis, 8 show us round where they live.
• Powerful content from WaterAid for #HumanRightsDay.
• 31.2k likes for this response by Give Blood to Netflix’ question ‘what’s something you can say during sex but also when you manage a brand twitter account?’
• PoliticsJoe took to the streets to ask people to guess how much healthcare costs in the USA. 21m+ views.
• CRUK hosted a live Twitter chat #JoinTheCancerConversation on 5 December about NHS staff shortages. I couldn’t find a write-up or Moment documenting the discussion but it looked very active with lots of cancer charities and people affected by cancer joining in. There were four questions.
• A festival of winter walks. Routes and tips from The Ramblers to inspire people to get outside. Videos share why people love walking.
• YHA will be 90 this year. Here’s a thread of videos sharing examples of how they help young people.
• Excellent crisis comms from Network Rail Kent and Sussex explaining technical faults which caused big delays on the network.
• What does anxiety feel like Moment from Time to Change.
• How much do you know about foodbank donations? This great Twitter quiz from Brixton Foodbank dispels myths and assumptions.

Takeover of the month: For human rights day, Gisella Valle of LAWRS tookover ACEVO’s Twitter account to share insights into the work done by LAWRS to support migrant women.

Christmas content and appeals:

• #YuleSlog from CALM.
• Christmas Day content from Young Minds.
• Childline is here for children, all night, all year. Even at Christmas. Behind the scenes video.
• West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service did their own version of The Fairytale of New York to spread a safety message.
• Help families whose lives have been turned upside down by stroke – The Stroke Association.
• Did you try Shelter’s festive sandwich generator?
• Festive words in British Sign Language from NDCS.
• Christmas Eve content from Blue Cross.
• Season’s greetings from Gus the Gnome and The Epilepsy Society.
• Not a charity, but did you see this film from family-run hardware shop, Hafod in Wales which cost £100 to make?
• John Lewis-style video made for Crisis – Hand in Hand.
• Thread of Christmas films curated by Kirsty Marrins. Includes GOSH, RNLI, Dogs Trust and Re-engage.
• 10 charity Christmas campaigns in 2019 to inspire you – Kirsty Marrins for Lightful.
• A selection of this year’s best Christmas charity campaigns – Civil Society.

Highlights of the year:

• Dan Papworth-Smyth’s best of charity digital in 2019.
• Ten of the best digital fundraising campaigns in 2019 – Charity Digital News.
• Nice use of a thread by Kids of Colour to show the highlights of their year. (It would have been even better if they had included a link to a web page with an html version of the text too, as the images will be inaccessible to some.)

Predictions for 2020:

• Joe Freeman’s predictions for 2020
• Three top trends and the future of the charity brand – Charity Comms.
• The 5 purpose trends set to Lead the way in 2020 – predictions about brands by Ben Hayman.

Post-election comms:

• Some charities reported a spike in donations and signups on the day after the election including this FB fundraiser started by Jack Munroe and Arts Emergency who recruited 592 new volunteers and inspired 212 monthly donations.
• Others immediately started campaigns to capture an engaged audience. See this petition from Oxfam and these Instagram posts from Shelter.
• I shared this thread of actions.
• My favourite results tweet was this one from Streets Kitchen. (Contains very strong swearing.)

Comms

• Hashtags – Best practices for charities across different platforms – Tereza Litsa for Lightful.
• 2020 Comms: UK social media user data shows Twitter slipping to 6th – Dan Slee.
• How other charities do… health awareness days. Tips and examples by Richard Berks.
• Awareness Days for charities – why they matter and how to join – Lightful.
• Charity Film Awards shortlist announced.
• Chloe Stables of NCVO asked for examples of big charity achievements and got a flood of responses. Why don’t we all shout about these more?
• Putting your subject first, the key to effective co-creation – Charity Comms.
• Never underestimate the power of thank you. Catherine Raynor on working with volunteer storytellers.
• By avoiding jargon, do we risk missing the point? – Integrity Action.
• Engaging examples of annual charity reports – JustGiving – featuring CLIC Sargent, The Wallich and Dementia UK.
• Quirky video for NHS Digital’s Shadow Me programme (now closed for applications).
• comms – it’s a kind of magic. so let’s not be unkind – comms2point0’s post of the year from April.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

• As a response to the Lloyds’s Charity Digital report saying that 45% of charities have leaders that don’t think digital is relevant, Matt Collins set up a scheme to match charity CEOs with digital people. One hour digital call – for charities.
• Why are personas so important in UX design? Nomensa.
• Creating the right content strategy for your charity – Charity Digital News.
• Lean Lab — testing tech without touching code – Rachel Beaumont at Citizens Advice.
• Why we started out with ways of working – Jessica Kyriacou on being new to the Citizens Advice team.
• Your digital tools look great — but are they doing any good? David Scurr.
• A site migration SEO checklist: Don’t lose traffic – Search Engine Land.
• Why everyone should get behind the campaign for a biryani emoji – Wired featuring Melissa Thermidor.
• Race: The elephant in the room that never goes away – Tracey Gyateng at DataKind shares discussions from an event looking at the relationship between tech and race. Includes useful reading list.
• Supporting parents and carers of seriously ill children: Turning a life-changing idea into reality through a user-centred digital product design sprint – more great work from Reason Digital.
• Best digital advances of the decade – Charity Digital News.
• Five steps to plan a successful PPC campaign – Charity Digital News.

Fundraising

• Good grantmaking – prototype website of resource for grant-makers. Includes tools for service design in philanthropy, designing partnerships and ecosystems, setting tech policy positions and digital grantmaking. More about why this is needed in this blog post from Cassie Robinson – Skills and capabilities for effective grant making.
• Lovely thank you image from One25.
• Howard Lake asked fundraisers to share ‘helpful’ careers advice they had received from relatives.
• £10,000 a minute was donated via Visa cards to charities on Giving Tuesday – Civil Society.
• On Giving Tuesday Tiny Tickers smashed their target (read more about the 150 dolls going to hospitals to help sonographers detect congenital heart disease in the womb). Camden Giving raised £6000. Rethink used the day to send thank you letters. @ZurichVolSec shared examples of the different ways smaller charities used GivingTuesday.

People and organisations

• Do you really trust your team? (and do they trust you?) – Harvard Business Review.
• How to be a good manager – thread by Ella Dawson
• Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation announce merger.
• What makes a good charity? NPC’s guide to charity analysis.
• Top tips about freelancing / being self-employed from Fran Swaine.
• Who is more likely to volunteer – Veruca Salt or Charlie Bucket? – an insight into student volunteering from LSE.

And finally….

• Give dignity to homeless people – Billy Chips scheme in Bristol.
• Pre-Christmas fun – do a gif search for your surname.
• Dogs choosing their own Christmas presents.
• The paper bag baron of London – Londonist.
• The Secret Barrister live-tweeted through Love Actually with legal advice for the characters.

Your recommendations

What did you read, watch or launch? 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 November’s round-up? Catch up with more good reads!

Digital round-up – June and July 2019

Highlights this month: tools and resources to accelerate digital progress, responses to the Oxfam report, diversity, spontaneous comms.

For one month only, here is a combined round-up with some of the things you might have missed in June and July. Wishing you a productive or restful month whether you are in or out of the office.

How to use the round-up: Pick and choose links to read now or later. Even better, subscribe and get future round-ups direct to your inbox so you don’t miss any.

Content highlights

• There was lots of comms to mark 50 years since the moon landing. Some charities spontaneously joined in with #UnlikelyFirstWordsOnTheMoon, like this one from The National Trust. Royal Museums Greenwich live tweeted the last 13 minutes to touchdown.
• #BringYourDogToWork day comms from Dogs Trust and Book Trust.
• Following the leadership contest result, the Charity Retail Association cheekily tweeted this.
• Oxfam’s supermarket scorecard campaign – nicely presented data to inspire people to use their consumer power. See also this Behind the Barcodes video.
• Charities are starting to talk about their responses to the climate emergency. Here’s an example from The National Trust. 
• BPAS raised awareness of abortion laws in Northern Ireland with this video message for Donald Trump.
• Nice reactive content from Blue Cross and Battersea to the new Cats Movie trailer.
• Kittens love tennis – who knew?! Wimbledon tweet from Cats Protection.
• Love this behind the scene thread from small charity Tiny Tickers. Their six staff all work from home. 
• Lovely thank you video from The Bike Project.
• Brand new videos about the UK asylum system – bite-sized videos in eight languages from Right to Remain.
• 3min video from The Law Society about the problems affecting the justice system.
• 50 stories to mark St Mungo’s 50th anniversary.
• Changing Faces shared an open letter from parents of a girl who was badly burnt in a fire. It gained a huge response including hundreds of comments and worldwide coverage.
• How do you keep people safe on the beach? RNLI are trialling sand signage in Cornwall.
• Some creative comms in this Moment of #WorldEmojiDay tweets.
• It was very hot last week, lots of charities were sharing useful tips. Some highlights in this heatwave Moment.
• Staff pic of the week from Battersea.
• Local funder Camden Giving showcased amazing organisations they support in this A-Z thread for Small Charity Week.

Twitter takeover of the month: VIP (very important pony) Dennis held the reins of Mencap’s Twitter for a short time during Volunteers Week.

Video of the month: The Bank of England revealed the new face of the £50 note in this video. Genius or awful? You decide…..

Comms: best practice

• Updating your style guide? Take a look at the universal content style guide project started by Sarah Richards. Rather than everyone coming up with their own, “what if there was one place where we, as a community, shared knowledge and created a style guide that was accessible, usable and – if we wanted – evidenced?”
• 6 practical tips to designing content with greater impact – Lightful.
• A definition of copywriting vs content design by Sarah Richards on ProCopywriters Network.
• Are personal stories too personal? The challenges of advocating for more progressive media coverage of criminal justice – Clinks.
• Do you live-tweet? My top tips for live reporting from events and conferences. Includes examples from the recent mighty #IoFFC.
• Dr Richard Berks shared examples of charities live tweeting through a recent documentary about leukaemia. Does your charity join in with relevant live TV events?
• After the event: using social media to maintain momentum – lots of useful tips from Gemma Pettman.
• Meaningful engagement: do you need a social strategy? Lisa Clavering for Charity Comms.
• How to nail your tone of voice on social media – Kirsty Marrins for Lightful.
• Practical tips for dealing with trolling online – Zoe Williams for Charity Comms.
• Oh…so you CAN go viral on Instagram! – Time to Change’s Natasha Dillon for Charity Comms.
• Doncaster Council had a party to celebrate hitting 20k followers!
• Five big ways that the world of media has changed in the last two decades – 5 trends plus what it all means for charities. nfpSynergy post from November 2018 which you might have missed.
• Small but mighty – key takeaways from our Small Charities conference – Charity Comms.
• Top tips for communicating in a crisis – Charity Comms.
• There was lots of coverage about how NSPCC dealt with its recent crisis comms following events with Munroe Bergdorf. This statement had 700+ comments.
• New brand launched on Action for Children’s 150th anniversary. New Choose Childhood campaign launched too with strong messages and images on Twitter.
• How Samaritans managed the launch of its new brand identity with digital – Charity Digital News.
• 30 Days Wild challenge reaches new record – 400,000 people took part in The Wildlife Trust’s annual event.
• 1.7m views of Emilia Clarke’s video recreating workplace stock photos.

If you are a Charity Comms member, don’t forget to vote in the trustee election. Closes at 5pm, 19 August.

Digital: strategy, design, culture

The Catalyst, a UK collaborative to bring a social purpose to the digital revolution, launched. They are a coalition of major foundations, digital design agencies, civil society bodies and the UK government, seeking to massively accelerate the use of digital in the UK’s voluntary and charity sector. Sign up via the website for information and updates. Read this post by Dan Sutch to find out more – digital, design and data for social good. And follow The Catalyst on Medium too.

More transformation resources:

• If you work in the arts, take a look at the Digital Culture Network which launched in June. This from MoDA is good too – A Museum of the Digital Age.
• New website to fast-track digital transformation in adult social care – VODG.
• Start Somewhere – report on making tech imaginable and usable for small charities – CAST and IVAR. Summary includes five suggestions for small voluntary organisations. And this thread by CAST includes tips for those supporting smaller organisations with digital. And this thread by IVAR shares tips for funders.
• Digital Leadership 101 conversation starter pack – useful resource for boards and CEOs from Superhighways based on the Charity Digital Code.
• 3 eras of digital transformation: Are we facing fatigue? – Webcredible.

Did you see the results from this year’s Charity Digital Skills Report, now in its third year? More than half (53%) of charities are aware of emerging tech developments but aren’t planning for them yet. Just 12% are planning for how this could change their charity. How does your organisation compare with the results?

• Six ways to increase your organisation’s ‘Digital IQ’ – Elizabeth Marsh for Digital Leaders.

See also:

• What are ‘digital ethics’ and why should charities care? Useful round-up of good reads by Charity Digital News.
• National Lottery funding to boost voluntary sector’s digital capabilities – eight organisations receive a share of £3.4m.
• Building a digitally accessible front door to the NHS – Digital Agenda.
• Microsoft’s Inclusive Design resources.
• New digital marketing strategy webinar series launched by Media Trust.
• 6 things I learned in 6 months as a user researcher – Zoe McClatchey, product design graduate at NHS Digital.
• The best Artificial Intelligence resources for charities – Charity Digital News.
• I updated my digital teams blog list to include some of the new teams now blogging.
• The guides I wish I had when starting digital work in charities – lots of useful links from John Dunford of The Developer Society.
• Giant thread of charity service design resources by Ross McCulloch.
• How to write a digital strategy for smaller charities – Michael MacLennan for Charity Comms.
• Culture is our strategy – Emma Stace for Digital Leaders.
• No more ‘computer says no’ – everyone in Barnardo’s is getting a new computer. Dan Fryer.
• Monthly accessibility link: RNIB aims to redesign emojis for visually impaired users – UK Fundraising. Includes some useful tips about how to make your use of emojis more accessible.
• Love this animation of the changing popularity of different browsers over the past 10 years. [No voice over though so accessibility is poor. Summary is that Chrome overtook everything else from 2012.)

Fundraising

• Ready. Aim. Fundraise! Clever fundraising campaign from Help for Heroes. Fab graphics. #BakeForHeroes.
• Rehoming Alerts – new text message-based way to donate to Battersea.
• Oxfam launch their first ever crowdfunder – #BeesForNepal.
• NSPCC launches innovative digital platform for regular giving.
• WaterAid’s Fempowered project: Harnessing the monthly power of periods – Nicholas Spandagos for Charity Comms. 
• Thread of tweets from IoF’s Communicating with Older Generations event – #IoFOlderGen.
• Smee & Ford Legacy Trends 2019 – free whitepaper if you give your email address. See also this thread from IoFFC by Howard Lake about multicultural in memory and legacy giving.
• Five creative ways to thank your Facebook fundraisers – Kirsty Marrins for GivePanel.
• Instagram donate – insights from WWF by Nicola Gee.
• IoFFC blog from Ruth Smyth.
• Branding: Help or Hindrance? The relationship between branding and fundraising by Roger Craver.
• The A-Z of writing fundraising appeals – Mark Phillips.
• What does fundraising ethically even mean? – Ruby Bayley-Pratt on Great Charity Speakers.
• Useful thread from NCVO summarising the Charity Tax Commission Report.
• Highlights for fundraisers from this year’s NCVO almanac.
• Fundraising Everywhere – virtual fundraising conference in November. FREE for small charities. Register now.
• Lizzie Hollis’ mega google doc list of fundraising learning resources.

People / careers / sector

Oxfam:

The Charity Commission’s report about Oxfam came out at the beginning of June.

• Here’s Oxfam’s video response from their Chair and their written statement.
• Karl Wilding shared some wider lessons for the sector.
• In this talk, Danny Sriskandarajah talks about the role of civil society and organisations like Oxfam. It was recorded at the end of his first 4months in post as Oxfam’s new CEO.
• Oxfam: doing well in reputation rehab – interesting data on trust up until July 2019 – UK Fundraising.

Diversity in the sector:

Karl Wilding was appointed as NCVO’s new CEO. While welcomed, the news prompted heated discussions about diversity. Here’s a small selection.

• Should white men step aside? by an anonymous white male fundraiser on Great Charity Speakers.
• Elizabeth Balgobin: To improve diversity in charities we must do more than tick boxes – Civil Society.
• Kirsty Weakley: Charities need to deal with the white man problem, but don’t get personal – Civil Society.
• BAME people are under-represented in our sector. This article from Charity Digital News says that it is time for us to recognise the barriers that BAME people face in the charity sector. If you know a digital BAME star, there may still be time to nominate them as a top charity digital BAME leader.
• Creating race equity: CEO and chair programme – new from ACEVO.

Other reads

• “What if the future of altruism isn’t a charity sector stuffed with variations on a theme? What if it’s a completely different set of business models which generate the power to change the world?” I failed and I liked it – Ben Holt.
• See also What will charities look like in the future? James Plunkett
• Getting ahead in your comms career: my key takeaways from the Charity Comms conference.
• Clore Social Leadership Talking Leadership report. Plus take a look at their Backpack of tools to address leadership challenges.
• ACEVO / Centre for Mental Health report into bullying in the sector – In Plain Sight. Here’s a thread of the six recommendations in the report. Plus actions for Chairs and trustees from Association of Chairs.
• Lucy Caldicott: If we’re the good guys, why is there still racism, homophobia, bullying and misogyny in the sector? – Civil Society.
• Why you should perfect your elevator pitch TODAY – Nicky Weelen. Good tips for freelancers.
• Why charities need to offer better flexible working options – TPP Recruitment.
• Managing overwhelm at work – advice from a realist – useful advice from Helen Reynolds.
• Case study: Changing leadership culture to drive innovation – WaterAid’s Marcus Missen for EFA.
• How do you attract people to work in your organisation? I liked this video from Shelter. Shame no subtitles though.
• Being the Story’s spokesperson network was launched.

And finally….

• Do American supermarkets have a British food aisle asked Joseph Freeman. [Also see Joe’s weekly round-ups which are excellent.]
• Check your copy. Proof-reading fail from Waitrose.
• More signs – love these shared for #NorfolkDay by @beakpie.
• Quiz: How much do you know about memes? BBC Arts.
• Did you watch the fully interactive episode of BBC Click?
• Have your thought about your own digital legacy? Interesting thread from Marie Curie from a recent event.
• What went right? January-June 2019 – the Positive News stories you need.

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

Digital round-up – February 2019

Highlights this month: designing comms for young people, housestyle / accessible writing, personas of offline users, February hashtags.

Although it was a short month, February was packed with great comms and good reads. Here’s some 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

• Family Action launched the Family Monsters Project to start a national conversation about everyday pressures on family life to mark their 150th anniversary.
• Did you spot any good Valentine’s Day comms? This simple message from Time to Change had 40k views. Refuge released another of their powerful reversable poems.
• A few charities joined in with the spontaneous #ImproveYourLifeIn4Words – such as the National Trust, Charity Commission, Small Charities Coalition, Rainbow Trust and Shelter.  
• Interesting to see charities joining in with other organisation’s awareness days showing that the event is bigger than the originator. Here are #TimeToTalk tweets from YoungMinds, The Ramblers and St John Ambulance. Time to Change of course ran a full-on day of comms. Here’s one of their flagship videos which got 133k views. And Time to Change’s Moment showing highlights from the day and Seb Baird’s highlights including 52,000 website visitors.
• Have you taken Friends of the Earth’s Drastic on Plastic challenge?
• London Fire Brigade’s new campaign #SprinklersHit – but is it a good hashtag?
• Excellent myth-busting Twitter thread from Leukaemia Care in response to a WWE wrestler in the news.
• Save the Children’s #PowerOfYourPen campaign urges people to call for peace in Yemen.
• Some of the highlights of #ReclaimSocial included this tweet from Help Refugees who said that their charity started with a hashtag, storytelling from The Connection and good news about ponds from Fresh Water Habitats. Here’s Lightful’s #ReclaimSocial Moment and their blog post which has more detail.
• Top social media marks to Doncaster Council who made this video to promote their appearance on Blue Peter.

Twitter takeover of the month: Fight Bladder Cancer took over MADLcharity’s Twitter account for three days to raise awareness and reach a new audience. It would be good to see a Moment of the takeover to preserve the messages and energy from the event, giving the takeover a longer shelf life.

Comms

• Young people: What you need to know about the channels they’re using in 2019 – 10 points from Ofcom data shared by Dan Slee.
• Nice examples of different types of content from YoungScot in their New Digs guide – how to make a dry subject fun with text with gifs, infographics and hot spots. Great example of content design for young people.
• Working with social influencers is a two way street, just ask our Boob Ninjas – CoppaFeel on working with influencers to connect with their young audience. (CharityComms).

Check your language:

• Do you write health information? NHS Digital have published an A to Z of words and phrases they use to make content about health and the NHS easy to understand. It includes some great tips (see the note about using ‘pee’ rather than ‘wee’ to avoid confusing people using screen readers) as well as useful notes about medical housestyle best practice. More about he guide in this blog post from Sara Wilcox.
• Do you over-formalise or use more complex words because you think it sounds more official? Take a look at this list of alternative words to help improve clarity (shared by @proCopywriters).
• I like this easy read manual to help spot things going wrong with a fridge. Useful for everyone.
• Why using plain English is about opening up not “dumbing down” Dawn Kofie explains the approach used on the new Scottish Parliament website.

Conferences:

• This year’s Social Media Exchange was as excellent as ever. Catch up with some of the learnings via the Wakelet from SMEX19. I went to sessions about building a movement and Jude’s session about people with lived experiences telling their own stories. The Digital Dunk held a live surgery – here’s the top talking points.
• Slides from Charity Comms’ storytelling conference as well as their top takeaways from the event.
• The Institute of Fundraising produced a nifty graphic for successful speakers to promote their #IoFFC sessions.

Comms news, tips and examples:

• Crafting stories that inspire action – how to write copy for activism by Krislyn Tan for JustGiving.
• Is your brand working for you? New tool from Spencer du Bois (via Charity Comms).
• ‘The more people who die, the less people care’ – findings from social scientist Paul Slovic.
• 230 new emojis coming soon in 2019 including guide dogs and wheelchair users.
• 12 habits of successful change-makers: looking at the bigger picture – Sue Tibballs on systems change for acevo.
• Why RNIB wants to transform public attitudes and what it’s doing – Sarah Lambert talks about how RNIB responded to a viral picture of a woman using a smart phone and a white cane.
• Meaningful social media campaigns: Braille Name Generator – Nathan Murray talks to acevo about the campaign in January.
• How to mark your charity’s anniversary. Some examples and tips if you have big one coming up.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

• Digital motivation: what, who and why? Tom French of the Good Things Foundation shares research about the specific reasons people in the UK give for being offline. Here’s the research and more detail about the four personas.
• Where charities are at with The Charity Digital Code of Practice – Zoe Amar shares data from the self-assessment tool gathered since the Code launched.
• You can be right, or you can make change happen – how to drive digital culture change by CRUK’s Giulia Merlo.
• Small Charities Coalition launched a new tool to help people setting up charities. It was developed with help from CAST and in response to the high volume of enquiries they get about this topic (40%+ of support line questions).
• 8 digital tools that will change your life – super useful post from NSPCC’s DigitalDunk.
• Ask a content strategist: will written content be obsolete by next year? Joe Lazauskas.
• Content strategy or content design? CRUK’s Chris Flood ponders job titles and roles.
• Prototypes and guerilla testing — how NCVO started exploring unmet user needs by Megan Griffith Gray.
• Barnado’s are on the look-out for 100 incredible people to help redesign social care for children. Read about #FutureBarnados.
• Monthly accessibility tip: how to increase the relative font sizes of a Word document without having to do it manually.  (Impress your friends too!) See also Vision Australia’s Document Accessibility Toolbar.
• Self-care strategies for community managers at charities – Good Community.

Fundraising

• How do you make your fundraising challenges stand out? Dan Papworth Smyth recorded the British Heart Foundation’s Facebook ad for the London to Brighton bike ride. Cool stuff! (See also this about the Ramblers’ Facebook Instant Experiences.)
• Samples from Diabetes UK’s legacy giving journey.
• A Taste of Home is Hospice UK’s new fundraising campaign.
• Small consistent efforts can change the world – Claire Colvin looks back at her early experiences of mass collective action.
• Sometimes the best thing we donors can do to advance social justice is to just write the check and get out of the way – Nonprofit AF on ‘cheque book activism’ and trusting that people working in organisations know their stuff.

People, teams and culture

• The six characteristics of resilient charities by CAF’s Beth Clarke for acevo.
• What will charities look like in the future? James Plunkett.
• A “golden triangle” for impact and trust? Martin Brookes looks at how to solve the overheads / impact messaging problem.
• How to love your team more than your donors – Blakely talk about team culture.
• You don’t have to be rich to do good — but it helps. How middle class guilt locks talent out of the social entrepreneurship world by Jack Graham.
• Finding joy at work in the NHS – how involving service users changed behaviour by Henry Stewart.
• I like these tips from Darren Caveney for continuous learning.
• If you have some time, why not pass on your knowledge (and get some new knowledge too) by signing up as an advisor for FSI’s big advice day as part of Small Charity Week in June? You can do it by phone or Skype if you are not in London or can only spare half a day. There are regional events too.

And finally….

• Watch this beautiful CBBC programme about Jonathan as part of the My Life series. Available until 9 March or watch a short clip.
• Recursion painting.
• Take the British-Irish dialect quiz.

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 January’s round-up? Catch up with more good reads!

Digital round-up – January 2019

Highlights this month: January#, towels for owls, H-O-M-E, digital trends to avoid / embrace, how to declutter your digital footprint.

Things feel a little gloomy at the moment. So switch the news off and catch up with some creative charity content and recent 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

• Did you see the nice January hashtag #NationalComplimentDay? This Dogs Trust tweet (Good dog!!!) stood out showing that sometimes simple is best. See more examples in this ZurichVolSec Moment.
• It was good to see charities using the #10YearChallenge to talk about their impact (although the meme itself was dull and there were sinister concerns about its origin).
• Nice gif counting down the days to RSPB’s annual Great Garden Birdwatch. (Here’s more about how they process the data from the 500,000 participants.)
• Changing the language around cancer – great film by Macmillan.
• RNIB transcribed people’s names into braille for #WorldBrailleDay.
• I love ACRE’s Village Halls Week. This year’s poem by Kate Fox celebrated the variety of things happening in halls.
• Did you see Refuge’s powerful reversible poems?
• Lots of creative comms for #NationalStorytellingWeek, examples in this ZurichVolSec Moment.
• Great impact board from Headway East London. Would have been even better if they had linked to a web page for more information.
• Full Fact fact checked headlines about government spending. How to pack lots of information into one tweet. (Conversely, how to use a long thread to explain a complicated subject – why we don’t need a wall.)
• What we all need now is more fun + silliness. Did you see this thread of unsolicited duck pics from museums?
• Great work from Shelter who tweeted a still from the Bros documentary aired on TV over Christmas.

It can be difficult to remember all the good stuff from last year. Take a look back in these review from 2018:

• Dan Papworth-Smyth’s charity digital round-up of 2018.
• Charity video roundup – highlights from 2018 curated by Magneto Films.
• The CharityComms team’s personal campaign picks of 2018.
• Did you do your own round-up? It can be a nice antidote to all the Christmas fun. See CRUK’s top 5 cancer research stories from 2018.

Coming soon….

• Lightful are spearheading #ReclaimSocial on Wednesday 6 February. Join in!
• Thursday 7 February is Time to Talk Day. Get talking about mental health.
• Social Media Exchange 2019 is on Monday 11 February. Follow #SMEX19 if you can’t be there.

Comms

• How to deal with difficult social media shifts – useful post from Montfort.
• How to write a social media policy for your company – tips from Hootsuite.
• No time for that? Take a look at Time to Change’s social media principles.
• Slides from Charity Comms’s seminar, Unlocking the power of social influencers.
• The story behind Stories and our journalistic approach to digital content – Wellcome’s change in editorial strategy.
• Why CEO letters suck (and how to make them better) – Matt Chittock for CharityComms.
• Do you still believe in social media? asks Bertie Bosredon on CharityComms. See also How much longer can your brand stay on Facebook by James Mullarkey.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

• Digital transformation is a risky business – lessons from NSPCC’s Digital Dunk.
• Ten ways to make your charity genuinely digital – NPC.
• Why do digital? Matt Collins for Charity Comms gives persuasive arguments if you still need to convince colleagues.
• Is your organisation making the most of digital technologies? Take SCVO’s digital check-up.
• Then avoid these 5 digital trends – Matt Collins for JustGiving.
• But keep ahead of these – 5 Charity Digital Trends for 2019 by Montfort.
• What can we learn about information giving from The Weather Channel who use AR to bring extreme weather to life.
• And The Big Issue goes AR!
• AI is changing the world; who will change AI?  NESTA
• The Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors – Search Engine Land.
• I analysed the searches people used to read my blog and it’s not good news for women – Jessica Eaton.
• The service design story at Reach Volunteering.
• Assumptions, assumptions — how NCVO started talking about what we know (and what we think we know) – Megan Griffith Gray.
• Service Design Fringe Festival: Lessons from creating digital services within a charity – CAST.
• Where should UX sit in an organisation? Centralised vs embedded asks webcredible.
• Keep On, Keep Up: Collaboration in older person tech – great case study from Reason Digital.
• Monthly accessibility tip: don’t use special characters that look like letters.
• We need to talk about accessibility on chatbots – UX Design.
• I used the web for a day using a screen reader – Smashing Magazine.
• KonMari For Digital Clutter – CodesLikeAGirl – not just for clearing out the clutter in your home.
• CRUK’s tech team have tidied their digital up and moved their blog to Medium.

Fundraising

Still think you can’t ask for donations on Twitter? Be authentic / fun like these examples:

• Excellent responses to this request for donations of towels for owls.
• Eye-catching requests for toy donations to Little Village as part of their Think Small promotion.
• And lovely responses to this request for knitted blankets for a hospice.
• Cycle from Scratchy Bottom to Broadbottom for Toilet Twinning. Creative promo for their fundraising package.

See also:

• A golden formula for generating trust – important read by Kate Lee, CEO of CLIC Sargent.
• BT’s MyDonate fundraising platform will close in June particularly hitting small charities. White Fuse compiled alternatives to BT MyDonate for donations and fundraising.
• Seven common ‘funding headaches’ for charities – and what you can do about it – DSC.
• What does digital fundraising really mean? CRUK’s Rob Green.
• Charities try new tactics to be remembered in wills – view from The Economist (subscribe to read).
• Five strategies for motivating supporters – nfpSynergy.
• Charities: we need to start with why! Richard Sved.
• Tales from the Secret Giver #1: opening some Christmas crackers: a review of three Christmas campaigns – UK Fundraising.
• Martin Lewis: What happened to my pledge to give £10m to charity in 2012? Insights from a major giver.
• Making your Thank You’s SUPER – by David Burgess.

People

• Why I am recruiting more remote workers – call to action by Emily Casson for IoF.
• Matt Haworth: the digital entrepreneur who does good – profile article in UK Fundraising.
• 12 things you need to understand if you want your team to perform consistently well – Halo Psychology.
• How we transformed Happy from a £180k loss to a £165k profit in one year – good read from Happy Ltd.
• What do you have on the back of the toilet doors in your office? These posters from Monzo were widely shared this month.
• The rise and fall of the Chief Digital Officer – useful insights from webcredible
• Meet Oxfam’s new CEO Danny Sriskandarajah (and volunteer Pat and volunteer Sam).
• Have you read NCVO’s new volunteering research Time Well Spent?

And finally….

• Download British Red Cross’ power of kindness calendar.
• Cheer yourself up with TheMERL’s helpful cheat for #MuseumSelfieDay.
• Or this dad and baby chatting via Best Beginnings.
• A young boy joins in with the drumming at Welcome to the Forest.
• I love Olivia Colman screeching at her subjects in The Favourite.
• Hypnotise yourself with these polygonal sine waves.

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 the last round-up? Catch up with more good reads!

Be a good Secret Santa

It’s that time of year again. Rather than spending money on plastic tat / novelty socks, why not use some or all of your Secret Santa in a more impactful way? Here are a few examples of charities running Secret Santa sized fundraising campaigns and other ideas for doing good within your budget.

Christmas campaigns

• Give the gift of reading – make a donation to Beanstalk + give a book you already love to your Secret Santa.
• Surprise a child with a book through Book Trust’s annual campaign.
• Be a Secret Santa with Action for Children. Help light up the map. Don’t festivalFail.
• Order a letter from Santa via NSPCC.

Secret Santa gifts

• The Charity Retail Association is encouraging everyone to be a #GoodCauseSantaClaus and buy gifts from charity shops.
• Oxfam’s online charity shop is an amazing treasure trove of unique items if you are looking for a gift. From used football stamps to vintage knitting patterns, a jigsaw of the Queen Mother, and GoggleBox board game, there’s something for everyone. You can search by price to fit your budget.
• Many charities run virtual gift packages. For example Oxfam Unwrapped gifts start at £5.
• Social Enterprise UK say #BuySocial and get #PresentsWithPurpose. Check out their Christmas catalogue.
• Use the Giving Machine’s Secret Santa generator to pick names and buy gifts.

Christmas cheer

Why not pool your funds and do something bigger as a team?

• Reserve someone a place at Crisis at Christmas for £28.18.
• Is there a Christmas Dinner for care leavers or older people near you? Could you buy something from their wishlist? Here’s Hackney’s Christmas Dinner (part of a programme of 17 Christmas Dinners for care leavers across the country, donate to their crowdfunder) and John Popham’s Connected Christmas campaign for older people.
• Set a place for a child at Mary’s Meals virtual Christmas dinner table for £13.90.
• Buy a safety kit or actual bike for a refugee via The Bike Project.
• Twin your office loo via Toilet Twinning for £60. “Santa can’t give toilets but you can.”
• Is there a local toy collection you could contribute to?

There are countless fundraising appeals, Christmas jumper days and local food bank collections you could instead donate to in the name of your Secret Santa.

Leave Relf on the shelf and give a gift that matters say International Rescue Committee in this fab video.

What are you doing?

• Do you do Secret Santa in your team? Any tips?
• Is your charity doing an interesting appeal?

Please share in the comments.

See also: charity digital advent calendars – tips and examples from 2017

Digital round-up – October 2018

Highlights this month: big hashtags, user-generated content, AI, voice tech, digital skills and more….

The nights are setting in and seasonal content is upon us. October is a very busy month of awareness days. There was lots of great content launched. Pop the kettle on and catch up.

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

10 October was #WorldMentalHealthDay, #WorldHomelessnessDay and #HousingDay. I have never seen my list of trending topics look like this for an hour, let alone all day. The trending hashtags and topics were consistently related to these issues. Nothing else got a look-in all day.

There was some amazing content including:

• A powerful poem from Crisis for #WorldHomelessnessDay.
• 22 local charities donated their HOMEpages to homelessness charity St Basils in the West Midlands to raise awareness.
• Did you see Time to Change’s new #AskTwice video? And their Moment of user-generated content – these are the reasons people say ‘I am fine’ when they’re not.
• Love these prompt cards from Young Minds.
• Mental Health UK produced beautiful images to illustrate people’s stories in their Let’s Talk series. See Nathaniel’s story.

Also this month:

• Plan International UK launched a video about sexual harassment. It has had 94k likes and over 7 million views.
• Check your breasts video from Breast Cancer Now.
• Love this promo for the Charity Comms podcast.
• Parkinson’s UK launched their list of approved apps and devices for people with Parkinson’s. A charity first.
• It was RNIB’s 150th birthday.
• This is how to promote a new area in a museum. Top video from Eureka! Museum.
• SCVO’s what is modern charity video.
• The warning signs of genocide, powerful video from RightsInfo.
• Choose your own next line for #NationalPoetyDay. Great use of a thread / polls by the Museum of English Rural Life.
• Charities don’t usually tweet on a Sunday night. I liked this moment to paws from RSPCA.
• There was some great halloween content around.

Twitter takeover of the month: CoppaFeel’s Kris Hallenger / @nhs. Kris who has been living with stage 4 breast cancer since 2009, talked about treatments and good health.

Comms

• This excerpt from Clic Sargent’s impact report was widely shared and celebrated as a great example of transparency. Could your charity do something similar to show what didn’t work?
• What if we scrapped the annual report and started again? asks David Ainsworth in Civil Society.
• Why do we ignore digital impact? Matt Haworth asks why the impact of digital services isn’t included in impact reports.
• Go on, go on, go on, go on! What charities can learn from Father Ted’s Mrs Doyle by Anna Pietrowski for Charity Comms. (best URL I have seen for a while!)
• Thread about the future of advertising by Nik Sharma.
• FRIENDS IMPACT: A tongue-in-cheek shoplifting appeal led to 50 per cent of Blackpool people thinking better of their police by Dan Slee.
• Does your search strategy match how people expect content? Think about the Netflix effect say The Royal Academy.
• If you missed Being the Story, here’s my blog post about it and links to others’.
• Will you join in with #YouMadeItHappen on 19 November? Find out about this new day, led by NCVO. >> I’ve written a blog post with some ideas about how to get involved with #YouMadeItHappen.

Digital – strategy, design, culture

• Internet-era ways of working by Tom Loosemore of Public Digital.
• 6 tough questions third sector organisations need to explore in a digital age from SCVO’s digital team. Linking to their ‘what next’ report.
• Digital is growing up, is your charity maturing with it? (Spoiler: probably not!) by Anya Pearson, Contentious.
• Digital strategy: The four fights you have to win from McKinsey.
• 15 principles of good service design by GDS for Digital Leaders.
• Why Amazon, Alexa and #TechforGood can’t be in the same sentence by James Mullarkey.
• Five ways to engage with responsible technology by Sam Brown.
• How Cancer Research UK is exploring AI and voice tech in Charity Digital News.
• Welcome to the Golden Age of Data – examples from a brave new world of personalisation – NSPCC’s Digital Dunk.
• Dealing with digital changes – useful tips about keeping up with platform changes and changing tack if needed, by Montfort.
• Blockchain: the next radical change for charities by Stromi for Digital Dunk.
• How to create a great charity website experience, case study from MS Society on Charity Digital News.
• Digital user tests which are easy, fast and affordable – YoYo Design for CharityComms.
• 4 user research guides from co-op digital.
• Monthly accessibility tip: RNIB shared 10 #DigitalAccessibilityTips including this one about colour contrast.
• And if you have never heard a screen reader, here’s an example of how they read image descriptions from Dr Amit Patel. See more about access tech in this Moment of his Twitter takeover for Scope.

Fundraising

• Did you join in with the first ever Gift Aid Awareness Day?
• Digital fundraising trends for small charities not to miss by Charity Digital News.
• Putting fun into contactless donating at two historic sites in Scotland. Tap the past to preserve the future.
• Hospice fundraisers tend to go the extra mile, like 10-year old Harriet who played her cello at the top of a mountain for Compton Care.
• Are you ready for #GivingTuesday on 27 November? Here’s a guide to using the day to say thank you.

People

• How we teach digital skills at PwC for Harvard Business Review.
• 3 steps to growing a digital culture – Clive Gardiner of NSPCC shares what they are doing.
• Three amazing Ted Talks for charities by Kirsty Marrins for Lightful.
• Critical lessons for charity trustees by Beth Clarke for CAF.
• The Association of Chairs asked Chairs to share their top tips to mark their 5th birthday. Here are the best ones in a Moment: tips for effective chairing.

And finally….

• Feeling helpless about the state of the world? Here’s a thread about the little things we can all do to make things better.
• A thread of perceptual illusions to mess with your brain.
• Have you ever looked for treasure in the Thames (or any other urban river)?
• An otter eating – happy noises!

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 September’s round-up? Catch up with more good reads!

Digital round-up – September 18

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.

——

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